Be my Valentine

We had such fun on Valentines Day.  All of the little ones brought in their homemade cards to share with their friends.  One boy brought in candy and that is all he could talk of was his candy!  With such little ones that I help guide it is very important to give them lots of love and attention with out interfering to much but on days like today I truly feel that the drudging of school should be overlooked and fun and excitement welcomed. Three cheers for all of my little belly button valentines your giggles of fun and your warm carefree hugs was all I needed!

Pitter patter of their little heart

This week we prepared for valentines day.  I hope to have a card or a picture that each of the children have created for their parents. I have a large variety of things to work with paint, glue, markers, and crayons to name a few.  So this week we will try and complete the little works of love.  I have found so of the cutest ideas from pintrest but as usually the things they create on their own are by far the ones I adore and know their parents will also.. You are never to old to create a Valentine or to receive one.  I still make my hubby one every year.

Sunshine in the wintertime

The beautiful weather we had today allowed us to play outside with no coats!  So I felt the need to bring out the pots and pans for a good old fashion mud pie picnic.  We are in the process of adding on to our primary playground so today was a good day to start working on our digging area.  We started by digging a small trench around a 10 ft by 8 ft section of the ground. As the days allow us we will be adding sand, small pebbles, cool tunnels and bridges.  I hope to have one on the toddler playground soon but it will most likely contain only sand because you never can tell where the small pebbles might end up with toddlers.  Another fun day at school has come to a end and visions of mud pies will dance in my head, until the next sun filled day.

All we need is love and play dough

The theme for this month is all about LOVE.  We are using the colors red, pink, purple, and white with all of our art and sensory play.  The favorite so far is our pink play dough.  I make it from scratch and used a little bit of peppermint extract to give it a fun smell.  We are using Valentine heart picks, cupcake liners and red glitter to make our play "funcakes" .  Also high on the most wanted play list is our rice bin. With funnels and scoopers and big silver spoons learning to pour and scoop is all that is needed for hours of fun!  Okay it is really minutes, more like 15 to 20 minutes and then another 15 to 20 minutes of sweeping.  But once again we are learning how to take care of our surrounding after we have our fun!

Play Dough Recipe:
1 cup white flour
1/2 cup salt
2 tablespoon cream of tartar (find it in the spice section)
1 tablespoon oil
1 cup water
food coloring
Mix first 4 ingredients in a pan. Add water and mix well. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, for 3 – 5 minutes. Dough will become difficult to stir and form a “clump”.  Remove from stove and knead for 5 minutes–add food coloring during kneading process. Play dough will keep for a long time stored in a covered plastic container or plastic sandwich bag

Colored Rice:

To color rice add about 2 tablespoon of alcohol and food coloring to dry rice in a ziploc bag, mix thoroughly, then spread out on to a baking pan. Heat in oven at 200 degrees until dry or place in sun to dry.

A tribute to tissues and the sharp toothed snail

With the ever changing weather running noses are ruling the day!  I have found that helping little ones to look in the mirror at their nose when wiping helps but getting them to tilt their head back was difficult.  Remembering the poem "Warning" solved that problem.  It comes from the book "Where the Sidewalk Ends"  By Shel Silverstein.  Now they look to see if there is a snail and you can't see very well if there is boogers in the way!  Eureka, noses are cleaned and wiped, then the hands are washed another nasty chore made for independent children to learn while having fun.

Inside everybody's nose
There lives a sharp-toothed snail.
So if you stick your finger in,
He may bite off your nail.
Stick it farther up inside,
And he may bite your ring off.
Stick it all the way, and he
May bite the whole darn thing off.
- Shel Silverstein

My job is having FUN and making a living at it

I am so excited to start my own blog!  I am currently working at a montessori school as their Aftercare/Summer Care guide.  This is all about the joy I have in helping to guide children through daily fun activities at our school.  I truly believe in allowing children to have a warm caring community to be the best they can be.  Our daily schedule has a wide variety of activities geared to expand their world of art, nature, dramatic play, and music.  While helping to create our own community of friends the goals of each child is ever changing to meet their needs.  I will be blogging on our progress throughout this year and what we are doing to pass the time and what skills we are using. So join me in having fun for a living......