We enjoyed an art exploration activity last week where we got to sponge paint some snowmen with marshmallows! It was a very fun and messy activity!
We enjoyed an art exploration activity last week where we got to sponge paint some snowmen with marshmallows! It was a very fun and messy activity!
The preschool class is in the middle of their Antarctic Habitat Study and we have learned a lot! The Antarctic is a very cold habitat and that has lots of water. We learned about various animals that live in this habitat and about whether they live on the land, in the water, or in the air, and some, a combination of them. We stuck our hands in freezing, icy, cold water and discovered it would be very hard to swim in water that cold.
So how do these animals do it? We learned that they have lots of blubber that keeps them warm! So we tried to stick our hands in the water again, this time with them “covered in blubber” and discovered that it was not cold at all this way!
We also learned about the icebergs that are found in the Antarctic. We added a little math study into our lesson and got to play a “Melt the Iceberg” game!
We got to have a little fun with some sensory play and made Antarctic animal tracks in some sparkly playdough snow!
There is nothing better on a cold day than some warm and comforting soup! We read the book, “Chicken Soup with Rice” by Maurice Sendak, and then our friends helped make some chicken soup…with rice! They each took a turn adding in a different ingredient.
Our friends got to try chicken soup with rice, along with rectangle crackers at snack time!
Our art project was also focused on chicken soup with rice, so our friends used different colored rice and glue to make a bowl of pretty colored chicken soup with rice! They had fun using their fine motor skills to scoop the rice, pour it on the paper, and then shake it until it stuck to the glue.
Snow is falling and the temperature is dropping…What a perfect time to make hot chocolate! The Preschool Prep Students took turns stirring and adding ingredients into our mix. They were able to enjoy their hot chocolate at snack time!
It sure doesn’t feel like it is winter but we are still celebrating it in the classroom! This week we practiced number recognition and counting with a snowman game. First we rolled a koosh and whatever number it landed on or closest to is how many snowflakes we counted! We had so much fun with this activity and everyone already asked when they will get to do it again!
Exploring classroom centers is some of our students favorite time of day! We change the centers once a month, and the children are so excited to explore all the new activities and experiences each month. Learning centers are an important part of preschool. Learning centers are defined areas with activities, within a classroom, where children can explore and learn with hands-on materials. Learning centers allow for independently guided play with peers, social interactions and problem solving practice. Research shows that young children learn best through active, hands-on play; learning centers engage children and make learning fun. Children manipulate materials, explore ideas, discover consequences, build, create and express themselves through art. To parents it may look like children are “just playing,” but this is play with a purpose. Through carefully planned learning centers, children learn important concepts and life skills in ways that are meaningful to them.
Notice the “snow” that’s EVERYWHERE? It’s the favorite new center for January…the Antarctic habitat in the sensory table. It may be everywhere…messy is the most fun!
School is back in swing and the Preschool Prep class is working hard and having fun! Today we practiced counting buttons onto snowmen and sorting our shapes!
We had such a fun holiday season with our friends in the toddler classroom! With holidays as our theme for the month of December, our activities were as fun and as festive as can be!
Here we were practicing our fine motor skills, by putting gumdrops onto straws and square toothpicks. Some of our friends made it more challenging by trying to stack as many as they could fit!
And we can’t forget about our different holiday art projects! Our friends did some painting with jingle bells to make candy cane stripes, painted using star cookie-cutters for Christmas tree ornaments. They also did alphabet projects about the letter “J” for Jingle Bells and “K” for Kiss under the mistletoe!
Our centers were focused around holiday happenings, too! We had Santa’s Workshop, red and green color sorting, Christmas tree pom-pom decorating, holiday puzzles, and our sensory table was filled with everything from jingle bells to cinnamon sticks!
It was truly a joyful and magical time of year with our friends in the toddler classroom. We are very thankful for such a wonderful ending to 2015, and look forward to what 2016 will bring for the Creative Tots toddler class!
Creative Tots has specialized in the private education of both toddlers and preschool age children for over 15 years. We began in the heart of Madeira and now also have a new Mason location. We are specifically designed to focus on early childhood development for children ages 18 months to 5 years.
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