Dramatic Play
We have been talking a lot about going on Bear hunts and adventures which inspired this area to become a camp site! We had so much fun playing in the tent, getting in sleeping bags, exploring with flashlights and using the camp fire. We pretended to sleep and wake up and used the flashlights to make shadows! We loves opening and closing the tent and playing hide and seek. We roasted things on sticks over the fire and used the sticks are drumsticks on the stump seats.
Block Area
The dump truck and arch blocks have been getting lots of use. Finn discovered the arches can be stacked to make a tower and fit inside the truck. Bo found that that fit around his belly! Everyone enjoys filling the truck with different items like the scarves and cars and people, them dumping them out. We have been using the cars on the rug driving around town and really enjoy running around the sensory table with each other racing our cars.
Quiet Area
We love being read to, and request lots of books everyday, but lately we have been wanting to read to each other! We love sitting together and pretending to read while showing the pages. A lot of this comes from mimicking our parents at home and Teacher Becca at circle time! We also have been loving the stuffed animals. Often carrying them around with us and pretending they are our pets or friends. The tee-pee has become a fun place to sit quietly by ourselves to read to the animals as well as a hiding spot from all the action.
Nature Area
Our chicks are growing in their eggs and we have been exploring the chicken life cycle figures alongside learning all about them. It is fun to talk about the different stages and see what our eggs look like inside. We even got to look in the real eggs and see the Embryo moving at 7 days! We still love exploring the different animals in the view finders too, and using the magnifying glasses on the different nature materials. The new world globe has been exciting to check out and look where different things live and where we are!
The black dot in the middle is the embryo!
Art/ Literacy
We got to play with Kinetic Sand in the sensory table and it was so much fun! We molded it and watched in "move" We made lots of cakes and food as well as tried to make towers before they fell apart. We cut out lots of shapes with the cookie cutters and added some cars to drive around. We also did some drip art with eye droppers and liquid water colors onto coffee filters. It was really interesting to watch the colors grow and combine as the filters absorbed them. We practiced our fine motor skills tying to lace beads onto string, and made lots of necklaces.
Gross Motor
We have been playing lots of chase games and versions of hide and seek. Bo and Reza started holding hands and running, and then everyone joined in and made a big chain! We love jumping together on the mattress and pretending it is lots of different things. The rocking horse has been lots of fun to ride both on our own and asking friends to help!
Music Area
We are still dancing a lot! Whenever we request music, we go grab the scarves to dance with and have a dance party. We love waving them around and watching them float, but we also use them to cover our faces and become ghosts. Bo even pretended they were blankets and spread them out to lay on. The pianos have been lots of fun too, and we have been playing them together with the other instruments calling ourselves a band.
Cognitive Area
We have been enjoying the new blocks on the light table, practicing color sorting, stacking and shape recognition. We are still having fun with the latches board and puzzles, naming all the different animals and creatures using them throughout our play. The now peg boards have been exciting too. We love talking about the different colors and trying to stack them up really high.
Outside
With the heat wave, we decided to head to the beach! We were so excited to go play in the sand and water and watch the waves. We rode the train which is always fun and had a great time. We made lots of castles and dug a big hole- that Bo thought should be a chair! We played in the water, running from the cold waves after they touched our feet. Alex tripped and fell into the water while trying to run away, but loved it! Thankfully it was warm enough to dry off quickly.
In the backyard, we have been playing a lot in the mud kitchen. With the hot weather we have been filling it for water play and we love making things, splashing, and washing the blocks and trucks. We even used the cups and buckets to help water the plants. We have been playing on the climbing wall together and sliding over and over and drawing lots of pictures on the climbing wall. We are building with the blocks and have been digging in the dirt as well as the sand pit. We love the swing and now only want to go on together, sitting and standing!