As we travel through The Great Barrier Reef this month, we will be discovering sea life of all kinds. Today, the children put their fine motor skills to work while creating starfish and designing their own fish from The Great Barrier Reef. Fingertips were in full gear while positioning glue and sand just right to make a star. Next, the boys and girls practiced their pencil grip while uncovering color on their very own scratch fish.
February 2nd never goes unnoticed! Today, the children learned what a groundhog is, where it lives and who the most famous groundhog in the world is. After watching a video of Punxatawny Phil, the children made their very own groundhogs. We also worked on our cognition with groundhog concentration. Have you asked your child if Phil saw his shadow today?
A new month means new activities in our centers! The children had the opportunity to rotate around the centers to learn the new games and activities. Being able to do the activities properly ensures that the children are learning and practicing the skill the activity is meant to teach/reinforce.
As we usher in a new month, the children have the opportunity to discover new things in our centers. All of our centers have new items, but today we focused on the math, literacy and art centers. Learning how to do new activities is just one more way to practice/learn a skill in a different way.
Our fine motor skills are really shining through! The boys and girls did an excellent job getting those little fingers moving while practicing their cutting. Cutting out and decorating a mitten was a fun way to get those little muscles working!
Building a snowball takes good fine motor control. Today, the children had the opportunity to build their very own snowball! Crumpling up paper, painting glue onto it, then pulling apart cotton balls to apply to the paper, are all excellent fine motor practice. The children had a ball making their own special balls!
At Creative Tots, the weather took a turn for the….tasty?! The Arctic blast hasn’t stopped us from cookin’ up some yummy, seasonal snacks! In Ms. Lori’s group, the boys and girls made and edible glacier. Using Jell-O, wafers and Cool Whip, the children built the layers of their glacier while learning what a glacier is. In Ms. Leslie’s group, the children made snowman biscuits. We build the snowman by connecting three biscuits using toothpicks, drizzling on some honey to be sure that our “snow” (powdered sugar) stays put. Next, we put on the finishing touches using raisins and pretzel sticks. Miss Katelyn, our special helper and Ms. Manda’s daughter, taught the children about kayaks while making a celery kayak. Using cream cheese, the children put raisins to represent the seat and pretzel sticks to represent the paddle(s). In Ms. Courtney’s group, the boys and girls made snowflake sandwiches. Folding and cutting tortillas was extra special! Building a sandwich is easy, yummy and healthy! The children enjoyed making (and snacking!) on our storm of food!
How many different ways can you write the letters X, W and V? Today, the children got hands on with their pre-writing skills! Using mini chalkboards, playdoh, wooden lines, magnet boards, stickers and crayons, the boys and girls practiced making their letters in creative and memorable ways.
On our Arctic travels today, we discovered lots of new things! In Ms, Lori’s group, the boys and girls learned about how polar bears stay warm. With a little Crisco, plastic Ziploc bags and ice cold water, the children got to feel how important blubber is for Arctic animals. In Ms. Courtney’s group, the children got in touch with their snowman building skills while rolling out some Playdoh to make the letters V, W and X. The similarities in the “big lines” used to create all three letters helped the children remember how these particular letters are formed. In Ms. Leslie’s group, the boys and girls created number twelve letter constellations. Poking tiny holes into the paper made our “stars”. The children were excited to turn the lights off and see their very own constellations. We discussed what a constellation is, and the children got to see a very neat video on the Northern Lights!
We had a ball on Thursday during small groups. Ms. Lori let us create an arctic scene from Greenland with homemade puffy paint and homemade textured sand paint. The kids enjoyed adding the puffy fur onto the Polar Bear to help keep it warm. During reading groups, after reading our readers, we played a Cookie Crunch Sight Word game on the Smartboard to polish our sight word recognition. Then, we used our white crayons on black paper to practice our letter formation and orientation of our current sight words. Watch out Kindergarten….here we come!
Creative Tots has specialized in the private education of both toddlers and preschool age children for over 15 years. We began in the heart of Madeira and now also have a new Mason location. We are specifically designed to focus on early childhood development for children ages 18 months to 5 years.
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