Happy Halloween

Is it to early to change the design to Thanksgiving?? Ehhh, I think I like it!!

We had a great Halloween... photos, you ask?? If I find the camera, I will post them :)

Someday I will get organized and put that camera where I can find it.

Happy Halloween to All!!!

Halloween Anticipation

What a Fun Day

What a fun day!! Our friends came over for another play day... we love play days!!! I had set up a lot of fun things for us to do today.

First, we had a pumpkin scooping center set up... the kids loved scooping out that pumpkin pulp. They discussed what was in there, the sliminess of it, what we could do with the seeds after we got them all out and what kind of face our jack-o-lantern would have.

(Happy Face won)

I was surprised that the little ones had so much fun. They can be very picky about the textures they touch, but I guess all our exploration of slimy, rough, smooth, sticky, bumpy, and icky things is beginning to pay off.

Ok, well not with everyone. Seriously though, the Princess loved it and got right in there and scooped a lot of the stringy, slimy pulp out. She can't wait to dry those seeds so we can try and grow pumpkins next year. Watch out Mom & Dad, she wants to take 100 seeds home to plant in YOUR yard :)



Everyone had a say in how our pumpkin would look. Miss Michelle had the task of making it happen. We had a fun time.

Sprout had fun with the pumpkins too, here she is telling me,

"Shell, Shell... pumpk, pumpk!!!"


Next, I got the great idea from Sherry & Donna over at Irresistible Ideas for Play Based Learning, to do Foil Finger painting to go with our letter Ff week. What fun they had. They have orange and white paint from their heads to their little feet.

"Shell, Thomas train tracks"

Writing names, making shapes, and just getting down right slimy and messy!!

Right up our alley!!

"Look Shell, paint"

They used their whole bodies today. To bad we didn't think of this in the summer with bathing suits... that would be loads of fun, and nothing a little water won't get off.

The Princess really enjoyed this project... she had paint up her arm, under her shirt, and all over her hair. I hope the party she is going to after Child Care isn't a dressy one :)

See, I told you, a fun day today!!

The Pumpkin Patch

What a wonderful day at the Pumpkin Patch!!

This picture slideshow created with Smilebox

Pumpkins

Have you ever been to a pumpkin patch where all the pumpkins look the same?? I haven't. So when we decided to make pumpkins today it was okay that they looked, well, a little different!
We all decided that orange would be the color we would use, and yes the black triangles for the eyes, nose and mouth... but still, take a look, I don't think one looks anything like another.

Silly Pumpkins

"Look Shell, Thomas the Tank pumpkin"

A Leggy Pumpkin



I want to try, I promise I won't eat the glue!!
(Nope, we didn't believe him)

Our pumpkin washing station got a lot of use again today. The preschoolers helped the little ones get their water and pour it out, which I think they liked as much as the activity itself. It is so much fun to be the helper and not always the helped.

Hopefully the weather will be okay tomorrow so we can visit the pumpkin patch.

Pumpkins, Water, Books

Being the week before Halloween, I decided to put out some great activities for the kids to do. First we added a pumpkin washing station. I bought 5 little gourd pumpkins and set them out with a basin, scrubber, towel, and water cup. The kids enjoyed getting their water, washing and then drying the pumpkins. We had to help the little ones a little bit bringing the water from the sink (unfortunately the sink is a ways away from the playroom) and emptying the basin when they were through. The preschoolers did the whole job on their own though.

I set out the black beans and Halloween objects in the sensory table. I love the contrast in color in this sensory bin. The kids love it too. We are really working on keeping the sensory materials IN the sensory table. The little ones have no concept of their own space and will always hold their cup over the outside of the bin to fill it. So, the sound of beans bouncing on the floor is a constant in the playroom today.

We also made pumpkin spice play dough. I took this photo of the Princess getting ready to help me knead the dough, which she did. I have no clue what happened that I couldn't get a photo of her actually kneading the dough though :) It seems something is always distracting me.

Here are my friends playing with the completed dough!! They loved the smell and texture. The spice I used didn't totally dissolve so they could feel the little bitty spices in the dough. Also, I tried to make the dough orange... that didn't happen. Princess and I put to much of the spice in and it turned into an orangey brown. They didn't seem to mind.

I put out some fun Halloween books (our favorite is the 5 Little Pumpkins book) in our reading corner too. The kids had fun looking at them and "reading" them to each other. I enjoyed watching the "big" kids with the little ones. They get very excited to think they are teaching the little ones something. Especially these two guys, who happen to have older siblings at home and are almost never the ones to get to do things faster, better or first. Another reason I love the multi-aged learning environment.

E is for Eggs...

These two guys were so cute today... they were opposite each other and Big Guy was running full speed (well, as fast as his little legs could take him) towards Little Man... they were laughing at each other. It was way to cute!!!

Ending our Ee week was a lot of fun!! Each child brought in a dozen eggs this week (I washed each egg to make sure no germs were left on the shell) and we broke them today. We have been learning about all different kinds of eggs this week... where they come from, what's in them, which ones can you eat, and what colors they come in. After all that discussing, it was time to get a little hands on!! Little kids are so eager to help in the kitchen, cracking eggs, but we hardly ever let them do the actual cracking because we don't want to waste them. Today we got to crack a lot of them!!

Holding them, feeling them, talking about their size, texture, weight and even shaking them to see if we hear anything. That part alone was very exciting. Then when I told them to go ahead and crack them open to see what was inside... you would have thought it was Christmas morning :)

"Ooey Gooey Shell"
"Cool"

"Slimy"

Sprout loved it... she used her spoon to make a small crack and then used her hand to smash it. Every Single time she would look up at me AMAZED at what she did.

These two were quite the team. At first no one wanted to touch the "slimey stuff" but soon these two were exploring each egg like it was the Hope Diamond. After all the girls were finished, washed up and changed, these two were still at it. They must have been at it for an extra 25 - 30 minutes... as the Princess said, "You guys are doing that for hours."

We got this idea from Annie at Annies Alphabet Home Child Care. I wish I could link to the exact post, but I couldn't find it right away and since nap time is almost over I can't take the time to look for it. Sorry. It's fun to just browse her blog anyway... she is very creative with her kids!!

We were getting some things ready for our day and when we looked over Big Guy here had pulled himself up to a standing position!! Oh No, we're in trouble now!!!

The tunnel was out today too, the kids had a ball sliding down into the tunnel.

What a fun Friday... now if we hadn't dropped the panties (twice, someone thought it might be funnier the second time around) in the toilet it would have been perfect!! :)

Ee for The Emperor's Egg

Today we read the book The Emperor's Egg by Martin Jenkins. It is a beautiful little book that tells the tale of how the Emperor Penguin takes care of their Egg until their Chick hatches. Great illustrations and text for young children. It seemed like it would be long, but the kids were very attentive and their was a lot of interaction while reading.

After reading we broke up into Quiet Work and Center Time. One of the centers was making an Emperor Egg... today we glued on white tissue paper. It has to dry and then on Friday we will make our baby chick and cut the egg so it can open and close and we can see the little penguin inside. I have been visiting Jackie at Pocketful of Posie's a lot lately, and again I got this idea from her. Jackie had the egg hatching an "e" we will be hatching an chick, but the idea came from her. Thanks Jackie!!

We also practiced writing our letters on the chalkboards, built tall towers in the block center, made delicious morning snacks in the housekeeping center, babies had tummy time, and the reading corner with all the new Halloween books got a lot of traffic today too. Another Great Day at Kozy Kids!!!