Today is Monday...

I love the book by Eric Carle, Today Is Monday, where you sing about eating certain foods on certain days of the week.  It's catchy and it's fun.  I have humming it lately and I know I have the book somewhere, I need to get it out since the kids keep wanting me to sing it for them. 

Why do I bring that up, you ask??  Well, we have finally been able to have a consistent Circle Time.  It has been a long 2 1/2 months, but we are here.  All the kids sit so nicely, and are actually engaged.  In the beginning it was a lot like the old kittens in the box reference... every time you got one to sit, another would get up and wander away.  You would get that one engaged with a song, story or finger play and another one would make there way away from the circle.  It wasn't much fun for those who enjoyed and were ready for that type of activity (Sprout and Roo) but we were patient and kept doing it, although a more condensed version.  Our patience has finally paid off, we are officially completing an entire Circle Time, with Days of the Week, Weather, Song, Story and Movement activity... YAY!!!! 

It was Little Man's turn to do the Days of the Week... He loved it!!

Lil Bit was a little to short to reach the Weather Wheel... so I gave her a boost.  She loved being involved to!!

Singing 5 Little Turkey's (I think) or 1 Little, 2 Little, 3 Little Turkey's... They loved them both.

Outside we practiced kicking a ball.  I think Scamp here did it by accident, and was she surprised when the ball shot away from here.  Of course I got the before the kick shot and an after the surprised look shot... go figure :)

Lil Bit loved the wind in her face today.  She would stand at the little window of one of the play houses and just laugh and giggle every time the wind blew into her face.

"What, I'm not throwing sand!!"

"Give it back!!!"

It's always good to have the right equipment for the job... Roo is picking up all the leaves in the yard :)

Today is Monday and what a wonderful day it was!!!

Flying

Gross Motor experiences are very important to young children. When I brought my son to his Dial 3 Screening they said he did great, but, if I wanted to work on anything in particular with him, work on his gross motor skills. I thought, "Huh..." We participate in many different gross motor activities... Skipping, Running, Climbing, Dancing, Wrestling, Riding Bikes, Pushing Scooters, Actions Songs... I mean the list can go on and on. So when they said that I thought, "He must be having a bad day." I am so not worried...

As the year winds down and we are playing outside more and more, I have a chance to watch the kids practice their gross motor skills. It is amazing to see the toddlers navigate the ladder to the slide, or the preschoolers climb to the top of the play house and jump/slide off the other side. They kick the ball around, they throw the bean bags, and even "play" baseball with the wiffle ball bat. It is truly amazing to see how far they have come.

We have had a lot of wet weather here lately though. So, we needed to find some indoor gross motor activities... Now I have a slide inside, bean bags, hopscotch, and bowling, but their favorite is...

They gather every pillow, blanket, dress up clothing, and soft thing they can find, put it in a pile and JUMP!!! Watching their little faces and bodies, I know the feeling is exhilarating for them. To be flying through the air and landing in that pile of stuff... the yelps, giggles, and belly laughs are contagious. The arts and crafts, science experiments, and yummy snacks are all great, but this is what it is all about!!!