Baby Doctors

For many weeks now, our friends have enjoyed taking care of the baby dolls that live in Green Room. They like to pat the baby dolls to sleep while gently shushing them, just like they've seen their teachers do when we are putting a kiddo down for a nap! They also like to rock their baby dolls and sing lullabies to them, again imitating what they have seen their teachers doing. It is so neat to watch them practicing these skills and developing their social empathy!






Recently, one of the baby dolls (NOT one of our actual kiddos) suffered a crack in its arm. We sent it to the "baby hospital" (i.e. the kitchen) for some TLC. However, R. was very concerned about this baby doll. She kept asking us to open the door so she could see into the kitchen and check on the baby doll. To help her process her concern, we got down our play doctor's kit. We set her up with a plush stethoscope and blood pressure cuff so that she could do a check-up on all of the other baby dolls. After she gave Teacher Katie a clean bill of health (whew!), she spent some time lining up the baby dolls and examining them.








We're so glad that we have our Green Room baby doctors around to keep our baby dolls in good shape!

Love,
Teacher Katie

Our Painting, Planting Project--Part 2

Teacher Kristina helped us make beautiful butterfly decorations on flower pots, using each child's unique foot prints to make the wings of the butterfly. After the pots had plenty of time to dry, she brought in planting soil and flowers so that the kids could experiment with planting!





What fun! A bin full of soft, crumbly soil with its earthy smell and grainy texture...



We set the pots in a plastic sensory bin, along with some planting soil and scoopers and shovels, so the kids could play with the soil and even try scooping it into their pots.










A. enjoyed stacking the pots and scooping up bowlfuls of dirt.




L. loved the feel of the soil between his fingers. He especially liked to pick up handfuls of it and watch the soil sifting through the air!







L. was very focused on filling up her bowl with soil and then pouring it into her pot.










L. and F. were delighted to have the sensory bin outside.



Baby L. was a little skeptical of the soil at first.



But a scooper in hand helped assuage his skepticism and pique his curiosity!








Teacher Kristina showed us how to dig a hole in our soil and break up the roots of the flower a little bit to help it settle into its new home.









Happy Spring everyone!

Many thanks again to Teacher Kristina for helping our Green Room kids explore their green thumbs!

Love,
Teacher Katie

Easel painting....outside!

We took advantage of the beautiful weather this morning and took our art outside. I set up an easel with cups of paint and brushes. Our little ones are used to painting on horizontal surfaces so I was really curios to see how they would do painting on a vertical surface.

F was the first to come out and walked right to the easel...


She chose her first color...


The first brush strokes...


R came and joined the fun...





R added a few strokes of blue...











Confession: this is my favorite picture of the day!






Once we were done painting, we decided to wash off at the water table...






Have a great day!

Love,
Teacher Lesley

Our Painting, Planting Project--Part 1

First Day of Spring...Earth Day...Warm sunshine & blue skies...These months are full of invitations to celebrate and enjoy nature! Teacher Kristina, one of our Blue Room preschool teachers, brought in a wonderful activity for our Green Room budding gardeners!

Even our youngest Green Room kiddo got to participate in this fun activity:







We painted the soles of their feet, and then pressed their painted foot against the flower pot twice.



The end result? A beautiful butterfly!







What a peculiar sensation to have a paint-soaked sponge dabbed on the bottom of your foot!



Even the cleanup process was a sensory experience in itself, as we washed their feet in a tub of soapy, warm water. E looks like he's enjoying his foot soak!






We painted the pots over a few days and then let the artwork dry before continuing to the second part our project: planting! Stay tuned for part 2 and see how our flower pots turned out!

Thank you Teacher Kristina for bringing this fun activity into our classroom!

Love,
Teacher Katie

Water Babies

Warm weather means it's time for some water play at Creative Minds!




Our Green Room ducklings can't resist the invitation of splashing in a shallow kiddie pool!



Even some of our littlest friends got to enjoy dipping their toes in the water...



...and that quickly turned into a full-body experience!




We added funnels and scoopers from our sand box for exploring the liquid properties of water.




It's not quite the same sensation as shoveling sand!














We also added some foam shapes to the water, which the kids had fun exploring.




The foam shapes floated nicely in our tub and kiddie pool.




They also made good tools for moving the water back and forth.



Plus, the shapes were a great way for the kids to examine how different materials react in water.











Some of our kiddos were napping during our first round of water play. So, in the afternoon, we filled up the kiddie pool again and let them have a turn.












They were a little tentative at first...




...But not for long!




They were also fascinated by the colorful foam shapes in the water.




We played some Raffi water-themed songs like "Baby Beluga" and "Down By the Bay." The kids enjoyed the combination of being outside, listening to the music, and playing in the water.







Enjoy the sunshine this week!

Love,
Teacher Katie