Welcome To DinoLand

Welcome back friends and Happy New Year!! This month with our Experience Early Learning Curriculum we will be exploring DinoLand🦖

This week we are focusing on Paleontology. Our preschool curriculum has set up multiple opportunities for the children to investigate dinosaur fossils, learning about dinosaur bones, and introducing different kinds of dinosaurs. For example, children will be able to use tools to carefully brush discovered dinosaur bones and also create their own fossil imprints with different items.

These experiences allow children to better understand what it’s like to work for fossils and bones. The hands on activities in week one with our preschool curriculum can help stimulate a child curiosity about things that existed in the past.

Fossil Stamp

We used cardboard lids and arranged black foam stickers on the bottom of the lid to make fossil stamps. Next I placed brown paint and had the children stamp their fossil imprints on paper.

T-Rex Teeth Necklace

T-Rex was one of the largest meat-eating dinosaurs. It has sharp teeth, tiny arms and two very big feet. Today we explored stringing a piece of yarn through the triangles and straw pieces to create a T-Rex necklace.

Dinosaur Designs

Observe: Did the child copy the designs? Did he/she appear engaged and interested? Did he/she Share the materials with other?

Supplies: shape mats and chain links. (EEL box)

Set up

• set out the shape design Mats and chain links.

Play

• have child place the correct color link onto the mat.

• For older children add Play-Doh and have the children on the map

Dino Models

Supplies

• bone pieces

• glue

• paper

Make

Encourage children to create their own dinosaur designs from the dinosaur bones pieces.

I hope you all had a great week and we will see you again next week. Thanks for stopping by.

As an Experience Early Learning Blog Ambassador, we receive the Experience Early Learning Preschool curriculum in exchange for our honest and authentic stories resulting from our personal experiences. As always, our opinions on amazing stuff for children are 100% our own. Keep in mind that all preschoolers do things in their own time and on their own terms. What one is ready for, another might not be. Please use your best judgement when planning activities for your children.

Climb to the top of a mountain!!

Welcome back friends!!! This week we did some mountain hiking, skiing and talked about tree lines. We just adore all the fun activities that our preschool Curriculum designs.

Now come ski with us……

Skis

Supplies ( in your EEL curriculum box)

• skis

• Loom loops

Your Supplies

• crayons/markers

• Scissors

Discuss

• where is a good place to wear skis? Why?

• Have you ever been skiing?

• What would you wear if you went skiing?

Make

• encourage children to decorate their skis. Roll up one end of each ski, if desired.

• invite children to place their feet on the skis. Help wrap the loom loops around each foot and ski to secure.

Play

• have ski races. Set up a start and finish line.

• Record the children’s time to complete the course.

• Repeat and see if he/she can beat their own time.

• Turn on a ski video to encourage children.

Mountain Trees

Supplies

• triangle shapes

• Craft sticks

• Paper

• Glue

• Paint

• Cotton swab

Explain that on a mountain there is a line where the trees end. Above the line, trees cannot grow because they don’t have enough oxygen, but trees can grow below the line.

Make

• use a cotton swab and have the children paint their trees.

• Next have children glue or tape together their trees with the popsicle stick

• Lastly have children and glue their trees making a tree line/ forest on their paper.

Mountain tree song

Sing to the tune of “The wheels on the bus”

The trees on the mountain,

Stop, stop, stop,

Stop, stop, stop.

The trees on the mountain,

Stop, stop, stop,

(Make a tree top with hands overhead, then hold out hand for “ stop.” )

At the tree line.

( Open arms out straight.)

Mountain Peak

Supplies ( from your EEL curriculum box)

• tile display

• Inspiration photo

• Cardboard triangle

• Cotton balls

• Festoon

• Pebbles

Your Supplies

• crayons/markers

• Glue

Set up

• set out the inspiration photo and additional supplies.

Prompts

• what do you see in the photo of the mountain? What do you notice about the colors?

• Where on your mountain will you make snow? What will use use?

• How will you use the pebbles?

• Does your mountain have a name?

It’s beginning to look a lot like winter!!!

Welcome back friends!! Time to grab a cozy blanket and take a look into our Ice and Snow week with our preschool curriculum experience early learning.

Falling Snowflake song

To the tune of “I’m a little teapot”

Grady is a snowflake falling down,

Floating from the clouds to the ground.

If it is cold, then he will stay,

But when it’s warm, he melts away.

Snowflake freeze

• invite children to make their body look like a snowflake by spreading out their legs and arms. Encourage children to move like falling snowflakes until you say, “ freeze!”

Hanging snowflake ornament

Supplies ( in your EEL curriculum box)

• craft sticks (4)

• Glitter

Your Supplies

• markers

• Glue

• Paper

• Gallon size bag

• Yarn

Discuss

• how many points will your snowflake have?

Make

• glue the sticks together to create a snowflake design. ( I ended up needing to use a hot glue gun )

• Use markers or paint to decorate the snowflake.

• If you use markers then add glue to your sticks and you can either sprinkle glitter or place snowflake into a bag of glitter and shake. If you used paint then put the (wet sticks) in bag of glitter and shake. ( I personally like to use gallon size bags when using glitter.)….. less mess

• Next add a string to the back with a glue gun

Snowman Names

Supplies ( from your EEL curriculum box)

• paper

• Buttons

• Paper circles

• Background paper

Your Supplies

• extra paper ( to make a hat and nose)

• Crayons/markers

• Scissors

• Glue

• Twigs

Discuss

• what shapes do you see on a snowman?

Make

• invite the children to write one letter of his name on each circle. ( with younger kids teacher can write ) give each child one more circle for the head.

• Help the children arrange the letter circles to spell his/her name.

• Invite children to decorate with the extra supplies… ( Hat, nose, buttons, markers, twigs) to make the snowman’s face and arms.

These little snowman are just precious and a great way for children to learn how to identify their name and letters.

I hope you all had a great week and we will see you again next week. Thanks for stopping by.

As an Experience Early Learning Blog Ambassador, we receive the Experience Early Learning Preschool curriculum in exchange for our honest and authentic stories resulting from our personal experiences. As always, our opinions on amazing stuff for children are 100% our own. Keep in mind that all preschoolers do things in their own time and on their own terms. What one is ready for, another might not be. Please use your best judgement when planning activities for your children. #preschool #EELblogger Experience Early Learning | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | Instagram

Rainforest Emergent Layer

Welcome back friends!!! We have had so much fun learning about the Rainforest with our Preschool Curriculum.

The emergent layer is made up of treetops that beach higher than the canopy. These giant trees have huge marshmallow shaped crowns. The emergent layer enjoys a lot of sunlight but is exposed to high temperatures, low humidity, and strong winds. Small birds and butterflies live in this layer. The emergent layer is the fourth and final layer of the rainforest.

During circle time this week we had a great time every morning stretching and standing tall and showing how we can be a tall Kapok tree that reaches into the emergent layer. Then we would move fast like hummingbirds in to our next transition. I love using fun games that our preschool curriculum suggest as transition games.

Blue Morpho

Supplies ( EEL curriculum box )

• title Display

• Inspiration photo

• Butterfly shape

• Tissue paper

• Twist tie

• Background paper

Your Supplies

• Paint ( black, blue )

• Paint brushes

• Scissors

• Glue

Set Up

• set out the inspiration photo and additional supplies

Prompts

• encourage children to write their names on the back of their papers.

• Will you cut out your own butterfly shape or use the pre-cut shape? ( with my younger group I choose to use the pre-cut shape.)

• What part will you paint black? What other colors will you use?

• What will you do with the tissue paper?

Tic- Tac-Toe

In our preschool curriculum box we have fun tic-tac-toe game that the children love to doing throughout the week.

Set up

• set out tic-tac-toe board and game pieces.

• Discuss how to play tic-tac-toe.

Independent play

• encourage the child to find a partner to play with.

• Children chose to be the parrot or the butterfly

• take turns placing one card on the board. Continue until one child makes three horizontally, vertically or diagonally.

Explore the rainforest canopy layer

Welcome back friends!!! This week at Mrs. Kat’s Kids we explored the canopy layer of the rain forest with our preschool curriculum experience early learning.

The canopy layer is home to many animals in the rainforest. Most sunlight attracts birds, bugs and plants. This layer is made of overlapping branches and leaves. The canopy acts as a roof. Some of the animals you might find in this layer are sloth, snakes, dart frogs,and parrots.

Sloth

Upside down

Supplies

• Ball

Do Together

• invite children to lean forward and look around upside down.

• Encourage children to follow simple directions, such as “push a ball back and forth with a friend.”

This activity helps children practice following directions and not giving up even when there are obstacles.

Next we read the book “ Slowly, Slowly, Slowly,” said the Sloth

By Eric Carle

** to help get the children engaged I had them listen as I read the story and asked them to roll their hand over hand Whenever they heard “slowly,slowly, slowly.”

We had a great time with transitions during our sloth day. I had the children imagine they do everything very slowly. A few examples were let’s pretend we’re riding a bike very slowly to the restroom….. Let’s pretend to eat our food very slowly as we prepare for snack….. Let’s walk very slowly to wash your hands.

We also made Upside-Down Art today in our Creative Art center with our preschool curriculum.

Upside down art

Supplies (in your EEL curriculum box)

• tile display

• Inspiration photo

• Frame

• Background paper

Your Supplies

• chairs or table

• Markers

• Tape

Set up

• set out the Michelangelo masterpiece photo and additional supplies.

• Take a piece of paper to the bottom of a table or chair. Encourage children to lay on their back‘s and draw.

Prompts

• just like a sloth hangs upside down, Michelangelo had to lay on his back to paint the ceiling of the Sistine chapel.

• What do you want to draw?

• What do you see in Michelangelo’s painting?

• How does it feel drawing upside down?

Parrots

What so you think a parrot might say??

Creative Art

Parrot Puppet

Supplies ( in your EEL curriculum box )

• paper plate

• Wiggle eye

• Festoon

Your Supplies

• markers

• Paint

• Glue

• Scissors

• Black Colored paper for the beak

Discuss

• what body parts does a parrot have? Which of these body parts will you include on your puppet?

• I have child cut the paper plate in half. Decorate 1/2 of the plate like the head and the other half like the body. ( I have a younger group so I went ahead and cut the paper plates in half and glued them together into a bird shape.)

• Paint your bird red and add black instruction paper for the beak.

• Encourage the child to problem solve have/she will make feet and a tail.

• Attach some festoon and the wiggly eyes.

Play

• go outside and pretend you’re a parent is being chased by a rain forest animals in the canopy later. Invite peers to be the animals chasing your period. Invert other roles for pretend play.

Monkey See, Monkey Do!!!

Welcome back friends as we continue our lessons about exploring the rainforest with our preschool curriculum Experience Early Learning.

Today in our blog I would like to share our monkey see monkey do day!!!

Monkeys are surely cute and definitely an animal that toddlers love!!

During circle time today I introduced that monkeys are another animal that we would see in the rainforest. We opened up discussing what sounds do you think a monkey makes?

I invited the children to pretend they are monkeys and swinging their arms while making sounds.

Monkey Tease

Supplies

• stuffed animal monkey

• One sheet of paper ( per child)

Do together

• What do you think it means to tease someone? How can teasing hurt someone?

• Recite the poem together. After the poem, discuss what might have happened if the monkey invited the Jaguar to play with him instead of teasing him.

Monkey tease pome

Five little monkeys swinging in the tree,

Teasing, “Mr. jaguar can’t catch me!”

Along came Mr. jaguar, quiet as can be,

And he scared one monkey right out at the tree.

Four…

Three…

Two….

One….

No more monkeys swinging in the tree,

Teasing “Mr. Jaguar can’t catch me!”

Along came Mr. jaguar, quiet as can be,

He yawned and stretched, then napped in the tree.

This Pome from our preschool curriculum is a lot like the song five little monkeys swinging from the tree, teasing Mr. alligator can’t catch me, no you cant catch me!!! …… that is one of our favorite songs here at my house so of course we had to sing that song as well!!

Here is a glimpse into our Make and play creative art time from our Monkey Day!!!

Monkey Mask

Supplies ( EEL)

• Monkey mask

• Yarn

Your Supplies

• Crayons/markers

• Tape

• Popsicle stick ( To make a stick puppet in case children don’t like things wrapped around their head)

Discuss

• what do you think monkeys like to eat? What is your favorite food? Where do you think monkeys find their food?

Make

• Color the mask to make it look like a monkey. For younger children I outlined the monkey face.

Play

• where are the mask and pretend to be monkeys hunting for food.

• Go outside and play “Monkey See, Monkey Do.“

• one child is the leader and the rest of the children follow or if you have Younger children like me you can be the leader the whole time. This game is great for listening skills!!!

Its getting stormy

Welcome back friends!! This week with our experience early learning curriculum we learned about stormy weather. Learning about stormy weather can be fun but also challenging For children who have a fear of loud noises or the dark. During this week, children are able to talk about their fears by experimenting storms in creative ways through their five senses. Children will move like a flood, observe a “tornado” in a bottle, and listen to a thunder shaker. These sensory rich experiences help children make sense of abstract concepts related to weather.

Thunderstorms

We can hear thunder and see lightning. Thunder is a sound we hear when lightning strickes. Durning circle time we turned on some stormy weather sounds and used instruments to demonstrate a loud storm.

Thunder Shakers

Supplies (from EEL)

• cardboard tube

• Shaker mix (a few ideas. Rice, beans or rocks)

• Lids

Your supplies

• tape

• Crayons markers or paint

• Tissue paper (optional)

Discuss

• What noises can you make that is similar to thunder? How do you feel when you hear loud noises?

Make

• encourage children to paint the tube to look like a stormy sky. ( add tissue paper to the design, if desired.)

• Tape a lid to one end.

• Pour In Shaker mix then secure the open and with the other lid.

Play

• invite children to shake the instrument in a happy way. Then try shaking in a scary way.

• Shake a pattern ( e.g., shake, shake, pause; Shake, shake, pause.)

Hail

Supplies (EEL)

• rubber ball

• Paper

Your Supplies

• paint

• Cardboard box or tray

Set up

• set out Inspiration photo and supplies and put paper in a cardboard box or on a tray.

Prompts

• what do you see happening in the photo?

• What do you think will happen if you dip the ball in paint then drop it on the paper?

• How else could you paint with your balls?

• How do the balls remind you of hail?

⁃ my younger kids had a great time shaking many balls in a box and listening to the balls bouncing around. I explained to them that this sounds like a hail storm.

Hurricane

Supplies (EEL)

• inspiration photo

• Eyeshadow applicator

• Background paper

Your Supplies

• shaving cream

• Paint

• Trays

Set up

• set an inspiration photo an additional supplies.

Prompts

• what do you see happening in the photo?

• What is happening in your painting?

• What happens when you add paint to the shaving cream?

• How does your painting make you feel?

Observe : did the child hold the eyeshadow applicator with two fingers and move it to create a desired effect?

Changing leaves

This week with our Experience Early Learning Curriculum, children learned how to predict, observe and share their findings. Topics, such as leaves changing colors, help children identify differences and think about why changes happens. Other natural changes include the cycle of night and day or migratory patterns .

Key Vocabulary words: Leaf, tree, flower, night, day, hibernation, migration, meteorologist.

Letter of the week: Uu

Phonic words: Umbrella, underwear, unicorn

Basic concepts: Orange, and Rectangle

Leaf Creatures

Supplies (EEL)

• Inspiration Photo

• Foam dots

• Background paper

Your supplies

• markers

• Glue

• Nature items: leaves, sticks

Set up

• set out inspiration photo, leaves, glue, and foam dots.

prompts:

• what will you make out of the leaves? Will you make an animal or something else?

• what other materials would you like to add?

We started this activity by reading the recommended book from our preschool curriculum called Leaf Man By. Lois Ehlert

Before reading the story, I encouraged the children to protect what might happen during the story, I encouraged the children to talk about the different pictures. After the story, discuss where they would like to go they were leaf man.

Next, we went outside to discover all the different colors of leaves. Each child collected leaves and we put them in a pile.

Lastly, we made our very own leaf creatures. I absolutely loved this activity think it turned out so cute!!!

Orange, Red, Green, Yellow, and Brown what color do you have???

We had a great time playing a game while we colored this giant paper leaf from our Preschool curriculum box. Each child had a certain color Crayon and when I called out their color they got to color part of the leaf. This was a great activity for children to visualize that each leaf is different and made of many colors.

When Autumn Comes

Hey friends welcome back!! This week we loved our Seasons week in our weather and Seasons unit with Experience early learning. I just love how I can adapt our preschool curriculum to any age group in my care. This week I had a very mixed age group ranging from 8 years old to 1 year of age.

Leaves turn red, orange, yellow, brown, painting the ground as they fall. We spent our morning walking outside exploring all the different colors in the leaves around us.

Stencil leaves

Stenciling is an art technique that creates designs by painting over shape cut outs. During this invention to create with Experience Early Learning , children explored the techniques of stenciling by painting inside the leaf stencil with a sponge. During this process, children may use their critical thinking skills to experiment with how to create the design of a stencil. By learning the specific art technique, children can then explore with creating their own stencils. With my younger group i used tape to hold down the stencil onto the paper. I also used some of the cut outs to make a 3D affect.

Here is one more fun fall craft we created with our preschool curriculum!!!

Apple Tree

This apple tree craft was easy to create, and the finished product makes a great decoration for home or classroom bulletin boards.

Every child needs:

• Sheet of paper ( we used blue )

• Brown paint

• Paint brush

• Green tissue paper

• Glue

• Red Pom-poms

The first thing I asked the children to do is make a tree trunk and branches…. if pleased.

Next, the children used their creativity and use the green tissue paper to finish three.

Next we read the book How do Apples Grow. By. Jill McDonald Hello, World! How Do Apples Grow? https://www.amazon.com/dp/0525578757/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_-tDKFbZEEJ44P. Lastly we went back to the table and added apples…. ( red pom-poms ) to our trees.

Weather

Hey friends welcome back!! This week at Mrs.Kats Kids we learned about Weather!! Our Curriculum rocks!!! Check out what we did this week. We discovered the natural world with studying the sun, wind, clouds, snow, and rain.

The Sun and moon

Durning circle time we discussed how the sun rises in the morning and sets in the evening. I invited children to raise up and stand like the sun and then to set like the sun by slowly crouching low.

Next we went to creative art and made a sun and moon.

Sun & Moon

Supplies (EEL)

• paper plate

• Paper

• Soufflé cup

Your Supplies

• Paint (yellow, gray)

• Markers

• Scissors

Discuss

• when we see The moon, we can’t see the sun. Where do you think?

Make

• invite the children to decorate one side of the plate as the sun and the other as the moon.

• explain that the earth spins, so during the day we see the sun, and at night we see the moon.

Play

• take turns telling and acting out stories about what happens when the sun is up and then when the moon shines.

Observe: how did the children use the materials? Did he communicate his knowledge about the sun and moon? How did he use the prop as a tool to help tell a story?

Cloudy Art

Supplies (EEL)

• Inspiration photo

• Eyedropper

• Background paper

Your Supplies

• paint (white and black)

• 3 paint bowls

• Water

• Sicissors

• Glue

• Shaving cream

Set up

• set out the inspirational photo and additional supplies.

• Make three painting substances: One just paint with mixing white and a drip of black so the color is gray, one white paint mixture with water, one equal parts white glue and shaving cream.

Prompts

• we talk about different types of clouds for example fluffy clouds, rain clouds, and gray clouds.

• What cloud shape will you create?

( my younger group had a hard time with the eyedropper so they mainly use their hands and they loved making the fluffy clouds )

• Clouds are made of water. How can you use the eyedropper to put water on your cloud.

We also ended our week by making some fun tie-dye snowflakes. Check them out!!

I hope you all had a great week and we will see you again next week. Cant wait to share more fun activities with our preschool curriculum experience early learning. Thanks for stopping by.

As an Experience Early Learning Blog Ambassador, we receive the Experience Early Learning Preschool curriculum in exchange for our honest and authentic stories resulting from our personal experiences. As always, our opinions on amazing stuff for children are 100% our own. Keep in mind that all preschoolers do things in their own time and on their own terms. What one is ready for, another might not be. Please use your best judgement when planning activities for your children.