Today we had our Yoga class at 8 Limbs studio. Check out the smilebox for a peek into our yoga classes!
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Collaging with Glue
Collaging is an open-ended art activity that allows preschoolers to make choices and to use their fine motor skills, squeezing glue and sticking various materials to paper. With sticky hands, that can be quite challenging!
Today the preschoolers used googly eyes, Popsicle sticks, tissue paper, cotton balls, and foam shapes to create their own ideas and designs onto paper.
Simply squeezing glue out out of the stick is a process in itself. For young preschoolers, the process of creating is the goal of the project.
For older preschoolers, the process can become a finished project. In Layla's case, "a guy" complete with Popsicle stick arms and a cotton ball nose.
Toddler Story Time at the Public Library
Raya, Anna Lee, Kaya, and Eva were excited to head out this morning on their very own special field trip. We headed to the public library for toddler story time. The librarian read to us and there were lots of other kids there too.
We sang some silly songs, like this one, "Teddy Bear-Teddy Bear". The librarian knew that toddlers need to get up and move often.
We enjoyed a snack of raisins and drank from our water bottles while we watched and participated.
Thanks, Nancy (Raya's mom) for helping us make our field trip run smoothly! The Beetles all had a great time getting out and about.
Class Time/Outside Time
While on walk, the kids found a balance beam and all wanted to try walking on it. Of course, they wanted to do it again and again so we obliged.
The balance beam was a little slippery from the wet leaves but all of the kids managed to walk across with minimal help from the adults.
Theo used a mixture of different color beads and noodles to make his bracelet.
John and Luka explored watercolors and decorated coffee filters leaves. Luka painted her leaf with many colors but chose mostly purple.
Saige concentrated on beading a bracelet. She used noodles and beads to make a colorful bracelet "for her mom and dad to share".
John made a necklace and was excited to show it off.
Myla painted her coffee filter leaf with dots and circles using the different water colors.
Nolan used his favorite color, blue, to create his own bracelet.
Thankfullness....
Today I am thankful for:
-My dear high school friend, Jennifer, for bringing yoga to Tiny Tribe.
-All the sweet loving kiddos (past and present) who make my life so full, messy, and loud.
-My momma for folding my laundry, doing my dishes, and entertaining my crabby kid this week.
-My crabby kid, Layla Jade, who makes life a whole lot more interesting.
-Hearing her sing every word to every song from the movie Annie, all day.
-My husband, Scott, who puts up with our full, messy, loud house everyday.
-The awesome parents of Tiny Tribe (past and present) who bring smiles, hugs, kind words, and support to me every day.
-My family and friends, near and far, close and distant.
-Our new cozy house with all the boxes unpacked and put away.
-Carrie, Jenna, Jennifer, and Victoria for all that they do each and every day to make Tiny Tribe run smoothly.
-Pecan pie.
-Not having to cook a turkey tomorrow.
-The afternoon off to go get my eyebrows waxed.
-A four day weekend.
-A good life.
-My dear high school friend, Jennifer, for bringing yoga to Tiny Tribe.
-All the sweet loving kiddos (past and present) who make my life so full, messy, and loud.
-My momma for folding my laundry, doing my dishes, and entertaining my crabby kid this week.
-My crabby kid, Layla Jade, who makes life a whole lot more interesting.
-Hearing her sing every word to every song from the movie Annie, all day.
-My husband, Scott, who puts up with our full, messy, loud house everyday.
-The awesome parents of Tiny Tribe (past and present) who bring smiles, hugs, kind words, and support to me every day.
-My family and friends, near and far, close and distant.
-Our new cozy house with all the boxes unpacked and put away.
-Carrie, Jenna, Jennifer, and Victoria for all that they do each and every day to make Tiny Tribe run smoothly.
-Pecan pie.
-Not having to cook a turkey tomorrow.
-The afternoon off to go get my eyebrows waxed.
-A four day weekend.
-A good life.
Happy Thanksgiving
The Centipedes shared about Thanksgiving today and wanted to make something to share with their families that we are all soo thankful for.
When asked what else they were thankful for they said:
Finn: My John, coloring paper, eating sausage and turkey. Hot Chocolate.
John: I'm thankful for pumpkin pie and turkeys.
Bodhi: Daddy and Momma and dinosaurs.
Aliza: Bumblebees, I want a dog. My Mommy catch a bumblebee. I like apple cider.
Ava: I live in a castle with my Mommy and Daddy. I watch football with my Daddy.
Myla: My baby babies, my purse, my sissy, and Kia. My pink stroller.
Hope you enjoy the Apple Pumpkin Bread they made for you.
When asked what else they were thankful for they said:
Finn: My John, coloring paper, eating sausage and turkey. Hot Chocolate.
John: I'm thankful for pumpkin pie and turkeys.
Bodhi: Daddy and Momma and dinosaurs.
Aliza: Bumblebees, I want a dog. My Mommy catch a bumblebee. I like apple cider.
Ava: I live in a castle with my Mommy and Daddy. I watch football with my Daddy.
Myla: My baby babies, my purse, my sissy, and Kia. My pink stroller.
Hope you enjoy the Apple Pumpkin Bread they made for you.
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Positive Discipline Tip for the Day
http://www.positivediscipline.com/
I purchased a handy little deck of cards from Jane Nelson's positive discipline series and decided to pull a card out a random today, it said:
Validate Feelings-
1. Allow children to have their feelings so they can learn they are capable of dealing with them.
2. Don't rescue, distract, or try to talk kids out of their feelings.
3. Validate their feelings, "I can see you are really (angry, upset, sad, confused)."
4. Then keep your mouth shut and have faith in your children to work it through.
As any normal parent sometimes does, I do find myself trying to rescue, distract, or talk Layla out of her feelings. Just the other day she was painting and she added too much water, creating a hole in her paper. She began to cry and eventually melt down and I found myself doing all three of these things.
"It's not a big deal, it's just a piece of paper. We have more. It's nothing to cry about."
(Talking her out of her feelings)
"Here we can take another piece of paper and tape it to the back, see all fixed!"
(Rescuing her by fixing her problem for her)
"Oooh, look at this other cool paper we have! It's all sparkly."
(Distracting her from her feelings)
Next time, I will try to remember to keep my mouth shut and simply say,
"You are sad and frustrated that your paper ripped. I'm sorry you're upset."
That's it. I don't have to say or do anything else. As long as she knows I am empathetic and supportive of her emotions, I have to have faith in her to figure the rest out.
I purchased a handy little deck of cards from Jane Nelson's positive discipline series and decided to pull a card out a random today, it said:
Validate Feelings-
1. Allow children to have their feelings so they can learn they are capable of dealing with them.
2. Don't rescue, distract, or try to talk kids out of their feelings.
3. Validate their feelings, "I can see you are really (angry, upset, sad, confused)."
4. Then keep your mouth shut and have faith in your children to work it through.
As any normal parent sometimes does, I do find myself trying to rescue, distract, or talk Layla out of her feelings. Just the other day she was painting and she added too much water, creating a hole in her paper. She began to cry and eventually melt down and I found myself doing all three of these things.
"It's not a big deal, it's just a piece of paper. We have more. It's nothing to cry about."
(Talking her out of her feelings)
"Here we can take another piece of paper and tape it to the back, see all fixed!"
(Rescuing her by fixing her problem for her)
"Oooh, look at this other cool paper we have! It's all sparkly."
(Distracting her from her feelings)
Next time, I will try to remember to keep my mouth shut and simply say,
"You are sad and frustrated that your paper ripped. I'm sorry you're upset."
That's it. I don't have to say or do anything else. As long as she knows I am empathetic and supportive of her emotions, I have to have faith in her to figure the rest out.
Another example, from the book, "Positive Discipline" by Jane Nelson.
Your child leaves a toy at the park and throws a fit. What’s the solution? Let her have her fit, and say, “I’m so sorry you’re so upset. When you’re ready to talk about this, let me know.” It’s critical to wait until your child has calmed down. When that’s happened, then you might say something like, “What would help you next time to remember?" Right away, she is involved in the problem-solving. As she thinks of solutions, it helps her feel more capable.
You might be one of those parents who will go back to the park to get the toy, time and time again, complaining the whole way. While you’re busy rescuing, you’re also lecturing: “Well, maybe next time you’ll learn to be more responsible.” So, you're putting the child down, while simultaneously solving their problem for them. So, it’s a double-whammy and it’s mixed messages. I never think we should inflict suffering on our children. But, I do think we should allow them to suffer. There’s a huge difference. If they‘re suffering due to a choice they’ve made, parents don’t need to lecture them or rescue.
Regular Hand Washing Cuts The Spread of Illness
Tops and bottoms, Tops and bottoms, In between, In between
All around your hands, All around your hands, makes them clean!
People, not objects, are the number one carriers in the spread of "germs". Both adults and children collect germs on their hands each time a contaminated surface is touched, and really all surfaces in our childcare environment should be considered contaminated. Most children are exposed to and transfer more germs than adults because they haven't established good hygiene routines, and they put their hands and many objects into their mouths.
All around your hands, All around your hands, makes them clean!
People, not objects, are the number one carriers in the spread of "germs". Both adults and children collect germs on their hands each time a contaminated surface is touched, and really all surfaces in our childcare environment should be considered contaminated. Most children are exposed to and transfer more germs than adults because they haven't established good hygiene routines, and they put their hands and many objects into their mouths.
Research shows that children who wash their hands frequently throughout the day have fewer sick days due to colds and stomach illnesses. This means we'll have healthier children in our program, lower staff absences because the adults have less exposure to illnesses, and parents with fewer absences from work to care for sick children.
Tree Planting with the Nature Consortium
Nature Consortium is a grassroots, community-based organization whose mission is to connect people, arts and nature. They produce a Youth Art Program, an Urban Forest Restoration Project and the Arts in Nature Festival. check them out at : http://www.naturec.org/
The preschoolers headed out into the forest this morning, eager to plant trees and explore nature. Check out all of the fun we had getting muddy in the slideshow below:
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| Picture slideshow generated with Smilebox |
Toddler Dance Party- Girls Rocking Out!
Dancing is a form of creative expression, just like painting and drawing. Each individual has their own special ways of moving their bodies to music, even toddlers.
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| This free photo slideshow customized with Smilebox |
What Can You Hear?
We are continue to learn about our senses, today we focused on our hearing and sounds. We read books about all sorts of sounds Mr. Brown can make and tried make the sounds too. Next we learned about how we listen through our ears and the volume of sounds.
Eva and Lena are covering up their ears to see if they can hear some of the sounds we were making once their ears were covered. They could hear the loud sounds but not the soft ones.
Next, we explored with the shakers to see if we could hear what was inside and talked about weather it made a loud or soft sound. They had a great time trying them all. They helped figure out which one louder and which was softer when comparing two together.
We then listened to our sound canisters from loud to soft: money, bells, pasta, water, salt, and pompoms.
Kaya loved the loud ones, her favorite was the money sound.
Raya liked the sound the Pasta made.
A visit to the Southwest Library
The Centipedes went on a special field trip to the Southwest Library today. Everyone was really excited to take a look at some new books.
Layla sounded out the words and read aloud. :)
Austin cuddled up next to a stuffed snow leopard.
Saige Aliza and Austin played a game with all their stuffed cats.
Ava had a blast looking though the "Find Spot" and "Arthur" books.
Finn and John collected every truck and fire engine book they could find! They compared books and made up their own stories to go with it. Layla and Luka enjoyed the Magic School Bus and the Princess books. They shared one of the "Cute Animal Babies" magazine.
Layla sounded out the words and read aloud. :)
Austin cuddled up next to a stuffed snow leopard.
Saige Aliza and Austin played a game with all their stuffed cats.
Ava had a blast looking though the "Find Spot" and "Arthur" books.
Finn and John collected every truck and fire engine book they could find! They compared books and made up their own stories to go with it. Layla and Luka enjoyed the Magic School Bus and the Princess books. They shared one of the "Cute Animal Babies" magazine.
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