This week our activities revolved around the zoo…From letters and numbers to crafts and science lessons!
To help us with correct scissor grip, we put smiley face stickers on our thumbs. The goal is to keep our thumbs to the sky, always looking to see that smiley face!
Easter came early this year at Creative Tots! Our Preschool class celebrated by doing Easter themed activities all week!
April’s theme in Preschool Prep is based around gardening and insects. We have integrated this theme into our daily curriculum and are having so much fun!
*Fine motor insect sorting
The Very Hungry Caterpillar story retelling
Bug Fossils!
Each day this month we have done a “Daily News” segment in the classroom 🙂 We first have someone introduce the news, and then we work together to figure out what month and day of the week it is. Next, we choose a student to be our “weather kid” for the day. This person gets to wear a special badge and report the weather based on what they see outside and how it feels! Lastly, we complete a feelings chart where the students pick a face that mimics how they are feeling that day (all of the children have picked the happy face so far)!
Our weather girl reporting her findings!
Cutting with scissors requires the skill of hand separation, which is the ability to use the thumb, index, and middle fingers separately from the pinkie and ring fingers. Providing children with frequent opportunities to develop their scissor skills allows them to practice using the tripod fingers (thumb, forefinger and middle finger). The tripod fingers are what work together in controlling a pencil. Developing the proper pencil grasp attributes to good handwriting. Strong scissor skills also leads to strong hand muscles and improved fine motor skills.
Motor skills are movements and actions of the muscles. They are categorized in two groups: gross motor skills and fine motor skills. Gross motor skills generally refer to movements involving larger muscles, like those in the arms, legs, feet or the entire body (used for walking, jumping and so on). Fine motor skills generally refer to movements involving smaller muscles, like those in hands, wrists and fingers (such as those used for holding a crayon or toy). *
Play dough Improves Fine Motor Skills
Squishing, squeezing, stretching and molding play dough helps to build muscle strength in the fingers and hands. This in turn makes it easier to complete fine motor activities like holding a pencil and cutting with scissors later on.
Dancing improves Gross Motor Skills
Jumping, stretching, dancing and ribbon twirling helps build muscle strength throughout the entire body. We also tapped wooden sticks to the tempo of Miss Joanie’s guitar, working on rhythm as we danced to “We are the Dinosaurs,” a classroom favorite!
* information taken from www.leapfrog.com
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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