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!