Dramatic Play
We have been playing with the stuffed animals a lot and talking a lot about pets so, the dramatic play area turned into a pet shop! There were many types of animals, including: dogs, cats, birds, and rabbits. Some friends even pretended to be animals and lived in the cages with the other puppies and kitties! Owning a pet could be a lot of work. We had to make sure we feed the animals enough food and also bring them on walks. We loved attaching the leashes to the different animals and buying all of the different supplies we needed.
Nature Area
We were all really excited about the chicks finally hatching! It was fun watching them walk around the incubator while getting dried out completely. Seeing the chicks move to their new home made us happy since they had more room to explore and we were able to see them more clearly. It was even more exciting when we had the chance to hold the chicks and pet them! Friends thought the chicks were cute, fuzzy, soft, and small. We have been trying to come up with names- and have some very interesting and silly ideas!
Art & Literacy
We had so much fun going on an adventure to Lou's mom's studio to learn all about art, Spanish, and paint the wall! We loved getting to use our hands and get messy and even learned some new Spanish words! With all the excitement in school about the chicks, friends really enjoyed drawing chicks and eggs on both paper and the magnetic drawing pads. Some drew round eggs, while some created “spicy” eggs. There were also rainbow eggs!
Cognitive Area
We continue to use the bristle blocks to create masterpieces. We love building big trucks, planes, and cars. We also found ways to create enclosed pieces, so we’d be able to put things inside. At times, friends would create very unique projects and many friends would admire those creations. The friends who created the unique pieces would show and demonstrate how they made their creations and help direct others to make something similar. We love to latch board and letter puzzle too and continue to explore the abacus'.
Block Area
We have loved playing with the little cars and make lots of roads and structures for them. We used the ramps too to make hills for them to race down. We also have been making lots of towers out of blocks. We love seeing how tall we can go before it crashes. We even built a big aquarium together for all of the sea animals. We made sure they could all fit and each animal had food and a bed. We continue to love the doll house and people and love decorating it with all the furniture.
Gross Motor
We still love the triangle climber and slide! We have gotten very confident and fearless in the ways we use it. We really enjoyed pretending the climber was a big ladder and using it to run away from the dinosaurs. After, sliding down and falling into the bed to safety with all of our friends was the best part! We also love hiding underneath- so many ways to play!
Outside Time
We really enjoyed using the rocks as eggs and hiding them in the sand pit area. Dinosaurs would come into the sand pit to look for the eggs, but friends would protect them to make sure they still hatch safely. Friends built lots of wooden incubators out of the blocks and bark pieces to keep the eggs warm, while others used the sand as “heaters.” It was really fun using the big logs as an airplane too. Friends had assigned seats on the plane and the pilot would remind passengers to get on the plane before a certain time. We loved giving out tickets and role playing all the different jobs. The new magnet wall has been really exciting. We are still figuring out how it works but it's been fun to explore the physics behind how to make the balls fall onto the next piece or into a cup.
Wer also went on a few adventures to the newly finished Children's Playground! We rode the train and had so much fun just getting there. Once at the park we loved climbing around and playing in the sand, and especially loved the big cement slides! We loved racing down and then climbing all the stairs back up to do it again. We tried out some cardboard too- to see if we would go faster- but most of us liked going by ourselves better because it was hard to stay on the cardboard down the whole slide.