Thistle Seed

    
We have had so much fun exploring thistle seed in the sensory
table this week.  Have a look.
 
 
  
 
 
        
Even some silliness being an elephant.

Building a Worm Hotel

    
 Today we went on a worm walk.
 
It was dry out today and we really had to search to find live worms. 
One child told us that worms don’t like the sun so we found a shady
spot and started to search.  We dug and dug under the old leaves.
     
We finally found some, shared them, then pulled out our Nature Bags.
   
Our nature bags was full of the things we needed for measuring worms.
     
  
The children used the cubes to measure how long their worm was. 
They counted each cube till they had the length of their worm.
   
They added marks on their paper to match the blocks.

   
Once everyone had a worm we headed to the garden to build
our worm hotel.  We started by scooping soil into a big jar. 
    
A smaller bottle was centered in the big jar to make the space
narrower so we can see the worms tunneling once they move in. 
We also added layers of dead leaves and sand.
 
We moved the worms into their new home.
       
I explained the reason we added a layer of sand was so we
would be able to see where the worms move around their
hotel.  They’ll move the sand and soil as they tunnel.
  

And as the child said earlier, “worms don’t like the sun”,
we’ll keep them covered when we’re not watching.

Roll-a-Ball

Over Spring Break I set up a new play area for the families
to explore.  I call it roll-a-ball and was inspired by a tube
and funnel post from Fun at Home with Kids.
      
I taped a dryer hose, letting it hang at a couple of points,
on a wall.  Set a basket on the floor at the lower end. 
The idea is to drop a ball at one end and watch it come out the
other end. 
       
But the ball doesn’t roll through, it stops in the droops. 
So where is it in the tube? 
How do we get it out?
 
When it didn't come out he looked in both ends and wiggled
the tube but it still didn’t come out.  Or maybe it did so he
looked around the floor.  When he didn’t find the ball he
came back to the tube and tried again.
 
He continued shaking the tube finally figuring out that if he
lifted the tube high enough at a certain point the ball would
come out.
     
            Then he did it all over again.

 
   The roll-a-ball works well as a cooperative effort too.

Flower Snack

    We made flower sandwiches this morning for snack.

The recipe gives the children a chance to ‘read’ and follow the
directions.
  
They had a choice of cookie cutters to use to cut out the
flowers.
 
They had a choice of jams, strawberry or blueberry, to
spread on the bread flowers.
  
They put the two flowers together to eat and enjoy.

                    And they did.

Yellow Flowers

     
Back to school this morning after a two week Spring Break. 
Families were excited to be back and I had set up several new activities. 
So much I could post about but where to start.
                        At the art table. 
The weather has been wonderfully spring like so we are starting to focus
on growing, seeds, and plants.
        
I placed yellow daffodils and marigolds on the art table, along with
green crayons, yellow paint, mini brushes and clothes pins with pom poms.

   
I saw the children take different approaches to making the flowers.
 
Some preferred the paint brush to using the clothespin with pom pom.
 
Some saw and showed more stalk and leaf while others focused on the
blossom.