K Is For Kite

Boy have we been having a CRAZY week!  I'm glad we have still managed to get some learning into our schedule.  We are working on the letter Kk, although I don't think it is sinking in.  That is the joy of this being a childcare center.  Sometimes they get it, and if not, I still keep my job.   I really do try, though.   We created kites.

Instead of writing the letter K on a worksheet, we just glued tissue paper squares onto a kite shape.  I like to give them a construction paper alphabet letter to glue on as well.  Maybe if they touch it and spend time gluing it on it will jar their memory later. 

We used yarn to finish our project.  This project has made me think about finding a real kite project that will actually fly.  It's on my enormous to-do list!  Meanwhile,  I have never felt so busy in my entire life.  I am truly blessed by my God who understands my need for busy.  Always be grateful- and I am.  Happy Thursday! ♥♥♥

Song for today is Birthday by The Beatles.  This is a perfect live performance!  We are having a birthday party day today for a little guy who is turning 3! ♫♪♫

Carrot Guy

The sun has been out for the last several days and it has us all wishing it were Spring.  The minute the air warmed up my brain automatically dragged me out to the garden to inspect the workload ahead of me.  I realized we still have an abundance of carrots to harvest.  We found one that looked like it had two stubby legs.  We had to add eyes.

During my planting last year, I spilled lots of carrot seeds.  This resulted in poorly planted,  clumped together carrots that had no room to grow.  They are pretty small, but still quite tasty!

These boys helped me find some.

"I see one!"

We had to actually dig for several of them.  It's addicting. 

He was more inclined to actually wash it off and eat it, too!  After all, there was a lot of digging and grasping involved in getting it out of the ground.  He HAD to try it now.   One bite later, it was discarded.  But hey- a bite of carrot is victory to me!

We even found a couple of radishes.

Now it was time to play with carrot guy.

Wheeee!  Happy Wednesday!♥♥♥

Song for today is Little Black Submarines by The Black Keys. ♫♪

Hearts

Hearts, hearts, hearts, and more hearts at Henle House right now!♥ 

I had a couple of these sitting around from a previous project.  Instead of scrapping them, I hung onto them just in case.  Sure enough, we ended up using them.

We got out some red and white paints.  I was hoping that the kids would end up mixing them to create pink.

The idea was to finger paint the entire piece of white paper. They noticed the colors mixing. 

This makes me chuckle because the kids are so used to me snapping photos.  I don't usually ask them to say "cheese" because I like candid shots.  But this time I did, and they looked at me like I was nuts.  LOL!

When they were finished painting their white papers, we glued the heart shape over the top of them.  Pretty!  It can pass for a stained glass painting in a window.  Happy Tuesday!♥♥♥

Song for today is Get Down by Audio Adrenaline. Emergency dance party! ♫☼  The sun is shining! ♪♫

Video Game Alternative

My boys really love video games.  I mean, REALLY love them.  I blame my handsome hubby for making sure that the boys have no shortage of video gaming systems.  When they don't have school, I find myself having to force them off of their video games and offer them other activities to do.   "Go outside and ride your bikes, please."  " It's time to take a break from your game."  I become their nemesis.  I am the video game Nazi.  Sigh...  I suppose I thought it was kind of funny that Aiden received an Angry Birds game at Christmas.   One way to get away from a video game is to play the board game version.. LOL

It is pretty cool!  He spent a lot of time building, knocking down, and rebuilding the correct set up over and over and over.

He was making sound effects, too!  Even I play Angry Birds occasionally on my phone during bouts of boredom. (Nap time.)

He gained an audience.  Now if only he would share the game willingly.  She was happy to watch. ♥

It was a good video game break!  Happy Monday!♥♥♥

Song for today is Keep Em Separated by The Offspring.  I was having a moment of nostalgia, remembering  listening to this on my way to my first job.  I lied about my age so I could get it- I was 15. No, I do not condone lieing about your age, I have just always found having a job to be satisfying. Good times!♥♥♥

Use A Book

If you ever draw a blank and need something to spark an idea for an activity with the kids, just pick a book.  Read it carefully to yourself and form some questions that you can ask the kids after you read it to them.  We used the story above, Sam Who Never Forgets.  He never forgets to feed the animals, but the elephant in the story thought he had been forgotten.  This allows for great questions to ask the kids, "How did the elephant feel when he thought he wasn't going to have lunch?"  "How did he feel after he had been fed?"  Kids love to be a part of the conversation.  Talk WITH them, not AT them.

We created a hand print elephant  to remind us of the story we listened to.  Complete with hay because Sam never forgets to feed the elephant. 

Meanwhile, we had a great time during flashlight night at AWANA.  I do not know how to change the shutter speed on my camera, so most of my photos look like the one above.  So fun!  Happy Friday!♥♥

Song for today- Rock Myself To Sleep by Starship.. Oldie but goodie!  Another childhood favorite. ♫♪

Hand Print Hearts

Hooray for February!♥  We always learn the heart shape in February.  It's time to create some hand print hearts to decorate the playroom.  We started by gluing a heart doily on the back of our construction paper heart.

Next, hand painting.  Kids LOVE this.  It tickles, they get to have dirty hands and it's just fun to see the print that their hands make.

Stamp...

 Look!  A hand print heart. ♥

I added some glitter glue lacing and laid them out to dry.

Now the playroom looks festive.  The kids are learning that a heart symbol can mean "love".

Meanwhile (iphone photo attack..  when will I learn to carry the camera to the bus stop??) At 12:00 in the photo above, there is a giant eagle sitting at the bottom of the tree.  This eagle is enormous, although you can't tell thanks to my awesome photo.

All of the kids saw the eagle fly in!  We watched it for a few minutes.  Such an amazing creature!

So is Chippy.  He sure brightened my mood yesterday.  I am in mourning over our lost cats, both babies, gone.  No explanation, either. Sigh.  Happy Thursday!  Remember when I said it would be a while before I got my ducks back in a row?  They are there, now.. I've got a good schedule again.  Praise the Lord!

Song for today- Love Is Free by Sheryl Crow. ♫

Repetition

Ok, ok, we have been painting our names over and over and over and over.. but I just know that one day it will dawn on them that they recognize this string of letters!  We have finger painted our names, water colored,  glued items onto them, crayon resisted them, you name it.  This time we used Q-tips.  If you want a project to take longer, let them use Q-tips to paint. 

One per paint color. 

They worked hard to keep the paint in the lines.  Nice job, guys.  ♥

The goal is repetition to teach them their names.  It helps them to realize that their names are ALWAYS spelled the same way.  Even 100 times later.  Happy Wednesday!  Tonight it is Flashlight Night at AWANA, we will operate in the dark.  6:30-8:00, Machias Community Church, 1615 Virginia St. Snohomish.  ♥♥♥

Song for today is Blue Lips by Regina Spektor. ♫♪♫