Spookley

Spookley is one of my favorite fall time stories. It's not about Halloween but I always read it right before Halloween because the people are going to pick their pumpkins.  He's such a sweet little character who happens to have been born a square instead of a round pumpkin.
Today after reading the book and watching the movie our craft was making our own Spookley art work. We started with painting our paper orange. We did this by mixing red and yellow paint to create orange. Did we mix them in a bowl? Why, no where would the fun be in that???? Instead, we poured yellow and red paint on our paper and used water beads to mix it and paint the paper. The kids had a lot of fun playing in the water bead and mixing the paint. The younger girls dove right in. The older two were a little more apprehensive and I ended up giving them paintbrushes to finish the painting. 

Here it's time to clean up. We put water in a pot and washed our hands with soap and the water. Some of us had a little more clean up than others.

Finally our Spookleys are done. :) 

Drawing with Shapeable Foam

I found this Dora Shapeable foam at a dollar store and LOVE it. My biggest regret is that I didn't buy all of it off the shelf as they no longer have any. :( The foam smells like bubble gum and the kids had a great time drawing pictures on the tables with their hands. This activity is great for developing fine motor control and expressing creativity. 

Cooking and Sharing

Butterfly Release Field Trip

Aquarium Field Trip

Photos For Mom

A shaving cream photo of Mom. :) LOVE, M

Zoo Field Trip

Friday was field trip day. This weeks field trip was to the Nashville zoo. The kids had a blast and there are so many things to learn about and talk about at the zoo. C journaled the whole trip. He drew photos of what he thought he would see in the car on the way to the zoo. Then at the zoo he drew pictures of what he saw.  Throughout the day the kids talked a lot about the animals we saw, what they looked like, what they sounded like, ect. They had a blast. J's favorite animal of the day was the monkey. C's favorite animal of the day was the alligator.

C is hanging out with the Mere-cats. 

R loves the Graffias. 

J checking out the beetles and butterflies in the Fish house.

J pat the pet skunk Violet. She was so soft and sweet. 

 R and J swinging

3 little monkeys jumping around. 

Rainbow Rice and Light Play

Fall Photos

After we took a walk around and discussed what we saw and what Fall looked like we colored our fall trees and added some fall stickers.

Building a Cone

Exploring shapes

Where We Live

Today was all about where we live. Our answer: In a house.

We played with a fairy house on the light table.

We explored what houses look like, types of rooms in our houses, and parts of a house online by building Caillou's house online.

http://pbskids.org/caillou/immersivegames/

We read about Caillou going to visit grandma and grandpa.




What did we learn?
M: Potties go in bathroom.
Beds go in the bedroom.

What was the most fun today?

M: A game.

Fire Station

http://www.lighthouserecords.com/

I love incorporating music into our day. Fire Station is a great song to get the kids moving. It has fun motions so they can dance. This type of activity helps children develop gross motor skills.

Rainbow Rice Cupcakes

Today, we used rainbow rice to make cupcakes. The kids had a blast. The older kids used measuring cups and spoons to measure rice to put in our bowl. Then we stirred the rainbow rice and used an ice cream scoop to put the rice in a muffin tin. Finally, we cooked our cupcakes in the oven!!! The kids loved this activity.  For the older kids we learned about the steps it takes to make cupcakes. The younger kids had a blast throwing rice everywhere!

Week of 9/24 to 9/28

The theme this week is Fall.

This weeks menu will be:

Monday: 
Breakfast: cereal with banana
Snack: popcorn
Lunch: chicken and noodles

Wednesday: 
Breakfast: oatmeal
Snack: animal crackers
Lunch: peanut butter sandwiches, peaches, and broccoli

Friday: 

Breakfast: waffles and blueberries
Snack:  apple sauce and graham crackers
Lunch: black bean soup and half a English muffin

Today's lunch

Today we had circles for lunch. We had peanut butter sandwiches (cut into circles), peach halves, and banana slices. There was discussion, in which, C talked about tons of things that look like circles. Including, the seeds we planted to grow lettuce.

Waterbeads

Water beads are a staple activity in the Peaceful Playroom. Lots of people ask me what I could possibly do with the. My answer is EVERYTHING. I use water beads in play at least once or twice a week. Last week we filled the water table with them. This equals hours of fun for kids and adults alike.

Discovery Boxes

I have made some discovery boxes to put in a center in the playroom! These are so fun and the kids will be able to enjoy exploring these small items without fear! I can't wait to share them with the kids and see what they think!