Sweet Smiles Preschool: Potatoes...

I hope you all had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend! We resumed our gardening unit on Tuesday with a lesson on potatoes! I asked the kids what we can make with potatoes. One child replied with "Potato cake!" I thought that was interesting, but wondered if he had honestly tried such a thing. Some of the kids were so surprised to learn that french fries are really potatoes!

During circle time I cut out potatoes from brown paper and labeled them with numerals 1-10.

The kids worked as a team to put the potatoes in order, then we sang the song "One Potato, Two Potatoes..." The kids took turns tapping the numbered potato for each number sung in the song.

Before beginning our first activity, I explained to the kids where potatoes grow in the garden. We reviewed that a potato is a root vegetable. Mother Goose provided us with another postcard writing project...

I encouraged the kids to dip their fingers in ink pads to make fingerprints on their postcard. They could add details to their drawings with crayons or markers. Some ideas were to make different fruits, vegetables, flowers, or critters in their garden.

I worked one-on-one with each child to help them write a message to someone special on the backside of their postcard.

"Mom, I want to garden carrots with you."

"Kallie, French fries are really potatoes!" (This child was so surprised to learn this during circle time earlier.)

"Luke, Toads have bumpy skin and frogs don't."

Next, we gathered around and I passed around different potatoes (brown, red, and sweet) for the kids to explore looking at.

We looked closely at the colors, indentations, spots, and other imperfections...

A few of the kids wanted to see how many potatoes they could hold in their arms.

Lifting weights...."Whoa! I am so STRONG!"

Next, Mother Goose provided us with this garden themed Dominoes game!

This game required a lot of strategic thinking for a preschooler.

The kids loved the game so much, they requested we play it twice. We discussed how the Domino path looked different the second time around.

For our next activity, Mother Goose provided us with this "Potato Roots" science experiment card. I had the the kids "read" the card by looking closely at the pictures.

Before setting up our potato, I asked the kids to brainstorm a list of things that need water in order to live. This is what they came up with. I got such a giggle out of the things they listed and what came to mind for them. Kids can be such random thinkers sometimes! Lol! After listing 11 items, I explained that ALL living things need water in order to survive.

I poked toothpicks into our potato and rested it in a jar filled with water. Only half of our potato is submerged in water. We set it in the bay window to give it sunlight. Cross your fingers once again! We have been pretty successful with our gardening so far this month, but I am a little skeptical about this one! The potato is supposed to grow roots and sprout.

Next, I asked the kids to head to the table room and draw a potato. They brought their drawing out to our circle time and compared our real potatoes to their drawing. They tried to find a potato that matched the same size as their drawing.

Then the kids sat in a circle and we listened to the "Hot Potato" song on our Mother Goose Growing Gardens CD. The kids passed a potato around the circle and imagined it was hot! The kids LOVED this!

As you can see there were lot's of giggles!

When I paused the music, the person who was holding the potato was asked to place three potatoes in order from biggest to smallest...

While I prepared lunch the kids played with our set of Mr. Potato Head!

For lunch we ate potatoes! I washed and the sliced red potatoes. I drizzled olive oil and added a sprinkle of salt and pepper. I baked the potatoes at 400 degrees for about 45 minutes (I tossed the potatoes a couple of times while they baked).

Yummy!

We ate our potatoes with our FAVORITE baked Tilapia filets. A lot of the preschool parents have been asking me about these. The kids LOVE them and go home and tell their parents to make them. I buy them at Sam's or Walmart. They are SO GOOD, and because of these I have not served regular fish sticks in years!

You can tell by the shape that they are truly Tilapia filets and not mystery fish meat. Lol!

I usually start the kids out with a half of a filet, but offer more if they want. For lunch we ate baked Tilapia, roasted red potatoes, whole wheat buttered toast, cantaloupe, grapes, and milk.

These were our books for the day. Both were great stories. The "One Potato, Two Potato" book was a cute book about a magic pot. Everything that was placed in the pot was doubled. The poor man and woman became very fortunate after finding this pot. Then once they had all they needed, they buried the pot for someone else to discover some day. It was fun to ask the kids what they would want to put in the pot to create more of.