What do you do on Rainy Days?

It can sometimes be challenging to keep your little ones busy when the rain refuses to let up.  We obviously need these rains, but let's be honest, we miss our warm and dry days.  From baking to make believe, here are a few ideas to keep your preschooler busy when the weather isn't cooperating.  

Let's see what our kids were up to this week keeping busy indoors.

 

Building blocks on top of tables covered in blankets to buffer falls.  This marble run was exciting to build and race our marbles to the end of the line.

Sewing clothes for our favorite teddy bears.


It's ok to let loose with blankets and chairs making forts and campouts.  This is a great time for make believe. 

 

Here we are measuring soaked beans against the dry beans that soaked overnight in hot water.  We then planted our seeds indoors.

Making puppet leprechauns and converting the letter S into a S, S, Snail.

Created streaming ribbons for spring dancing and made foam flower collages to do number recognition.

Ok, there was ONE day of sunshine in the morning, so we ran outdoors, played and did outdoor painting before it started raining again.

We made Weather Maps to document our daily weather and we played indoor math games.

 

Food can be fun too.  Here we have breakfast of fresh strawberries and Micky Mouse Pancakes.  Our eyes are not chocolate, but carob chips. 

Snack time was made to be fun too. An array of colors, but the kids decided making Fruit Loop necklaces are way too cool.  Yummy . 

We made spring cards for our families and we made creations from sticks and glue.  These will be continued next week with more additions and some paint.  Can't wait to see how these come out.  Each will be unique, just like our children.

We had Story time at the library where we kept warm and dry.

We wrapped up our week hugging our friends goodbye. 

We are hoping for a much dryer time next week so we can stretch, run, jump and play outdoors, but if the wet weather persists, we will prevail. 

Grocery Store Fieldtrip? Really?

Most of us dread the weekly grocery store shopping, bringing home foods and planning meals to feed our families.  So, when the fieldtrip planned to go to our local Safeway store came about, a few parents had these quirky looks on their faces that screamed, really?  A grocery store fieldtrip?  I have to tell you, it was one of our best field trips ever.  Follow us here on what a fieldtrip to Safeway looks like through the eyes of our little ones.

We park our cars, meet up with our friends from Tanya's daycare and enter the store.  We are greeted by our tourguide, Rebecca.  She has a granchild of her own that is 3 years old, so she immediately knew at what level to keep this fieldtrip.

Our first stop; the Deli.  The children meet all the deli workers as they bring out slices of turkey for all the kids to sample.  Immediately knowing a fed child is a happy child.  After all questions are answered, we continue our walk through the store and pass by the bakery. 

The smell of bread baking wafts through the air.  The kids peer through the glass, expressing how yummy all the cakes and treats look.  Then we are taken to the back and shown how a cake is made and decorated.  The kids meet all the bakers and are promised a cookie at the end of our tour.  Again, all the children's questions are answered and we continue on our way through the store.

Next, the meat department.  The children were asked, "what is your favorite meat to eat."  The kids shout out, chicken, shrimp, donuts!  Hmmm, donuts?  One child was still mentally in the bakery department.  He wanted that donut he saw in the glass case. 

Now on to the produce department. 

Can you name all the produce you see around you?  Yeah, careworts, celawree, brocowree, mushwooms....you know where this is going.

After the produce department, we head over to the flower and balloon department where the kids point to their favorite mylar characters.  Toy Story, Thomas the Train, Hello Kitty and so many more. 

They smell the beautiful flowers, see the sweet little stuffed animals, got introduced to the florist behind the counter and after all their questions are answered, are all given balloons as a gift from the department.

As we walk through the store and get many stares from all the customers and employees, you can hear in the background, "oh how cute, aren't they adorable, where are they from?"  The children strut around holding their heads high and feeling important knowing everyone is watching.  You would have been so proud of your children.

Last on our list, a treat; Starbucks.  The children are all given a free hot chocolate from Starbucks, us teachers are given a free drink of our choice and the kids recieve their goodie bags full of healthy foods.  You have never seen such excitement over cheese, oranges, fruit juice boxes and cookies.

Thank you Safeway for your patience and care given to show our children that grocery shopping can be a fun experience. Parents, next time you go to the grocery store, don't fear, the kids will help you locate that hard to find item.

Until our next fieldtrip with PattyKakesKidz

Park Fun

Even though we have a beautiful playground, the excitement of playing in new parks each week seems to play a key role on the much needed exercise our young ones need.  From balancing, climbing, pushing, pulling and exploring, you will find very healthy children here at PattyKakesKidz.

Balance beams are so much fun.

Slides are so much fun too.

Climbing and pulling yourself up structures

build strong muscles.

Exploring creates new learning experiences for everyone. On to a new park next week with PattyKakesKidz.

Pearly Whites

♫This is the way we brush our teeth,

brush our teeth, brush our teeth ♫ 

Well, at least from what I see, our little ones here just love brushing their teeth. 

We took this past week to discuss the importance of brushing our teeth and the healthy foods you should eat.

We talked about cavities and how to brush away food between our teeth.

It was fun making a mouth full of teeth by cutting up strips of paper and glueing them into an empty mouth.

We also took huge fake teeth and learned how to brush up and down, inside and all the way into the back of the mouth.

The kids decided that their Dora Toothpaste tasted better to them than my Crest, which they said smelled too spicey.  They do love brushing their teeth everyday after nap.

My co-teacher made mouth puppets too. The kids had a blast using them as big smiley masks.

I even caught the kids taking our large toothbrush and attempting to brush our dog's teeth.  This was pretty funny as my dog just sat their with her pearly whites exposed.

This was a fun week learning about teeth and the importance in keeping them healthy.

Next week, all about Rainbows!