Monday Morning Play Time

At the end of last week, I pulled out the old ball pit and put the sand sensory box in it. After about 1 second all the sand was out of the box and on the floor of the ball pit. So, I took the box out and added some of the Crayola Play Sand that comes in neat colors. I purchased purple and a limey green. The kids LOVE it!!! A lot of playin went on in that ball pit. Yeah, we did have A LOT of sand on the floor, in our socks (on purpose) and in our hair, but what a good time. How many kids get to have a purple sandbox, in the house!!! I was told I was the best teacher ever, probably 100 times, just this morning.

Ok, I have been reading a couple really cool blogs lately, My Home Made Montessori Manipulatives, and Sand and Water Tables. I really am enjoying the great ideas and inspirations from both blogs. I knew Tomsensori, from Sand and Water Tables, used duct tape for a lot of his projects. I thought, "I have duct tape, inspiration, and kids. I am sure I can come up with something."

HERE IT IS:

Yup, we made some sort of water wall. The kids and I gathered some things from around the room, I got the duct tape and away we went. They gathered around and watched me very intently, hardly able to keep their bodies contained with all the excitement. I got it all duct taped on and stepped back to take a look, in my head I thought, "Man, that's a lot of duct tape. They are gonna hate it." Boy was I wrong. They absolutely loved it!! Squealing in delight when the water would come out one of the holes we popped into a container, or when it actually went through the tube and into the strainer. We talked a lot about cause and effect while we were making it, and how much water we might need to get the water to come out of some of the holes and when they finally got to test their hypothesis they couldn't wait to discuss it with me and each other. "Look Shell, it IS coming out of the top hole." "Look D-Man, you said it wouldn't make it to the bottom." "Miss M you got all the water in the top container, it went down the tube too." How satisfying... for us all :)

We also had the play dough out again, with some interesting creature pieces. My husbands Aunt had sent them to us last year and I dumped them in the sensory table and the kids really enjoyed playing with them, you can read that post here. We are learning about the letter Oo & Pp this week and we talked about Ocean & Octopus today, the kids then got to make play dough ocean creatures and/or a silly octopus. (we also made an octopus out of a paper plate, but forgot to get a photo). Play dough is a real favorite around here!!

As Is Open Ended Art Activities... Little Miss M made these for her Dad. She cut the circle out and then glued the different collage materials on. She has gotten so proficient at applying the liquid glue, I am always amazed.

Little Man got into a lot of stuff today. He played with the kids in the sandbox, splashed the water all over the place, all the while trying to get the containers in his mouth, and even played blocks with my older son. I wanted to get photo's of the other things, but my hands were busy keeping everything out of his mouth :)

Green Eggs & Ham and Sand...

Sickness has caught us again here at Child Care. Yesterday only Sprout and Princess were here, and today Little Man joined them. With the beautiful weather we have been having here, we get that false sense that winter is over, and along with it, the nasty germs that cause all those nasty colds and flu's. So, the 3 kids and I had a quiet, cozy Green Egg's and Ham kind of day. Starting our morning out right with some wonderfully bright green eggs and spotted green ham (I couldn't find my brush to "paint" the green on the ham). The kids thought it was funny none the less :) I couldn't find my camera this morning (in my son's room) so couldn't get photo's of our yummy green food.

We also put some sand in the sensory table today, and while pouring it in the table I sort of over compensated because of the weight and the sand landed behind the table and in our ball pit. Well, being one that doesn't mind the mess to much, I decided to use the pit as a "transport" area. I put the table next to the ball pit and put some sand in both. I gave them buckets, scoops, and containers, and away they went... it kept them busy for almost an hour.

Peek-a-Boo!!!

Little Man really loves the sensory table. He did really great keeping the sand out of his mouth. His favorite thing to do was transport the sand to the floor, watching it slip from his hand onto the floor was fascinating for him (well, all of them really). Watching him watch the sand was mesmerizing for all of us. He was so intent and concentrated on what he was doing. I just imagined all the synapses that were going off in his brain. All the information that was being stored. Looking at this, realizing how much babies are learning from this cause and effect kind of experimentation, makes cleaning up the sand so much more worthwhile, don't you think :)

When the ball pit went up, it gave Princess and Sprout somewhere, besides the floor, to move the sand to and they did spend a lot of time letting the sand slip through their fingers on to the floor of the pit.

TODDLER ART... PROCESS OVER PRODUCT

You can see how she is working those finger muscles!! Squeezing is such a great fine motor activity for toddlers. Squeezing play dough, gak, glue bottles, paint bottles, anything... the more they work those muscles the easier it will be to control their pencils or scissors.

Our "messy area" has been used a lot lately, mostly by the toddlers. They love to just explore and experiment with the materials there, never really caring about the finished product. It is actually interesting that when Little Miss M & Sprout are there by themselves they are totally absorbed in the process, but if you put just 1 preschooler or school-ager with them, they follow their lead and have to "show" me their work about 15 times a minute. I know it is because the big kids do it and they mimic them, I just didn't realize how much it happened until the toddlers were working on their own at the messy area, and never asked me to look at their work. They didn't need really any input from me, except how to use the equipment properly. Interesting.

Sand

Kozy Kids is very lucky to have such wonderful families!! One of our families donated a truck full of sand for our sandbox!! Thank You Jada & Richard!!!! It was not only needed very badly... but we LOVED playing in it and moving it today!!!

First... we went to the Iredell Partnership's Smart Start for a Family Child Care Playgroup!! It was a lot of fun for the kids and Miss Michelle got some much needed work done :) The kids get to play in an awesome playroom, while I get to go to the resource room to laminate, use the die cut machine, and look at the lending library. A win-win situation!!! I would like to pass on a little tidbit to all my Mom's & Dad's because I was sooooo proud of our kids.... I was told by the Teacher in the Playroom that when a baby was crying during playtime... ALL of our kids went over to her and began singing to her to make her happy. Is that the cutest thing you have ever heard. I was so proud of them for taking care of the littlest in the room.

This little guy was very intent on digging holes to put his flowers in. It was one of those projects that he was so focused on the task at hand, he didn't pay any attention to anything else.

All my friends couldn't wait to get their hands dirty and "help" move our sand from the bed of Ol Smokey!! They worked very hard!!

Ok, so I didn't actually MAKE her push the wheelbarrow all the way to the yard :)

(Though she would have tried if I let her)

Hard at work!!

Dumping!!!

I got it all Shell!!!

Teamwork at its finest!!!

I had the water source going again today... and even though we were hard at work for most of the morning, my friends found time to get busy with the fun stuff!!

Our Mud Hole from yesterday seems to be getting bigger...

This is where our clothes have been ending up at the end of the morning... wet & messy!!

I guess I should invest in a clothes line :)

Ok... My favorite photo of the day!!!

Ya think she had fun??? She couldn't decide what she liked more...

the water, the sand, or the mud :)

Little Miss M ran back and forth from the water table to the sand pit to the garden. She couldn't get enough of it all. The exploration and investigation going on today was exhausting.

A Busy Morning

Wednesday Morning seemed to be a busy one... we had out lots of water play (since it was raining outside), we went through the tunnel, built with blocks, used our Sand Studio, made Head Bands, and talked Turkey. We had a lot of fun exploring how all our friends celebrated Thanksgiving.

Our Sand Studio is a big hit!! I am glad I made the purchase. I kept going back and forth about the price, but the kids really love it and get a lot of use out of it. We use it for anything they want... playing in the sand, tracing letters, making words (hence the letters in the background) and using the templates to make shapes.

I think the favorite though is being able to quietly (alone or with a friend) play with the little people or animals.

Water play is my favorite. We try to get water out everyday. We have had a baby washing station, just water in the sensory table, sponging tray work, washing the table or clothing tray work, the list can go on and on!! Water has so many possibilities and the kids just kind of lose themselves in what they are doing...

This happens to be a favorite!! We don't even have the boats anymore, but they use cars, motorcycles or little people... doesn't matter. There is a path to follow and they love to follow it :)

The kids have really been into their Monster Trucks lately and we have had this type of play going on from early in the morning, until they have to go home. They found out last week that if they moved the carpet around they would get hills, mountains, and ramps!! What Fun!!! So, we tell the other kids to be careful where you walk... we don't want anyone falling over!!!

We had a friend make up some feathers on her die-cut machine!! We used them to make our headdresses. We talked about Thanksgiving and the Native Americans that helped the Pilgrims when they came to America. We then extended the conversation to how WE help our families during Thanksgiving and how we can help them everyday!!

How do you help your family during Thanksgiving Time?

B: I make the food that my Mom makes. My Dad likes to eat it.

L: I go to my Mimi's house, Nana's house, and I do all the work. My Mom drives and my brother plays. My Dad is playing with my brother.

S: We eat and I help.

R: I don't like to help. I want to play games.

Those are some of the great responses I got. I love to listen to their thought process and see what comes out. We started Show-n-Tell Friday's and the kids can either talk about what ever they want, or show a toy and tell about that. I ask questions and they answer them so far, but every once in a while we will get one child who will go on and on about what ever it is they are telling us about. I love it. It gives them a chance to talk in front of the group... a skill it is never to early to start.

Sand Box

The sand box is a important part of our daycare program... On this day, we decided to have a sand creation day... the kids had to make sure their creations had sand, 5 pieces of wood and 6 rocks in each of their creations. They worked so well together... letting the little ones have their say and letting them add whatever they wanted. I love to see them work together.