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.