Book Review: 101 Kids Activities That Are The Bestest, Funnest Ever!

{Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book at no cost for the purpose of reviewing. The opinions contained in this post are entirely my own. Also included in the post are Amazon affiliate links.}

I was so excited to receive a copy of  "101 Kids Activities That Are The Bestest, Funnest Ever!" by Holly Homer and Rachel Miller earlier this summer. I follow the Kids Activities blog and facebook page and love all the great activities they share and post, so I just knew I would love the book!

"101 Kids Activities That Are The Bestest, Funnest Ever!"  is chock full of easy to implement activities for kids that are sure-fire boredom busters! The book is broken down into four sections, "Boredom Busters", "Crafts", "Games" and "Simple Science". Each activity is only one page long, with a materials list and tips to help with activity implementation. Almost all of the activities are accompanied by a beautiful photograph of the activity. Plus, there are modifications included for younger kids and for older kids! 

I've not been in a classroom this summer (with the exception of helping out on various summer camp field trips), so I've not had the opportunity to implement any of the ideas yet, but I am SO excited that I've already bookmarked many to do with students during the first few weeks of school! (I will admit to trying a few activities on my own, though. I just couldn't wait! ;) There are a few activities that I've tried in the past, such as the "No Sew No-GlueTutu", the supersoft dough featured in "Archaeology Dig With Supersoft Dough" and  "Cork Boats & a Tinfoil River", that were BIG hits with my Pre-K classes, so I'm thrilled to have tons of new ideas ready to try. 

One of the first activities I want to try is this "Sticky Note Pom Pom Maze" from page 37. It looks like SO much fun! I'm pretty positive that this will quickly become a student favorite immediately!

From 101 Kids Activities by Holly Homer and Rachel Miller, printed with permission of Page Street Publishing June 2014

For full instructions, click here to download.

My class always does a unit on transportation and we usually make paper airplanes to fly, but I think I've just found the ultimate homemade glider! On page 121, Rachel and Holly feature a game called "Egg Carton Glider Throw". The game idea comes with instructions on how to make your own foam glider that is more sturdy than the store bought versions, AND, it is from recycled materials you probably already have lying around! Doesn't it look fun?

From 101 Kids Activities by Holly Homer and Rachel Miller, printed with permission of Page Street Publishing June 2014

For full instructions, click here to download.

I've shown this book to a few teacher friends, and they have all said that they have to have a copy! There are just so many great activities to try. Our new school year starts in less than 2 weeks, and I think after the dust settles and the kids are comfortable in their surroundings, I'll share the book with them and let them pick some activities to try, as well!

My Amazon affiliate link to get your own copy of this fab book:

All photos used with permission from 101 Kids Activities by Holly Homer and Rachel Miller, printed with permission of Page Street Publishing June 2014.

I'd love for you to share your thoughts! Leave a comment below!

Preschool Valentine and Heart Activities and Art

I know that technically yesterday was Valentine's Day, but many in our part of the US have been without power and out of school due to fierce winter storms. Our holiday celebrations have been postponed until later next week. We've decided to go ahead with them, since the kids were so excited and will be really let down if we have to miss them altogether. Since I know many place will be doing the same, I thought I'd go ahead and share the posts I'd originally planned to post about Valentine's Day before we lost power. 

We take advantage of seasonal materials when they come out--especially at the dollar store. I stocked up on heart shaped jewels, Valentine erasers, doilies, Valentine's cards, Conversation Heart candies and Valentine puzzles to put in the various centers in our class. 

The kids love playing with the erasers and jewels that I put in our math center. We do patterning counting matching and a wide variety of games with them. 

I drew a tic tac toe board on a few paper hearts and taught the kids how to play tic tac toe. It's easy to forget that with our digital age many children have never been exposed to it before. It'a a fun little game that is short enough to keep their interest, and can really hone those critical thinking skills!

We use Conversation heart candies in a variety of ways---we graph them, count the letters in them, sort by color, use them in science experiments and even paint with them! One of the ways we've used them this week is by using our magnifying glasses and doing letter hunts with them! The children have been busily writing their conversations from the hearts, comparing who has certain letters and finding letters from their names!

In our art center, we added some heart shaped paper and children free painted and practiced some new techniques, pressing the sides of the heart together to make symmetrical art.

Some kids just enjoyed drawing hearts and cutting them out with fancy scissors.

I bent some of our toilet paper tubes slightly to make heart shapes to dip in paint and stamp with. Some of them started stamping but ended up painting with the stamps as brushes.

Our one year old class made these cute hand and footprint cards for parents. So cute!

Of course we read lots of fun books about Valentine's Day! Here are some of our favorites:




I've added a new tab to the to of the page for books by theme. I'll be adding to this list as I go through the year! 

little illuminations: Books by Theme

If you are interested in more of our Valentine's activities, here are the links to some of my previous posts about our Valentine activities!

Valentine Bulletin Boards 2014

Valentine Fun in Pre-K

Valentine's Day Afterglow

Love Bugs

Our Valentine's Day Fun 2011

Conversation Hearts in The Class

Love Bugs 2011

Valentine's Box

Valentine's Day Fun

plus, look for the last 2 posts in later this week--one on Valentine Boxes and one about Valentine's Day fingerplays and flannelboards!

Be sure to check out my Valentine's Day board on Pinterest!





I love to read your comments!!! Be sure to leave your thoughts below!

Battleship: Things You Can Do With A Peg Board

This morning, two of the big kids were playing a game of Battleship. Here's the rub---we don't have the game! They improvised a pegboard set, quite ingeniously, I might add! 

Watching them play, it made me reflect back to seeing kids play with the very same manipulatives in a different setting (an elementary school) years ago and hearing the teacher scold the children for using the materials inappropriately. "That is NOT what you are supposed to do with those!" she said sternly. It makes me wonder what those kids may have come up with had they been allowed to explore creatively with the materials. I hope the times have changed and children in that setting are allowed to explore a little more freely. These boys were not playing rough, although they did get a little loud when one of them would exuberantly exclaim "HIT ! ", but that was part of the fun they were having! 

I'm glad that I could bear witness to this burst of creativity before they headed off to school this morning. This was certainly one of the highlights of my day! 


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