Learning About Clouds and Rain

This week, we made rain jars to go along with our "April Showers" theme.



The children used pipettes to drip watercolor paint into shaving cream clouds.



We used language like squeeze, drip, heavy, fill, and saturate.



We learned that when a cloud gets full of water, rain falls!

After we were finished working with our rain jars, we used the leftover (now colorful!) clouds to make lovely prints.

Hunting for Letters (Mini Sensory Bin)

This week, our mini sensory bin contained split peas and a foam alphabet puzzle.  The children took turns feeling their way around the bin, finding letters, matching them up with the frame, and manipulating them to fit in the appropriate places.  It was great for exercising those fine motor skills!

Friday Funny - 40 Ways Kids Ruin Everything Good In This World

A little parenting humor as we head into the weekend.  :)

40 Ways Kids Ruin Everything Good In This World. This Is Painful...But So Funny!

Upcoming Local Event: Kidpalooza!

This will be our 6th year attending.  We always have a great time!

We ♥ the Earth

We celebrated Earth Day all week by reading books about caring for our planet, and getting lots of time outdoors to explore and enjoy nature first hand.  We also traced and finger-painted to make this craft:

Benefits of Mixed-Age Interaction

One of my favorite things about our group is watching some of the "littles" grow to become "bigs" - and seeing them interact with younger peers in the same way that older children once did with them.

Here is a wonderful example of this cycle of friendship: Jacob has been with us since he was six weeks old, and is now a helpful, sociable five-year-old. Today, he spent some time building a train for his little buddy Austyn to play with. After working to get it just right, Jacob proudly presented his creation to his friend. Austyn excitedly crawled over and began grabbing individual pieces. Jacob laughed and said, "Well, that's okay. I think he likes it!"  :)

It Began as a Cloud Race...

A group activity to go with our Wind theme this week: tape on the floor, straws, and cotton ball "clouds." It was great fun blowing through the straws to make our clouds race down the track!

After a while, some of the children wanted to try out other items to race on the track.

Eventually, the monster trucks tired from racing and joined us in sensory play instead.

 

A Sneak Peek for This Week

We have a new setup at the sand table this week.  Dinosaurs and lizards have joined our dump truck and digger.  Take a look: 

SiLLy WeEk!

"Laughter is the sun that drives winter from the human face." -Victor Hugo

Welcome to another annual "Silly Week"...

where all kinds of unexpected things may happen!  :)

We ate off of funny plates,

and played with monster eyeballs!

They were so slippery, slimy, and silly!

Mommies and Daddies found a HUGE pen at the sign-in station. We tried it out to write our names too:

During story time, Ms. Steph read a book backwards! And one of them was upside down!

Goofy signs were popping up all over the place! On our food, in the toilet, on the restroom door:

When we went on our weekly Field Trip to the library, Miss Katy read us books all about funny things.  She said it was "Sloof Lirpa!"

We ate crazy-colored noodles with lunch

and had some other tricky foods, too.  We thought we were having juice for a treat, but when we couldn't drink it, we realized that it was really jello. Ms. Steph gave us these "french fries" too (apple slices with caramel dip.)

We came up with all sorts of silly ideas on our own during play time.

It was such a FUN and SILLY week!

Resources:
Water beads can be purchased through Amazon here (affiliate link):
Mixed Colors Water Pearls

We Read for the Record!

We participated in the We Give Books reading event to celebrate Jumpstart's Read for the Record!

This year, we read Otis by Loren Long. It is a beautiful story about friendship. We were all enthralled with kind Otis, and the tractor enthusiasts in our group were pleased that he was the hero of the story.  ;)

"New York Times bestselling author/artist Loren Long creates an unforgettable children's classic.

Otis is a special tractor. He loves his farmer and he loves to work. And he loves the little calf in the next stall, whom he purrs to sleep with his soft motor. In fact, the two become great friends: they play in the fields, leap hay bales, and play ring-around-the-rosy by Mud Pond.

But when Otis is replaced with the big yellow tractor, he is cast away behind the barn, unused, unnoticed . . . until the little calf gets stuck in Mud Pond. Then there is only one tractor—and it’s not big or yellow—who can come to the rescue. It is little old Otis who saves his friend. It is Otis who saves the day."

There are three copies of this book at the Logan-Hocking County District Library. Otis by Loren Long may also be purchased through Amazon (affiliate link):