Christmas Angels

Christmas is 3 days away....and the kids are very excited about our Christmas party. They see the presents under my tree and wonder if there's one for them. Which one is it? AND what is it?

Martin was hilarious last week. He said, "Mardeen, I'm not going to see you at Christmas. Do you have a present for me?" Tanner was more telling: "Keaton, I got you a hot wheel car." Despite me trying to keep Tanner from saying anything....He was determined to tell Keaton what he got for him!

The fact that the kids have no "filters" is part of the reason they're so blunt! It's when the talk seems obsessed with gifts and "getting" them, when I redirect their thinking. Usually I bring up Christmas stories we've read. Another thing they love is hearing stories about angels. They really like to hear that angels watch over and protect them. I tell the kids that they are my little Christmas Angels!

My digital camera broke right before we made the gingerbread houses. So, I'm currently using a disposable! I won't be able to post any photos until after it's fixed! I wish you all a wonderful Christmas. I'll post again in 2009!

All About Houses

This past week's theme was "All About Houses." I borrowed books from the library to read to them (Houses and Homes, Two Homes ). The kids really liked the book Houses and Homes. When I picked up this book, I was thinking about how the kids could just see how different the houses and homes are around the world. It ended up being a great learning opportunity for the the kids. They got to SEE what different people look like around the world. They were more interested in the fact that some people don't wear clothes! "Oh, look, there's a naked butt!" hee hee hee ...Or the fact that some people wear rings in their noses!

Megan really liked the book Two Homes. This one talks about the fact that the little boy/girl has two homes and what is physically in each home. Psychologically, it is a really sound book!

This learning block has inspired me to create cultural blocks. Like a month long block about China, etc. I'll work on creating something like that for the new year!

We also built Gingerbread Houses! Martin, Megan and Tanner participated and it took us all morning to build them. We kept everything up and on the table away from Lili (17 months). (She likes to grab things off of the table.) She did great until the end. She nabbed someone's gingerbread tree and took off running with it! I chased her around the kitchen and into the living room---all the while hoping she wouldn't take a bite of the cookie! Fortunately, I got the cookie back in one piece- minus one small wet spot. I think it was drool!!! The kids were all very proud of their gingerbread houses. It was a great activity for their fine motor skills. I will post a picture very soon!

Gingerbread Men Cookies

The kids had a lot of fun helping me with the gingerbread men cookies! I made the dough the night before. So, I took it out and rolled it this morning. Then they got to cut out their gingerbread men. We baked them and decorated them.....and of course ate one! I wasn't sure if this idea would be able to hold their attention for long. But, it did work. They loved being a part of the baking process. I highly recommend the activity for your family---if you have time. Considering all of the activities we've done this year, this was one of my favorites! Not just because it's a yummy treat to eat....(that helps!) but more because it invited them to see what or how you actually bake cookies. At snack time, we ate some more and I told them the tale of the Gingerbread Man. I got them a little wound up and someone knocked over their milk--as they were trying to grab the cookie!

Watch for our gingerbread houses next week!

The Turkey and Other Holiday Decorations

It doesn't seem to matter which holiday decorations I put out. The kids always find a way to play with them! At Halloween, I had the little" daycare kid". Thanksgiving was my "turkey." In fact, last week there were several struggles over who got to play with the "turkey!" Now that Thanksgiving is over, I have several Christmas decorations that have rapidly become items the kids like to play with! I have a snowman playing the piano, a snowman and a dog, and the favorite- a nativity scene with baby Jesus. I also have a Mr. and Mrs. Bear. They have not even touched those yet! (We'll see how long that lasts!)

I don't mind that they play with these items. I just think it's funny how they like to play with them.

Watch for gingerbread men photos....we're making them tomorrow!

Please don't bring your toys from home to "share"!!

Some of you may ask, "why don't you allow children to bring toys from home to daycare to play with?" My answer is the children have a terrible time actually sharing them. Despite the thought that it helps them share, it really creates the opposite effect! For example, a child came the other morning with this huge hot wheels steering wheel toy. It was really cool. It had lots of buttons to push and many different sounds happened. You could turn the handle bars and it would sound like a car gunning. Here's what happened.
The child walked in holding his prize. All of the kids immediately converged on him. OOH! AAH! etc. And they all wanted to hold it or touch it. The child fell to the floor crying. His Dad realized that he wasn't going to share the toy. He told him he was going to leave it in the car. The child cried, "I CAN SHARE THE TOY!" He's crying as he said this. "DAD, NO! I REALLY CAN SHARE THE TOY!" More crying. .... Clearly he could not share the toy!
It really is best to leave those favorite toys at home. No matter how big or small, the child who brings it has a hard time sharing it! Now, we do work on sharing here at my home. But, it's best not to create any situations that make it all that much harder!!

Preparing for Christmas ALREADY??

I've been working with the kids on some Christmas songs. You're probably thinking, "already?" But, it takes the kids several times of going over the songs, again and again! ( And the songs cannot be too hard!) I'm thinking, thinking and more thinking about how they can all sing for you.....but logistically I'm not sure how to make that one work. Any ideas here? I will have a Christmas party for the kids in December. But, that will be when it gets closer to the holiday.

Here's the list of songs we are working on: Away In A Manger, Three Great Kings (Fingerplay)
Here Comes Santa Claus, The Chimney (Fingerplay), When Santa Comes (Fingerplay),
Christmas Is Coming, and We Wish You A Merry Christmas.

So far, the kids seem to remember the fingerplays the best! But, the older ones REALLY like to sing and act! Who knows, maybe one or more of them will become actors?!! HA HA HA you're saying....they already are!

Musical Chairs and other funny things at our Halloween Party

The kids had a "mostly" fun day at the Halloween Party. I say "mostly" because I have some funny stories to share.

I thought musical chairs would be a fun game to play with the kids. I put on the Halloween CD of music and begin the game. We start with Megan, Tanner and Keaton. Megan and Keaton got the chairs the first, second AND third times. By now, Tanner is crying because he couldn't get on a chair. So, I take Megan out and have just Tanner and Keaton play. Tanner tiptoes around the chairs, because he realizes now that if he goes too fast, he'll completely miss the chair. Tip toe, tip toe, and he still misses the chair. Keaton beat him to it. Tanner is throwing himself on the floor crying. So, I decide to take Keaton out of the game too. This means Tanner is going around the chairs by himself. Wouldn't you know, he had the biggest smile on his face! He says: "I WON!"

I also have this little "daycare kid". It 's a piece of wood with jeans, shoes and an orange cape around the body. Eyes, nose and smile are painted on the head. I call it my little daycare kid. And I tell the kids to be nice to him! Anyway, I decided to hide it around the house today. I thought it would be fun for them--kind of like a scavenger hunt. I hid it in the corner and Megan found it. Then I hid it in the kitchen and she found it again. Then Tanner starts crying that it is his day and he wants to find it. So, I tell him that he and the other kids can hide it. He hides it, then Megan and Keaton. It was funny. Because everytime Keaton or Tanner found it, the other one would cry. They had wanted to find it! Sometimes when they would hide it, Lili would find it and then they really cried! I didn't think that this was such a hard game. But, evidently in the minds of 2 and 3 years old, it was!

I also played pin the nose on the pumpkin. I put on a bandana around their eyes. Tanner went first. I spun him around three times and he put the nose on the wall. Megan spun three times and got it on the pumpkin. Keaton spun three times and put it right in the center of the pumpkin! I was so happily suprised for him. Then I looked at him and the bandana wasn't even covering his eyes! It was on his forehead! Even though he won by default, Keaton did have a very winning day!

Halloween Party is this Wednesday!

The Halloween Party is this Wednesday. I have some games planned for the preschoolers in the morning. But, the real exchanging of candy or "trick or treating" will be around 2:45pm. Once the big kids (a.k.a. Big Megan and CeCe) arrive, then we'll get all the costumes on (again!) and take more pictures and "trick or treat" .... After the "trick or treating", we'll have our snack.

I will post another blog on Wednesday night---after the party! Unless, of course, the children do something unbelievable cute...and then I have to write about it!

Dancing to Chewy Chewy Bubble Gum

Have you all heard of Dr. Jean and her CD's? She has this song called "Bubble Gum." It starts off very slowly :
Bubble gum, bubble gum,
chewy, chewy, chewy, chewy bubble gum
I love it , I love it,
chewy, chewy, chewy, chewy, bubble gum
It continues on getting faster and faster.

You should see Keaton on this song! He just runs or rather likes to gallop around. He always wears a big grin on his face too! Megan and Tanner were going around in circles laughing! Lili was just standing, kind of rocking from one leg to the other. They were all so happy!

There's a lot of other fun songs on that CD too. The name of the song is "Bubble Gum." The CD title is Dr. Jean Sings Silly Songs.

Drumming with Megan and Tanner

Drumming is a fun way for kids to express themselves through rhythm and storytelling. I have a drum and two rhythm sticks. How does this work? Well, I first ask the child what their song or story is about. They ask the other kids what they would like to hear about too. For example: Today Tanner wants a "bad guy" and Megan wants a ballerina and it's Megan's turn to tell her story. Megan: "Once upon a time there was a bad guy who saw a castle. And the princess was dancing around. drum drum drum, and then she looked out the window and the bad guy turned into a prince. He said, I have come to rescue you, my princess. And she had long pretty hair and she was dancing around her room and opened up the door. She let the prince in and a giant came. The giant saw them and the princess and prince married and ate cake. Then they lived happily ever after."
Tanner's drumming song about "Race Cars." "A race car turned around. (Tanner stops then asks Megan what she would like for part of the story. She says just tell me about your race cars.) So he begins again. A race car turned around.. .It stopped. It goes. Then it turned around and went fast. It won."
Lili, who is 15 months just took the drumsticks and hit two times. Then she was ready to throw the rhythm sticks! So, she was done!
As you can see, the stories are very simple but you can see the difference in story telling between the two. Tanner is 3 1/2 and Megan is 4 1/2. I can't wait to see how their story telling improves one year from now!

Itsy Bitsy Spider and Clap Your Hands

Every day I either sing with the kids, drum or dance with them. When we're singing, I have a couple of books I use. The first book is titled WeeSing Children's Songs and Fingerplays. The other one is a Complete Book of Rhymes, Songs, Poems, Fingerplays and Chants. We start with the "EEntsy Weentsy Spider." And both Martin and Megan tell me it is the "Itsy Bitsy Spider." So, then I have to stop singing and sing it the way they are singing it. You would think I would remember this every time we sing. But, No! Now that I've posted this, I probably will remember it!

There is one Fingerplay the kids especially like: "Clap Your Hands"
Clap your hands as slowly as you can. Clap your hands quickly
Shake your hands as slowly, etc.....
Roll, rub, wiggle your fingers and pound your fists, etc....
This particular fingerplay has evolved to our feet and ankles! It's fun!