Dramatic Play
Since friends were enjoying pretend cooking, especially making pizzas, the dramatic play area turned into a pizza parlor! It was fun customizing the perfect pizza combos. we loved dressing up as chefs and working with the cash registers, and cooking and delivering the pizzas. We had order forms, to go boxes, and menus too and there were many types of toppings, including: mushrooms, peppers, pepperonis, onions, and more! After creating the pizza, we popped them in the oven to cook. We made sure to remind our friends to be careful since it’ll probably be really hot! We loved playing with the table toppings too- especially the super spicy peppers! We had fun making spicy pizzas and watching our friends reactions! We always made sure to help with a cold drink afterwards.
Art & Literacy
We really enjoyed creating Love Day cards for our friends and family; we used lots of stamps and stickers to express our love! We spent a lot of time creating our best work to give. We were also interested in creating different types of pictures with the marbles on the wooden plates. We enjoyed sorting the colors and sizes and talking about the different shapes we could make.
Block Area
We continued to build large train tracks to travel around the world. Some friends were visiting Spain, Germany, and Hawaii on the trains. Other friends carried different types of products on the train to deliver to zoos, post offices, and more! It was even more exciting when friends help to build the track longer; our favorite is when we create a large loop around the classroom! We've been using the ramps a lot too- often as tracks for cars and people!
Quiet Area
It was fun reading stories to our friends. Friends enjoyed reading books to each other by describing pictures or telling the story through memory. We can recall most of the words in our favorite stories! Some of our favorites right now include, “Pete’s a Pizza,” by William Steig and “Pizza at Sally’s,” by Monica Wellington. We really enjoyed laughing along to Pete’s experience of being a pizza! We also liked pointing out the similar toppings Sally uses in her pizzeria to ours.
Gross Motor
We enjoyed climbing to the top of the climbing structure and sliding down really fast; some friends liked going backwards. It was also fun using the balancing structure. Some friends lend a hand to help us get from one side to the other.
Cognitive Area
We enjoyed gathering our friends to create and play with the gears. One of the shapes we liked building most are cubes-it was interesting how they fit together, but then couldn't move. They remind us of blocks and we liked putting them together to build tall towers. It was also fun figuring out the different puzzles together. We loved finding the different letters and counting the animals under all the doors.
Music Area
It was fun gathering our friends to create different musical pieces. Our favorite is still the nutcracker. Friends would collect different instruments, including tambourines, piano, and egg shakers. We really enjoyed singing and dancing along to the music. We figured out that using the rhythm sticks on the tambourines is really fun and makes a different sound!
Nature Area
We continued to look for animals that reminded us of the zoo through the viewfinders. It was fun acting out the animals we saw and creating the sounds they made. Friends would gather together and look for the animals around the zoo; they like to hide in the tent a lot. We always like to bring friends along so we could run away together. It was also really fun bringing magnifying glasses along so we could get a closer look at all the different animals. We have been exploring how they change the way we see using lots of comparative language.
Outside Time
We really enjoyed creating large pots of foods during outside time. Friends would contribute by gathering different types of materials and adding to the pot. Afterwards, we enjoy dumping everything out together and jumping into the gigantic pile!
We loved using the larger tree trunks on the climbing structures as trucks, trains, and boats. Some friends were drivers, while others were passengers. Each type of transportation required tickets, which could be purchased at the ticket booth; the currency was “candy.”
We also really liked building large towers with our friends. Some friends were adding to the height of the building, while others were decorating the sides of the tower. Although sometimes the tower crashed, construction workers were always nearby to help fix up the damages to the building.