Bliss

I am in love with the cash register.  It is just one of those cool toys that most preschools have and it took me a long time to justify purchasing it.  WORTH EVERY PENNY.  It's solar powered, no batteries- works like a calculator and is built to last.  Here is where I ordered it from, I love the website.  It's also where I purchase most of our supplies.  We used the cash register in group time yesterday to take turns looking at the number twelve and typing it into the cash register.

They enjoyed it very much!

Something so simple had the kids busy with anticipation just waiting for their turn. ♥

The felt letters have arrived!

Usually when we get something new, it has to be introduced.  We talk about what the item is for and how to use it, where it goes when it is time to clean up.  They were checking out all of the letters inside the box that Adam built for us.

For our table time we played with some paperclips.  The idea is to have the kids learn how to use the paperclip, and to attach it to the note card on the lines. 

When they completed that task, they could just go nuts and add as many as they wanted to.   It's a simple task- and they enjoyed it.  We tried to count twelve paperclips.

Proud of her work!

Next up was to draw on small chalkboards.  We are reviewing some shapes.  Sometimes it's great to mix things up and do a project that doesn't hang up on the art wall.  While they will never again see the shapes that they drew, they enjoyed this time!  

 She turned her circles into a caterpillar.

 He was thrilled that he drew a heart!

He created a spring with circle shapes!  Everyone was happy, it's bliss when things go so smoothly.

The horticulture club at Stephanies school grew these beautiful daffodils and my mother in law, who works at the school, sent these home for me!  

They look great next to these beautiful lily's that my handsome hubby surprised me with the other day.  It is so nice to have fresh flowers in the house.  I am longing for Spring, I can already see the gardens waking up.  

♥♥♥Happy Thursday!♥♥♥

One of the best songs that I have ever witnessed performed live was this one.  Precious Things by Tori Amos.  I brought my mom with me to see Tori in Seattle a few years ago and this song in particular left my mom saying, "WOW!"  

Post Office

Remember yesterday when I asked for ideas about what to do with the space under the loft?  Someone sent me a message with the idea of not putting something permanent, but a themed idea that will last a couple of weeks or so.  I LOVE that!  As it turns out, most preschools do this.  I guess when I am stuck in my bubble I fail to notice these things. :)  Goodbye kitchen.

Hello, Post Office!  

I moved the shelf and added some tape with each childs name on it.  These represent the mailboxes.  

See?

Here's where I gave up some control- allowing crayons to be available all of the time.  This is HARD for me.  The stickers (cringe), too.  But in order to offer a full working post office for the kids to explore, I need to get over my anxiety about mess.  The kids had a stern talking to about where we color and stick stickers, and where we do NOT.  Maybe  once or twice I will switch up the stickers with some stamps, too.  (Sigh.  I hope this works!)

Also freely available, envelopes, post card sized paper, pencils.

Lined writing paper is great, too!

Since it is February, I stuck a box on the shelf with some hearts.  The kids can use them however they choose.

It looks pretty clean!  

They couldn't wait to get their hands and eyes into the Post Office to explore.

They have the freedom to move all of the supplies to the table if they choose to!

Mail was being delivered!

They were so busy creating all morning that we threw out our table work.

I hung a clothes line in the Post Office for the kids to hang up their mail if they choose.  They liked that idea!

It was a good thing that I had to buy my son some new shoes and had this box.  I can't believe that his shoes are larger than mine.  He is ten years old. This box makes a great mailbox!

This is what I did with it.  Simple.  This way, the kids can further their play and actually play mailman.

I added a corner shelf for the phone.  Last night our new cash register arrived, so now the kids can pay to mail their packages.  (Packages that I have yet to find, but am working on it.)  It's always best if these fun spaces can be created using minimal funds.  Adam is bringing me home a couple of small boxes. 

I love that the mailboxes were filling up with mail.  HOW FUN!  Thanks for reminding me that I don't have to keep things permanent, Joya!  I sat down and created a lengthy list of themes and businesses that this space will become next.  

Baby Zuko found a friend. 

♥♥♥Happy Wednesday!♥♥♥

Playroom Facelift

I was sick over the weekend and wasn't feeling 100% as far as energy goes yesterday.  We had a free play day and watched Milo and Otis. Popcorn and movies can fix everything.  The kids just thought they were lucky, and I felt saved by the television.  I'm not ashamed.  

Do you remember when I mentioned that the playroom tree was going to disappear?  It did.  I am SO GLAD! The wall got a fresh coat of blue paint.  Stephanie is working off her trip to California.  There is always something in this house to paint!

Because I have the painting bug, I jumped in there and slapped another coat of white on the steps up to the loft.

It's looking pretty comfortable with the cushions.  

Adam built me a simple box to hold the felt letters I ordered.  They haven't arrived yet.  In fact- since we have had the felt board, I haven't really offered ample felt supplies for the kids to play with.  (FAIL.)  I had been holding on to the idea that I was going to buy felt sheets and just create some cool stuff.  It never happened.  I ordered 500 alphabet pieces.  When they arrive, they will fit into the box and be available at all times for small hands to spell up some imaginary words.   It is usually right around February that I get the urge to spice things up in the playroom.  They need some new toys, I need some new color and something interesting.  Hey- if you have a dollhouse available, I will purchase it from you.  Adam accidentally sent our awesome doll house to the dump a while back.

See the space underneath the loft?  It has been a kitchen forever.  I cannot think of what to put in the space.  The kitchen is tired.  The kids are less and less interested in it.  Do you have any ideas?  I thought about turning it into a dress up station, but I think my dress up cabinet is too much of a distraction commodity to make it available all of the time.  Help!!  I am drawing a blank.

♥♥♥Happy Tuesday!♥♥♥

Valentine's Day

We got out the face painting crayons for Valentine's Day.  There were hearts on cheeks- and for those who didn't want one, tiger whiskers. ♥

We used two paper plates each to create our card holders.  Just cut one in half and flip it upside down, staple it to the other plate and you will have an instant pocket. 

They colored and glued on hearts of all sizes and colors.  Smudge was pretty interested. 

It was time to pass out Valentine's!  This is such a good lesson in love for the kids.  They have been learning what it means to be kind to a person and how that makes them feel.  Valentine's are a GREAT way to be kind to someone!

The giving feels just as fun as the receiving.

 ♥♥♥

 ♥♥♥Happy Monday!♥♥♥

Preschool Math

Math worksheets are not appropriate for preschoolers.  Kids in the age range of 3-5 are just learning to recognize that 1 finger means one item, and 2 means two.  There is a clear difference between children counting in order quickly vs. actually knowing what the number means and counting that many items.  Preschoolers can do math, but it should be through play, sorting manipulatives and visualizing objects.  They are just now learning that if they are holding two items, they can touch each item and give the item a number, and that is what the numbers one and two actually mean.  Who knew preschool could be so involved?

We used pom poms, clothes pins and cups for this activity.  One small cup, one medium, one large.   They were given some instructions after they had been allowed some free time working out how to use the clothes pin and mixing the colors up.

"Please find all of the BLACK pompoms and place them into the LARGE cup."  This activity is so simple, but it still requires thought and control on their part.  They were very successful.

This is a great fine motor skills builder!  They collected several different colors and placed them into the correct cup.  It didn't feel like work to them- they were having fun!  Keep in mind that this lasted 15 minutes. 

 A change of manipulatives can be good at the half way point.   We moved on to the foam squares.  The idea was to place the squares onto the squares that were drawn on the paper.  So easy- but effective!  

After a little bit of time, I prompted them to try to create a tower.  They did that for a while.   Another way to incorporate math into the routine is to work on some patterning.  "Here I have one red block and two blue blocks, another red one and two more blue in a line.  What color comes next?" 

 For any of you who are interested in learning more about how to incorporate math in a fun way- check out Penn State On Demand Learning.  To keep my job, I am required to take a minimum of 10 hours of approved trainings every year.  Ten hours is not very much, but it can be really hard when I have to actually go somewhere and sacrifice family time and money.  This website offers so many great classes, ON LINE praise God, and right now several of them are FREE.  I love what I do and I want to be effective.

 Happy Valentine's Day!

♥♥♥Happy Friday!♥♥♥