Week 2 with the 2's:

It was such a joy working with these little ones this week! In the past, working with the 2's didn't involve much more than trying to keep them out of the way of what the "big kids" were working on. So this year, it's really nice to be able to spend intentional time with the little ones as well. I only got a couple pictures the first day because it was so tricky just keeping track of the kids! These guys sure are busy! But by the second day, Evelyn and I seemed to have found a bit more of a groove, and we were able to get a few decent shots.

Day 1:
We started with free play to let them get some wiggles out. The kids headed for the play kitchen and played nicely for quite a while (meaning Doc and Juliette didn't hit or bite one another...we've been struggling with these two big time!)

They can trash a room in 5 seconds flat!

 

Kelda was a little worried about leaving Gus but he did GREAT! He was an absolute joy to work with. Good job, Gussy!

 

We then moved on to calendar and Bible time. They kids did well sitting through the story for the most part. Doc was the most distracted, but I think a lot of that came from being at home. We let them play again after that to get some more of those two-year old wiggles out. Then it was time for our story and snack. I made them yogurt with blueberries (since our color of the week was blue), and we read When the Elephant Walks, which everyone liked. Then it was time for our elephant craft. The kids did GREAT at this part. They painted small paper plates gray, and then glued on ears, feet, a trunk, and a googley eye. All three kids concentrated so much on this activity. It was really fun.

 

 

 

 

Next we headed outside to play in the water table with blue water, and the kids took turns painting horizontal and vertical blue lines on my sliding glass door. After that we called it a day and made lunch. Over all, I would call it a success.

 

Day 2:

I felt SO much more comfortable by day 2. Now that I knew what to expect, it was much easier to pace the activities and to fit more into our time together. We started again with free play, and then moved into calendar and Bible time.

 

The felt board was SO wonderful for these guys! I read the Bible story to them first, and then we retold it together using the felt. By the second day, they knew just what to do. Even Gus got in on the action.

 

Next we had a snack and read our story again. I made flower snacks since on the 3rd day, God created the flowers and plants. The kids did such a great job sitting through the story while they ate that we read two additional books (Little Blue Truck and My One Book).

 

 

 

 

Then it was time for our craft. We made a picture of God's creation on the 3rd day using construction paper and a bunch of foam stickers. They were fully engaged and did great once again.

 

 

 

 

Next it was time to work on fine motor skills with some play dough.

 

 

And then we did a little obstacle course to work on our gross motor skills. This one was a big hit! First the kids had to hop like kangaroos on the blue dots.

 

Next, they had to crawl through the tunnel...

 

 

And finally, they had to walk very carefully on the blue line.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Great job kiddos!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Can't Catch a Break

Sickness hit us again last weekend, so my plans of hosting school were a bit thwarted. Thankfully, Ev lives 2 houses away, so I was able to get her all my plans and supplies on Monday morning. We stayed home and the others participated in school down at her house. This winter has been a DOOZY for us in the sickness department. Here's to hoping for spring's early arrival!

By Thursday, we were on the mend over here so I asked everyone to come to our house for part 2 of week 23. I just felt like it had been AGES since we hosted school, and I had already done all the prep work. It turned out to be a really fun morning. Take a look...

After our normal calendar time, Bible story, and song, I decided to take the Bible story a step further. I assigned "roles" and the kids took turns acting out the story of Jesus calming the storm.

Here you can see our "boat". Noah is playing Jesus taking a nap, and Jack and Eisley are disciples.

 

In comes Addison as the waves and Annabelle as the rain (she has maracas).

 

We switched it up a few times so everyone could have a turn playing the different parts. And the kids did great following my directions. I think we should try to incorporate more role playing in the future.

 

For snack we went fishing like Jesus' disciples. We used a piece of celery with peanut butter on the tip as a fishing pole and tried to catch goldfish. While the kids ate, I read My Q Book, My 10 Book, and Ten Little Sleepyheads.

 

 

 

Doc especially enjoyed eating everyone's leftover peanut butter :)

 

 

Next we worked on a coloring sheet. The girls are especially interested in coloring. They are using multiple colors now, and they are getting quite good at staying in the lines. Coloring is definitely not the boys' favorite activity. They willingly participate, but they typically only use one color and they are "finished" in a few minutes. I find it fascinating to see the differences between the boys and girls play out as they get older.

 

Next was a counting activity. We've got 1-5 down pat, so I wanted to spend some time working on numbers 5-10 today. Each child chose a chunk of playdough and 5 pipe cleaners. I instructed the kids to stick their pipe cleaners into the playdough so they were straight up in the air and in a row (this took a minute). I put a bowl of cheerios in the center of the table and asked each child to count out 5 cheerios (this also took a minute...they each wanted me to watch them count). Then they put all 5 cheerios on the first pipe cleaner in a stack. Next, they counted 6 cheerios. The idea was to put them on the next pipe cleaner in line so we could see how much taller 6 was than 5. In my mind, they would create a graph of sorts to show the difference between the numbers. Yeah...not so much. The girls got the idea after the first few stacks, and the boys gave up counting and tried to make as tall a stack of cheerios as they could. After a couple attempts to redirect the activity, I finally just let them stack the cheerios however they wanted...hey, it was good fine motor practice anyway, right? ;)

 

 

 

Eisley did a GREAT job on this activity. She sat there long after the other kids went out to play and finished all 5 stacks of cheerios. She showed excellent concentration, and she put the right number of cheerios on each pipe cleaner. Great work Eisley!