Oh! Please Take Me Fishing!

Last week, I noticed the kiddos were beginning to get restless with the bakery that was set up in Dramatic Play. I called a group meeting and asked them to help me decide what we should turn the area into next. I flipped through the pages of a book full of dramatic play ideas and they stopped when they found one they liked. They were all very excited about turning the center into a fishing spot!

We decided we'd need some water, some fish, and a few fishing poles, and we got busy working. First we made the river.

Then we made some fish! Here's Maddie carefully tracing our template fish:

The afternoon class helped make some trees to make the center look like a real fishing spot.

Once all of the scenery was complete, the kiddos went fishing! They've been having a blast with this!

Watch Autumn as she tries to catch a fish!

I added a few camping supplies, too, like a pretend fire, a roasting stick, and some marshmallows and hot dogs. Mrs. Twedt was super, super generous and got us a very nice tent to add to the center too! (Thank her for all of her support whenever you see her. She is truly a blessing to all of us!) Now, it's a full-on outdoor center. It's so fun!

Eli and Ellie camp through the "night" snug as a bug in our new tent!

Picnic in the Park

Last week, the children earned a picnic at the park and some time to play. The nice spring weather has made it more challenging for the children to focus. After talking about how important it is to stay focused and to keep learning, I introduced the kiddos to a special chart I made. Their goal was to earn stickers to get to the picnic table I drew at the top of the chart. When they reached the picnic table, they earned the picnic.

The kiddos did so well with this. The afternoon class earned their picnic in two days, and the morning class earned theirs in three days! Of course the beginning of last week was cold and rainy, so we weren’t able to go on our picnics until Wednesday. It was worth the wait though – the kids had a blast!

After the nice walk to the park, we enjoyed a tasty snack of grapes, cheese, crackers, and water. Then it was off to enjoy some gross motor time as we balanced, climbed, ran, and jumped. While it seemed to the children that it was all about having fun, there was meaning in their play. They were building balance and gross motor skills the whole time! My favorite thing to watch them do was walk across the springy shapes. Some of them were very confident as they bounced from shape to shape, but many of them were a bit more tentative. I helped them only as long as it took them to see they could do it themselves, and then they were unstoppable. It was a great time to work on balance and leg muscles!

Watch Keely and Joa as they take on the springy shapes!

The kiddos are working on another special day now. We haven’t decided what the special day will be yet, but I’m sure it will be just as fun as our picnic!

Which Way Would You Like to Get to Las Vegas?

On Thursdays the last two weeks, I have been doing yoga with the children. Yoga is a great way to get the kids moving! They put so many of their muscles to use as they get into and hold each pose. It also allows them some time to slow down and calm their minds for a little while.

When we do yoga, we pretend to go on a transportation journey. (The morning class has gone to Hawaii and Las Vegas, and the afternoon class has gone to Des Moines and California.) In order to get where we need to go, we have to choose different types of transportation (e.g. riding a horse, flying on an airplane, riding a cat, by boat, riding a butterfly, etc.). These different types of transportation are different yoga poses. Each child gets to pick one pose on our journey to our destinations. We hold each pose while we count to ten and then pick another one.

The airplane pose!

Some of the poses are trickier than others, but the kiddos have been eager to get them right. The hardest one is the boat pose. To do this one, the children find a partner and sit facing each other. They put their feet together and raise them into the air and then try to grab each other’s hands. They are then balancing on their tail bones and using their abdomen and leg muscles to keep each other up. The first time we practiced this only a couple of groups were successful. Yesterday, though, every group was able to get into this pose and some were able to hold it for quite some time!  

The kiddos love these experiences! They even practice the poses on their own during interest areas and after snack time. They are becoming more aware of their bodies and discovering new ways to use them!

Easter with Preschoolers!

Goodness gracious! It has been far too long since I posted. I'm sorry about that! I've been working on preparing for conferences. Thanks so much for being patient with me.

Since it has been such a long time, I'm working on a series of scheduled posts to update you on the things we've been up to. I'm hoping to have a post a day for the next couple of days to get you all caught up!

Tonight, I want to focus on the faith-based part of the last couple of days. As I mentioned, Easter is my favorite holiday to celebrate with preschoolers. We've had some of the best conversations about Jesus' death and resurrection the last few weeks! I broke the story of Jesus' death and resurrection into short chunks based on the children's bible I use and we read a different story every other day. This helped me explain everything to the kids in a way that they understood it.

We also had a chance to do a couple of different activities to help them understand the story. My favorite activity was building a tomb for Jesus after reading about His death. We collected rocks from the playground and used them to build a tomb (which was a great vocabulary term!). After building the tomb, we drew a picture of Jesus and laid him in the tomb and placed a big rock in front of the opening. The next day, after reading about Jesus' friends discovering He had come back to life, we checked our tombs to discover that Jesus had risen from our tombs as well! The kiddos were so excited to find the tombs empty! I wish I had videotaped their expressions. It was precious!

Checking our tombs:

The kiddos seemed to truly understand this. Today, as we were up in the sanctuary practicing for Sunday, one of the children asked about the candle at the front. I told them how the candle symbolizes that Jesus is with us. The child wanted to know if it is always lit, and I explained how it is often put out on Good Friday because that's when we celebrate Jesus' death. The child then said, "Oh. So do they light it again on Easter since that's when Jesus came back to life?" It makes my heart happy to know the children understand the story of Easter!