Messy Play Day - The Last Day of School

It's hard to believe we made it through the whole 3 year curriculum with our little co-op. What an amazing blessing this whole experience has been! I can't believe how much our kiddos have grown up. They are really becoming such neat little people. I attribute so much of the  growth I've seen with my own child to ABC Jesus Loves Me, and to the amazing friends that we have worked through all the material with. What a gift! Look How they've grown!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What a great group of kids

 

And here's the whole bunch...toddlers and all!

 

To wrap up our year, I decided to set up 4 "messy play" stations in the back yard. The weather has been great, and the kids have done a wonderful job staying on task these past few weeks, that a little fun seemed to be in order.

The first station was a mud pie kitchen.

 

Here's Jack checking it out.

 

And then the toddlers came along...

This was some good, MESSY fun.

 

The second station was for "potion mixing". I gathered a bunch of clear bottles (both glass and plastic) and filled them with colored water. And I provided some empty jars for the kids to make potions in..pouring and mixing colors was a HUGE hit, especially for the younger kids. I was very impressed at the concentration many of them (especially CJ!) showed while creating their potions.

 

Here is the "before" shot...

 

 

 

Even Gus got in on the fun! (His face may be green for a while...)

 

Next was the bubble blowing station. I found a recipe for jumbo bubbles on Pinterest, but it didn't work as well as I'd hoped. It was also a little windy today which didn't help. But the kids didn't mind. The biggest hit was the homemade bubble snake blower. I made a couple of them by cutting the bottom off of a plastic bottle. If you put a sock over the cut end and dip the sock in the bubble juice, it makes a giant snake when you blow through the bottle. Just be careful not to inhale by accident!

 

Good job, Doc!

 

 

And finally, the biggest hit of all was the water station. I gave the kids a bucket full of water, some giant squirt "guns" from the Dollar Tree, some homemade "sponge bombs", and squirt bottles. I drew a target on the wall, and the kids had fun trying to squirt the bulls eye. This batch of water toys literally provided hours of entertainment.

 

 

 

 

Love these boys!

 

And there ya have it! A fun day for all. This is seriously the best group of kids and moms ever.

Lucky, lucky, lucky...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Zany ZZZZZ Week!

Zany ZZZZ Week! We have reached the Letter Z and I need to apologize I am a bit behind on posting this blog. The preschool kids have done amazingly well and I am so humbled to be a part of this. Each week the preschool students are excited to learn new things! What a joy they are to teach!

On Day 1 the preschool kids dressed up as zany as they could. Zany Crazy Dress-Up day was super fun, especially Eisley, who wore 2 kinds of shoes! The kids are very serious during the pledge of Allegiance. We also read the story of Zacchaeus where the kids learned how Zacchaeus was humbled that Jesus wanted to come to his house even though he wasn't very kind. 

During Craft time, the kids got to create Zebras! They had to follow directions and glue on many pieces. They struggled at first putting the correct pieces in place, but eventually they got the hang of it! Addison did a great job gluing the pieces together, you can tell that she does craft time, a lot!

Look at these cute Zebras! 

Before we went outside, we talked about being Zookeepers! The kids answered questions about what zookeepers do, by keeping the cages clean, feeding the animals and getting them water. We even talked about what types of food the zoo animals like to eat. Did you know that hippos like melon?!

We also read this darling book, Put Me in the Zoo, to get the kids prepared to be zookeepers!

Look at Eisley and Noah concentrate while they paint their Z. Great job kids!

Addison and Annabelle had fun too, they enjoyed blending the colors!

My zookeepers went outside and had to gather the animals. Then they had to put food and water in the cages and take care of the animals. 

DAY 2 OF THE ZOO!

Zoo Alert: The animals have escaped from the zoo. THe kids were in charge of finding them and putting them back in their cages. But we need to create binoculars first. The kids painted two toilet paper rolls and attached them with a string. 

Jack enjoyed painting the inside of his binoculars too!

They turned out pretty cute! These zookeepers are ready to find those animals! 

Show and Tell was my favorite part of the day. We have been doing this for a while, but I have never been able to see the kids share. It was so cute to watch each of them describe their toy. The kids sat so well and asked questions about what they brought! Darling! 

Eisley brought Filmore, from the movie Cars and shared that she loved the colors on the car.

Annabelle brought Rapunzel and all her money. Rapunzel joined the family when they went to Disneyland!

Addison brought her mermaid dolls, these are her favorite toys, that travel everywhere with her....even without their clothes on!

Noah shared about his car with a big engine. 

Pete the Cat joined us! Jack couldn't wait to share about Pete the Cat and where he sleeps at night,  right by his bed!

Ziggy's Blue Ribbon Day was perfect for Z week! Ziggy didn't want to participate but he had to learn to make the best of what he was asked to do. Perfect for preschool kids! 

The kids practiced writing the letter z and other words such as zebra, zoo, and zipper. They are really doing a great job holding the pencil.

Finally we worked on patterns with fruit loops. We talked about that a pattern can include two, three, or more different colors. The kids worked hard placing the patterns on their sticks....and yes, they got to eat them too!