Silent Kidz Meant Important Play

So, here I was prepping and cooking lunch when all of a sudden I realized; oooh, it's a bit too quiet.  Now, if you know my home, you probably know that my kitchen is in the heart of everything.  I can look thru the window into the preschool room, look around the wall over into the living room and turn around and look right at the family room.  Love the set up, but again, it was really really quiet.  I go on a quick hunt to discover that all six kidz were so focused on their play, that it looked like they were little adults at work.  I had to be pretty sneaky to get pictures without interrupting their flow of thought.  Follow here to see the quiet moments of play, work, play, work LOL.

 Reinacting a teacher at the flannel board. The story is Brown Bear, Brown Bear.

Teacher is 2 years old and student is 3.5

A friend steps in to watch and listen to the story. He's 4 years old.

In the living room around the wall, the restaurant is in business.

Here the 3 year old cook preps a meal for a queen. (you'll find that is "me")

 This week, we had an area set-up with multiple homes for exploring homelife.

A two year old gets the family into a car.

His 4 year old friend and pretend neighbor joins in.

Together they discover a much larger home to share.

Next, our teacher and her student move to the table to do white-board writing.

At this point, I sigh with contentment and turn around to continue lunch prepping when I noticed our mascot staring at me, also being as quiet as can be. 

Once again, I smile with contentment and just as I turn to put the camera down, there stands our 3 year old chef. She has prepared a lunch for me too, (remember me, the queen? LOL) 

And, just when I thought my day couldn't get any better. 

 I have the best days here at PattyKakesKidz.  And can you believe it? I actually get paid to be with these little cutie-pies.  I just love my job.



Happy Birthday Riles

Our very own Riley turned 4 this week.  He is feeling on top of the world knowing he's growing up and getting ready for kindergarten.  He talks about going to college, even at his young age.  He loved having his very own special day today.  Join us as we bake for our friend Riles.

After everyone added their own ingredients, each child took a turn with the mixer.  I remember the first time we ever brought this out a couple years ago, the kids were terrified of it.  Now it's old school baby.

I never realized adding paper cups was so fun? 

Once they are done baking, the kids rush in to add the frosting to each of their cupcakes. 

 Must taste frosting, must taste frosting LOL.

Ahhh, mesmorized while contiplating and being sung to. 

And finally, the wish and blowing of our candle!

Happy 4th birthday our dear friend Riley.

Wet Foam Activity

Imagine a tub of water, foam shapes and a huge sheet of acrylic.  There are no rules or certain ways to engage.  A child led activity houses it's own learning experiences.  See how an old bathtub, playtime favorite sparked a new way of playing outdoors on a hot day.

Here are a few ways the children explored with fun, wet, colorful shapes.

 

They sorted by colors and....

they created familiar shapes.

They worked in solitude and...

they worked as a group.

This activity lasted about 40 minutes of contiuous designing and engaged conversation.  Kids love new ideas brought back to life from old ideas.  Never think that just because they've done it before that it can't be done again. 

Until next week at PattyKakesKidz!

Flannel Boards brought to Life

 What a great and inexpensive way to engage in real life play.

Flannel boards was our theme for the week, even though it wasn't planned out that way. We told stories about; The Old Woman Who Swallowed a Fly, The Three Little Pigs and The Itsy Bitsy Spider. This inspired me to bring out our individual sets of Flannel Boards where each child engaged in individual play.

We had a Zoo, a Campground, a Cafe, An Ocean and a Pet Shop. Everyone had so much fun and you could hear the chatter about the world happening on their flannel boards

Our PetShop



Our Zoo



The Cafe'

The Campout

The Ocean

Until next week.  You never know what the kids will want to do next.   I just love my job where the work is never boring.

First week of Preschool 2011-2012

With only 3 days this week to enjoy preschool, what did we accomplish? 

We made playdough.

 

We practiced our line tracing. (age 2 and age 4)

Then we practiced tracing our names on tracing paper. (age 4)

We found out that R is for Racoons too, not just our names. (age 3)

 

We followed a stream through a park.

  

We went on a library trip and found a huge artichoke.

We had an outdoor picnic.

We helped our friends button their sweaters.

We built log cabins as a team.

We painted the letter A is for Apples (age 2)

We welcomed our newest friend and took him to his first park trip.

We found a beautiful and colorful insect to explore.  We also found a brown grasshopper, but it got away.

We painted Fall Colors (age 2)

We read the Kissing Hand to ease our first week in preschool, then we made art to show how a kiss on the hand by our parents was a way to keep their love with us all day long.

We studied the calendar, sang songs, discussed our weather, told felt board stories, had a discussion about our families, talked about what was our favorite toys at home and decided that next week we would share what these items were.  The most important thing we did this week was discuss how much we loved our friends and families. 

Until next week with our friends at PattyKakesKidz.