A Very Pajama Christmas Party

It is finally here... our PJ Christmas Party!!! 

What fun we had!!

This was the tree when the kids came in this morning...
Roo said, "Did Santa come to your house Miss Michelle??"

Yummy Hot Cocoa!!

You can't very well have whipped cream without it getting on your nose!!!

Little Man had to have a spoon to make sure he got ALL his whipped cream :)

Playing "Pass Rudolph"
(basically a reindeer version of Hot Potato)

Some Freeze Dancing!!!

Lil Bit liked bobbing to the music

FREEZE!!!!

It's present time!!!  Sprout loved handing out all her presents to her friends...
"Here Little Man!!"

"I can help you with this Roo!"

Little Man had SOOOOO much fun giving his friends their gifts.  I was so impressed he didn't try to take one of them back.  He knew they were for his friends.  To Cute!!!

Loving their mini-doodle pads!!
"Can we open them now??!!!"

"OOOOOOOO.... "
We have this toy here at daycare and Little Man just LOVES it!!
Now he has his own :)

Lil Bit kept that bow on her head all the way to nap time...
this is the same girl who will not leave a barrette in her hair for more than 1 min... Go figure ;)

Scamp didn't really understand what to do, but she enjoyed what was in the packaging.

After we were finished I found Scamp climbing on the stool I left out from when I went hunting for our little tiny hot cocoa mugs... as you can see, she was quite proud of herself!!!

I love baby feet... but festive Lil Bit feet are the icing on the cake!!!

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

Busy, Busy, Busy...

We have been little elves the past couple of days!!  Getting all our Christmas Presents made, wrapped and hidden from prying eyes hasn't been easy, let me tell you.  So, we haven't been taking to many photos over the last couple of days, just to make sure no hints get out there :)

We have also been learning about the Birth of Jesus, the number 2, and the colors red and green.  Each day at circle time we sing our days of the week song, our weather song, and then we do our counting songs.  The sillier the better for this group, that's for sure!!!

I will have some photos for tomorrow, it is our last day together before our Christmas break and we have a Pajama Christmas Party planned!!  We are all soooooo excited, it is hard to contain ourselves each day, just thinking about all the fun we will have is enough to get us all in a tizzy :)  So, there should be some great photos from tomorrow!!

Until then...

Just a shot of us having fun at circle time!!

 We took out our magnetic Advent Calendar out today and began our journey to the birthday of Jesus.  How exciting it was to listen to each little story about all the different pieces that make up the Story of Jesus' Birth.  You see, in each little box there is something to put on the magnetic board.  A moon, a dove, a Shepard, Angels, etc... and when you open the door a little story about that piece is played while the children put the piece up.  It is really cute.  I bought mine a few years ago, but the updated version can be found here or here.  I waited until after the holiday a few years back and got mine for a good price, but I also think it was because they discontinued mine and brought out another design.

So, we talked about Christmas, Santa and presents... but when I asked the real reason we celebrate Christmas, both Sprout and Roo told me it was Jesus' Birthday!!  Yeah!!

I can do it myself!!

See!!

And I'm gonna put it right here!!

Scamp loved moving the pieces around when it was her turn.   Yet, we did get her Shepard up there.

Lil Bit had a little trouble opening the door, but when it would start to talk, she would look up at me with the cutest look, like... "Did I just make it do that?"  :)

Putting the pieces on the board required a lot of fine motor skills!

We will be finishing up our presents and projects this week, hopefully getting everything done before the Christmas Break.  I can't believe it is already Christmas time, it seems like yesterday was our 1st day of childcare.

Holiday Crafts

It was a rainy morning here in NC and after breakfast, free play, and a quick story and circle time we decided to drag out some crafts.  We mixed up some colored glue and made a Christmas Bow Wreath and we made a Button Snowflake out of buttons, Popsicle sticks and glue.  Both crafts came out really cute and the kids had a fun time completing them.  

Working together is always more fun!!

I put in more than a few of Lil Bit's work because I want to show the progression (and absolute fun) she had...

Getting used to the materials

Hmmm... I got this!

Using more than just a paint brush is a much better use of time, don't you think??

If you haven't noticed, the middle of the wreath, which is the table, is getting more paint than anything else :)

That brush is getting pretty slippery now.  She goes to use the other brush several times, but puts it back and takes the slippery one again.

Miss Michelle finally lures her away (after 25 mins) with a promise of hand washing at the sink.  That way we have clean hands to put on the bows... she liked it, but not as much as the painting.

After the wreath project was cleaned up, we played a little, met the Fed-Ex guy at the door, watched the drizzle of rain come down and then decided we had enough time for one more project before lunch.  The fine motor skills this one needed were great for such little hands.

With the little ones, I needed to be one on one so they had to wait their turns.  Lil Bit was a very patient girl, and I think because she waited she was ready and knew what to do when it was her turn.

For their little hands I used the great big buttons, and they didn't put to many on, this was much more manageable for them.

It is interesting to see the progression of play this year.  Sprout and Roo have started to take on more leadership roles with Little Man and Lil Bit.  They are beginning to create wonderful imaginative play and including the little ones into it with them... today, they were going to Santa's Workshop, on a bus :)

"Reading" before nap
Sprout is beginning to remember some of the key passages to books we read and I will hear her "reading" to herself every now and again.  She doesn't seem to have the confidence to "read" to me yet, but we are working on it.  When I ask her she just smiles and giggles, then walks away from me.  She's a pip alright!!!!

Mortar and Pestle and Santa Claus

I love Montessori and try to bring it into our daily routine.  Although I haven't figured a way to introduce our trays, mats, and work to this group yet, I am still working on it.  So, in the mean time, I try to bring in special materials or equipment to get the children to practice the different goals I have for them.  Today we brought out the mortar and pestle.  I brought it to the table with some potpourri for a craft we were doing.  I really wanted the big girls to use it and grind the potpourri up, but, although they enjoyed touching it, using it, and learning about it, they didn't enjoy it as much as I thought they would.  That doesn't meant it wasn't enjoyed though, the little ones absolutely LOVED this activity.  I had a very hard time getting them to put it away and Scamp wanted nothing to to do with a morning nap after she got her hands on the mortar and pestle.  It was very cute.

Smelling the potpourri was part of the fun... and Little Man couldn't stop smelling it and saying...

"EEWWWWWW!!!!"

Making sure his friends got a sniff!!

"Huh, look at that."

The pestle was  heavy and I think they liked the feel of it.  

I only have one, so as patience is not something we have had a lot of practice with, some of us had a hard time waiting for our turn.  They did pretty good though, considering :)

Little Man was in charge of the mortar at this point and wanted EVERYONE to take a whiff... they would say, "Yum" and he would say, "EEWWW!!!"

"What do you think??"

"How 'bout you??"

We then took the ground up potpourri and made it into a yummy smelling hanging ornament....  well, hopefully it will turn out that way ;)

I have been talking with the kids about Christmas.  With this group, only Sprout and Roo really have any idea that Christmas is something more than just another day and they talk a lot about Santa and presents.  So, in addition to talking about how Christmas is the day Jesus was born, we have been, of course, reading and talking about Santa.  Today we read, Where Oh Where is Santa Claus?? by Lisa Wheeler.  It is such a great toddler book for the holiday.  Not to many words, great illustrations, and a reoccurring phrase, "Santa, Santa, Where are You!!?"  The phrase changes every other page, but it's pretty much the same thing, just a little different words, so we just kept saying the same phrase and the kids LOVED it!!  They loved the animals, they loved moving their heads around to see if they could see him, and we even tried to guess where he might have gone.... we never thought he would get stuck in the snow and have to be pulled out!!  It was a cute, silly book that kept even Scamp interested and laughing.

"Its Santa!!"

I Love the month of December... even if it's not December yet :)