Egg-cellent Craft

We have begun thinking about Easter and of course when you think about Easter you can't not think about the Easter Bunny and Easter Eggs!!!  I found this cute craft at Blissfully Domestic.  I liked it because it appealed to all my ages, the kids could complete it at varying abilities, and it was pretty open ended.  There was no right way to complete it.  They enjoyed using the glue stick, it is especially fun to squish between little fingers after you slide it around the paper ;)

My boys were at the nearby creek this weekend and came home with a mass of frog eggs (at least that is what we are hoping they are) for us to observe.  I wasn't sure if they would continue to grow or hatch for that matter, but it seems like there may be some activity going on.  We were excited to take a look!!

A little Science, A Lot of Fun

Busy, Busy, Busy... that's what we are. We had a busy, fun morning completeing some crafts we didn't get to yesterday and doing our Tornado "experiment." I bought one of those little plastic pieces that you attach 2 soda pop bottles to, then twirl it around and it makes a "Tornado" inside the bottles. The kids enjoyed making it, but when they firgured out what it did, they thought that was even cooler. We first watched a You Tube video on Tornado's and then watched one that showed an actual Tornado touching down in an open field. The kids loved watching it, and trying to guess where it would show up on the screen. On some of the video the Tornado seemed to come out of no where. Very interesting.

Yesterday we didn't get to do our Cloud craft, so we finished it today. Glue, cotton balls, & construction paper... they loved it!! We will spray the Rain Cloud with diluted black/gray paint so the cloud is not a fluffy white. Princess loved making the Rain Cloud, but it was her who said to me that the "cloud" part needed to be darker, not the white from the cotton ball... Love Her!!!

Exploring the letter Ww has been a lot of fun this week. I found this on my camera when I downloaded the photos, not sure who took the photo, a childcare child or one of my sons, but I like the colors so I put it on.

We really love our I Spy Letter bags. We have been using them to play different letter games, sound games, I Spy games, and even gross motor activities. Today we threw them back and forth, and when you caught the bag you found an item and said it's name. It's a great game for the Toddlers, for both their vocabulary and gross motor skills. The preschoolers loved throwing and catching the bag too.

I hope we get in all the activities I have planned this week, but I am not sure we will get to our worm activities. We will be doing a planting activity soon, so maybe we will make the connection to worms, dirt, and the letter Ww as a review later in the month. We'll see.

Wind, Rain, Clouds, Sun... All This Morning

Today was a perfect Weather day. The morning started off with a downpour, then some dark gray clouds rolled in with the help of the strong wind that blew, then the sun shone beautiful and bright. I could not have asked for more perfect weather for our Weather Unit!! The kids got to experience the weather first hand. Feeling the wind and rain on their faces, then watching as the sun came out and warmed up our playroom. We looked feverishly for a rainbow when we saw the dark gray cloud start to move away... it seemed to be perfect for a rainbow, a little bit of moisture in the air, dark back drop with the sun coming out... but No, I guess the weather didn't cooperate as much as I wanted it too :) That's ok, we made a rainbow anyway. We really thought there should have been one today, so we made our own. I made a large rainbow on a sheet of paper, colored some of it in so the Toddlers would be able to match colors, and set out the colored paper, scissors and glue. The kids did a great job.

(Will you look at that hand position, she is growing so quickly!!)

The Internet is wonderful!! We found a book about Dippy the Raindrop, and listened as the author read it to us. Even though it was a little long, they enjoyed it and wanted to listen to it again. Instead, we did a little experiment. I had a pan of water (our lake), and cotton balls. We pretended the cotton balls were the clouds, that start out nice and dry and fluffy. As it passes over the lake, it picks up water (the kids put their cotton balls into the water). Then when it gets to heavy with water, it rains. They loved it!!!

(I don't know if you can see the drips toward the bottom of the photo, but Princess thought it was soooo cool!!!)

Our Boat House has become a nap time castle for a special boy or girl. While the kids are washing up after lunch, I sneak into the playroom and put someones cot into the Boat House, surprising someone special when they come in for nap. They kids look forward to seeing who is going to get their cot in the special napping castle, and I have a spot to put it during nap :)

Friday's are for Experimenting

After such a cold and wet week, it was nice to see the sun shine this morning!! It just perks you right up!!

After breakfast and some free play, we got down to business. I knew we had a lot of playing to do today, so I got us right into our day. Circle Time is a great time to reflect on our week, review what we have learned, as well as completing our Days of the Week, Counting, Weather, Shapes, and Colors. This week we added another little bonus to our Circle Time... we have been practicing rote counting to 30. We do this while clapping, snapping, hopping, or using an instrument. The kids REALLY LOVE it!! Especially the toddlers. They jump around counting as high as they can go, then just start over. The excitement on their little faces is fun to see. The movement helps them get through Circle better also.

Sprout can make a V with her arms!!

D-Man can make one with his fingers!!

We finished our Volcano theme today with an erupting volcano. The kids were so excited!

I had set up a "Volcano Station" at the art table, with baking soda, colored vinegar, and various containers to experiment with. They had a blast!!

I moved the sand volcano over to the experimenting table, this way they could experiment with that one too. It was a huge, sandy mess... but oh, what fun!!

Princess was transferring vinegar from the jars to the pitcher with the droppers. When D-Man asked why she didn't just pick up the container and pour it in, "It's faster you know." Princess said, "I like it this way!!"

Around the room we had Utensil painting at the Easel, an idea we got from Teaching 2 and 3 year olds. We had used utensils for painting last week, but we did it on the table, more horizontal. After reading Teacher Sheryl's post the other day, I thought the kids might like to try it this way. They visited the station, but there was so many other wonderful things going on, they didn't spend to much time there.

The water table seems to be a favorite!! Especially with Little Man... who, I must say, is actually getting better with putting everything he finds in the table in his mouth :)

I think the kids had another fun week!! Next week we move on to the letter Ww. Of course you can't learn about the letter Ww without learning about worms, the weather, or watermelon. I am looking forward to another fun week!!

Have a Great Weekend!!

V is for Volcano

This morning was a busy one. We had a doctor ship, a deep sea diving ship, and a cruise ship going. Using chairs, our cardboard boat, and shelves they played happily, without incident for over an hour. I didn't want to pull them away from their play, but we needed to have circle time and I really wanted to introduce them to Volcano's. So, I pulled them away from their play, leaving the makings of their fantasy world intact for when we were through with circle. Yet, when I began talking about Volcano's, reading stories, and then watching a National Geographic video on Volcano's erupting, they were hooked. I guess the Hot, Red Lava was to enticing. They loved the video, it was a Volcano 101 4 minute video we found on the Internet, and they loved watching and listening to it. We then talked about how Volcano started with a V and made the Va sound... but it was the kids who made the connection that some Volcano's looked like an upside down V. Brilliant!! On the art table today I had set out the letter V on a piece of paper with some different types of medium to create with. They of course turned it upside down and made volcano's. I loved that I didn't even have to suggest it. I did leave an image of an erupting volcano on the computer so they could see what one looked like. This is what they came up with... The white is supposed to be smoke & ash, not a Christmas Tree topper :) After we were finished creating, I thought they would go back to their play, but they did not. I felt bad about that. Instead some little disagreements broke out, I decided a nice walk would do us all some good!! During our walk we found a small pipe sticking up from the ground, left over from a street sign. We could have sworn we felt that hot lava just bubbling and boiling down there. Even feeling some of the steam on our faces as we knelt over it :) Again, I did not mention that maybe they could "see" the middle of the earth with all its lava bubbling... it was a connection they made on their own. I was very proud of them.

(Don't you just love all those little heads together trying to get a peek)

Sprout is thinking very carefully about what Princess had said about the dry parts of the road being where the lava is right underneath, drying the road faster there than where Sprout is walking. Huh...

Just a little snippet from our day... I wish I could capture it all.