Wonderful Wednesday!

Happy Wednesday All!

The Toddlers day began with some early drop-offs, Its always a pleasure to have some early birds, cause they love to help with snack, greet our friends who come in, and help with any friends who may be having a rough morning. Annabelle was my first friend today, so she sat and enjoyed her breakfast while I cut some yummy strawberries for AM snack. She prefers to have a book with her, and this morning was “Im going to have a Baby Brother”.  As we sat and chatted about the book, we noticed it started to rain! We talked a little about the rain, and then as more friends showed up, we made our way to the front, we looked out the doors to watch the rain, and then we checked on the fish! Theo, Annabelle, and Alanna were very interested in the color and size of the fish in the fish tank! We spotted a black and white fish, a fish with a blue tail, and a bigger, black and white fish! They were so intrigued and in awe, some even said they wanted to swim with the fish! :) 

As the rain slowed down, and more friends showed up, we made our way to the stairs in the front area, Theo, Annabelle, Alanna, and Miya all enjoy the glow in the dark stars and planets that are in the little room before you go outside, so we opened and closed the door several times, referencing “light” and “dark”, before making our way out.  

In light of our curriculum for the month, we have been focusing on Self-Awareness. Today, Alanna, Theo and Annabelle all had a chance to take a mini field trip to the baby room. We stopped to take off our shoes, and wash our hands, as we talked about the germs we have from outside, and that when we touch or play with babies, we have to have clean hands! All of the Toddlers were in such amazement at the baby room. We got to meet and greet our friends, Gage, Genevieve, Walter, Julia, and Jackson! Alanna and Theo immediately went for the music sensory wall, and Annabelle stayed close to me showing me books, and pointing at the babies asking their name.  We then started discussing the babies and pointing out that babies still drink bottles, they are crawling not yet walking, and that when they cry it is because they need something, but cannot yet use their words. We also remembered that we use extra gentle touches on our baby friends. Alanna and Miya brought out the pianos, so we felt it right for a song. Theo and Annabelle asked for “twinkle, twinkle, little star” so we began to sing and could tell the babies were getting very excited! Once it was bottle time, we started a clean-up and said our good-byes, making our way back to the hall, and outside.

As we got outside, the rest of the Toddlers were here and ready for snack, so we made our way into the classroom, washed hands and began a yummy snack of bananas and strawberries. After snack we made our way to the circle time carpet! Joey, Teo, Ben, Koichi and Wren love the transition from snack to circle/block building and enjoy building tracks as far and zig zag as possible. We finished cleaning up, and we brought our dramatic play baby dolls, crib, bumbos, and dramatic play clothes to the circle time area. Our focus stayed on babies and self awareness towards others smaller than us, We also talked about our friends who will be having a new addition to the family, either a baby boy or baby girl!  We practiced clothing and unclothing our baby doll, while using gentle hands and motions, feeding the babies in the bumbo, and putting the babies gently in their crib, covering them with a blanket and patting them to sleep! Paislie was quick to grab a baby doll and practice what we had just discussed. Ben and Joey discussed where the baby should lay, Alanna checked on the baby asking if she was “asleep” or “awake”, and Theo also was practicing holding the baby gently, and placing the baby in the crib. Teo enjoyed placing the baby in the bumbo and sitting next to her in the other bumbo! J Our awesome little helpers! As we put the babies to “sleep”, we came across our fun potty book that actually flushes when you press a button! Everyone was so into it, that while Jackie read our “Potty Time” book, everyone took a turn “flushing”! Once we finished our book, we got shoes on and headed outdoors for some sensory exploration.

Theo, Teo, Wren, Ben, Alanna, Annabelle, Paislie, Koichi, and Joey have been searching far and wide for crickets these past couple of days, and today was no different! We took a stroll around the grassy knoll, listening for grasshoppers and crickets, and came across 2! But as quick as we were to run up and check them out, they were gone in flash. Since we couldn’t find anymore, everyone went their separate ways, checking on the plants, grass, trees, and finding exciting trucks to pour sand in and drive around. We soon made our way in for lunch and nap transition.

After nap, we had snuggle/potty time! We read some fun and exciting books, and listened to some baby lullabies on our noise machine. While we waited for snack and Ms Leona to arrive they each went to different stations and explored until it was clean up time. We washed hands, sat and had a delicious PM snack of hummus and cauliflower.  Once everyone was clean and at the table, Ms Leona came in with her wonderful poster boards of songs and finger plays. We had several requests from Joey and Koichi about which song we should start with, we started with our favorite, the Hello Song (Hola Amigos). Koichi, Joey, and Paislie love to follow along with Ms Leona and do the hand motions, while Alanna, Annabelle, Teo, and Ben love to listen along attentively, interested in the pictures on the poster boards. We sang and danced to about 5 more songs, before Ms Leona had to say “Adios”!

We ended our day with a fabulous dance party! Put on our shoes and headed outside for free play/pick-up!

Dom