Rainbow obstacle course-review of colors

Today there is a deeper meaning to our play.We talked about light.The source we depend on for light is the sun.Without light their wouldn't be color.So today we are doing a color obstacle course.
We honored the sun as ancient yogis by doing sun salutations.We used our sun we made and a mountain that looked like an M.I made it from brown construction paper.M for mountain.Yellow means spirituality,Spring,happiness,energy, wisdom,emergency,hazard and cowardice.It is a happy color and can reduce depression.Sometimes we see a red sun.People have different reactions to red.It can mean passion,energy,love,war and anger.Just looking at it can stimulate brain activity.

Then the kids ran on river rocks.Blue means spirituality,calmness,void,cleanliness,fresh air,sadness,cold,trust and intelligence.
I made them so when they stepped on them they would make noise.I filled a plastic bag with newspaper and put different colors on top.

Then we stopped and made a tree pose.This pose is a grounded pose to help us center ourselves.The trees grow up like they are trying to reach the sky.Green is strongly associated with nature.It means growth,cleanliness,health,peace,harmony,relaxation,security,envy,jealousy,illness,and immaturity.

They had to try to jump up and catch the rain.The kids looked up and above them were blue streamers representing rain and clouds.Sometimes in life there is time of darkness where we might have to look more deeply inside to find the light.

The kids helped me fill these bottles as we mixed colors for red,orange,yellow,green,blue and purple.Orange means creative,good health,social,excitement,warm and loud.
We made a bowling game to represent thunder.They practiced their manners by taking turns nicely.

Then they crawled to a rainbow created by draping a sheet over chairs and multi-colored lights.Purple means spirituality,faith,magic,ceremony,subconscious,creativity,imagination,calming,bravery,death,cruelty,wealth,self involvement,instability and luxury.

 
We ended by looking in the mirror.I asked them what they saw.They said "me". I replied that each of us are unique and special.We all have light within us.Let your light shine bright!

Even the baby enjoyed all the color.We are still doing tummy time and our Nursery rhyme,Humpty Dumpty.We will do more nursery rhyme activities next week.

For snack time I gave Lex yogurt and Rowen crackers and they had to share with each other.

Next week will be a review of letters K,L and M,colors,Humpty Dumpty,Tea Party to practice manners and some Easter fun! We still need to do our manners game too.Its coming soon as you can imagine this obstacle course took a while. Phew I am exhausted just thinking about it!

You can find where I found the meanings of different colors @http://www.color-wheel-artist.com/color-meanings.html

Color purple and the hungry caterpillar

Let's see how many ways we can get the purple things out of the jar.You can reach in with your hands.Also,you can dump it out.Using a spoon is hard.Many utensils had no room to move like a spatula or wooden spoon.Great problem solving activity and good for fine motor skills.

Read The very hungry caterpillar by Eric Carle.I found a great lesson plan from http://omazingkidsllc.com

We talked about how caterpillars start as an egg.Picture bellow is them as an egg(childs pose)

They pretended to be caterpillars crawling on leaves and eating until they get nice and fat.(happy baby pose to represent the caterpillar.)

They wrapped up in a cocoon.
 
The baby even got to join in on Mom's lap.You put your arms around them like a cocoon and slowly lift up and hold babies hands out like they have wings and flap them gently.
They became butterflies!

They did a fun movement found also @ http://omazingkidsllc.comWe made Suns out of yellow construction paper.Hold them high in the sky.

We took a break and had a snack.Look at the orange what does it feel like? Then they put it in their laps and imagined it growing and being picked and brought to the store.Can we eat it like this? No! They peeled their oranges.They are hungry little caterpillars.

Close eyes take a bite.How does it feel in your mouth?They liked how they took a bite and the juice squirted out.

They colored in their color book and we talked about what fruit or vegetables were certain color.

Music and movement: Move like a merry go round

Follow the Mother duck.

Introduce Humpty Dumpty

We are going to play a game for table manners.Wait for my post to see this fun game and use it with your family...........

How did you welcome spring?

color blue activities and letter M

Here is our table of blue.I also included play mail for the letter m.They found the blue grass right away.It went everywhere.It was a salad in a hat.It was a wig and it wad just fun to throw.These trays are so good for fine motor activities.Next they played with the mail and they made a mail box out of a card board box.

 
 

We traced the letter M and talked about words that start with M.They came up with Mom,moo,mouth,mountain,more.I talked about Manners.

I wrote on construction paper  "thank you" and "please".I told them I was going to teach them magic and had them pull the paper out.These are magic words. Abracadabra!

We played a game where we passed a ball.Someone would ask for the ball and the receiver would say thank you.Then we reversed it.

Music and movement-danced with streamers


How will the baby react?It is great at this age to hang things over their head.

As I fed the baby we read lots of books I mean lots!
A great one ti review shapes is The okay book.Written by Todd Parr
 
We talked about shapes and colors because it is such a colorful book.
 
Happy Easter Mouse by Laura Numeroff and Felicia Bond.It is a book I just bought for Easter.It is also a great review of colors.
 

St Patrick's day and color green

Day 1 Saturday
We finished this week with the color green.I made our sensory bin complete with hats! The kids tore up green construction paper and I put it in the bin and hid coins.


They found the coins and I made a black pot out of construction paper.We got the play d'oh out and they took the coins and made imprints and coins to put in the pot.We counted them.





We did some yoga found http://barefootkidsyogaclub.blogspot.com
rainbow pose
 
pot o gold(boat pose)
We talked about where we would hide the pot of gold.
 
dancer pose and a little Irish jig!
bridge
cobra pose.
We talked about how the snakes were driven out of Ireland.
 
rainbow relaxation found @ http://www.innerhealthstudio.com

Day 2 St.Patrick's Day
Breakfast:green crepes with berries
 
Made magic leprechaun rocks.All you need is a cup of baking soda and a little water.Recipe found http://www.giftofcuriosity.com
 looking for rocks.If you look close the rock is in his hand
 
The magic happens.
 

 Found a coin

Shamrock shakes.Mmmmmm

We read There was an old lady who swallowed a clover.By Lucille Colandro



My week at a glance-We are finishing up our colors with blue and purple.The letter of the week is M.We will be working on manners.We will be doing some fun things for Spring on the 20th.Also we start a new nursery rhyme, Humpty Dumpty.We are starting over with number 1.
Also I am excited for the changes I made to the linen closet.Stay tuned for Take back your Turf Thursday

color yellow activities

We are continuing to have a blast learning our colors.Here is our wall of yellow and our bin.Let the imagination begin!
Next we talked about yellow things like stars,sun and school bus.We sang Twinkle Twinkle Little Start and did a star pose for yoga.The kids wouldn't let me take pictures of them.We talked about the sun and how plants need sun and water to grow.We sang Itsy Bitsy Spider where the sun comes out and dries up all the rain.Next we tried sun salutations to welcome the Spring and Sun.Next we sang The Wheels on the Bus.
Next we made a card board box school us for their stuffed animals.We cut our windows and a door.It's not much to look at but wait....

 Fine motor:We then glued on tissue paper.Black construction paper became our wheels.

Gross motor:pushing the bus around.I wanted and planned to do more but the baby was very needy today so we did a lot of reading and playing on the couch.Maybe we will do more come review week at the end of this month!
Snack:Birds Nests.I ate these when I was a little kid,It was a walk down memory lane.It is sad that I can no longer eat it because I have Celiac. :(
What you need:
Mud-1/2 C butter and 40 big marshmallows.!/4 C crunchy peanut butter
Sticks- 1 C or more chow mein noodles
Grass-2 large biscuit size or more of shredded wheat
1.Melt Marshmallows and butter over low heat.Add peanut butter until looks brown like mud.
2.Add sticks 3.add grass.4.Stir until desired consistency.
 
5.Take one large spoonful with wet or buttered hands and shape into a nest.
 
6.Add candy eggs.

Baby play 4 weeks(one month)Our kitty puppet made an appearance at story time where he played peek-a-boo with the baby.Tummy time is still very important.He can hold his head up for a lot longer.He still not interested in toy but does react to rattle and noise.The older kids are good at this one but they get it way to close to his face.He will follow a toy back and forth which is good for strengthening his eyes.No real smiles yet.We also have rubbed different textures on his face.We are starting to go on more walks so he has a lot to learn about this new world of his.

Peek-a-boo!