Pretty Garden Markers

We planted seeds at the garden last week and with all the interest in digging in the dirt I figured we needed to mark where it is not ok to dig until the plants come up making it more obvious.

 

I grabbed some quick supplies and we started working on our markers.  We used paint stir sticks, faux flowers, pipe cleaners and markers.  We made a marker for each row writing each veggie on a marker with a marker.  Then we cut flowers and pipe cleaners, held a flower stem to a stir stick and twisted the pipe cleaner around the stick to hold the flower in place.  Lastly, we went outside and used a hammer to push the sticks into the ground at the front of each row. 

Super Simple.  Super cute.  Super effective!

 

 

Little DC Garden

My little friends and I have really been having fun playing in the dirt this week.  ON Sunday, Shaun and I drove down with the tiller in tow and tilled up our garden spot at the day care.  On Monday I broke out my dc hoe and rake and also little kiddie garden gloves and hand tools donated by my loving Mother.  The kids were all about the gloves and tools and dug and played.  We have been out there every day this week.  We finally planted our seeds on Wednesday. 

 

This year we are growing corn, watermelon, squash, zucchini, green beans and tomatoes.  The green beans in the dc garden are new this year.  We frequently have green beans with our lunches so I thought it would be neat for them to watch them grow. 

 

Now we will water a little and wait for the plants to come up.  Then we will begin our weeding.  I also used the side of our storage barn to hang our tools where they are protected by the roof overhang from the rain and sun.  Makes garden life a lot easier not having to tote all those accessories!

 

 

 

Library Surprise

I usually go to the library on Saturdays.  I love to pick out new books for story time at the day care.  This past Saturday I went to the library, as usual, and ran into a big surprise.  I returned my previously checked out books and picked up my books that were on the hold shelf.  When I turned around to head to the children's area I saw a room full of books and people in the glass conference room.  I know my eyes got as big as dinner plates and I asked the fellow behind the desk if it was a book sale.  He said yes and that it was the last day for it.  In fact, it was in the midst of it's last hour!  I went inside and the lady working handed me a grocery sack and said "all the books it will hold will be four dollars."  Yippee!  I made my way to the children's section first and began looking and stuffing!  I wound up with a nice stack of books for story time.  Some of the books are vintage and some look newer.  Some of them I remember from being a kid and one of them especially.  It came from the library in the elementary school next to the library where I attended school.  I immediately opened the book and gave it a sniff and it smelled just as I remembered the books in that library smelled.  Flashback!  I also picked up a few books for me from the juvenile reader's section and fiction and non-fiction.  I had a blast.  Here's a look at our new stash.

I love this last book, Once Upon A Rhyme."  I read some of it out loud at the bus stop the other morning.  If it was checked out it would have a high rating.

BackYard Bird Bingo

I am a bird watcher.  I have always loved paying attention to birds that I see and hear in our area or where ever I go.  A bird is something a child is going to ask about and it is good for them to notice what is flying around them.  We talk about the differences in them, we have feeders during the winter time and even had a Robin nest in our tiny new tree last year in the back yard here. 

I came up with this bird I.D. game that I call "Backyard Bird Bingo" and it includes the most common birds that we see around the day care.  I made three different cards with some of the same birds on them.  You can print them out using a color printer and get ready to get your chairs out in a shady place in the yard to start watching.  The kids can use rocks to place on their cards when they see one of the birds.  Or you can use a crayon to cross through the picture when the bird is seen. 

You are welcome to right click and print the following pictures.  If you have trouble, please send me an email and I will send the pdf file to you.

I have to admit that I ued pictures that I found through yahoo search.  I didn't think ahead of time to give credit to each site for their drawing but will not take credit for the drawings themselves for this project.  Thanks.

Opposites

Lately we have been talking a lot about opposites.  The difference between Hot and Cold, Soft and Hard, and Wet and Dry.  I haven't made a board for the wet/dry yet.  We mainly talk about that one in the sand box and at the dirt pile.  Sand is a good way to show wet and dry because sand will run out of your hand when it is dry and just sit there when it is wet.  Even though the kids already know pretty much when something is hot or cold I believe it teaches the differences in things and also defining words for objects.

For examples on the Soft/Dry board, we talked and came up with suggestions for each then looked for things that applied.  We found feathers from the geese outside and a got a rock from our collection. 

For the board on Hot and Cold, I resorted to the internet for pictures I could cut out.  I laid them all out and let each child look at them and choose which ones were hot and which ones were cold.  Then we glued them in to their proper places on the board.

For the board I used black card stock.  At first I used chalk to write but then decided there would be too much touching and smearing so I typed, printed and cut out words.  I also used cheap, certificate frames and took the glass out.  I hung them up and put some pretty good double faced tape behind them to secure them to the wall but they can also be moved later on.

 

four little wishes

 

 

four little wishes from buckets to fishes! 

These are items I plan on obtaining sometime before school lets out if all works out. 

 

1.  we have a tank and the accessories and will soon have a little friend swimming around!

 2.  awesome musical instrument collection here.  most of our we have hand made.

3.  summer time for the older kids should include barbie! 

4.  our sandbox definitely needs more buckets and shovels!

Book of the Week

Our book for this week is:

 

under GROUND

 

By: Denise Fleming

 

 

I really enjoyed this book as well as the kids.  The illustrations are done by the author and are created by pulp painting, a paper making technique.  I read through this book once, with interested eyes on it, and wound up laying the book on the floor for the children to get a really good look at the pages.  There was more to look at than read.  It showed things that are under ground and that was everything from moles to keys.  Made me want to go outside and dig!

 

Checked Out Rating: 9

 



Fantastic Five

 

 

Fantastic Five: art supplies we love!  These are items that we have made many, many crafts using and are items that we use the most.  Craft supply staples if you will! 

You can find them in craft stores and even Walmart which is where the paint brushes came from. 

Book of the Week

Our book of the week this week is:

 

The Little Fire Engine

 

By: Lois Lenski

 

 

So.  The Little Fire Engine is a good read, especially if you have a kid that is interested and has discovered fire engines and fire.  Which, to me, can be a good thing and a bad thing.  I like this book and the way the fire engine was described when going to an emergency of a house fire and hooking up the hose and where all the parts are on the fire engine.  All that was cool.  The part I didn't like so much was the actual putting out of the fire and the family going back in the house to get furniture as the picture showed flames coming out the windows and then the fireman telling them to move it all back in, the fire's out.  I know it is hard to explain reality to a child when it comes to the seriousness of fire.  Maybe I have a hard time tapping in to the innocent, child-like mind view of the "Yay" factor.  Maybe I get slightly thrown off at times.  It can, however, lead to other conversations to have with children about what you would do in case of a fire.  Still, the rating is theirs to give and they asked me to read it one more time after the initial reading.

 

Again, Again Rating: 6

 

 

Little Hats

We have a set of grocery type baskets in the playroom that are played with every day in many ways.  One of the ways they love to use them is on their heads, which is great until one gets stuck.  It really is a safe place to play folks. 

I had an idea to come up with hats for the kids to play with.  I used plastic bowls that whipped topping comes in.  I cut slits on two sides, strung a piece of elastic through and secured the elastic by sewing a button on each side.  Easy!  Then I let the kids decorate their hats with bits of construction paper and glue sticks.  It is so fun to listen to the games they play while wearing their hats from dirt bike rider to birthday party.  So fun and easy.

four little wishes

 

1.   2.   3.   4.

I have so much fun putting together my "Four Fanciful Things" blog posts for peppysis! I was thinking about our wish list here at the DC and thought... why not share what we are wishing for?!

They may be something you could get for your own child sometime that you might not have seen or thought of else wise or if you just want to... for US!  If you want to view the items that I found for sale online, please click on the corresponding number below the wishes.  Or if you are from around here and spot this kind of stuff at a yard sale or thrift give me a holler! 

Book of the Week

Our book of the week for this week is...

 

 

When Dinosaurs Go to School

 

By: Linda Martin

 

 

This is another book that the children have asked for multiple times during story time.  It is about a normal day of getting ready and going to school for your average dinosaur.  The pages are very colorful and full of action and illustrations of what is going on with each page read.  I could just see the kid's eyes dancing around the pages trying to take everything in before the page was turned. 

We have even gone back through the pages and I would ask them if they could find certain things like a clock, a flag or even spot the teacher.  It is funny that even at two and three year olds can spot the teacher in an instant.  It is a super cute book that these kids really enjoyed.

 

 

Again, Again Rating:  10

 

 

 



Story Time Guidelines

When I was a child, and in elementary school, I strongly remember sitting on the floor in the library as the librarian read books to us.  I'm not sure how often this actually happened in reality but in my mind it was a lot.  The librarian had a little spill that she would recite to us each time we sat down during story time to make sure she had our attention.  To this day I remember my friend Annemarie and I teasing to each other about the way she pronounced watching as wartching.  We giggled and giggled about that. 

 

Now, during story time each day, I find myself using the very same spill with the children.  It really does work.  It is like a little agreement when they first sit down that all eyes are on what is going on right in front of them.   The magic spill goes like this...

Are your hands in your lap?

Are your eyes watching?

Are your ears listening?

Are your mouths silent? (in a whisper)

 

And then the book can begin.  Little bodies are still.  Little pairs of eyes are focused on the book and the colorful pages unfolding as they listen to the story.  And most of all they are quiet so that everyone can listen to the story. 

 

I also add motion to the spill, pointing to my eyes, hand behind my ear, fingers move across my mouth in a zippy motion.  They actually love this part of story time and I catch them saying this to each other when one of them decides they are going to read to the others.  It is fantastic.

 



Book of the Week

This week, our book of the week is:

 

Little Quack

 

By: Lauren Thompson

 

This book of the week this week is one of the cutest books I think I have ever read to these kids.  It is about a Mama duck deciding that it's time for her ducklings to take to water and as she speaks so sweetly and encouragingly to her babies as they respond with fear then bravery.  I was really able to change my voice from the Mama voice to the duckling voice pretty easily so it made for an easy and fun book for me too. 

The kids have asked for this one for a couple of days in a row now which gives it a boost for the rating.

 

Again, Again Rating: 10