Water Play Bubble Day

 

 We have been doing a unit on bubbles and I wanted to incorporate bubbles into our water play day, so I got out the bubbles for us to blow and added dish wash soap to water, put out washcloths, babies, and even some of our riding toys to wash...but I wanted more!  So, I searched for bubble recipes...and found two pretty cool ones...bubble dough and bubble foam.  I made the bubble dough, and even though it didn't turn out exactly like I thought it would, it was fun for the kids.  The next project was a huge hit!  Bubble foam!  I have never, in my 20 years of teaching preschool, used a mixer to make a sensory activity...that changed today!  The recipe was super simple and the kids thought it was awesome!  All you need to make this foam is dish wash soap, warm water, food coloring (gel or liquid), and a mixer!  In the bowl of the mixer add 2 tablespoons of dish soap, 2/3 cup of warm water, and 2 drops of gel food coloring (more of the liquid kind).  Turn the mixer on the highest speed and let it go for a full 2 minutes (I did mine for about 4 minutes though so the peaks would be stiffer).  When it's done, it's like a colorful meringue!  I added it to the container I use for sensory play and let the kids go to town!  This will definitely be a go to for bubble week from now on! 

Creepy Crawly Spiders

What a great week we had learning about and doing spider activities!

 Painting with spaghetti...a new twist on string painting...to make a spider web

 Painting with plastic spiders.  I attached yarn to spider rings and the kids dipped the spiders into orange and black paint and "danced" across the paper.

 

Spider Math...practicing one to one correspondence.  I cut out the webs, colored the spiders, and added the dots.  When a child chooses this activity they put a black pom pom on each dot.  I also encourage them to count the pom poms. 

We did a group mural, more spider art, two spider related science activities, and more!  I plan on leaving some of the activities out and adding to them until the end of the month!  

 

Fall...Fabulous Fall!!

Holy Cats Batman!!  I can't believe I haven't blogged since March!!  As always it's been crazy busy at The Owls Nest and at my house in general!  Summer was tons of fun as we explored the ocean, the rainforest, bugs, ice cream, and possibly the coolest theme ever, Mad Science!!  Our Mad Science theme deserves its very own post...it was that awesome!!
Our academic year started the first week of August and we kicked the year off right with our Back to School theme, followed by All About Me, and Colors.  We implemented share days, so the kids can bring something special from home to share with the group.  The Owlets think it's pretty cool and they do a great job of sharing their treasures.  I try to ask questions, one of them being "Where did you get your ____________?"  The answer...from all of them...is always...."From my home!"  Well, yes you are correct, that treasure did come from your home!!  I love conversations between 3 year olds...they are the best! 
Finally, we have made it to Fall...my favorite time of year.  The temperatures aren't as miserable, although, I would welcome a day in the low 70's compared to the mid 80's...the leaves are turning,  pumpkin patches are opening, the wonderful smell of pumpkin is filling the air...oh so many reasons it's my favorite time of year!!  I also think the best preschool themes rear their heads in the fall...apples, pumpkins, popcorn..This week we are doing our Apple theme!  This is probably one of my favorite themes during the year.  I only wish there was an apple orchard close by so that I could take the Owlets to pick their own apples!  That would be a wonderful adventure for us! 

 This is our Apple sensory tub. It is full of oatmeal, cinnamon sticks, and plastic apples.  I added spoons, scoops, and bowls.

 Welcome to The Owls Nest Orchard!

 This is quickly becoming a favorite table tray activity.  Sticking cloves into an apple...smells amazing!

Dramatic Play Apple Orchard.  I added an  apple tree so customers can pick their own apples, added baskets of plastic apples, jugs labeled "Apple Cider", a pretend apple pie, bowls, cups, forks, and a cash register with scale. 

Light Box

This recovery has been pretty boring...OK, really boring!  I have been pretty productive though or as productive as one can be from the couch!  I have created calendars and made lesson plans through May..I've made a list of bulletin boards I want to create and of a thousand projects I want to do for and with my Owlets. 
This is the first one on my list.  I have read some articles about light boxes and decided that my school needed one.  If I can, I like to DIY, so after researching them on a few websites, I found a tutorial for a DIY light box on www.pinterest.com from http://www.teachpreschool.org/2011/06/diy-light-table-for-preschool.  I used a smaller container than the website used, but added black poster board around the sides, parchment paper on the lid to diffuse the light, and two tap lights that I secured to the bottom of the tub with Velcro.  This light box will be easy to store when not in use and I think the Owlets will really enjoy using it!  I have found a few activities for the light box, but I need to look for some more!  I'm super excited about this new addition to The Owls Nest! 

Cloud Dough

The Owlets and I made cloud dough today.  I have seen it in several different places and thought it looked like something the kids would enjoy!  It was super easy...8 cups of flour and 1 cup of baby oil, mix it together, and tada a super sensory activity!  It feels soft and like flour in your hands but you can mold it!  Along with the cloud dough I provided scoops, cookie cutters, spoons, and cups.  You can also keep it in a sealed container and use it again and again! 

Here Come The Dinosaurs!

We kicked off Dinosaur Week today!  The owlets are super excited about this week so that makes it even better! In preparation for this week the owlets and I spent a morning at the library looking for books on the subject of dinosaurs, buying plastic dinos at the store, and picking up sand!  Sadly, we don't have many books at home on the subject and we didn't have any plastic dinosaurs. Yesterday after church we ran to Lowe's to get some sand.  50 pounds of sand is not a light a load to carry, but Clever Owl and I made it happen, next time though I will send Papa Owl in for it!  I spent last night cutting out dinosaurs, I was glad that Papa Owl helped or I would've been up all night!
During our "circle time", we talked about what we knew about dinosaurs, I think my favorite answer came from Sassy Owl: "Dinosaurs live with Little Einsteins."  Then we discussed what we wanted to learn about the prehistoric creatures. 
This morning I added colorful dinosaurs to two dish pans and filled them with sand.  I gave the owlets paintbrushes and shovels so they could be paleontologists and dig for the dinos.  They got so excited when they found one!  This is also a good dramatic play activity!  For art, I added food coloring to spray bottles and cut out an egg shape, the owlets sprayed the egg shape and when they are dry we will cut them with a zig zag pattern and glue a baby dino coming out of the egg.  The owlets enjoyed doing these activities outside.  I copied a pattern of three types of dinosaurs onto construction paper, numbered them 1-10, laminated them, and finally cut them all out!  This is our math activity for the week and the owlets are going to sort the dinosaurs by type and then put them into sets.  Today they just sorted them by long tails, horns, and spikes! I'm sure our letter for the week should be D, but it's not, we are learning about the letter H.  For our literacy activity the owlets made hippos with their hand prints.  I love the idea of using hand prints to make something for each letter of the alphabet!
We have many more exciting plans for the week and I can't wait to share them with Sassy Owl and Monkey Owl and of course with all of you!  Have a fabulous Monday!!