Caring for Pets!

It was another fabulous week in the Toddler room! This week during circle time, we read books having to do with animals and pets! Friends brought pictures from home of their dogs and cats, and were able to share the pictures with their friends and have them on display on the chalkboard. Friends had a chance to share names and stories of pets they have, pets they know, or even imaginary pet friends. We talked about Little Dragon, our lizard pet that lives in the front room, our fish, and our hermit crabs, Ursula, Mister, and Bruno.  We introduced a hermit crab puzzle and a frog puzzle, as the kids have been interested in exploring all the ways we can get to know our pet friends. We read books about how to care for animals with tails, as well as books about hermit crabs! We also were introduced to some fingerpuppets of animals, which every one was really interested in.

Monday was a special day because we celebrated Jackson’s second birthday! We had a circle time for him, where we arranged a circle of all the months of the year. We sang:

The Earth goes ‘round the sun

The Earth goes ‘round the sun

It takes 12 months to go around

And Jackson turns one…

To the tune of The Farmer in the Dell, with the verse repeated for every year until their age.

We all had a chance to cheer him on as he walked around the circle, and then he had a chance to make a wish and blow out a candle. Afterword, we were all treated to delicious vegan muffins and other goodies.

That afternoon we did artwork and dramatic play, and Mike gave us a frog that he had found outside. Every ones’ interest in the frog prompted us to bring out our stretchy frogs to create an activity out of it. Every one had so much fun playing with the frog dramatically, that we brought more toy frogs out to be used in the dramatic play area.

Tuesday we were busy with work in the morning, and yoga in the afternoon. During yoga we passed a beaded necklace around and took turns investigating the special beads which came from another country. We got to feel the texture of the beads and try on the necklace.  After, we had snack, and Ashley took the time to talk about how to split a tortilla into equal parts. Every one paid close attention as she talked about how to make halves and fourths. When snack was over, we had a chance to give our pets a snack in order to take care of them. Every one had a chance to place a piece of food on the crabs’ “plate” which was a small shell.

Wednesday friends had a chance to help get the garden prepared for plants. Every one had a chance to use shovels, rakes, and their hands to dig and loosen the dirt. We also explored jump ropes on the playground. I took pictures with every one who showed interest in the jump ropes. We practiced jumping or stepping over the rope, and swinging the rope over our heads. It was quite a challenge! In the afternoon, we had a chance to decorate our own hermit crab shell, inspired by the book reading of A House for Hermit Crab by Eric Carl. Later that afternoon, our late-stayers had fun using soap, water, and sponges to beautiful our playhouse.

Thursday every one had a very late nap. Once every one got up, we had time to eat snack, and then spend some time on the deck pushing cars around, and letting our pets get some exercise by walking around a kiddie pool full of sand outside. They had fun saying “hello” to the crabs, and watching them come out of their shells whenever a teacher held them up!

I missed Friday, but heard that every one had a blast watching the rain outside, and cooking with Ms. Liz! In the future I will be sure to email every one regarding any days I know I will be missing, but at the last minute didn’t realize I hadn’t saved every one’s email yet! I will let you know next time!

It was an awesome week at the sprout!

Love,

Jackie