Beginning our look at Spring

This week we began our look at Spring while we had our very own case of "Spring Fever." The weather did not cooperate in terms of allowing for much outside play, so we did our best to bring the outdoors inside. There was also quite a bit of rich play this week as the children used their imaginations to extend their dramatic play. We had some great problem- solving with our social interactions as well as opportunities to share and help others.

We began working with the book, There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Chick.

I found some great resources to go along with the book including an emergent reader, an activity for retelling the story, clip counting cards and pre-writing worksheets.We will revisit this book next week with an Easter basket sensory table and Easter items in our dramatic play area. We also used our rainbow rice, popcorn and beans to explore sound with plastic egg shakers. We shook our maraca creations to our favorite Spotify play list.

We looked at how the lady's stomach would expand with a fun baking soda and vinegar experiment from this book by Lisa Murphy. We used a funnel to add 1 tablespoon of baking soda in a balloon and placed 1/3 cup of vinegar in the bottle. The children then lifted the balloon to empty the baking soda into the bottle to get the reaction, which in turn blows up the balloon. We then used the balloons to in an art experience.

We also looked at how seasons change with activities that included replicating the Earth's rotation and tilt as it travels around the sun. I had a child hold a yellow paper plate in the center as the rest of us work on rotating and tilting our head toward the sun. We also explored this idea with the globe. Some other activities that dealt with the melting and warming of the Earth included adding liquid watercolor with small droppers to snow, which in turn "painted" our coffee filter and paper plate that was under our snow. We also added snow, fake flower petals and warm water to the sensory table. Eventually, our Polly Pockets went for a swim in the water!

I found another wonderful art idea from Teach Preschool. In looking at rotation, we also completed this "spin art" activity that did not require a spinner. After placing the paint on our plate, we used our hand as we rotated the plate under hour hand. It was fun to rotate the plate and then stamp the color onto our paper.

We took time to look at Spring word wall lists and used our stampers from Melissa and Doug and sheet protectors/ dry erase markers to explore these words. I did not have time this week to capture the finished projects, but the children always enjoy exploring with our stamp pads and stampers.

Other activities we completed this week included exploring play dough with printing tools to create patterns and structures. We also used half of our rainbow cards to match upper case letters this week and a letter W worksheet with our transparent counters.

 

Next week, we will focus on birds and plants/ flowers along with exploring clean mud. Here is a sneak peak at the bird nest I am building for the dramatic play center. Until then, enjoy this song we will be using next week to help with reviewing our seasons.