Paper Towel Roll Countdown Chain

I have always been a big fan of the countdown chain.  Basically you make an item for each day left until a major even (birthday, vacation, holiday) and then every morning a piece of the chain is taken away until there are none left.  I used to do these all the time when I was teaching so that my students could visualize how many days were left until a certain event.  A few weeks before Cole's birthday we decided to make one for him.

 Countdown Chain Supply List: 3-4 paper towel rolls, paint, ribbon or string, scissors

 Begin by painting your paper towel rolls with various colors.

 Figure out how many days until your event and cut your paper towel rolls accordingly.  Tie one of your rings to your string or ribbon.  We used a piece of tulle that I had leftover from a tutu I had just made.

String your paper towel roll pieces until they are all on the string.

Hang them somewhere prominent in your house so that they can be viewed every day.  This turned out to also be a great math lesson.  Every morning when Cole woke up he would tear a ring off and then we would count how many were left.

Here is his on his birthday with his very last paper towel ring.

Cardboard Tube Color Patterning

I created this activity to work with Cole on some patterning concepts.  We used 3 paper towel tubes to create 3 different colors for our patterns.  You could easily adapt this to use more or fewer tubes based on your child's skill level. 

 Patterning Supply List: 3 paper towel tubes, 3 different colors of paint, scissors, pipe cleaner

 Paint each paper towel tube a different color.  You want to make sure to cover as much of the cardboard tube as possible with paint.

 Cut your tubes into smaller sections.

 Use your colored paper towel rolls to create patterns.  Above we did a blue/blue/red pattern and below a black/blue/black/blue pattern.  This was a fun activity that Cole really enjoyed.  I liked the fact that we used our craft to expand to a math concept. 

Book Suggestion: Pattern Fish by Trudy Harris is an excellent book for your Pre-K or Kindergarten student.  It explores different patterns beginning with the simple A/B and working its way through to more difficult.  The vivid pictures and rhyming words makes it a fun introduction to different types of patterns.