We had lovely weather during preschool! The kids loved having all the outside time. They have been enjoying the sand box a lot more lately (as is evidenced in the pounds of sand I vacuum up each night). Swinging, on their own, and as spiders, is always a hit. Silly boys.
The kids started a few games of hide-and-seek one day and had a blast trying to hide in the pretty open space in the yard. It was very funny. In the top picture, Jeff was counting and Ryan was trying to hide laying down on the bench just behind him...
We have been talking lots about birds! We learned about Robins and watched a YouTube video of a baby bird hatching. We talked about why they look the way they do when they are born, how they eat, and how they know how to fly not too long after being born. The kids just soaked it up! So of course then I had to come up with some bird-ish activities. Here they are making an egg that can crack open to show the baby bird with a clothespin. Cute!
I gave the kids markers, 1 wiggle eye, glue, and a few feathers. We had just finished a book about birds, nests, eggs, etc. And they went to town. While coloring, they all started talking about what they were drawing and all the pictures ended up pretty similar, despite doing them each on their own. They are such little artists!
Another bird activity they did was a math game. They took turns rolling the die and writing out their math problem. The first roll was the first number in the equation, then they put a plus sign, then rolled again to find the second number in their problem. They drew a nest and drew in all the eggs corresponding to the numbers they rolled to find the answer. They are getting SO good!
Coloring these little tear drop shaped wooden pieces seemed a lot more bird-like in my head. They look a little like fish with feathers, but the kids thought they were great. I glued a magnet on the back and the kids were excited to try them out at home!
Play time was mostly Color Clix. I know they love them, so I keep them out, but it's been a while now, so maybe I'll put them away for a couple weeks and let them find an interest in some of the other million toys here at preschool.
Some more math games. This particular game has different sheets to do patterning, completing a broken pattern, counting small and large numbers, counting by 5's or 10's, and more. It's so fun for them!
Checking out some of the posters, and playing impromptu math games during free play.
And, introducing our new "Reading Room". I moved the book shelves into another room along with the stuffed animals and a large foam mat. It is nice having a second area for the ids to utilize, especially when they need to have a calm area for reading and relaxing. I love watching them read, along or in groups, it's awesome. What smart kids these are!
