Dramatic Play
I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream! The dramatic play area turned into an ice scream store! We really enjoyed serving our friends their favorite ice cream flavors! There were many to choose from, including: Chocolate, Vanilla, Banana, Mint, Strawberry, Spicy, and more! We loved pretending to be servers or customers, dressing up and taking orders. We used the cash registers to take (or give) money and handed out lots of flavors on cones and in cups with lots of different toppings! Afterward, friends could pack a pint to go, so they would be able to enjoy more ice cream later! Sometimes you get lucky and your server would serve extra chocolate fudge and extra sprinkles! Delicious!
Cognitive Area
We really enjoyed putting together the alphabet puzzle! It was fun pointing out which animal each letter represented. We especially enjoy looking for the first letter in our own names! At times, we also liked pointing out which letter our friends’ names started with. We still really enjoyed using the magnatiles to build structures including: rockets, houses, and fire trucks.
Music Area
We really enjoyed having duet sessions with our friends with the different instruments. It was especially fun when we had audiences during the show, who showed love and support. It was fun singing along to the music we were creating together. We often danced to our friends music and talked about how fast and slow we played and therefore danced.
Gross Motor
It was fun using the wooden horse as an ice cream truck for delivering all the orders from the ice cream shop! The mattress was extra space for customers to enjoy their ice cream and relax. We also really enjoy jumping together on the mattress after eating a lot of ice cream! We liked rolling on the mattress until we got dizzy! We still often play 5 little monkeys jumping on the bed and wrestle too!
Quiet Area
No matter what time of the day it was, we really liked grabbing a good Halloween book and reading it with our friends! We could read them over and over. One of our favorite books was “Big Pumpkin,” by Erica Silverman. It was really fun watching the witch, ghost, mummy, vampire, and bat work together in order for them to have some delicious pumpkin pie. Another one of our favorite books was “Ghost and Pete,” by Dayle Ann Dodds. We loved reading about Ghost and Pete’s trick-or-treating experience. It always made us want to go trick-or-treating ourselves. We also loved cuddling up with the stuffed animals and playing with them.
Block Area
Chugga, Chugga, Choo-Choo! We had a lot of fun building train tracks and driving long trains on them. It was especially fun when we connected our train tracks with our friends. That way, our trains were able to go further and we had a lot of fun together! Some of our trains brought passengers to different destinations, while others carried goods that needed to be delivered to stores. Some of the goods our trains carried included: cakes, cutting boards, surfboards, toys and more! At times there were traffic, but some friends helped cleared the path. With the smooth flow, we were able to bring both passengers and goods to their destinations in a timely manner! The new golden gate bridge was a big hit as well as the tunnel/garage.
Art & Literacy
The play-doh table was filled with special creations, ranging from rockets to humungous trains. We really enjoyed sculpting different pieces for our friends, especially food! There were pizzas, noodles, cookies, cakes, and more! There were also many animals, including dinosaurs, lions, and giraffes. We also really liked building the animals a home to live in, where they had food to eat and trains to play with. We spent a lot of time coloring with markers and crayons too. We have been getting very creative with our ideas and skills!
Nature
It was very interesting watching all the butterflies come out of their cocoons! We always got excited whenever we saw them fly around their home really fast. It was fun when we counted how many butterflies we had in the classroom. We also really enjoyed looking at the fish. It was really fun following the catfish and observing what he was doing. Sometimes they looked small, so we used our magnifying glasses to take a closer look at the aquarium and talk about how it changed what we saw. The view finders have continued to be exciting to look through and share with friends.
Outside
We had a lot of fun going on a costume parade during Halloween! It was very exciting walking around the neighborhood with our costumes on. We even received some cool treats, as we walked passed Aria's house, grocery stores, hair salons, and more!
Since all of our butterflies came out of their cocoons, we let them all go free at our backyard! It was really fun watching them fly to their new homes. Some of the butterflies wanted to stay with us a little longer, so we were able to have a closer look at them. Since releasing then, we have seen an few come back to our garden! We really enjoyed playing in the sandpit and building large houses and castles; the best part was when we got to crash it down after building it. We really liked rebuilding the structure again afterwards into an even bigger version than before! There were also a lot of restaurants outside, which served foods such as: pizza, soups, and cakes. We made a huge pot of soup, where all of our friends contributed into making. We added many ingredients including: celery, tomatoes, potatoes, grapes, apples, ice cream, and more! We all had different roles when we made the soup. Some friends were mixers, while others added ingredients. At the end, we all had a belly full of soup and we played “dump truck” with all the ingredients left over in the pot. While walking around, there were also a lot of friends handing out treats! As long as you say the magic words (trick-or-treat), you will receive a lifetime supply of treats! We also have been having lots of fun on the slides and climbing wall. We love going up and down together. We have been drawing lots of pictures on the chalkboard wall and some have even been trying to write their names or letters.