Room Hunt

I saw this great back-to-school idea over at Teach Preschool

that I thought would work great for me

at a new school with new families.

It's a scavenger hunt of sorts of places and things in the school

that StrongStart families would want to know

where they are located.

Each child got their own hunt on a clipboard with pencil

and off we went.

The printed word under each picture is to invite the grown ups to read

and promote literacy.

One child has been attending this centre for a couple of years

so he acted as our guide.

The concept of finding an item in the picture then checking it off

was new for some children.

I purposefully had the gym as the last picture

so we could stay and play.

Visiting a Garden Centre

This week we visited one of our local garden centres.

I visited last week and took some pictures so I could create a scavenger hunt.

As the children arrived they picked up a clip board and started touring

the green houses looking for the items that matched the images.

By providing a do it yourself scavenger hunt the families

didn't have to worry to show up at the same time.

Many of the children stopped to enjoy this water feature.

It made a nice sound.

After they finished the hunt they headed to the hedge maze.

There they found some instructions and a basket with blank booklets.

Throughout the maze I hung pictures, ink pad and a stamp.

They were meant to help the families find their way through.

I put them at intersections like arrows.

 

When they found a picture they took out the stamp and ink pad

and stamped their booklet.

When their booklet was full then they made it to the middle of the maze.

It was an achievement to make it through and then climb the platform 

to look at the whole maze.

Once everyone made it through the maze we enjoyed a snack and story.

I set up the snack area under the platform because the weather

was uncertain if it was going to rain or not.

But as we finished our story and started to sing some songs the sun came out.

If you have a chance to visit Paradise Garden Plant Centre, take

some time to go through the maze

it is a lot of fun.

Hedge Maze Scavenger Hunt

    Today was our monthly outdoor day and we visited a local nursery.
                  
    It was a perfect morning to be out and exploring flowers and plants.
                    
When we arrived Cassandra, the owner, had set up a table with soil and
tomato plants for the families to re-pot one and take it home.

She offered two kinds of tomatoes and after the children chose one they filled their pot and added their plant.  I look forward to hearing how each grows and if they produce any tomatoes.
   
   
We spent a little time exploring the greenhouses.  This nursery is very family friendly.
 
                 
And just before the opening to the Hedge Maze there is a little putting
green, with clubs and balls.  That was very popular. 
     
     Entering the maze everyone picked a book that contained pictures.
          
They had to search through the maze to find the same pictures hanging
                                   on the hedges.       
                      
Then they stamped their book to keep track that they found them all.
                        

One thing that I have learned by observing young children is that they like to search.  Today some of the children would run ahead of their grown-ups to find the next picture.  After finding several they were quite familiar with what to do and could stamp their book on their own.
              
     
Once everyone made it through the maze we met in the middle for songs, story and snacks.

                    Thank you to Paradise Plants for a great morning.