Getting Crafty with Lakeshore Learning

I love finding ways to incorporate art into my classroom.  There isn't necessarily time to constantly be doing art products, but there are a couple ways you can incorporate it into your schedule to keep those little hands moving and those minds creating.  

Lakeshore and I have partnered together to review some of their learning resources that are perfect for preschool and primary students. Please note that I am a blog ambassador for Lakeshore Learning and I am compensated for my blog post, but all ideas are mine. :)

The Draw and Learn Studio is a great tool to use in the classroom to practice drawing AND learning how to write.  The whiteboard is magnetic so it is perfect for the students to practice building words, isolating first/middle/last sounds, or making sentences.

Some ideas of how to use this with your students:

1. The student draws a picture and then finds places the letter it starts with on the whiteboard.

2.  Practice writing and building sight words.

3.  Make a list of rhyming words by manipulating the magnetic letters to build new words.

4.  Put the letters in ABC order.

The Textured Rubbing Plates are a good scaffold for the kids BEFORE they learn how to use stencils.    The students really enjoyed picking a texture (the spiderweb and leaf design were the favorites) and rubbing it with a crayon to reveal the print on their paper.  

It was good practice for them to learn to hold the paper still and rub the crayon repeatedly to get the design to show through the paper.  I like to use rubbing plates before I introduce stencils because they use the same skill of holding the paper still with one hand while they draw with the other.  Using the rubbing plates allow them to make more mistakes compared to a real stencil.  

We used old crayons that had lost their paper or were broken, and this turned into a wonderful discussion about recycling and reusing things that aren't in perfect condition anymore.  These rubbing plates would be really cute to use as the background for an ocean scene, having the kids add different layers of animals to the textured design on the paper.

Our last activity included these Design Rollers. Students LOVE using stamps but it always ends up being a huge mess and the kids get covered in ink.  I would like to proudly report that these design rollers kept the kids' hands clean!  The handle is long enough so they don't need to touch the giant ink pad with their hands at all!

These stamps provided practice for fine motor skills and creativity.  Again, I am going to use these in the future as a textured background to an art project!

What the students enjoyed most was having free reign to create.  Normally, I do systematic art projects with an end goal in mind.  But we incorporated the stamp activity into their free play so it was a great station to set up for creative exploration.

I have a 20% off coupon waiting for you, follow this LINK to get the coupon!

Also, I am going to be attending the FREE Crafts for Kid's Day on November 11, 2017 in the Fountain Valley, CA store!  We will be crafting from 11am-1pm, and I would love to see you there!  Please email me if you want to join, so we can get an accurate headcount!  I am SUPER excited about this, so I hope you can join me! :)