 Today we continued the kids' "L is for Legos!" excitement. We brought out some Legos, both big and small (OK, the big ones are actually MegaBlocks, but the kids call them Legos) and used them to make paint prints. The kids had fun discovering all the shapes that Legos can make, and got creative with their designs. One even said she had painted some Egg carton towers!        
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 Earlier this week we read a story called "The Biggest Snowman Ever" It is about two little mice who both really want to win their town snowman building contest by making the biggest snowman ever. They discover that on their own, their snowmen are about the same size as everyone else's, but when they decide to work together, they can create something REALLY big! So today, when I brought out my stockpile of egg cartons for some building, they first each began using them to build their own separate towers. 
They started getting a little frustrated when they could only go so high before they ran out of cartons. I reminded them of the story we had read, and asked them to try building one tower together. It took a few tries, but eventually each of them took their turn being the "leader" and telling the others what they wanted the tower to look like, and then they all helped make it happen. 
They all decided that working together was way more fun, because they built the biggest towers ever! :) 
And knocking them down together was just as much fun! 
 The kids could hardly wait to get outside in the snow this morning, so as soon as they were done with breakfast, the older ones started bundling up and headed out. They made a yard-full of snow angels, and collected lots more ice chunks to bring into the house so they could watch them melt. 
Once everyone was back inside and warmed up, we turned off all the lights, closed all the curtains, and made the house as dark as we could get it on this cloudy, foggy day. Then, I brought out some glow sticks that I found in the dollar bins at Target, and dumped them all into a bowl. 
We put the bowl in one of the lighter areas of the house so the kids could see just well enough to assemble them. From there they would take them over to the darker hallway and really explore their own little light show! 
We had lots of "light sabres," and circles, and belts, and many other imaginative combinations. The kids grouped and ordered things by size (the circles they made, straight lines as they connected one glow stick to another) and had lots of fun with their glowing colors. 
And just look at this concentration! :) 
When it was time to wash up for lunch, I tossed a few green glow sticks into their soapy water and we had tons of fun washing our hands, too! 
 My favorite activities with the kids are always the ones that are truly child-led, the ideas that they come up with all on their own, and that is what we had today. It is so much fun to see how excited and interested they are when it was their idea! One of the kids asked today if we could make cereal necklaces, so we did. It was a great fine motor skill excercise, but it turned into so much more! 
There was also some gross motor skill involved since the strings were so long. They sometimes had to get their whole bodies involved in the process! 
And as we were working, we got to talking about it and decided that when we were done wearing our necklaces, we could hang them in a tree outside to feed the birds. This brought on a fun discussion about migration and why most of the birds have flown south for the winter. 
The older kids did some great patterning work. 
We had a lot of fun playing with our cereal and learned a lot, too! 
 Today we had fun mixing colors in our gel "suncatchers." I mixed some food coloring into clear hair gel, and put two different colors into each sandwich bag. Then we taped them up to the window. The kids had lots of fun squishing the colors around and finding out what color was made when they mixed them together. They loved the texture of the gel inside the bags, and the colors were so bright when the light shined through them. It was fun to watch them draw shapes and write the letters they know all on their own.            I brought out an old favorite today, although it has been so long since we have done it, that it took the kids a little while to remember. They all happily donned their "science goggles" and had lots of fun using thier droppers to mix colored vinegar with baking soda!  There was lots of great fine motor skill work as they learned how to pinch and squeeze the droppers to move the vinegar from the cups to the baking soda.  And it was a fun chance to talk about states of matter again, the vinegar being our liquid, the baking soda our solid, and their chemical reaction that formed the fun, fizzy bubbles - the gas.  And anytime we use colors, the kids love to mix them and see what new ones they can create!  (I didn't notice this until looking back at these pictures later, but they must not all like the smell of vinegar!) :o)    They had a little silly fun, too! :o)   The kids were SOOO excited to see some snow this morning! I guess they have waited long enough. :o) Since it was such a windy, dreary, and cold day, we brought some of that new exciting snow IN to play with! A couple of the kids braved the cold, bundled up in their snow gear and went out to gather up some snow for us. They had quite a bit of fun with that project in itself, and seemed to be pretty proud of their contribution to our play. :o) Once they had a tub full, we plopped it down on the floor, added mittens, shovels, and scoops and got to work! A warm way to enjoy the snow! 
 60 degrees in South Dakota, in January!?!? I can still hardly believe it, but we took full advantage of this gorgeous day by making a ramp and doing a little experimenting with it. The kids had lots of fun rolling whatever they could find down the ramp. They figured out that the balls and trucks roll the best, but with a high enough slope they could get just about anything to go down! 
...and that even if you roll a ball up, it will come back down! 
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Look what we did today!These kiddos make my day, every day! I love seeing the delight in their faces when they are proud of themselves, and the curiosity in their eyes as they explore something new. This page is where I can share a little bit of our joy each day with you! Archives
September 2014
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