Learning Station - Octopus Count

The kiddos first had to put their octopus together (they could use staplers or glue and they needed the correct number of arms) then they added suckers to the arms. 

 

 

Oo Week

Welcome to our Outrageous Oo week!!

Snack - Olives - Finger licking good!

Octopus - Today we learned that an octopus has 3 hearts and 9 brains!  One main brain and 8 smaller ones that each control and arm.  So cool!  Many of the kiddos added these on their own octopus.

 

 

Free Play -  A couple of kiddos so enjoyed the obstacle course that they wanted to create one of their own.  I gave them each a roll of tape and let them create.

 

Paper Plate Owl - The kiddos added features, painted their little owl and then added feathers.

 

Snack - Homemade Oreos - Yummy and chocolatey!


What a splendid day for our Outdoor Preschool!  Such beautiful weather, we all enjoyed being outside immensely!  We may end up with a few more of these before the school year ends!

Chalk - Hopscotch - The kiddos started creating hopscotch games.  So fun! This one seems advanced!  Big hops!

Circle Time - We had to be a bit creative on how we did our helper jobs...

Journal Time - We drew a picture of us enjoying our outdoor preschool day

 

Ocean Egg Carton - Day 3 - Yahoo!  We finally got to finish our oceans!  They turned out beautiful!  On the first day the kiddos painted them blue.  On the second day we added glitter, because ... why not.  Today we added all the finishing touches.

I saw this idea on this blog:  Here!

Learning Station - Crepe Paper Octopus

Ocean and octopus are wonderful Oo words!  We learned a bit about these critters by watching videos of them moving and camouflaging.  Really amazing stuff.  The kiddos attached 8 arms and created a face for their octopus.  Then they swam them to their bags.

A week on the Ocean!

This week we are learning about the ocean and some of the fascinating animals that live in it.

Circle Time - The kiddos were bursting with knowledge to share about the ocean and it's animals.  We talked and shared a lot as we looked through some picture books that show some of the amazing animals.

Journal Time - The kiddos were surprised to find a whale in their journal today.

Ocean Animal Sort - Hmm ... which animals live in the ocean?

Science - How to Baleen Whales Eat? - We talked about the two subcategories of whales:  toothed whales (like orca) and baleen whales (like humpback).  Then we talked about the different kind of teeth they have.  Toothed whales tear and bite, baleen whales sift.  We know how to tear and bite, because we do that, but we thought we'd give sifting a try.

First we experimented with basil (plankton and krill) and combs (baleen).  We were surprised how well it worked.

Then we tried with our own mouths.  The kiddos had water and craisins (plankton and krill), first we poured it all in our mouths, then we pushed the water back out through our teeth (baleen) and then ate the craisins (plankton and krill).  That worked pretty great too!

Science - A Whale is HOW Long?! - The blue whale is the world's largest animal, even larger than dinosaurs!  The largest blue whale ever recorded was 110 feet long!  We decided to measure that out with yarn...



Whales - We watched the whale part of "Finding Nemo".


Ladybug! - Ah, spring at last!

Shark Teeth Punch - The kiddos helped punch out teeth for a later project.

 Celery - 4 weeks - Our celery is growing great!

Shell Painting - Back by request, the kiddos enjoyed watercolor painting sea shells.

Charging Shark - The kiddos were super excited to create this shark, charging out of the water to eat.

 

Shark conversations:

"He's eating bad things, like a mean cat!"
"All of these teeth are going to be exploding teeth!"
"My shark's eyes are going to be white because they're rolled back because he's eating something." 

Ocean Snacks - Octo-dogs and Sea Stars - The kiddos stuck spaghetti noodles in a hotdog, then Ms. Sara cooked them. 

Sea Star Bread - bread, butter and some sugar sprinkles.

 

Jelly Fish Bowls - The kiddos "stung" each other and giggled and wiggled while working on their jelly fish.  The crinkly paper is spiral cut coffee filters.

Once their jelly fish were all done, they swam them around the room and stung each other as well as anything they touched.

We watched the jelly fish part of Finding Nemo.

Learning Station - Octopus Count

The kiddos counted out the correct number of arms and glued them on, then they added suckers.
Preschooler on the left, youngster on the right.

 

Learning Station - Alphabetic Shell Search

The kiddos hunted for sea shells in the sand.  The shells have letters on them.  They were identifying the letters as they found the shells.

July Summer Camp - Ocean & Water Fun

Welcome to the ocean week of summer camp!  A week full of water play, crafts, science and more!

Driveway Fun - Water, chalk, and bubbles -  Really, what more does a kid need?

The kiddos were "melting" my chalk drawings.

Potion Making - Always a highlight.  I colored buckets of water and brought out all our cups, bowls, spoons, spice containers etc.

 

Painting Sea Shells -

Ocean Pockets - The kiddos painted their cartons on one day...

Then filled them with ocean bits on the next...

 

Mermaids - So many of the mermaid craft ideas are for older kiddos, this one was super cute but time intensive.  Ha! 

The kiddos painted their clothes pins, then with the help of the glue gun, we put them all together...

I found these super cute mermaids in several places, here is one blog.

Mermaid Necklaces - These are pretty fabulous.  I found the idea on this blog.

Cloud Dough - (Just 8 cups flour & 1 cup baby or vegetable oil) - The kiddos helped me make the dough, then we played.  It's very soft and squishy.

Pool - I love how the kiddos fill the pool with the toys, then gingerly step around them to scoop up water.  Ha!

Arrrgh!  Here be a bit a piracy at summer camp.

Treasure Boxes & Hunt - The kiddos decorated Altoid tins for their treasure boxes, then they were off on their hunt.  I made a map of the backyard for each of the kiddos.  Once they found their gold coin, they gathered to find their real treasure...

Fizzy Treasure  -  I made baking soda ice cubes with treasure frozen inside.  The kiddos got to use vinegar to help them free their treasure.  Delightfully Fizzy!  I found this wonderful idea on this blog.

Washing our Treasure - The kiddos washed the vinegar and baking soda from their treasure bits.

Edible Sand - The kiddos crushed vanilla wafers to create sand, then they sprinkled them onto their pudding to eat.  Yummers!  I found this idea on this blog.

The kiddos crushed their cookies with their hands, their feet or with a roller.

Shaving Cream - I reminded the kiddos that this is soap... but that didn't stop one of the boys from tasting it - yuckers!

Jello! - We had to do blue Jello with Swedish fish!  Yummers!

Foaming Bubbles - The kiddos enjoyed whipping up some bubbles with whisks and a little dish soap...