Rainbow Paper Sensory Bin

For a fun way to explore both our rainbow unit and upcoming Earth Day celebration, we decided to make a technicolor sensory bin out of some recycled art projects and bits of scrap paper.  We added the scraps to a bin of water for a splashing good time!

This activity was a HUGE hit - the most fun they have had with a sensory box in a long time! The kids had fun grabbing hand fulls of soggy paper, ripping it, squeezing it, shredding it to pieces. 

When they began to loose interest after a while, I added some kitchen tools (tongs, a turkey baster, a rubber spatula, and a whisk  along with some plastic containers which sparked many more fantastic ideas. 

They got so carried away that they drenched my kitchen floor. Luckily I was prepared with dry clothes and a pile of towels nearby! 

A word of warning : The colored paper bleeds into the water making a rather powerful dye. Fortunately I was able to pop all of our wet clothes and rags right into the wash so nothing was ruined but if you try this at home I would suggest stripping your kids down or putting them in old clothes for this activity. 

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Marshmallow Peep Sensory Play

I hope you all had a Happy Easter! We certainly did!

Are you overflowing with candy like we are? The Easter Bunny stuffed most of our eggs with play silks, socks, and coins, but Easter just doesn't seem complete without the essentials - a chocolate bunny, jelly beans, and Peeps. Easter morning I let the kids stuff themselves to their hearts content, but after that, the candy gets packed away into the Friday Night Treat Jar. At one piece a week, the candy lasts forever, so I am always trying to think of ways to use it up that doesn't involve it going into their little bellies.

The kid's had so much fun with our marshmallow sensory play last time so I knew just the thing to do with the Peeps and our leftover hot chocolate marshmallow stash!

Peeps + Marshmallows + Green Water = Loads of Sensory Fun.

I know it sounds terribly messy, but I promise you that it's not! The marshmallows get delightfully squishy and slippery in the water and the stickiness is nothing that a wet washcloth can't take care of! It is sure for a good time!

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Tot School: Penguins

This week for tot school we learned all about penguins and other winter animals.

Circle Time
The girls are continuing to love circle time. They are so eager to help with the calendar each day. I am still experimenting with different ways to use the board so a post on that is still to come, but I realized that I forgot to post a picture last week so here you go.

Books:
The Mitten by Jan Brett


The Little Penguin by A J Wood

A Penguin Story by Antoinette Portis


Songs/ Poems:

Peter, Peter Penguin
Peter, Peter Penguin, marching by, 
Toes turned out and head held high (Stand very tall with legs together and toes pointing out)
A long black coat (Sketch coat down back)
And a clean white vest (Pretend to hold edges of vest in hands)
Peter, Peter Penguin, you're the best! (Waddle like a penguin)

Music and Movement

"Going On a Bear Hunt" was still a much requested song for this week, but we also branched out and tried a little something new. I found these great kid's yoga videos online and thought we could give them a try for something different. 

I wasn't quite sure what the girls would think of them because they're a little slower paced, but they absolutely LOVED them.  The videos have a cute story line that helps to keep their attention and gives purpose to the yoga poses. The girls have requested these videos multiple times this week and tell me that they LOVE yoga!   I just wish I wasn't busy making lunch at this time so I could join in too!

Sensory Play

Snow Dough - We brought our snow dough back out from a couple of weeks ago. It is so incredibly messy, but so incredibly fun! It cleans up easily so it is a win in my book!

 

 Salt Trays - The kiddos had fun drawing, writing, and playing in salt trays this week. The babies had salt in a bin to confine their mess a bit more. This activity is fun, but I have two notes 1) don't use trays with holes in the sides like mine. The sand spills right out when the shake it around to erase their design 2) don't use salt trays directly on a wood surface. I discovered later that the little bits of salt that spilled onto the table acted like sand paper each time they slid the tray around on the table to erase. Thank goodness my table has already seen better days! We'll be putting towels on the table next time we do this though!

Arts and Crafts

Penguin Craft - The big girls made this adorable toilet paper tube penguin craft while the babies made their own simplified version. 

 

 Arctic Animal Spray Pain - The big girls were given cutouts of different arctic animals ( polar bear, penguin, rabbit, and seal) to use as stencils as they "spray painted" their paper by flicking their brush. The animal shapes didn't exactly turn out because they kept lifting them up to check on them, but they absolutely loved this method of painting!

 The little ones created their own snowy scene using these fun foam bushes!

Snowflake Painting - The babies had fun painting with these plastic tinsely snowflakes that I picked up at the dollar store last year. They loved the feeling of them covered in paint!

 

 Gross Motor

Penguin Waddle Race -  We all had fun burning off some steam at the end of the day with this fun penguin race game. We put a balloon in between our legs and raced from one end of the room to the other, waddling like a penguin. Little man was right in there racing with the big girls, although he didn't need a balloon to help him waddle :) The person who reached the finish line first got to be the one to say "ready, set, go..." next. We have just recently started playing games with a "winner" and it has been interesting to watch the competitive side of the kids come out. We have had some talks about what it means to be a good sport, an important lesson to learn!

Animal Walk - For a fun way to get the kids moving, I made a die out of a recycled box and drew pictures of diffent winter animals on each side. The kids took turns throwing the dice and they all moved around the room like the animal that it landed on!

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What's on the Tray Wednesday

 For the first time in a long time I finally got E's seal of approval with her trays this week. She has gotten so much use and enjoyment out of these activities already and the week is only half over!

 First up are a set of sensory balloons that I finally got around to making. I think what makes them so great is that they are so open ended allowing E to do what she does best - come up with her own ideas of what to do with them. I made two of each texture allowing her to match them up if she desired. Matching was a bit difficult but she did enjoy sorting them into two categories : "crunchy" (noodles, pop corn kernels, rice) and"squishy" (baking powder, wheat germ). We also discovered these are very fun to throw!

I think E is finally getting ready for some lacing work. I have set this activity out for her several times in the past because she LOVES to play with beads and generally enjoys fine motor work, but this is the first time that she has really taken to lacing the beads on her own.

This is by far E's favorite tray of week! She loves Gilbert on the show Caillou so to go along with our cat theme I whipped up this little game. Using a favorite character has definitely helped to interest her in a work that would otherwise not be appealing to her. She has spent hours feeding Gilbert the fish, dumping them out, and feeding him again. I've encouraged her to count the fish as she puts them in but she hasn't picked up on that yet.

 Linking up with H is for Homeschooling