Annie's Alphabet Home Childcare

names

2012-02-28T11:09:00.001-08:00

Making names out of random pieces found around the room.....

girls...around the room

2012-02-28T11:02:00.002-08:00

These two are best friends...they love each other and hate each other.....today they played without one fight!! They made a fort here....
are reading to their babies and playing 'night time'
and reading, reading, reading!!
Loralei wanted her quiet time :)

valentines....

2012-02-28T10:44:00.002-08:00

I didn't take many pictures...but the kids really enjoyed their valentines and goodies! It was all over a good day! <3

outside...

2012-02-28T10:20:00.003-08:00

This is inside the playhouse. They can climb in and out the window...pretty cool! The girls have climbed up for a good seat to watch the 'show'. They also decorate this space themselves.

Addy and her gremlin grin...

Music....

2011-12-16T12:59:00.000-08:00

I have acquired some pretty cool instruments...They are 'real' and the kids feel very special to be able to play them....
These drums are our favorite....
this kitty strum was my gramas.....
awww.....
Even the little ones understand the importance and how to be careful....
But mostly he really liked the fact that he could open, play, close, open, play, close!!

around the room....

2011-12-16T12:53:00.000-08:00

stacking....Jake is stacking everything...as he should :)
Setting up a train....I love trains!
Bug blocks and shapes....open ended play

counting people

2011-11-29T14:00:00.000-08:00

Here is a great example of how children learn through

playing.

I love how they started this on their own!!

I only wish I didn't comment near the end...because I am

pretty sure they were already going there.

outside play

2011-11-16T19:51:00.000-08:00

So, here are some photos of our yard. I strive to create areas within our yard that will encourage curiosity, empowerment, difficulty, challenge, safety with a sense of danger. children will seek out danger....I strive to give them that sense in a safe atmosphere. they need to experience risk in order to get a sense of self...a sense of what they can and can not do. My space encourages self esteem....we never help the kids 'get places'. Meaning...they cannot go down the slide until they can climb up to the slide. It helps them work harder to achieve what they want. a sense of pride :) The yard is always changing....the next large thing I am going to add is a water station! It will be a do-it-yourself water station. I am so excited. After that we will create an outside music adventure!!

our playhouse....there is a play kitchen, table, and chairs inside. There is also a window with 'shutters' that open and close and it is low enough to the ground so they can climb in and out.
colored stepping stones. i am wanting to add more next summer to create a long 'game board' :)I do not use saucers inside the house, but it works great outside, so the little ones can be in the middle of the action

strawberries....we also have apple trees, a plum tree, blueberry bushes, and random herbs around the yard. I am hoping to put in grapes soon......
we have a large eucalyptus tree....it smells soooooo yummy! especially when you rub the leaves
'bumping' on the teeter-totter is super fun!
Korina is in feeding our chickens.....
we brought the table out of the playhouse and had a little snack outside :)
we LOVE when the garbage man comes!! he even stopped and gave us coloring books last week!!
watching the bunnies....
snow is cold. snow is wet. snow is yummy. snow is the best!!
our driveway is long. it makes the best place to ride bikes down or these rainbow rollors.

Korina rides bikes with everyone
Bryan is hanging out reading a book....we have certain books that stay outside on the deck.
My son Dayton is enjoying a little game with the boys
we just got new sand....oh boy is it ever great!!

water....the bestest

this is not at my house....but it sure is cool, isn't it?? :)

I found this at the 're-store' in ballard. not sure what it was, but it makes a great ladder!! the kids can move it around the yard and climb....

Love.....
Looking for worms....
learning about trikes....

these steps are great. the kids go up, go down, on foot and on the bikes, the count, they jump, climb, crawl, skip, run, and hop on those steps.
the deck. to the left is the sign in sheet and a menu calendar. to the right is a bench and chairs for everyone to 'hang out'. they are not allowed to ride the bikes on the deck.
I love tree stumps!! they are jumping, dancing, or sitting platforms. they are tables, chairs, or 'ovens'. I have them all over the yard...and they are free!!!

hangin outside with some books.....
our slides are for up and down!. we slide down forwards, upside down, backwards, and sometimes on our feet. there is a rope there that they can pull themselves up the slide with.

eating strawberries off the bush....yummmm.....

I just liked this one.....

these aren't mine....but I think it is quite clever....I also love tires, and they are free!!!

new sand.....
water table....
this is a hammock that hangs on the deck. the kids love having some quiet time here. they are not allowed to swing big...only rock. this has been a savior for some kids that have come through here. I am adding more next summer throughout the yard.

these aren't mine....but I am doing this!!! I love this idea!!! for inside and outside!!

washing pumpkins! this was their own idea....
I purchased a bunch of planks at home depot. they love moving them around and making different obstacles. they are heavy enough to make it a challenge...but not too heavy that they can not do it.

around the room....apples

2011-10-04T14:23:00.000-07:00

We were patterning with the noodles.... Instead of a Red, Yellow, Green pattern, Quincy wanted to do Red, Green, Green, Yellow, Green, Red. He stuck with it for 3 rounds....

Another Pinterest find.....It turned out super cute! We added stems to the apples on the trees...
We got 8 different kinds of Apples. We arranged them from biggest to smallest...then we tested 3 of them for lunch. YUM! tomorrow...apple pie!
We have been measuring everything!!! tomorrow we will measure with Apples!!

Around the Room......

2011-10-03T13:29:00.000-07:00

I saw a picture on pinerest of a do-it-yourself store. It's not really even close to the picture but I used materials that I already had on hand and am impressed at the excitement and joy that it has brought already this morning!
Do you see the colored bottles?? they turned out pretty cool and the kids loved watching them turn colors and 'guessing'/'inferring' as to what was going to happening.
It's a crazy looking tree...but the thing I like about working with kids, they don't care...they thought it was very cool!! :) The flannel story 10 apples up on top is on the board....
Reading area.....
The messy room.....
Sensory bin....
Makenna made 'apple pie' playdough.....mmmmmm
There is a magnet board in front of these two....they were matching and grouping (sort of) the magnet letters
Quincy always loves the new books!! Addy is reading to the babies....
I have ALWAYS wanted one of these....I finally found one. They love it...of course :)
Crayon melting with Apple colors......
Painting.....
Puzzle doing.....
Soooo.....My creative lil Quinn....he is using the plastic cups to 'catch' the balls as they come out of this ball/ramp toy. He was also pushing the balls through super hard so they would 'shoot' into 'walls' that he was building. Even toys that look like they only may be used one way, always have other options :)
Jake was stacking these lil pillow seats then crashing them down....
Then he found some trains.....
They boys are building walls.....Quinn is crashing them down....with his new found 'shooter'
Royce loves the sink :)
Sensory bin....earlier one of the boys was here and he was patiently putting beans, one by one, into the straw.....good eye hand coordination and small motor control....see...play is learning :)

colors

2011-10-03T13:21:00.000-07:00

We started out with White, Red, Blue, and Yellow.......
Then we mixed them. Look through the Oct. Room pics to see what happend!

'the construction site'

2011-09-16T14:09:00.000-07:00

Quincy is in charge. This is mostly him dictating to the others....

"Off to the construction site!! Let's go guys! We need gloves! ....'I don't want gloves' says someone else....You need them! It's messy work! Look at this construction site hammer! Is this loud work or what? YOU!!, Hayden, take this...we're building up the bridge. No Jacob....this is the part where you don't have to have these anymore. Let's get a move-on guys!! Everyone grab some of those!! We need to stabilizer it!! Hey, this isn't a jungle gym!! It's a Bridge!!"

I love that he needed to stabilizer it :) and he did. and they walked back and forth on that bridge...broke it down...and built it back up, all morning. Such builders they are.

back to school

2011-09-06T14:12:00.000-07:00

I love the beginning of a new school year.....
This isn't just glueing down colored pasta.....Here is what is being said. "look Annie....it's all shiney! I made it shiney. I filled it all in with glue. I wrote my name!!! The colors are falling. Look, the glue is making the colors go this way." Of course I add in with 'oh, yes, the grooves on the pasta are filling up with glue. I wonder what it will look like when it is dry. What do you think it will look like? Yes, the color is bleeding off. Why do you think the color is bleeding off like that?
Time for the little people school house and busses. Lot's of busses!!!

fill her up

2011-06-08T13:02:00.000-07:00

Campbells mama is expecting a baby any day. Last week when Campbell came in, she was extra fussy and whiney. She would follow us around the room with her hands up, and ask for her mama. A frown from a friend would send her into a sobbing cry. We knew she was anxious, and we would hold her and talk to her...but mostly we were busy working with all the kiddos.

This morning she came into the room with puffy eyes and tears rolling down her adorable lil cheek. I knew we needed a different approach. Something that we often forget to do when we are busy with our own day to day things.

I cuddled her close and didn't let go until she was ready. We sat on the floor and shared a pillow for our heads. I sang to her, and read to her, and cuddled her. If I had to get up, I would scoop her up and take her with me. It's not always easy to do this when there are so many other kiddos, but nobody seemed to mind today. About an hour and a half after she arrived she stood up and wondered off. She was full. She needed an emotional fill up. She needed to know I was there for her today...and as soon as she got everything that she needed, she was as happy as can be!! I love you miss Campbell and you are going to make an amazing big sister!!

around the room

2011-05-15T20:09:00.001-07:00

I went to the store to purchase a bunch of hooks for the dress up clothes and they were 3.69 a piece!! I needed 20! Soooo.....I looked and looked and came up with this. It works even!! I have also changed things up a bit. I will post some of the messy room later.

Off to the left is the new circle time board...that will be next weekends project....

cookies and bunnies

2011-04-22T23:07:00.000-07:00

YUM!

First they decorated their table...then the cookies. They were Yummy!

These are a bit backwards....but here are the bunnie baskets. I usually don't do projects that the kids can't do mostly by themselves, but I found this on one of the sites and thought the kids would really enjoy carrying them around AND...I happened to have 10 milk cartons waiting for the perfect project. The kids picked out all the colors of the items that they wanted and Korina and I hot glued them on. To give it their own little touch I let them 'decorate' with colored sharpies! The did really enjoy playing with them!!

Campbell who is 2 was filling hers up with little people. cute.
Addy decorated just about every little space she could find :)

Even the bottom :)

I can't remember where the bunny idea came from...probably from one of you gals who might read this. If so, speak up! Sorry....I run through so many great ideas!!

egg finding......

2011-04-22T22:59:00.000-07:00

The eggs have been hidden......
The kids are excited and waiting patiently.....
Streeetttch.......
Everybody got to find 7 eggs.....
With their bunny baskets. :)

Egg Cracking....

2011-04-22T22:46:00.000-07:00

Every year we buy dozens of eggs and we crack them. If you are one that doesn't like kids playing with food....close your eyes. The kids love this and remember it. How often do you cook and your kids want to crack the eggs?? Now they know how, sort of. The pictures tell the rest...
We have 2 rules. Keep your hands away from your face and keep the eggs in the bowl...

Happy St. Patricks Day!!

2011-03-17T13:39:00.000-07:00

We started out with paint and a variety of items to paint with.....

It starts out pretty mellow....

Bryan is counting and lining up his circles....he made three sets of 5 which = 15....and yes!!...this is how he self talks to himself. I love it!! Notice how each set =5, but in different order. so one is long, and two are bunched up and they all =5!!

I was wondering how long before they started using their hands!

Green hands...they love to 'wash' the paint all over...

new paper...new interest!

um...coooool!

Ali is 'helping' Addy paint her own hands. My first reaction was to tell her she could do it herself...but this was soooo sweet!

St. Paddys Pots o Gold

2011-03-15T14:38:00.000-07:00

Today we placed out yellow tissue paper, green paddy garland, glue, and brushes along with a black pot.

Hearts.....

2011-02-11T14:10:00.000-08:00

Matching hearts.....large, medium, small, one through 5, and color matching.

The hearts in the basket match the hearts on the heart. :)

CUTE! I put up purple hearts with the childrens names on them and then made different color hearts with their names on them. They have velcro on the back and they need to match all the names to the right ones. Great for name recognition.

They are not all up here...but color recognition, sizes, counting how many, and matching colors. They also love to put these in little baskets and carry them around the room :)

Valentines....Be Mine

2011-02-11T13:56:00.000-08:00

I saw this on someone elses blog...I just wrapped string around blocks...some printed, some smooshed it around to make strokes, some just globbed. I think I will use bigger blocks next time and a little less paint. But I like this. :)

Patterning :)

Sponges with liquid watercolor make great stamp pads!! We started out making hearts with fingerprints and decided that using your whole hand was soooooo much coooooler!

This is a nipple that you would use to feed a calf.....makes great circles!It sure is hard not to eat the candy hearts that we are using for project!!!!!!!Salt Tray.....

Random around the room.....

2011-02-11T13:26:00.000-08:00

Every couple days I need to figure out something new to hold my lil Quinns attention. Today, pom trees! hahaha....I thought this was a pretty darn good idea myself. :)

Addy and Hay were sitting in these chairs and started pretending that they were putting on seatbelts. WAIT!! I have some seatbelts!!! Korina velcro'd them to the back of the chair and boy were they a hit!! now we have a train (or whatever else they chairs may be) legally!!! :)

I put these bristle blocks out about 2 months ago...and they still aren't tired of them!

My favorite little blocks...Lunch time for the snake....mmmmmmThis rope on the climber never gets old. Jacob is helping up a friend!!I love my drums!! Worth every penny!Loralei loves to wear these on her head. The are the dancing scarves turned head wear :) we wear them too! They are kneeling on these groovy little satin seats I got in Spokane....I only got 3 (a tad spendy) but would like to invest in having one for each kiddo at circle time!!An old client brought by a box of random things....these masks are a hit!!!!!!

Soda and Vinegar....yup, again.....

2011-01-26T13:18:00.000-08:00

This happens to be one of Quincys favorite activities so when Korina and I went to Costco we decided to stalk up!!""Hey, Blue and Red make Purple Annie!!" How do you know Quinn? "Because I squirt Blue and I squirt Red and when they mix together in the river it makes purple!" Wow Quinn, so when Blue and Red mix together they make purple. You are right!!I love this little chair the girls are sitting on. I taped 2 little wooden chairs together to make a 'friends' chair. It works! They love to sit together and it creates a whole new set of challenges for them to figure out.And Ali....she stayed here until lunch time. She however, changed her science activity up a bit...which is what you are supposed to do right?!! Rather than squirt all her colored vinegar onto the baking soda, she squirted just enough to get it wet and then started making and 'cooking' rolls and such. I never knew this activity could make a solid play medium...thank you for teaching me something new today Ali!!!

Random today....

2011-01-26T13:09:00.000-08:00

Our sensory bin is filled with poms....Korina added little plastic cups with color chips to match the poms so they could do some matching!

purdy, Quinalin....just so you know...it isn't a heart!! It's a monster truck and in this picture he is drawing the dirt under the truck. He was adament about NOT having to paint a heart today!!!!....so we put wheels on it!

awww.....He loves his books! even in a box....

Korina picked up a bunch of small brooms and pans at the dollar store....now they can scoop up their own messes made at the sensory table...or anywhere else!!!

Science area....as promised

2011-01-26T12:34:00.000-08:00

This is our science area. It is in the back left corner of the 'messy room'. The kids love to come hang out here...which of course makes me very happy. For the longest time I just had random sciency stuff around the room. Now it is mostly in this one area and easier to look at, find, and put away! I just added the lights because it gets a little dark back here. Oh, and one thing I didn't add a picture of is the color bottles on the window sill....These are the only things the kids are not allowed to get down because they are antique glass jars, but they like looking at them. I have more in the block area that are plastic and they get to play with those ones which is probably why they don't seem to bother these ones.

The mirrors are a big hit. sometimes they arrange them in a design and sometimes they use them as mirrors. One day Bryan was using them with the geo blocks and seeing the mirrored image of his creation. Yes, they do break...but that is all part of the process.

Korina has been making crystals with the kids....they are growing very nicely. we also have dead beetles and snails for the kids to look at under the magnafying glasses. Those are my teeth!!! minus the big chip in the front. :)Looking up.....Here is the side with the snake.....These are little counters I found at Michaels....we need to get some spring and valentiney ones!! these are fall leaves and pumpkins....they sort and match these using the little baskets.A basket of shiney jewles, a basket of rocks, and small baskets to sort them all with.Purses and keys......Science books....things that we actually have!!!This is what is on the other side....These are baby food jars with holes in the tops and items to smell inside. We have lavender, garlic, basil, and cinnimon....we need to add a few more. a box of magnafying glasses...These geo blocks are a favorite. We used to just have a big bucket of them and then I saw somewhere they did this and I loved it. It looks nice and it helps with sorting skills!!Wood pieces can be stacked and counted. How high?? two small ones = a larger one......I got these at conference. They are shakers and make a nice sound without being too overwhelming!!

shaving cream.....

2011-01-25T13:14:00.001-08:00

I Love Shaving Cream. It smells great, it cleans the table, and it is super messy and fun!!

Quinn does not like getting it on his shirt...so he figured out a way to not get it on his shirt. :)

bathrobes

2011-01-25T13:07:00.000-08:00

I was at costco over the weekend and they were selling these little robes/swimsuit covers for pretty cheap....ohhhh, the kids would love those I thought. And this picture isn't the happiest of pictures, hahah...but they love these little robes. I got 4 and so far that seems to be plenty at a time. Great practice for putting on and off and they don't need help!! One of them was even trying to tie up the 'belt'. yay.....

Feathers, Paint, and Glue.....

2011-01-21T14:13:00.000-08:00

Glue........"It's dripping Annie! It's dripping off the edge of this feather and into the lake of glue! See! See Annie, how its running down the side like that?!!" I sure do Quinn! Like a stream into a lake.....So very cool!

Sooo Purdy!!!They painted first then glued on some feathers...Art.....

Bilibo Baby....

2011-01-21T14:03:00.000-08:00

Ooops...this is sideways, but you get the picture....I LOVE our Bilibos!! We have large ones that they can sit in and small ones for scooping or carrying things around in. Today we used them to find toys around the room that matched. The loved this because not only was it very active, but I let them throw the toys in!! so they could make baskets. Soooo....Color matching, color recognition, large motor, communication, eye hand coordination, thinking, what else??

Around the room....

2011-01-21T13:46:00.000-08:00

Different Blue's and Purple's at the Easel.....

Brian is using the patterns on this book to create his own differnt pattern out of the pattern blocks....

Bev asked about the new science area....this is it...uh oh, a banner fell...I will post better pictures next week so you can see it's entirety....

Awww....Gremlin squeezes!!!

I see Red.....

2011-01-21T13:42:00.000-08:00

I love these color blocks....The kids walk around looking at things through them....

Beading and Baskets

2011-01-21T13:34:00.000-08:00

This is how our projects evolve. We started out Beading onto the rexlace (plastic rope)....and when most of them had finished, Ali was fascinated with how the beads sounded as she poured them from basket to basket. She was here for another 30 minutes or so pouring and while doing so she was saying things to herself like....'this basket has more, this one has less, lets fill this one with all the beads....etc...All math terms.....

Great for eye hand coordination.....and after they do this enough times...they will start patterning the beads automatically...I won't even have to tell them to. :)

Girls......

2011-01-20T14:06:00.000-08:00

Just cuteness....had to share....these girls crack me up everyday....

hahaha....sadie girl looks like a lost orphan and addy is totally posing!!

hahahahaha....gremlin....and alondra walked around with her head tilted back so the glasses wouldn't fall off!! hahahahaha

I love them and their pinkness....

Tractor CuppaCakes......

2011-01-20T14:00:00.000-08:00

Awwwww.....Quincy turns 4!!!!His mamma brought in homemade cupcakes....she is Brilliant!!

Happy 4th Birthday Quinn!!!

Library Bus......

2011-01-20T13:53:00.000-08:00

CC got to come on the Library bus today...it was her first time because she doesn't usually come on Thursdays!! This was Jim's last day with us...we will get a new bus and driver next month :(

We will get a new bus and a new driver next month....We love you Jim!! We will miss you....especially Quinn!

Sounds....

2011-01-20T13:49:00.000-08:00

I can't remember what these bells are called....I got them at this amazing store in spokane when I was there for conference....the have a deep cow bell sound and the kids love to bang them....we also love dancing around with these little shakers I found at conference.....I sent you some Paula!!

What Chaos!!! not really.......

2011-01-20T13:32:00.000-08:00

I am posting this to show how crazy our room can look when the children are in the middle of playing. Sometimes we walk through and pick up so they don't fall on things...but mostly this is what it looks like during the day. So here is what is going on. If you look at the posts that follow this one, you will see what they are doing up close. The children are usually in thier own little worlds doing their own little things. For the sole reason of blocks...they were all migrating to this part of the room. So, the two in boxes are 'floating' around in boats, and watching along with the one in the jacket. The rest are busy building a large block creation that they started. There are a few behind me in the other room....but I am always amazed, every day, that there can be 9 (there is one on the other side of the blocks) in this one small space and everyone is getting along brilliantly!! This is my testiment to the fact if given time...lots of time...kids will be more patient and more willing to sit and watch and wait and get along with each other. Their imagination will sprout much larger if given the time to do so. We play....all day. The children choose what they want to do....I love my job....I love, love, love it!

Blocks.....

2011-01-20T13:10:00.000-08:00

We are sooooo into blocks right now. All the kiddos love to build and create their own little fortresses....I added bristle blocks and they were building ships and trucks for the little people (they fit perfectly inside the little squares) and this week I added the race track...or ramps....and some soft blocks. Sometimes I laugh at the fact that we spend a good deal of time on this blue rug building, and sometimes it gets soooo crowded, but they all adjust and are learning everyday how to get along and deal with disapointments (as in someone knocking down your tower!!)

Learning: spacial awareness....eye hand coordination...cooperation....patience....how to use our words....different ways of getting what we want....how high our body can build and figuring out what to do if we want to make it way taller than we are....

Trains and ramps.....and walls....and hills....and gravity.... Hey!!! Yours is almost as tall as mine!.....mine is taller than yours.....yours is all squiggly....I have been to classes where they say the girls play with dolls and the boys play with blocks...not here...we all play with everything. The girls love to build and the boys love to cook and play with baby dolls. It's very well rounded!I love little people!!......Even the babies are trying to figure out what fits and what doesn't.....AND...they are playing togethere, sort of :)))

Paint and Glue.....

2011-01-20T12:43:00.000-08:00

We paint everyday. Almost.....We try to use different things to paint on. We paint on bubble wrap, tiles, newspaper, plastic animals, cars, rocks, wood, egg cartons...etc...and tin foil. It looks cool, sounds cool, and is shiney. Kids (and me) love shiney. Q-tips are perfect for this painting activity....

Nope...we don't wear smocks....too hard, and the parents know to wear 'daycare' clothes. this helps the kids with spontaneos painting!!

Lee Lee has just started walking and found the easle. She now loves to be here....and loves to paint!!!! The paper...the easel....the chair...the wall....the floor....silly Lee.C.C. loves to paint too!!Glue...I buy big containers of glue...glue is sooooo much fun! We just get out paper and let them glue. After they do this many, many times...it is much easier to teach them how to do projects with a little bit of glue. This activity is important on so many levels! Gravity....fine motor strength (squeezing is hard work!)....eye hand coordination....spacial awareness....what happens if you squeeze harder?.....and just plain ol curiosity and fun!!!! They need strong fingers to do all that writing and drawing and this is a perfect way to get there!

cooool.....

2010-11-10T15:02:00.000-08:00

Have any of you been to www.stevespanglerscience.com ?? I love his stuff and got a bunch at conference this year. These are polymer crystals that mysteriously grow into large gel-like material when added to water. We added water to the colored crystals then took pictures to document the growing process.....

Some of the comments this morning were

"It looks like ice"

"It's red ice!"

"But it's not cold like ice is cold"

"It feels like Jello"

"is it jello?"

So we talked and confered and discovered....then we blended. Each child will come home with a little vile of different colored crystals. Talk together about what happens to the colors....eventually it will become one color....

We are also watching what happens in class....coooool!!!

bunnies, string, and fire.....

2010-11-10T14:42:00.000-08:00

Awww....I know, cute!

The other day I was putting some string away and Quinn said in the cutest little boy voice he could find; "Annie, can I have a piece of that string?" Sure Quinn, I said...and the imagination began.

Of course they asked Quinn where he got the string and the ripple effect had begun....Everyone 'needed' string...even the 15 month old.

Bryan and Quinn were working hard and pretty soon they were 'fishing'. They 'built' fishing poles and fished. I am not sure what the chairs had to do with it all...but they were catching some cool stuff!

Here, they are casting their hooks! Later...they needed a fire. To cook the fish of course...so I headed to the closet of odds and ends and got some red tissue paper. "Great!" Bryan said..."This is just what we needed!" Bryan started building his fire.It's a hot one and more wood was needed!Sooo...where there is fire, there is the need for people to put the fire out and who better than the local firefighters.

I love when play is an all day thing. We started out with string and ended with firetrucks....with a whole lot of learning (via, language and risk taking) in between!!Over in the science area I added some big circle mirrors and plastic 'fall' items including leaves, pumpkins, and nuts. They are great sorting items. Loralei especially loves it over here and has a fascination with the sparkely things...the mirrors especially. She uses the mirrors alot...and yes, they do break. One actually broke today, but we just picked it up carefully and threw it away. She now knows you can not kneel on the mirror....we do not let the babies in this part of the room :)

Around the room....

2010-11-08T18:53:00.000-08:00

This is the area of our room we call the 'Messy' room. This is where we paint. We have painting, a sensory bin, the light table/craft table, the big blue table, the writing table, the playdough table, and the science area. We just addded snails...I will post that in a bit. On the big blue table we are painting with baby calf nipples. I got the idea at conference and purchased them at the Grange...which is our local farm store.

In the sensory bin we have flax seed. I also got this at the Grange. If you haven't used this before it is very cool to the touch. Later you can try adding oil or water for a totally different experience. We added silver tins and cups and a bunch of plastic Spiders. And yes....I use food. Kids do not get confused about playing with food and eating it. I remember playing with Oatmeal as a kid and I never associated it with the Oatmeal that I ate. I certainly never ate dry Oatmeal....or uncooked rice, or uncooked colored rice or noodles or flax seed. ewww. So yes, we play with food...it's cool.

My kiddos LOVE magnets. We keep them out or have them easily accessable at all times. These are big black magnet sheets with little containers, colored block magnets, clear colored magnet rim pieces, and chain. The chain is especially versitile and they love it!

The days following a Costco run are always good for some seriouse box play. I had 3 large produce boxes and these guys are surfing!! Yup surfing. Bryan has the stance down good.....

and then they needed to lay down and paddle. Loralie is doing the full crawl stroke!Our little ones LOVE to read! Yes, it is upside down, but she is chatting away about apples. The kids love to build and lately we have been asking them if they want to draw what they build. YES! They do, and Bryan is very careful to make sure that all his blocks are represented. The kids are practicing and learning good pencil control and this is also helping with eye hand coordination. Here is Addy using some of the materials that were on the Magnet boards. She liked to do this on the blue table. She is patterning and creating shapes.....Korina and I cleaned out one of my 'sheet' closets. Oh boy did the kids have a good time with all the unwanted sheets. We used clothes pins to pin everything together to make a fort. Here we have corn painting...This is the decorative corn that you can buy at the grocery store. Sometimes they get their hands painty just so they can wash them! :)These two were up here for a good amount of time. They are standing on one of the benches. I am not sure why they didn't just pull down the containers...but it was a great place for them to play with their horses/animals. We made this building 'blocks' using old baby formula containers. I added colored paper and pictures of the kids or animals and then put contact paper over them. They can build these up taller than themselves...and they make a LOUD noise when they fall...that is the most important part.

Baggie Books

2010-11-07T20:05:00.000-08:00

The other night in class I learned about "baggie books" This is probably the coolest and easiest thing I have learned about in a long time. This is what you need....Baggies, and pick the sandwhich baggies. I tried to get the bigger size and they all have writing on the baggie so you can add a date. You want to make sure there is no writing on the baggie. Cardstock cut to a tad smaller than the baggie. Then you can use anything you want to decorate the pages. I used the foam pieces and pictures. I like the foam pieces because they are raised up and it gives the children a different sense to 'read' the book to. You will need a stapler to staple the edges and some thick tape. I used different colors of duct tape.

I placed the photos on the cut to size paper.

I then added words, pictures, and the foam stickers. I placed the pages into the baggies and stapled the edge. Make sure the opening to the bag is to the left of the page....the zipper opening is to go where the binding goes.

Once you staple, cover the edge with duct tape. I love the colors!

I put about 3 or 4 layers. Sometimes the staples don't close all the way so the tape helps cover the pointy part of the staples. Then cut off the edge that hangs over the top of the book.Here are a few pages of another book I made. By the way....Wellington is our friend from England. We are doing a pen pal deal with the 'Cheeky Monkey' daycare. I still have another book to make. We swapped out stuffed animals and then we take pictures of the different places the animals went and send a book so the kiddos can see different places through the animals!! Cool huh? Our guy that is in England is named Washington and she has taken him to Egypt!!! I will post pics of that book when it arrives.

staying cool outside....

2010-07-10T12:48:00.001-07:00

It's been in the high 80's low 90's here in Bellevue and it makes for a very uncomfortable afternoon. The best way to beat this is to add water. Super messy, but very needed and welcomed! They were throwing water at each and watering plants and themselves :) There are quite a few pictures here and are of no great meaning, other than pure joy. Enjoy mamas and papas! Have a super weekend!!

Lemons

2010-05-25T19:40:00.000-07:00

This week we are talking aobut lemons and limes. At circle time we held them, talked about the differents sizes, colors, shapes, and textures. We brainstormed ideas of things you could make with lemons....muffins, lemonade, pie, sandwiches, mush, juice, etc. We then wanted to see what was inside. This is what we found. Lemons were yellow on the outside and yellow on the inside...we found seeds, juice, and pulp (new word). The limes were the same on the inside but were green like they were green on the outside. We then cut open the key lime. It was the smallest and green like the lime, but different from the lemon. Then.........

We tasted them. I thought for sure that they would hate it and never want to taste it again. WRONG...they made sour faces, but loved them. They loved the lemon, loved the lime..ewww for me....and loved the key lime...really ewww for me.

We then took them to the blue table and painted with them. Some made prints, some painted their hands, some used them to brush along the paper, but ALL smelled very yummy!! We liked the way our lemon paintings smelled!

Tomorrow....we will zest lemons for lemon bars and then cut our lemons in half, squeeze them out, add sugar and water, and drink up!!! Yummm!

On a plane trip

2010-04-21T12:51:00.000-07:00

Today was a pretty calm day, I only had 7 children. At this point when they started building the airplane there were only 5. Olivia was in charge. She set it up, directed everyone where to sit, and was in charge of getting them there safely. When I asked "Where are you going?" She bolted out "ALABAMA! We are going to see Daddy Hall. I am going to show everyone pictures in a minute so they know who we are seeing. Everybody sit down, here we go!" Notice she filled all the empty seats with animals and babies.

Armaan is making sure the squirrel is okay and Loralei is holding on tight to baby. There was alot of play and imagination that went on here. Not to mention the amazing negotiation skills that Olivia has. Some of the kids would get tired of sitting there, but Olivia made sure she inticed them with something new and exciting. When Dylan and Lexi got there, they were very excited to go flying and they uped the anti a bit by getting dressed up. So then everyone was getting dressed and undressed and dressed again for the plane ride to Atlanta. Then the play took a dramatic turn..........
They crashed. The crashed hard and everyone was dead...and alive, and dead, and alive, and dead. I love how Dylan placed the chair on top of himself. They played crash for a while and eventually moved to something different. They were in this airplane mode for a few hours. It was great. I loved listening to the stories they made up and acted out. I didn't really involve myself too much unless someone was going to get hurt, I just let them be. All this role playing is great for them to try things out in 'pretend' that they might not be able to try out in real life. It gives them different senareos to try out...see what works, see what doesn't work. It is also very important for them to act out death, pretend someone is hurt...or dead...so that when real sitiations come up they might have better skills to deal with it.

I loved our morning! So did the kids. :)

Eggs!

2010-04-02T13:28:00.000-07:00

It is that time of year again where we crack eggs. 2 rules...keep it in the bowl, and DO NOT put your hands in your mouth. We watch them closely and for the most part they follow the rules. Of course....keeping it in the bowl is hard, and I know that, so I don't care when they get it on their clothes, the floor, their hair...etc. I just keep giving them gentle reminders to keep it in the bowl. I do this every year and the children love it. This is about an hour project. They work in 2s and between them they crack about 3 dozen. When they are done cracking they start mooshing and dripping, and exploring their bowl full of eggs. It is quite the experience to watch. Olivia, who has been with me for over 3 years now....looks forward to it!! Even Lainey who is now 8 came to join in!

At first they cracked all the eggs into the bowl and put the shells into the crate. When they were done cracking they added the shells!

I am pretty sure Alondra would have gotten in if we let her :) Of course...Quinn is the last one. I think he was the last one last year too. I will have to go back and check. Here he is pretending his hand is a claw of some sort of bulldozer.....and here he is picking it up with his 'claw'. I washed all the clothes for you parents! :) I didn't think you would like dried on eggy clothes.

Easter...around the room

2010-04-02T13:13:00.000-07:00

We did many open ended crafts this week for Easter. Here we are painting on Bunny ears. We will wear them tomorrow for our party.

Painting eggs at the easle....

Stamping with a variety of Easter stamps...we just used paper towels and liquid watercolor for our stamp pads. You can also get 'make your own' stamp pads at www.discountschoolsupply.com. I have some, but am not sure where I 'organized' them to. :)

Boys glueing. At this time they are not doing anything specific...just gluing. I make sure to have plenty of glue on hand!!

Painting with Peeps!!
Armaan wasn't too sure about this one.....These girls Loved it! and loved how their fingers tasted!

Outside....

2010-04-02T13:07:00.000-07:00

Oh...Quinn is so strong!

We are lucky to have a yard full of pinecones! Such a great free open ended activity!! These guys were collecting the pinecones into the bucket, dumping them out, counting them, putting them back in, and carrying them around the yard.

These guys made up a game. They put all their shoes into a pile, Dylan counted to 3, and then they hurried to put together as many matches as they could. I love it!!

Counting pinecones into the bucket.

We have chicks!

2010-04-02T13:00:00.000-07:00

We went to the grange for bunny food. We came home with chicks. We got 5 different colored ones, two of which will hatch blue and yellow eggs! The others will give us brown eggs. The kids love them!! They are pretty easy to care for so far. We will be building a coop outside along with the bunnies. My youngest son is so excited to get fresh eggs. He was bummed it takes about 6 months. They are growing fast and Korina built on to the box to make it bigger and better. They now like to perch and see what is going on. We just added a stick across the inside for them to perch on as well. They are very curious little gals.

Quinn

2010-03-12T13:26:00.000-08:00

Some of you may think 'oh my gosh, no way'....some may think 'very cool!'....I think 'so much learning is going on right here', not to mention Quinn is very engaged, calm, quiet, lovely, and green. We did this with the older kids and it lasted about 15-20 minutes. They used up stuff quickly and got a little invested, but not like Quinn. Our lil Quinn was here for over an hour!! What we had here were mounds of baking soda in a tin container and baby food jars with yellow and blue vinegar with pipettes.

It started out like this.....

Mixing blue and yellow together......

He is also working on his fine motor skills with the pipettes....and finding out what happens when blue and yellow are mixed together, and what happens when you add vinegar to baking soda, and 'what is that funny smell anyway?'....vinegar

Hmmmm, what would happen if I put it up here on my arm? And not only is he watching it fall from his arm in different patterns, but when it drys it leaves a different pasty feel on your hand that cracks and peels...he liked that too!

Here he is pulling it up from the bottom and dripping it back in off his fingers, because it is watery on top and gooey on the bottom.....Don't EVER let anyone tell you this little one is ADD cuz he's not! You just need to find what interests him! :)

'Washington' our pup

2010-03-12T13:19:00.000-08:00

We are doing a pen pal program with a daycare in London called 'cheeky Monkeys'. I have yet to post it, but we went to build a bear and made this pup and named him 'Washington'. We are taking pictures of him with the kids at their houses and around our daycare room. Well, Lexi LOVES him. I might have to go again so we can make another friend! Our goal is to put a book together and then send Washington and the book to the daycare in London. They also have a bear named Wellington that they are going to send to us.
Here, Lexi is reading him a story.

Again, she is sharing some quiet time with him. Everyday she comes in and asks for Washington. :)

around the room....

2010-03-12T13:07:00.000-08:00

Olivia designed and created this train track and she was very proud of her self. "Annie, Annie, you have to come see my train track! It is really cool!" And it is really cool. Quinn especially loved it!

It's hard to see, but lexi has all 3 paintbrushes in one hand. Such creativity this girl has!

Oh my goodness....Quinn has a Mr. Potato head arm and a small Mr. Potato head Santa cape. He sat on this fluffy little rug for about 25 minutes playing with these two little things. He would carefully wrap them up and upwrap them, then wrap them up again. So sweet and careing!

Somebody was bothering these two so they took their food into the box. Notice Lexi has our dog Washington close by. I lifted the flap to the box, right in the middle of a big bite!

I set these out today and Dylan is loving them. He was here for a good 25 minutes and then would come back periodically throughout the day to work a little here and there. Good math going on here.

shamrocks....

2010-03-12T13:01:00.000-08:00

I put out some shamrock shapes, gold tinsel, glue, and some paint.

Olivia wanted something 'sparkely' so we got out some sequins....I didn't have the energy for glitter that day. :)

around the room.....

2010-03-12T12:50:00.000-08:00

Wes carried this hat full of people around with him all morning. Here he is observing a couple other kids passing out food to each other. He soon left and joined Dylan who was drawing. ...he took his people with him.

Dylan has recently become very interested in drawing. I am so excited about this! He is drawing some very detailed pictures with some great stories and here he is doing something so exciting! I was outlining something with a sharpie and when I was done he asked to use it. I let him and he started tracing something that he had drawn with pencil. Some people see just drawing...I see, writing, writing, writing! And...doing it on his own terms which means he will love, love, love it!

Alondra has also started wanting to write, EVERYWHERE! So...we set out some more clipboards and she carries it around with her! She can draw/write wherever she is!

Korina is reading some of our new Library books.

Library Bus!

2010-03-12T12:34:00.000-08:00

Each Month on the first Thursday, Jim comes in his big ol bus. The kids get so excited to see his happy face! And Jim is always excited to see the kids. One day he wore a big silly hat! Here he is reminding the kids the rules of the bus. They each get to pick out one book that stays at daycare and I get to pick as many as I like. :)Wesley is following one of the very important rules...hold on to the handles when you are walking up or down the big huge steps!

Got Mail?

2010-02-10T12:06:00.001-08:00

We are talking about mail this week. We are talking about things like, where does mail go? Who takes it there? The fact that we need a stamp (and where to put it) or the mailman won't take it. Talking about addresses and names. We have some new friends in London at the Cheeky Monkey Childcare, and so we sent them some valentines! They have a Loooong address compared to ours.
As we were taking our mail out to the mailbox....We had mail!!! Armaans mum sent a package for Armaan and a package for the other kids. Thank you!!! They were so excited to open it and we worked on the activity while we were waiting for lunch to be ready.

Armaan LOVES his photo collage!! He keeps going back to look at it!

Valentine collage....

2010-02-03T12:41:00.000-08:00

Korina set out paper, doilies, cut out hearts, heart stickers, heart puffy 'sayings' stickers, and red straw pieces...with glue. Olivia asked what all the sayings were on the hearts. They said things like....LOL, BFF, Love You, Text Me, and Be Mine. She memorized them and read them back to all the kids. :) She will be reading by the time she goes to school!

Q-tip painting with all the Valentine colors.....

We got out tin foil...I thought to paint on, Olivia had a different idea. She cut it up and glued it to her painting....very good idea Olivia!

valentine....

2010-02-02T12:39:00.000-08:00

This is part of our new science area. I want to do a few more things to it before I totally blog about it. They really like what is already there! Right now I put in pink playdough that smells like vanilla and cinnamon, smooth shiney rocks, large noodles, copper cake pans, heart placemats, and later I added heart cupcake papers.

In the sensory bin there is a variety of colors of rice. I made it simply by adding dropfuls of liquid watercolor from www.discountschoolsupply I added heart playing cards they can match up and heart containers.

The easle has pink, white, purple, and red....They all decided to come into the messy room this morning. I did just put out the playdough...nice and warm. The other table has some stamping. I just added some liquid watercolor to paper towel strips and let them stamp away with heart stamps.Armaan and Alondra are sitting in the reading area and Alondra was reading him a book. Of course she moved before I could take the shot. She loves to 'take care' of him!

Room arrangement

2010-01-25T13:01:00.000-08:00

I am going back to school to finish my ECE. I have already taken most of the classes needed but am about 6 classes shy of having that degree. I started last Tuesday but signed up late so had already missed 2 classes, and I have been trying to make that up. One of the books we are working out of is an awesome book! I will give you the name in my next post. It is about room arrangement. I have always had 'learning areas' in my room, but have always thought something missing. I re-arrange my room sometimes monthly trying to find the 'perfect' way. I think I have stumbled upon it with the help of this book. So far I have changed 2 areas, the book area and the science area. I will post the book area first and then I will post the science area in a bit. Our teachers exampl of what NOT to do, was put the the reading area next to a doorway and to have it open...becuase then it is too noisy and traffic will distract. Hmm....Mine is open and next to the door. My room is small. I thought about moving the reading area somewhere else, but I love how much light comes in at this spot. This is where we used to do circle time and never really thought it that bad of a spot....until now. Try not to look at the mess....but wow! What a difference!

Just adding curtains and a few plants transformed this little area into a haven! The children LOVED it! All morning they hung out in there and read!!

I also added some new pillows. The board you see in the background has the childrens pictures, their names and birthdates, and pictures of their homes. (Some haven't brought in pictures.) I covered it with plexi glass so it wouldn't get ruined. Our little 9 month old Campbell loves to go look at her parents. The other day she was kissing her dad!!!

flour, light table, stamps, boxes, blocks, paint, and.....these amazing coffee filters.

2010-01-19T12:57:00.000-08:00

My niece, Charolette, came to play today. I love when my nieces come to play!! She loved the flour table..then the sink...then the flour table. She went home a little pasty :)

These pieces of paper are the scraps leftover from cutting out small, medium, and large circles for the snowmen. One child painted hers and the other painted on the inside....

Ooops, Wesley spilt the blue...no biggie, just use it off the table!

I set out snowmen stamps, stamp pads, paper, and pencils. COOL! RIGHT? I saw these in the catalog www.discountschoolsupply.com You can't fill them with water or super small stuff (like glitter which, if you shake it, comes out) But the kids helped us with ideas of what to put in here. We have pom poms, glitter (don't do that one) pasta, buttons, sequins, and this cool white beaded stuff I got through www.creationstationinc.com They are at conference every year and I load up. We needed a quiet place...hmmmm...ooooh!!! I still had the box that the block shelf came in. It fits perfectly! A nice quiet place for one or two. Yeay!This is how our Art goes....Korina had a great idea with some of the packing pieces that were still hanging around (I never through anything away...it's good and bad :) ) She wanted to cut them up into shapes and have the kids do shape prints. I knew what would happen, but I forget that she hasn't learned all that yet. So quinn gets busy...oh so busy. I am pretty sure he is drive'n...drive'n those little shapes all over town onto his paper. After Quinn is done Korina says, "Well, they just painted big blobs, but they had fun!" I raise my eyebrows and nod yes, and realize she does know. :) My thrifty lil boy....he finishes on one side and turns it over to use the other side. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE these coffee filters!!! I got them through www.discountschoolsupply.com and will buy them again and again! They come in 3 sizes. These ones are the middle size...yes, they come bigger!! Korina set them out with bubbles on top, hoping to get some bubble prints as they fell onto the filter. It really didn't work, but it made a different working space. Dylan filled up his whole filter!

Some other ideas we have been using with these are using pipettes and liquid watercolor to make ty-dy-like designs. AND, one of my favorite so far is having them draw on them with markers and then using water and a paintbrush and having them run the paintbrush over their drawings to create a watercolor effect.

Snowball Fight!

2010-01-12T12:31:00.000-08:00

We started out with cheese graters and soap. Yes, I have 8 cheese graters....wouldn't want to leave anyone out :) I use Dove for sensitive skin, and let the children grade away. I first let them know that the graters are sharp and demonstrate how to use them and how NOT to grade your fingers. A few of them took this job very serioiusly and grated the whole bar of soap...and yes there is more if they need it. Some just grated a litte...."What do we do when we are done??"Would you like me to wrap you in Toilet paper? Yeah! So we wrapped everyone up in toilet paper and they thought they were soooo strong being able to rip out of their capture.Dacia stopped by for a visit and got to help out....The Mighty Quinn....As they started to break out of their wrap, the natural thing is to throw it....we didn't have to say a word! Up in the air, on your head, and pretty soon we showed them how to roll it up to make a snowball. This was the best snowball fight I've ever had. It's warm, soft, and doesn't hurt when blindsided!It lasted for a good 40 minutes and Korina (My assistant) did not want to stop. "We should do this everyday Annie!"
We then gathered up big piles full of 'snow' and took it over to our buckets full of shaved soap. We added some warm water and stirred around and around. In the Lisa Murphy book, she calls it 'clean mud'. It is always a good indoor crazy activity! The kids love it and it's fairly cheap and easy to clean up! Just don't dispose of it down your sink....it will go into the garbage. We will leave it out a few days though....when it dries out a little, just add some more water.

Happy New Year!!

2010-01-10T19:14:00.001-08:00

My New Years Resolution.......To Blog Again!
It has been awhile. One of the big changes for me in 2009 was to move from 8 children by myself to 12 children with someone helping me. At first I thought it would be hard, then I thought it would be easier with someone else around, and then I thought it would be hard again. It has ended up being a great decision and I love Korina who is our Assistant. It does get a little hectic sometimes, especially when the rainy days keep us inside, but we have figured out ways to seperate and conquer! My space is not huge, matter of fact it is pretty small, but we divide it into areas of play that give the children their 'own' space if they wish. Some days I just take the older kids to the kitchen table and give them a 'special' assignment to work on.
Another special thing we added to the mix.....babies! By mid February we will have 3 of them under 1! I am now trying to figure out how to safely block the front area off so we can still have preschool stuff out for the others. Right now we just block with boxes.

Before Christmas I asked all the kids (all of them celebrate Christmas) what they wanted for the playroom from Santa. I told them Santa was coming to preschool this year and we needed to give him a list. One of the boys said he would like to have a GOOD set of blocks...you know the kind where you can build things because they all go together. (I felt bad...no one has ever complained about the blocks before, but it was true, most the blocks I had were mismatched and hand made) So this is the block set that came and the shelving unit that goes with it. Yes it was spendy, but very worth every cent. I got them through communityplaythings.com The other items they wanted were new baby dolls, books, puzzles, cars...lot's of cool cars, flashlights, and an outside playhouse. I didn't get the playhouse, but we will have one built outside in the spring. The kids were so excited to come back from break and see all the new stuff!!We started off our first week with Ice, water, snow....I was trying to hold off with the snow until it actually snowed...and am still waiting! We did a white collage. We had White string, cotton balls, buttons, feathers, tissue paper, and stickers. They love the new flashlights...we are working on NOT shining in the face! :)Next day we painted on tinfoil with blues, purples, and white.....Here is Campbell enjoying her new friend Leigh! They are 3 months apart and will be great friends!! Oh my gosh....Quinn turned 3!!! I can't believe it!then we made snowmen...While I hung with the babies Korina observed this project. She talked about small, medium, large....and big, bigger, biggest....We set out popsicle sticks, poms, buttons, cotton balls, black felt hats, Q-tips, red straws cut up, and glue. Here are a few of the different snow men. Very Cute!They are very into the bottom of the fort lately....Here is Lexi coming out to say Hi for a sec.Dylan, Sam, and Bryan were all on the phone talking to family members :)

Smores....

2009-11-06T16:14:00.000-08:00

We ended our week of camping (we will probably continue it next week also because the kids LOVE it!) with a fire and roasting marshmallows to make Smores. We got out there while it was sunny and by the time we were done we were getting rained on! As soon as we got inside the clouds opened up, thunder and lightening cracked, and the hail came down. Whew, we just missed it. The kids had a great time around the fire.Korina makes marshmallows for me and her......

teacher project vs kid project

2009-10-12T19:38:00.001-07:00

What is this? Yup, it's a spider. We made it with our hands today. So tomorrow we will add eyes and maybe some 'web', and it will be cute, and you will love it.
So here is the problem. For the little guys I have to paint their hands to get it just right. Then I have to place their hands down on the paper just so, to get the 'spider' look. Then I have to take them over -right away- after I place their hands down, and wash them so they don't paint everything else black because I have to paint someone elses hands because they are waiting. That is alot of I's, isn't it? Sure the project is cute, but your child did not really make it. I did. :)So I let the older kids paint their own hands, but what happens if they do it.....wrong? Which is something that I stive very hard NOT to do, is make the kids feel bad about doing Art wrong. But I have to tell them exactly where to put their hands....and sometimes....They do it wrong. I don't tell them though...and we move on to the next piece of paper. I say, "let's do another one Lexi!"I started getting pretty frustrated at myself, and the things I was trying hard NOT to say, but ended up having to say, like....wait, hold on, in a minute, no, not there, stop!!!!! Because they all wanted to do it at once.
So, I put out a big piece of paper and let them do it themselves. Ahhhhh, much better! Quinn and Sam painted themselves for about 20+ minutes and I just sat and listened and watched and it was so peaceful and so much less chaotic. They learned much more by doing this than by me doing it for them.
That is why we don't bring home very much 'cutsie' art work. :) ....it's because I love your kids so much and love when they are doing it, not me.

Ooohhh, this is cool. I have plexi glass pieces that we paint on, shaving cream on, window crayon on, but today we used window pens. Have you seen those? Cool dude......I printed out some spider pictures and taped them under the plexi glass and set them out with the pens. Me likey!

Spiders and random pix.....

2009-10-08T09:04:00.000-07:00

We are all over in the sand box and these two are giggling away over on the deck. I look over and this is what I see. Too cute!

These guys are working hard on the 'bathtub' bubble solution. They are using sand, playchips, rocks, and whatever else they can find laying on the ground.

Here is the bathtub. Right now just Lexi is in it, but they all take turns and all 3 were in at one time.

I put a hay bail in front of the bunnies. Now they can easily stand up high and feed the bunnies pieces of hay. Quinn loves to do this and at one point he looked at me, "hey annie, they are sharing!" Indeed they were.

We will add more webbing but here is a shot looking from the entrance doors.

Boys.....

I put out cooked spaghetti noodles and added plastic spiders.....They LOVED this!!These gloves are the best! I got them at Target....make sure to get enough for everyone.

Yup...6 pairs of skelly gloves!...well I got enough for the boys anyway. :)Spider discovery bottle. I added rice and many different kinds of plastic spiders. We are also in the process of making real ones with real spiders. I will show those after they have made webs.Anna loves the feel of the 'key chain rope'. It's for the magnet board.This is the magnet board....The easle has yellow, purple, white, and black. I put a hole in the middle to see what they would do with it. More spaghetti stuff......I added spiders to the beans......Potato prints......Dancin' girls.....Okay, this is super cute....Quinn is showing Alondra how to golf. He is explaining to her where to put the ball, how to hold the club, and how to whack it! I love him!Jackson is using his keen counting skills to make sure everyone gets the same amount of shells on their plates. Hot tray! If you don't have one of these I highly recommend it. The kids love it when I put this out. They will burn themselves, but thats how they learn and the burns are not bad enough to leave any damage. They can draw pictures and make prints, or watch as the crayon slowly melts and leaves a big puddle of colored wax. You can always tell when it is on because it fills the room with that distinctive melted crayon smell! This is one of mine and the childrens favorite activities. Oh...they also love to peal off the melted wax from their fingers....remember doing that with candle wax?

drummin'

2009-09-30T16:07:00.000-07:00

Here is the video...for some reason only the picture posted before....

Drums...

2009-09-29T08:37:00.000-07:00

Quinn and Kelly Drumming away!

bubbles.....

2009-09-18T09:33:00.000-07:00

I put the bubbles out today....

I found these gloves at target....I knew the boys would love them!!

around the room....

2009-09-17T06:35:00.000-07:00

The kids are really loving these tubes! I will have to put some out in the water bin.

Here is a shot from the back of the 'messy' room.....

Bryan loves the busses!.....People in...people out....Bryans best buddy Dylan came to join the fun.....Lexi washed this ball for about 30 minutes......It can get pretty slippery!

Carrots had babies.....

2009-09-15T11:37:00.000-07:00

Our bunny Carrots, had babies. 6 of them. They were all dead. I think she was too young. There was no nest or anything.
I showed the kids. They wondered what we were going to do with them. "let's bury them" "Are you going to put them in the garbage?" Olivia wanted to set them on the Hay bail so that they could eat when they got bigger. "They are dead honey, they won't wake up." "Can I touch it?" ....."um...sure." So we touched them. they were cold. they were stiff. they didn't move. Olivia said, "Can we squeeze them?"
Dylan said, "Yeah, theyre dead"
Olivia was very fascinated with them. If I had the guts (no pun intended) I would let them dysect the little guys.
"Soooooo, what should we do with them?"
and after touching them and realizing they were dead, Jackson said we should eat them.
Olivia replied "Yeah let's have them for lunch...but we have to cook them first!" Smart girl.
Don't worry....I could never cook the bunnies.

Around the room......

2009-09-15T11:04:00.000-07:00

Cornstarch and water...and some color. This is a favorite. Sometimes I just put out the cornstarch and water and let them mix...but today I had it all set up, even with color. Olivia and Jackson were the first ones to try it out. "What do I do?"....that question for some reason is always asked. I am not sure why they ask because I always say the same thing...."what do you want to do?" "Touch it!" "Okay...touch it" "But I don't want to...." "So what do you need"....which is a question I am learning to say more often.....She said "I need a stick!" So I got a wooden spoon and that seemed to work. "Wheres my spoon?" asked Jackson....so I went and got another one....and another one......

At the table behind the cornstarch were baby food jars filled with watercolor paint, crayons, and paper. Kelly thought it would be a good idea to bring some of the color into the starch....At the big blue table I set out paper and pie tins with different colors of paint. I put one car into the tin...and waited. Quincy (of course) loved this spot. He picked out all sorts of cars, trains, and even a person. "LOOK ANNIE!!! FOOTPRINTS!!!" "your right Quinn...footprints"Can you see the sound that a big person makes stomping on the paper with green feet?The watercolor table.....I love the look of the watercolor pictures. I also love that Alayna likes to mix the colors.....There are now beans in the sensory bin.....There are scoops and small containers but Quinn had a better idea.....He brought over the tubes....."ANNIE!!!! It goes through!!!He tries to make it longer....it didn't work and he moved on to something else....maybe tomorrow.

Back to School....

2009-09-08T13:01:00.000-07:00

Today we read a book about hands and throughout the book there were painted handprints. Soooo, if you give a kid a book with handprints all over it, chances are he will want to paint his hands......Jackson LOVED how the paint felt...and he loved slamming his hand down on the table with a big splat!Dylan wanted to wear cool sunglasses while painting himself.We had a goodbye party for Connor. Ice cream sundae's. We will miss you so much Connor but I know you will have such fun adventures at your new Preschool and we will be excited to hear all about it when you come visit to pick up your brother!Jackson and Anna were feeding everyone....Dylan and Bryan were riding around on the xylophones....they were giggling up a storm.Korina finds a semi quiet spot to read to Olivia and Quinn....The sensory table is filled with Red, Yellow, and Blue pasta with yellow plastic mice cups....Red, Blue, and Yellow at the Easle.....Gluing Red, Yellow, and Blue objects to make a collage.....There are pastas, shapes, and little buses.

Mixing colors at the light table.....

Boxes.....

2009-07-15T11:38:00.000-07:00

When I was on the 'tour of daycare homes', we filled out forms to tell the providers what we liked and disliked. A few of the providers wrote about my house and they told me I should get rid of the boxes I was storing on the porch. NO WAY!!! Kids LOVE boxes and I was fortunate enough to recieve these from one of our families....thank you Debbie! They hide in them, read and play in them, write and paint on them, and flatten them out to use as jumps or bridges for the bikes. At one point there were no kids in the yard. If someone came by the would wonder what was going on........Here they are....hiding in the boxes!!

Lunch time outside today.......

Random Photos.....

2009-07-15T11:04:00.000-07:00

Making pie's and what-not....

Riding through the bubbles.....

Cutie pie.....

Bryan is giving Alondra for a ride....He is so gentle and drives nice and slow...He is also always checking to make sure she is okay....

These two hit it off right away.....here they are enjoying a little potato print painting.

Connor started this....but I missed the photo op, so I got Olivia instead. Connor was dressed up like a firefighter with his firefighter hat, vest, gloves, and a small hose. This is the piece that was connected to the hose (we had previously used it for a 'wall marble shoot') So they took off the end of the hose and taped it to their mouths. I sure wish I got Connor dressed to the T, but I wanted to show you this ingenious way to make a firefighters mask.

Bryan, Dylan, and Jackson working on a puzzle together.....

Kelli is practicing writing her alphabet.....

Fathers Day.....

2009-07-15T10:49:00.001-07:00

I know it has been awhile since I have posted. Hopefully I can catch up and stay caught up! So a few of these posts will be from awhile back....like Fathers Day.... We chose our own colors and painted our hands on a long strip of white paper....

We let them dry and taped them to Braydens formula containers...thank you Dacia for bringing those in!.....We made cards and added cookies to the colorful containers.

Happy Fathers Day!!!

Salt Trays and Shaving Cream

2009-06-12T13:47:00.001-07:00

I took a class many years back called 'Math Their Way'. It was a great class and in that class we made these little boxes...and in them we added salt. 'salt trays'. These are great. They can practice writing, drawing, or just making scribbles...and then shake it and start over. Here Olivia is working on her 'B'.

Jence made a 'C', just by chance. He was so excited that he shook it out and re-did it about 5 times. Guess who now knows how to draw a C?

Who doesn't love shaving cream? I love it because it smells good and cleans the glued and painted table....the kids love it, well, because it's messy. I call it the 'getting things clean mess'. Dylan repeatedly looked back at the table after he was done and said...wow, it sure is a big mess!

Anna is in heaven.....

Friday....

2009-06-12T12:39:00.001-07:00

Bunny update....awwww....aren't they cute?? One of them got out and died but the three that are left are as cute as can be!

We got a new tire swing...LOVE it!

I will post a few words about Karina, but here she is reading to the kids. We love her!

This is Lexi's version of the bumblebee.....

Quinn is practicing his spoon skills.....

Making 'Bb' Books....Quinn is working hard at mastering the scissors.....Oh my goodness, if this is not the cutest!...Dylans first day and he fits right in. He is Jacksons new bud....