It's Halloween!

The sun was peeking through the clouds, the air felt crisp, and it was a beautiful day for a costume parade. We waited at the bus stop so we could hop on the next bus to the Kenney Home.

Lena was an adorable little pirate in her favorite green flower girl dress!

John was a pirate too. He loves his costume so much, he's been wearing it for a week, Argh!
\
A third pirate, Saige, and a bmx bike rider, Nolan, chatted about the candy they were going to get when they go trick-or-treating tonight.

Cute little cupcake, Myla. Everyone wanted to eat her up at the Kenney Home.

Little Red Riding Hood, Layla, tried on some vampire teeth that we received in our Halloween goodie bags.

Kaya, the serious chicken, waddled all over the place and made lots of people smile.

Luka, the little angel, warned all of the residents about the spooky things they could expect to see inside of the Kenney Home's Haunted House. There's a spider hanging from the ceiling- watch out!

The Green Lantern, Finn, and Captain America, Theo, stuck together so they could use their super powers to fight off bad guys. They were sprayed with some silly string inside the Haunted House.

Princess Ella wasn't scared of the Haunted House... she was brave enough to stick her hand in the bowl of eye balls. Ew!

Circle Time

This morning we had a fun Halloween inspired circle time. We sang "Five Little Pumpkins" and listen to spooky sounds on our cd player. We also read a funny book called, " Room on the Broom".


Eli told us that his mom is going to be Jesse from Toy Story for Halloween
and his dad is going to be an alien. Baby Brother Sam is Woody & Eli is dressing up as Buzz Lightyear!

Nolan wasn't sure if his parents were dressing in costumes but he wants his mom to be a fire dog and his dad to be a firefighter, like him. (He's changing his costume ideas daily.)

Finn told us that his mom was going to dress as a race car and his dad was going to be a firefighter like him but not with a fire hose like his.

Grace wants her mom to be a rainbow now. (She wanted to be a rainbow herself a few days ago.)
She wants her dad to be a pirate and Anna lee, her baby sister, a horse.
She's going as a fireman.

Austin wants both his mom and his dad to be race cars and he's going to be Super Horse!

Saige told us that both of her parents will be dressing up as green frogs and she's going to be a pirate ducky.

Myla said her daddy was going to be strong man. She showed us her muscles when she said strong. Her mom is the big bad wolf, Hailey a pirate, and herself a cupcake.

Layla is dressing up as Little Red Riding Hood. Her dad is the Big Bad Wolf and her mom is the grandma. Her dad even came downstairs to show us his scary costume!

Class Time Choices

We had two choices during Class Time today. Painting pumpkins, or making pizzas for lunch. The Centipedes loved being able to help make lunch for everyone.


First came the sauce. Nolan globbed sauce on his bread and spread it around.

Austin liked his extra saucy!

Everyone made sure to cover all the bread.

After the sauce, they added cheese on top.

Eli mixed the paint together to make a blue color.

Finn enjoyed painting colorful stripes on his pumpkin.

Grace used the paint to make a pattern with dots.

Spooky.. Spooky....Spooky

Jack-o-lanterns are a fun tradition for preschoolers to explore on Halloween.


Our pumpkins were wet from being outside so we first helped dry them with a towel.


We all worked together in groups of four. After our pumpkins were nice and dry we took turns drawing the mouth, eyes, and nose onto them with a marker.


We watched Jena and Jennifer cut circles around the tops of our pumpkins so we could lift the top off and see inside.

Some of us were eager to help dig all the seeds out of the pumpkins with our hands. Some of us felt more comfortable using spoons. Some of us preferred to watch. :)

Together we dug out all of the seeds and the long, slimy, stringy insides. When our pumpkins were clean inside, we watched the teachers carve out the eyes, nose, and mouths. We took turns pushing them out of the pumpkins to create the holes. After our rest time today, we will taste the toasted pumpkin seeds from our Jack-o-lanterns. This evening, as it starts to get a little darker, we will light them up.

Welcoming our Cold Weather

Brrrr... it's cold outside! The Beetles bundled up in warm hats, warm coats, and mittens for a neighborhood walk around the Junction. As always, the adorable toddlers in their hard-to-miss huge red buggy got lots of attention.

Are ALL of those kids yours?

Are they quadruplets?

You really have your hands full!

That is the the cutest thing I've seen all day!

Ghost Project

During Circle Time, we looked at pictures from Creepy Crafts and the Halloween Treats books and talked about fun ideas for class time (and snack time too!). We found all types of different Halloween-themed projects and brainstormed our own ideas.

We found a silly snack time idea called "black bean cat crudites" that would be perfect for an at-home snack. This spooky cat consisted of a variety of vegetables for the body, and a bowl of black bean dip for the cat head. A very spooky, yet healthy treat.


The Centipedes decided to have a ghost themed class time project. With glue, crayons, and papers we made spooky ghost decorations to hang up in the classroom.

Nolan glued down his ghost and said
Look, my ghost is dancing. My ghost has no feet!

After Ella glued her ghost down she colored her ghost.
Look at my scary ghost, it's pink, blue and orange. It's a pretty ghost, for my dad.

Myla and Layla both talked about how they were making nice pink ghosts.

The Toddlers Make Jack-o-Lanterns Too

Anna Lee, 13 months, doesn't yet understand that she is "making" anything. But with a little help from Carrie, she explored the stickiness of the glue on her fingers and the crunchiness of the paper.

Eva, 19 months, already knows what a Jack-o-lantern is and was able to intentionally glue the pumpkin's facial features on her pumpkin.
My pumpkin mouth. Eyes. Nose.

Kaya, 15 months, watched Carrie spread the glue and wanted to try it too. She also enjoyed poking her finger in the glue and putting the cap back on.

Lena, almost 2 years old, was quite proud of her finished jack-o-lantern and held it up for Carrie to see. My punk-punk. Lena punk-punk. (pumpkin:)

Our Own Individual Time Lines

We all know that teaching a baby to walk at six months old is likely a wasted effort. Their bodies, minds, and spirits aren't ready for that yet. Most of us understand this and we don't push them. We know that they will crawl, walk, grow teeth, eat solid foods, and talk when they are ready. We also understand that some kids walk at nine months while others aren't ready until fifteen months or even longer. Some kids have a mouth full of teeth at six months and some kids reach their first birthday with only a few little teeth poking through. Some kids are ready to use the potty at only two-years old while others are more comfortable waiting until after three.

Most of the two and three year old preschoolers at Tiny Tribe can't read or write yet. It's okay because they aren't supposed to. :) At this stage in their development we are simply exposing them to reading and writing by helping them notice the signs, numbers, words, and letters that we see in the world. A child's readiness for reading and writing is as individual as their ability to walk and talk.

All we can (and should) do is highlight writing and reading in fun ways that have meaning to them and that they can relate to. Today during circle time, we made a chart depicting our ideas for Halloween costumes. Because most of our preschoolers can already recognize their own and their friends names in print, this pictorial chart was easy for them to "read". At Tiny Tribe we believe that childhood should be organic and self-driven. We should wait until a child shows interest, desire, and the developmental skills necessary for writing and reading before we try to "teach" them how to do it.

Taking Risks

I must admit, when the preschoolers discovered that they could climb the small tree in the yard this morning, my initial thought was to stop them. My worrying brain said,
One of them might get poked with a branch. One of them might fall and get hurt. They might hurt the tree. They are going to fight over it and I will have to break up the fights and help them take turns. If I let them climb it once they are going to want to do it again and again. Every time we are in the yard they are going to try and climb that tree and I am going to have to help them work out the problems that arise surrounding it.

I watched them as I decided what to do next. Many of them were climbing pretty high (high by 2 and 3 year old standards). They weren't scared and they were proud of themselves when they climbed high enough to sit in the little v-shaped branches near the middle of the little tree.
Jena, look at me! Look how high I am! I climbed up here.

I watched as they coached each other on the best way to climb to the top and the easiest way to get back down.
Just put your feet on this one and then grab on right here. It's okay if you're scared. I will help you.

They cheered each other on.
Look at Nolan in the tree! He's hiding in there like a monkey!

I did have to help them take turns climbing the tree. I did have to help them find the right words to use to ask their friends for a turn. I did have to help some of them get down when they climbed too high. And realistically, one of them is eventually bound to fall and get hurt or get poked with a branch.
That is what childhood is all about, isn't it? They are taking risks. They are learning what their bodies are capable of. They are learning to work out their problems. They feel pride in their accomplishments when they are successful. They learn from their mistakes. In the process, as always, I am learning to let go and that's what adulthood is all about, isn't it?

Pumpkin Decorating

The Centipedes really enjoyed decorating their paper pumpkins this morning. While making their own pumpkins, we sang a song to go with it.
" My pumpkin is in the patch, its big orange and round, I hope it's not to heavy, ugh, I'll drop it to the ground. SPLAT!"
We also heard stories about hay rack rides and visits to pumpkin patches from the kids.


Nolan told us that his pumpkin has a sad face.

Saige concentrated on gluing the different items and shapes on to her pumpkin.

Ella was excited to make her pumpkin decoration today and she told us all about the princess costume she is going to wear for Halloween.

John liked decorating his pumpkin and even helped out the younger Centipedes by helping them glue eyes and noses on.

Myla also made a sad pumpkin. She said her pumpkin is sad because he doesn't have anymore seeds inside!