We had so much fun in February that the month zoomed right by! We finished up a hibernation theme that we had started in January with a fun activity. I cut entrance holes in several large boxes (which were kindly supplied by one of the daycare families). We reviewed some books about hibernating animals, then the children decided which kind of hibernating animal they wanted to be. We had a bears, woodchucks, and chipmunks! The children had a wonderful time picking out their

May's flowers arrived as promised, and we used them to make fabulous flower crowns to celebrate May Day. The children loved searching all over the yard to find cheerful yellow dandelions and got lots of exercise running back and forth with handfuls of flowers to give me. We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day to celebrate high spring. Our outdoor explorations have gone beyond picking flowers. We have also enjoyed planting seeds in our flower garden and preparing t

March arrived in grand style with lovely warm breezes and a promise of spring. We made it outside as much as possible, especially celebrating the opening of the sandbox and mud kitchen. All the children learned about using the sand respectfully so everyone has a good time, and before long, the children were making cupcakes, pies, soup, and all sorts of other goodies in the kitchen and making mountains, ditches, hills, and roads in the sandbox. Outdoor time also focused on pl

Since we knew the day was going to be hot, the children and I made an effort to start our morning routine a little earlier than normal so we could go to the park. The children were attentive and we had lots of fun doing our calendar and weather songs, dressing "Tim," and doing our circle time activity about starfish and turtles. Soon we were on the road headed to the park. It was a long walk, but made more fun by one of the daycare parents and big sisters making the long tr

Today we started our day as usual with our calendar, weather, and circle time routines. After that, the children (with occasional help) made some wonderful pretend houses, castles, and even a garden from large lego-style blocks. We used figures to bring the structures to life and played out several scenarios like walking to the park, taking a dog for a walk, and visititng a princess. We have wanted to visit the park for several days, and today the weather was just right for

We were excited to change the calendar over from June to July this morning, change out some of our toys, and put some of our July decorations. We hung a bright orange and yellow sun in the window and added some pictures of sea creatures that correspond to our fingerplays. After all the changeover and an introduction to our new circle time routine for July, we worked on using a set of tangram boards and matching the the small wooden shapes to the pictures on the boards. We l

Today dawned in a rather strange way- the sun appeared to be a reddish-orange color that looked like a harvest moon more than a sun. The children all noticed that the sun looked unusual, and we discovered that the sun's appearance was due to smoke from Canadian wildfires blowing on the wind all the way to our area. After our morning routine we set out on a nature walk. We had barely stepped foot out the door when we noticed a caterpillar crawling across the sidewalk. One o

We've been working hard on our frog, caterpillar, and bee fingerplays in the morning, and the children's favorite appears to be the caterpillar rhyme. Their favorite part is going to sleep as a caterpillar, being covered by a playsilk, and then awakening as a butterfly complete with colored "wings" as they stand up and wave the playsilk behind them like wings. After our morning routine, we set out for the wonderful new park. Along the way we saw many wild and interesting th

During one of our recent trips to the park, another adult told me about a larger park that was just a little further away, and today we set off for uncharted territory to look for the new park. After changing our calendar over to June and doing our calendar and weather routine, we packed up our snack, lots of water, and some surprises and set off on an an adventure! We spotted so many interesting things on our way to the new park- big, showy iris flowers, a colorful birdhous

Ah, May! This was the nicest day we've had in May so far- the birds were singing, everything outdoors was flush with new growth, flowers are blooming, so we just couldn't stay inside! After our usual morning routine and some music time during which we sang several animal-noise themed songs, we slathered on sunscreen and set out for the park. The children love to picnic at the park, and we brought our morning snack to enjoy. I am so proud of how nicely the children are able

April has been shaping up nicely and now that it's nearing its end, the sunny days have been just wonderful for us to take full advantage of our time outdoors! After breakfast, we enjoyed a short pretend play session with the farm animals. The littles are getter better and better at identifying each animal and its noise, and I love to see the progress they are making in their language development. Next, the children and I enjoyed music time. We focused on "I'm a Little Tea

After the scary storms last night, today radiated the sunshiny cheer as only a rain-washed April morning can. Since we were cooped up so much this week, I decided that as soon as we were done our morning routines and snack that the children and I would head to the park. That's just what we did, and our late morning and afternoon looked like this: The sandbox was lots of fun- the texture of the wet sand was fun to feel, and the littles liked squeezing and molding the sand. S

This morning started off looking quite dreary and we thought we'd be resigned to a day of indoor play, but it turned out that wasn't the case. We began with our regular morning routine, then we launched right into the art project for today- coloring Easter eggs! First, the older children drew on the egg shells with a white crayon. After the eggs were ready, I presented the children with all the bottles of food coloring we had. We wanted to make a rainbow of eggs, so we lined

The kids and I bade a fond adieu to March today as we sang our March songs for the last time, finished our lion and lamb masks, and had lots of adventures at the park. The children were happy to find out that the temperatures would be mild just as promised by the "in like a lion, out like a lamb" saying, and we were excited to visit the park. We talked about what we should wear and decided that we could take a cue from Tim the Weather Kid and wear our lighter jackets if we w

Today was all about wind power! After our usual morning routine, we revisited a wind power experiment and expanded upon it. At first, we had making hollow paper "rockets" fly off the ends of our straws, but we quickly moved on to a game of wind-powered keep away using a cotton ball. It was fun to try to keep the cotton ball away from our side of the table! The littles definitely got the idea of blowing through their straws, but the sensory enjoyment of feeling soft, fluffy