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We had tons of fun during our morning routine today. We sang and clapped to the ABC's, practiced our counting, and did our love-themed fingerplays.
Soon after we finished with our fingerplays, we moved on to using our senses to explore ice. We've done similar activities before, but feeling cool, slippery ice is always a fun way to reach the children on several levels.
The littles had a fun sensory experience as the cold ice melted in their hands and became slippery while the big kids brainstormed ways they could play with the ice without getting their hands cold. The big kids quickly thought of mittens, and of course I was happy to provide them.
We added some arctic animals to the mix- a penguin, an orca, and a seal, and we talked about how each animal has blubber to protect it from the cold, cold water. Once our hands were too cold to play with the ice any more, the children decided it might be interesting to feel the ice with their feet, but after just a few forays into the ice, it was decided that getting cold feet is, well... COLD!
After that we had some free play time. One of the children worked on brushing a long-haired puppy toy. We talked a bit about how the puppy feels better when his fur is nice and neat with no tangles. It shows our toys and pets that we love them when we take care of them well.
Our next activity was designed to get the kids moving. It's so important to keep those little bodies active when we're cooped up in the house! We can't wait for some warmer weather, but until then, our set of tents and tubes will have to do.
I connected two tents together with a very long tube, and the children had a blast crawling through the green and yellow sections. It was a great chance for the children to negotiate with each other because only one child could fit in the tube at a time. There were very few conflicts, and even those that arose were quickly resolved by the children with no input from me. It makes me so happy to see such great conflict resolution skills!
We amped up the fun by adding bumpy pillows inside the tents, making it more challenging to crawl around inside.
Needless to say, there were many games of peek-a-boo. One of the children, who was a little reluctant to crawl through the tubes remained engaged with the activity by peeking into the cracks between the tube sections. It was a good compromise that allowed the child to participate on her level.
After naptime, we revisited our books of shapes and opposites and we looked at a book of words as well.
It was a fun day filled with lots of laughter.
See you tomorrow!