Spring has sprung!

On Friday we celebrated the first day of spring!
During warmer weather, picnics are our favorite thing to do!  Being that it isn't quite warm enough for an outdoor picnic, we started our day having breakfast as a picnic on the floor!

During circle time the kids were so excited to change our season picture from winter to spring!  I asked the kids what they know about the season of spring, and what changes in the spring time where we live.  The kids had A LOT to say!  I taught the kids the rhyme, "April showers, bring May flowers!"  We discussed the meaning behind the rhyme.  This instantly brought on a discussion about storms.  I could tell it was a hot topic for the kids.  Some of the kids felt a little uneasy about the possibility of storms.  I did my best to reassure them that they would be safe.

We decided to practice our storm drill in my office to help ease any insecure feelings...

I showed the kids what I would bring if we would ever need to really stay inside because of a storm.  I asked them what else they would want to have.  They replied with saying they would want to bring their favorite stuffed animals and/or blankies because those always help them feel better.  They also said they would want to grab their most treasured toys.  We discussed how a board game and books would be good to have because the power may be out, and we wouldn't be able to watch movies.  They were so excited when they saw the snacks!  They asked if they could eat them now.  I felt like we had a great discussion, and it definitely helped the kids feel safe and secure.  When we left the room, a lot of the kids asked, "Can we do this again tomorrow?"  Ha!

Back at circle time I set out flowers of different colors with the color words written on them.  I recited the rhyme...

"Look at the shoots peeking through the snow,

Each one different as up it goes.

(Name) looked closely and what do you know?

It's going to be a purple one when it grows!

I inserted the name of each child and said the color of the flower he/she chose.  I challenged the kids by adding tan, teal, and gray in the mix.  These are colors not always practiced with the kids.

I asked the kids what they do when they first wake up.  I shared that some animals hibernate (which is like sleeping) through the winter and wake up when spring brings warmer weather.  Mother Goose provided the following animals photos...

I set the photos face down and asked a few volunteers to choose one at a time...

I told the kids to pretend they were hibernating (sleeping), then I told them to wake up and pretend to be the animal that was chosen.  I was so amazed at how much their knowledge of the animals was shown when they did this activity!  It impressed me, and made me laugh!

"Wake up skunks!

The kids made a tooting sound when they woke up as a skunk!

"Wake up bears!"

"Go to sleep bats!"  (They are hanging upside down.)

"Wake up bats!"

"Wake up snakes!"

When the kids chose the porcupine photo they woke up saying, "Poke, poke, poke..."

When the kids chose the turtle photo they woke up and moved in slow motion!

For our next activity I asked the kids what words make them think of spring.  They replied with, "Showers," "Flowers," "Wind," "Sun," and "Rain."  That's a pretty impressive knowledge base about spring!  When I asked them to act out the word spring L pretended to be a flower growing...

I placed all of our letter cards that we have learned so far this year on the floor...

I explained that the word "spring" can also mean jump.  I called out a letter and asked one child at a time to spring up and find it.  When the letter was found, we said the sound of the letter and words that start with that letter.  The kids loved doing this and it was a fun (gross motor) activity to reinforce our letter recognition.

On Thursday we painted egg carton caterpillars...

Some of the kids decorated their caterpillar with items from the collage box...

This child made a dish of "food" for her caterpillar...

On Friday our caterpillars were dry, so we made a butterfly to go with them.

I cut a heart from red paper...

We folded a large piece of white paper in half.  We traced the top part of our heart on our white paper to make butterfly wings...

We cut it out...

When we unfolded our paper it showed a whole butterfly!  

We chose paint colors to add to half of our butterfly...

We folded our butterfly in half again and rubbed the paint colors together...

When we unfolded our butterfly, we could see how each side matched! 

We glued our caterpillars to the center of the butterfly for the body...

This butterfly was made with yellow and blue.  

We were so amazed to see how parts of the butterfly showed green when the colors mixed!

I took out my bird science poster board that I made a few years back.  This shows a month's worth of photos of a Finch bird laying eggs, the babies hatching, and the birds eventually flying off for their first time!  It is a pretty amazing set of photos!  The kids were grossed out by the amount of poop the babies make in the nest.  They were even more grossed out to learn that the Mommy Finch eats some of the poop to clean it up!  Yuck!

We took out our small bird's nest and broken egg that we found in the backyard last summer...

There is no better way to learn about spring time than to go outside and explore!  That is just what we did!  We brought out binoculars and magnifying glasses and I challenged the kids to look for signs of spring!

The kids swore they saw "green stuff" coming up!

They knew just where to look for bugs!  Under rocks...

...and in our log pile!

This cutie made bird calls to try to get the birds to come around...

This group of kids got on the airplane and said, "We are going to the Rainforest to study about green stuff and bugs!"  I said they needed to be back before lunch time! Ha!

When we came inside we did a pretty quick and easy cooking project!
We made chocolate birds nests!

These kids LOVE to cook!

First we mixed chocolate chips and peanut butter...

We melted the chocolate and peanut butter in the microwave.  

We discussed how the mixture was now a liquid...

We poured the chocolate over the chow mein noodles...

...and stirred it up!

On one pan I made 12 nests.  I asked the kids to count them.  On another pan I made 6 more.  I asked the kids to add 12 + 6!  They knew just how to do it!  Then they started singing and made up their own song!  They sang...

"There 12 nests on the pan!

12 nests on the pan!

I ate 1, and now there's 11.

There's 11 nests on the pan now..."

(Sung to the tune of "There Are 99 bottles of Pop on the Wall!")

Wow!  I was impressed!!!!!

I wanted the kids to show their parents their cooking creation, so I packaged up the treats during nap time...

I got the "Happy Spring" tags here.  

This was our fun spring themed lunch!

I bought a really long green tablecloth that looked like a flower garden!  I pushed the tables together.  The kids were so excited to see a different table arrangement, and they loved that they could all eat together!

I bought Apple Straws for caterpillars and butterfly crackers...

The kids made butterflies with their hands...

   After lunch I read our book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

The kids put together a matching puzzle...

They loved retelling the story with our stuffed caterpillar...

I also read these books for story time...

For snack we ate eggs and chickadees!

 After nap time, I gave the kids a book for them to color and practice reading with.
I purchased this book on Teachers Pay Teachers here.
My only wish for Mother Goose Time is that they make more "I Can Read" books per month.  One per week would be amazing!  The kids have always loved to read these simple types of books, and the parents always appreciate having them at home!  It is amazing how fast they learn to read with this type of exposure to common sight words...

Every page in our book had
"Look at the tree.
It is spring."

I also took out ink pads and showed the kids how to make bugs out of their fingerprints!

 Check out this cutie's caterpillar at the bottom of his paper!

On a side note -
I scored this school quality wooden doll cradle on Craigslist last night for only $10.00!
The kids played with it a ton today!

It was intended for dolls or stuffed animals, but the kids thought it was large enough to hold them! 

 They also pretended it was the Log Chute ride at Nickelodeon Universe!

 I should also add that they have been pretending the rug is the Log Chute ride as well when it is rolled up. This photo is so adorable!  I love these kids!

 Oh, and this beauty lost another tooth today!  Yay!

 

Have a great weekend!