1,000 Books Before Kindergarten Celebration

Last night we celebrated 26 kids (and their families) who completed the 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten program.  I like to create a program that is extra special for these kids and all they have accomplished.  Last night we started off the program with a read aloud of Barry the Fish with Fingers by Sue Hendra.  The kids really enjoyed the story and I think the adults did as well.  After the story, the kids were presented with a certificate for completing the program.  And then it came time for the fun stuff!
I made it a summer themed party with sand dough, frozen finger painting and sensory bags.  The sand dough was a great recipe that I mixed together the day before.  Not thinking anything of it, the recipe calls for play sand, flour, water, and oil.  Well, last night the sand dough stuck to high heaven!  It smelled like actual bread dough or it had started to ferment.  Either way, it still worked and the kids loved the texture.  The frozen finger paint was so much fun!  I froze finger paint in ice cube trays with a Popsicle stick for ease of use.  The kids had a great time painting cut-out cars and creating a mess (which is always fun!).  And finally, the kids were also allowed to take home a sensory bag using cheap hair gel and glitter in a quart-size freezer bag with a duct taped top.  The kids really enjoyed squishing the hair gel around and I gave parents suggestions of practicing letters and numbers, cooling the sensory bags in the fridge and other ideas they could do at home.
The kids also got a small snack and were allowed to choose a new book to be added to our collection.  This is their ultimate prize for completing the 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten program.  They choose a new book and we add an honor sticker in the front with their name on it.  They also get to be the first person to check the book out.  This works for us as a prize because we’re already purchasing the pictures books to be added to the collection and it only takes a few minutes to print out the sticker for the kids.