This week was super busy with lots of Thanksgiving crafts and our Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. We also added something new to our routine: exercise time! The kids haven't been outside for a couple of weeks thanks to unseasonably cold temps and snow. To get some of their pent up energy out (and before it starts effecting their behavior), at 10:40 every morning we "exercise." We start with doing a few of our songs with movement (we always do "If You're Happy and You Know It" but we've also been doing "Five Little Turkeys" and "I'm A Little Pumpkin." After Thanksgiving we'll add in Christmas songs), then move onto jumping up and down, jumping jacks, spinning, dancing, etc. We've also played a few games such as Ring Around The Rosy. By the time we're done 30-40 minutes later, the kids are exhausted! It's been a great way to end our morning and the kids particularly love blaring the music and "being crazy" (as they say).
The kids colored pilgrim hats (found at Michael's) and wore them while they played "the first Thanksgiving." We've been reading several children's books explaining the first Thanksgiving. It was cute to see them re-enact everything we've been reading about.
The kids used Lego's to paint Indian corn. I got the idea from this website:
http://www.craftymorning.com/lego-stamped-indian-corn-craft-kids/
Playing with goop turned out to be our messiest activity yet:
http://ashlen-kidspert.blogspot.com/2014/11/play-time-with-goop.html
The kids played puppies most of the week--which was really just a game of crawling chase.
Winter has come early and my minis are going crazy!!! Evenings have been particularly rough....and it's only November!
Max had strep throat and was home a couple of days. He set up a roll the ball game with all of the kids.
We made a lot of turkeys this week!
The kids loved decorating Thanksgiving placemats (found at Michael's). The younger kids loved coloring Thanksgiving food on their plates, while the older kids enjoyed the activity pages.
Jumping, jumping, jumping during our exercise time.
The few of the kids played school this week. This consisted of reading books to each other and "doing homework" (aka-coloring).
Thursday was a fun day for the kids! We had a picnic lunch in the living room (sandwiches and a veggie tray in the middle to share) while the kids watched "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving." Then we read the book when the movie was done. After naps, we had our very own Charlie Brown Thanksgiving for afternoon snacks. Read more about it here:
http://ashlen-kidspert.blogspot.com/2014/11/daycares-charlie-brown-thanksgiving.html
We made a special pumpkin play dough using Pumpkin Spice Jello. It smelled great, but was a bit more crumbly than what the kids enjoy playing with (we make our's more doughy like a pizza or cookie dough).
We broke out one of the activities I was saving for the middle of January, but they were needed this week! The kids colored these blocks on and off throughout the week and by Friday they were ready to play with! We added our
Melissa & Doug Deluxe Jumbo Cardboard Blocks (40 pc) so there were even more blocks to build with.
I had to remind the kids to work together to build something and there was some drama with sharing the blocks, but all in all, the kids had fun building and rebuilding towers, houses, and tables.
Next week will be an extra short, but busy week. We'll finish up our Thanksgiving crafts and the day before Thanksgiving we'll be doing our very own daycare Thanksgiving complete with turkey and mashed potatoes! The kids will be helping me cook the meal throughout the morning. It could be an interesting day!
