Brushing Teeth

Hey Friends welcome back!!

We have been learning “all about me” and staying healthy with our experience early learning curriculum. Today i am going to share with you our dental health day.

During Circle time I introduced our lesson by asking a few questions. “How do you brush your teeth? What do you use? Why do we need to clean our teeth?” I used A mega block with Play-Doh and we explored different ways to brush teeth: up and down, in circles, side to side.

Here is a little song I like to sing

Brush brush brush your teeth

brush them every day

up-and-down and all around

keep the sugar bugs away.

Today in Creative Art we did a really cute tooth brushing craft.

Brushing Teeth

Supplies (from EEL)

• Inspiration photo

• Toothbrush

• Paper tooth

Your Supplies

• paint

• Scissors

• Glue

• Mirror

Set Up

• set out the inspiration photo and additional supplies.

Prompts

• what shape are your teeth? What color are they?

• How many teeth do you have? Would you like to paint on the paper tooth?

• enamel keeps our teeth strong and healthy. How can you make enamel on your picture?

• Why do you think you have a tongue and lips? Will you add those to your picture?

( I have a younger group so i did not use the paint as enamel. We used the paint to simply practice brushing skills. Up and down, in circles, side to side.) This is another reason why I love our preschool curriculum so much because it can easily be adjusted to any age group.

Observe: does the child’s art communicate about his understanding of teeth?

Pulling Teeth (Table top math)

Supplies

• foam die

• Pulling teeth poster

• Beads

• Tweezers

How to play: (This can be independent play if you have older children or simply play together if you have a younger group. )

• set out the pulling teeth poster, beads and tweezers on the table for children to explore. ( I kept the beads in my hand to adjust this activity to be age-appropriate)

• Roll the dice and remove that many teeth with the tweezers.

• Encourage children to count the remaining teeth (beads).

Observe: observe how the child explores concepts of more and less. Does he add and remove teeth from the poster?

Time To Floss

Materials

• One large mega block

• Play-Doh

• Dental floss

• Simply show your child how to use the floss to remove the play dough.

• Having the children scoop the play dough out from in between the mega block is a great fine motor experience and it shows how important thorough flossing can be, especially if your child observes small pieces of play dough being left behind!

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.

Red and Yellow color sorting

Welcome back friends!! I am so excited to share some of my favorite activities From our Experience Early Learning curriculum. I absolutely love how each day we will have a section on circle time, creative art, Small Group, and table top math. Our Preschool curriculum is laid out for a fun filled day of learning.

Today I want to share with you one of my favorite table top math activities.

Plant a Flower

Supplies: from EEL

• paper flowers

• Craft sticks

Your Supplies:

• tape

• Dirt or sand

Set up

• tape a craft stick to the back of each flower

• Set out containers or a pot for children to put the flowers in.

Independent play

• Invite children to pretend to plant the flowers in the container by simply saying “Maddox will you plant a yellow flower.”

• Explore creating ABAB patterns, finding matching pairs of flowers, or putting certain amount of flowers in each pot.

BENEFITS OF SORTING COLOURS

• Fun, interactive and motivating!

• Great for fine motor development and hand/eye coordination.

• Self-correcting and problem solving.

• Literacy: Connecting the written word with the colour.

• Language skills: naming labelling and pronunciation.

Five Fine Flowers

Five fine flowers( in the tune of “ Frère Jacques”)

five fine flowers, five fine flowers,

Blowing in the breeze, blowing in the breeze.

Katie picked a red one, Katie picked a red one,

And it made her sneeze!

AH-chooooo!

• place flowers in a pot. You can use multiple colors or just focus on two certain colors. This activity has endless opportunities.

I have a young group so this was a great activity for learning colors. I gave each child a different color crayon to color their flower with.

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.

Head, shoulders, knees, and toes this is what we wear!!

Welcome back friends!!! this week we talked about Clothing in our “All About Me” unit with experience early learning (formally mother goose time ).

Clothing invites children to build confidence with self-help skills, from independently choosing what to wear to putting on and taking off coats, shoes, pants and shirts. We discovered that clothing has many different purposes, like keeping us warm and how to properly use clothing in a every day routine. Learning about clothing also opens the door to exploring cultural preferences and traditions.

Triangle Hat

I sure do have a bunch of cute little kings and princesses. This activity is from experience early learning. The children use their fine motor skills by gluing the gems on. We discussed who do you think wears a crown? How do you think a crown should look? We then stapled the crowns together and sang a song called “ my hat, it has three corners”

My hat, it has three corners

Three corners has my hat

And have it not three corners

It would not be my hat

My hat, My hat, it has three corners

Make and play creative Art time!!

Shoe Design

Supples from EEL

• cardboard shoe

• Shoelace

• Crayons or markers

Discuss

• what type of shoes do you wear? How do you tie a shoe?

Make

• invite children to decorate and lace their shoe.

Play

• pretend your shoe lace keeps coming untied. Experiment with different ways to lace and tie it.

• Pretend to teach a stuff animal how to tie a shoe.

In creative Art this week with our preschool curriculum we experimented with dotdesigns and cheetah Fur. It’s so fun seeing the children’s creativity shine.

Table top math!!!

We had A great time matching socks!! This is always the first chore That I assign to my own children around age 4. Who knew chore can be games too!! lol

Supplies

• five pairs of real socks

• Basket

• Timer ( optional)

How to play

• Set out five pairs of Real socks on the table or floor.

• Encourage children to find two matching socks , Roll up the matching pair and toss into a basket.

• For increased challenge, encourage children to set a timer and try to match and toss the socks before the timer buzzes.

Observe: does the child match the socks? Does his interest increase when he use the timer? What does this tell you about the child.

Head-to-toe-bingo

• invite one child to choose a calling card and say it aloud. Children listen then look for a match on their mats. If a match is found, cover it with a chip. Play until someone covers three pictures in a row. For smaller children play together with one bingo Mat. Work together to find the matches. This game was great for listening skills and color recognition.

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

All About Me Week!!

I Was so excited when my Experience early learning (formally mother goose time) September box arrived!! I knew some fun changes were coming and I could not wait to revamp my circle time wall. I love all the bright colors and and I think adding pockets to the wall adds many opportunities for learning.

Here is my Amazon shopping list for my circle time.

First you need to buy a laminator I love this one AmazonBasics Thermal Laminator Machine & Thermal Laminating Plastic Laminator Sheets – 8.9 Inch x 11.4 Inch, 50-Pack https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07WR36926/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_VMtuFb6JHPD4J next I used E6000 E6000 231017 Adhesive – 1 fl oz https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CNUF9RE/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_YNtuFb4NF6EPG to attach the laminated pieces to jumbo popsicle sticks and the shapes and continents to the white pockets. 100-Count Library Card Pockets – Self Adhesive Book Pockets, Library Card Holders, White, 3.5 x 4.5 Inches https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06Y225CN8/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_HQtuFbQT9S56S Lastly, I used Velcro dots to apply everything on the wall. BRAVESHINE 36PCS Sticky Back… https://www.amazon.com/dp/B084ZMXNFL?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share I have a very young group so they love to pull things off the wall. Using Velcro makes it easy to reapply and of course it’s laminated so it’s protected. I am just in love with my circle time area.

Now let’s dive in to what else is inside our experience early learning box. This months theme is all All About Me and we are focusing on body parts this week.

All about me Picture

I just love having family pictures in our Classroom these are super cute and a great way for children to recognize their names.

How long is your body??

The children had a great time measuring each other with blocks. It was really fun counting and comparing who is the tallest and shortest.

During small group time we had a great time identifying body parts. We Took turns using our I spy glass from EEL and used labels to identify the body parts on our Theme Poster.

This week in our Steam station we made noodle Brain.

These open-ended steam stations invite children to investigate, problem solve, and create. Experience early learning has provided a bundle of printable for each steam station. I cooked spaghetti noodles and placed it in a bowl. I asked the children “where do you think your brain is in your body?” Oliver said “ my tummy” and Katie said “ my foot” I then told everybody to put their hands on top of their head and I said “ that’s where your brain is.” I then explained that your head is hard and that is your skull. Your skull protects your brain like a super hero shield. Next I used the example of the bowl being your skull and the noodles is your brain. I showed pictures of a Skull and a picture of a brain. Then I asked our EEL Steam question “ How does your brain feel” The children took turns using their imagination on the way a brain would feel. This was a wonderful sensory activity.

Creative Art

During our creative art time we discussed how everybody looks different and we read the book I am enough By Grace Byers…… this book is amazing and I really think I’m going to incorporate it into our daily reading.I Am Enough https://www.amazon.com/dp/0062667122/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_GYtuFb0BBW6CC

Family puppet

During art the children explored cutting and curling paper and designed their own puppet. I do have a lot of young children so I pre-cut pants, lips, and shirts. After our puppets dried we had a great time putting together a fun puppet show.

X-ray

During creative art time I showed pictures of x-rays and ask the children to feel their skin and asked “ how do your bones feel under your skin?” Next I set out paper skeletons and let the children design their own x-ray.

We have had a blast this week learning and talking about our bodies. I hope you all had a great week and we will see you again next week. Thanks for stopping by Mrs. Kats Kids.

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.

Come be superhero’s with us!!

Welcome Back Friends!!!
We have officially started back to school here in Georgia. It’s been a crazy spring/summer but I am so happy to have a full Daycare again. This year we have many new friends and I can’t wait for you to get to know them this school year.

This month our theme is superheroes with Experience Early Learning ( formally Mother Goose Time) and this week is all about Superhero Dress-Up!!! We explored costumes and props some were capes, masks, belts, and glasses. We had so much fun making superhero gear now let leap into action and show you what we did.

Shield

Supplies: (from EEL)
• Paper shield
• Glitter

Your Supplies:
• Paint
• Glue
• Markers
• Tape

Discuss
• Ask “Why might a superhero need a shield?”

Make
• invite each child to decorate the shield with the first letter of their name or their full name

The kids loved it when I would say hooray hooray “ super Grady “ saved the day!!!

Table top math

This week with table top math we have been working on our shapes. We have been using magnetic shapes and we also played a very fun shape symbols game using magnetic wands.

The Magnetic wands came in our preschool curriculum box and the children have really enjoyed using them.

We also had fun making shaped Mask by encouraging children to find a certain shape and place it on the paper face. For my younger children I would lay out two options and ask them to pick. Example would be laying down a circle and a square then asking them to pick the circle and place it on the paper face.

Cape

Supplies: From (EEL)
• paper
• Ribbon

Your Supplies:
• markers
• Scissors
• Hole punch

Discuss
• Ask, “ what kind of capes would you like to have?”

Make
• If desired, trim the paper into a cape shape for each child

Play
• encourage children to wear their capes and pretending to fly.

Mask

Supplies ( from EEL)
• mask
• Elastic

Your Supplies
• paint or markers
• Obstacles:
Cones, boxes, blocks

Discuss
• Ask, “ where do you like to hide?”

Make
• invite children to decorate their mask with paint or markers.
• Help them thread and tied the elastic.

Play
• set up an obstacle course inside or outside. Invite children to wear their mask and navigate through the course while pretending to be superheroes.

Belt

Supplies ( from EEL)
• belt strips and buckle
• Velcro dots
• Jewels

Set up
• Please the Velcro dots on the end of the two paper strips.

Discuss
• Ask, “ what colors would you wear if you were a superhero?”

Make
• encourage children to decorate their belt buckles and strips with markers and jewels.
• Help each child assemble the belt with tape.

Play
• Imaginary play being superheroes. We also used this time to sing some of our superhero songs from experience early learning Digital music.

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

Volcano

Hey friends welcome back!!!! I sure hope y’all are enjoying your summer as much as we are. I am loving our more laid-back summer schedule but we still are able to fit in some of our experience early learning (formally mother goose time curriculum) into our day. Our preschool curriculum has put together an amazing summertime curriculum called “treasure island.”

Today I would like to share our Volcano day with you.

Volcanoes Waiting

• set out 6 cups (volcano)

• Recite the rhyme and follow the suggested movements

• Subtract one each time by taking a cup away.

Six volcanoes, waiting to blow.

(Crunch low and bounce knees)

The Smoke comes out,

(Crawl fingers from toes to head)

And one EXPLODES!!

(Jump feet apart and reach arms up and out)

This Activity builds cooperation skills by inviting children to participate in a rhyme and following specific movements.

We also discussed what volcanoes were and I showed a few pictures, next I set out a few blocks and encourage the children to build a volcano….. the babies really had a good time knocking it down. Lol

Today in our creative corner we made LAVA art with our preschool curriculum.

LAVA

Supplies from EEL : Tile display, inspiration photo, black sand, paper

Your Supplies: Paint (red, and yellow), shaving cream, glue, containers , charcoal or black rocks.

Set up

• Mix both Colors of paint with shaving cream and glue. place the mixtures in containers. Set out the inspiration photo and any additional materials.

Promos

• What does the lava look like?

• How do you think it feels?

• Will you finger paint or use a rock as a painting to?

• Do you want to sprinkle sand on top of your design?

This next activity was so much fun and I even have a video to share with you!!

This activity was a lot of fun but I would definitely do it outside.

Exploding Volcano

Supplies:

•1 tablespoon baking soda

•4 tablespoons vinegar

•safety goggles or sunglasses

•clear Ziploc bag

•Toilet paper

•paint (optional)

Discuss and explore

• ask what can cause an explosion?

• Invite children to put on safety goggles and ask what do you think we will do with the supplies?

Play together ( how to make Experiment)

• Pour the vinegar into the Ziploc bag.

• Put the baking soda in a piece of toilet paper and wrap to make a pouch.

• Place the pouch into the bag of vinegar and Seal quickly. If desired try the experiment again but this tine try shaking the bag.

• Give each child and observation paper and Crayons then invite them to draw their observations .

We had such a great time The kids even decided to drop a little bit of red paint into the bag to have red foaming volcano bags!!!

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

Crawly Things

Welcome to our crawly things week with experience early learning (formally mother goose time.)

We loved experimenting with our foam shapes and making all different types of Crawley things!!!

We also enjoyed reading the book The very hungry caterpillar by. Eric Carle. The we enjoyed watching a video of the very hungry Caterpillar on YouTube.

Next we sat down at the table and made our very own colorful caterpillar using colored styrofoam pieces.

I hope y’all had a great week!!! We will see y’all again soon!!

Praying Mantis

Welcome friend this this week with experience early learning (formally mother goose time) we learned about camouflage bugs. We want to share our praying mantis day with you…. let’s start off with our favorite preschool song!!! If You’re a Mantis and you know it….

sing to the tune of “happy and you know it”

If you were a mantis and you know it,

Turn your head.

If you’re a mantis and you know it,

Turn your head.

If you’re a mantis and you know it,

And you really want to show it,

If you’re a mantis and you know it,

Turn your head.

…. stand up tall …… jump up high. … clap your hands

We had so much fun this week Inventing Insects with our pattern blocks.

Mantis Mask

Supplies ( supplied from EEL)

Paper plate, pipe cleaner, circle stickers, and one jumbo craft stick

Your supplies: Markers, blue and yellow paint, scissors, tape

Discuss

• ask, “ How are mantises heads different from yours?”

Make

• encourage children to cut their plates in half then cover them with a mixture of blue and yellow paint.

• Ask “ what color are you making by mixing blue and yellow together?”

• Add eye stickers then use the pipe cleaner to make antennas.

• Attach a craft stick to the mask as a handle.

Play

• encourage children to pretend to be mantises turning their heads to find specific objects, like a sink, toy box, book.

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

Bug Homes

Explore insect habits and habitats. And let’s get dirty with plants, dirt, spiderwebs, and beehives!!! Some of the activities we discovered this week with our preschool curriculum were……. diamond leaves, worm tunnels, bug bingo, spiders and webs patterns, and do a hive dance.

Leaf Bugs

Supplies

• inspirational photo (from our preschool curriculum)

• Paper(green and blue) if you want to make your own leaves

• Real Leaves ( this is what we used)

• Hole punch

• Scissors

• Glue

• Markers

Set up

Set the inspiration photo in any additional materials.

Prompts

• what do you notice about the leaf in the photo? What do you think happened?

• How many holes will you punch in your leaves?

• Where Will you put the leaves and bugs on your paper to make the collage?

Worm Trails

EEL supplies

• inspirational photo

• paper

• Fake worm

Your supplies

• Paint

• Dirt or sand

• Glue

• Nature items: sticks, leaves

Set up

• set out the inspiration photo and any additional materials.

Prompts:

• what types of lines do you see in the photo?

• How will you place the worm in your design?

• Will they hide in the sand?

• Could you dip the worms in paint to make warm tails?

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

M 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

Backyard Bugs

Welcome back friends now let’s dive in and get acquainted with the insect in your backyard!!!

This week we learned about ladybugs, spiders, grasshoppers, bees, and ants. Some activities that we did were counting spiders legs, Measuring hops, creating a ant colony, ladybug headband, spider dance, grasshopper hunt, ant hill art, and Bee designs

Ladybug Headband

• headband pattern

• twist ties

• Circle stickers

• Wiggly eyes

• Markers

• Tape

• Glue

Discuss

• Ask, “ what do you think ladybugs eat?”

Make

• invite each child to decorate their headband with circle stickers and markers.

• Glue twist ties and wiggly eyes onto the headband.

• Measure the headband around the child’s head and tape it securely.

Play

• Encourage children to wear the headbands and search for “bugs.”

• Search for different colors or different types then sort them if desired.

Spider

Supplies

• soufflé cup

• Paper

• Yarn

• Scissors

• Glue

• Tape

• Black and yellow Paint

Discuss

• Ask, “ what would you do if a spider sat down beside you?”

Make

• invite the child to decorate a soufflé cup “spider body.” Add a face, if desired.

• Encourage him/her to cut eight legs out of paper then glue/tape them on to the cup. ( we had to use a hot glue gun in order for them to stick…. teacher only)

• Attach a piece of yarn to the top of the cup.

Play

• Invite a child to sit in a chair while you read the Little Miss Muffet poem. (Our preschool curriculum supplied us with a cute poem poster. Then invite a different child to hold the end of their yarn and sit the spider next to the child. Switch roles and play again. Encourage children to try and memorize the poem on their own.

Anthill….. Ant colony

Supplies

• inspirational photo ( supplied from experience early learning)

• Paper

• Cone

• Sand

• glue

• Scissors

• markers

• Paint

• paint brushes

• nature items

Set up

• Set out the inspiration photo and any additional materials

Prompts

• which of the supplies can you use to make an ant hill?

• Will you cut the cone and a half and glue to the paper or make a 3-D model?

• What could you use to make ants? Can you make fingerprint ants?

• What date your items will you need for your design?

I always love the inspiration photo activities from experience early learning (formally mother goose time) it always brings out the children’s individual creativity.

We also made a beehive painting using bubble wrap….. I’m sure all of you guys have a lot of bubblewrap laying around during this COVID-19 time….. I can’t be the only one with a collection of cardboard boxes in my garage… right???

Just grab the bubble rap and yellow and white paint and let them go crazy!!! My one year old loved this activity so much!!

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