Week In Review: November 3 - November 7

We spent our daycare week talking A LOT about Thanksgiving, what it means to be thankful, what we're thankful for, and of course, winter. The kids have noticed they've had to wear jackets and coats lately, so they're anxiously waiting for snow (me--not so much!). Here's a quick look at our week:

The kids finally got a chance to play outside quite a bit this week. They were able to enjoy a few of the Pre-Trick or Treat Party (http://ashlen-kidspert.blogspot.com/2014/10/pre-trick-or-treat-party.html) activities. Their favorite was the pumpkin "sand" (http://ashlen-kidspert.blogspot.com/2014/10/pumpkin-sand.html) that had corn mixed in it from the cornbox. We'll definitely be making this "sand" to play with indoors throughout the winter.

The kids decorated pumpkins with Do A Dot Art Marker Rainbow, 6-pack

The girls got very realistic with their doll playing. They requested the "big highchair" and gave the dolls real sippys and bottles.

The kids have been spending hours each week crafting. They've been learning how to use scissors properly, how to use glue without making a mess, coloring, painting, and more. They even did an experiment all on their own: they colored sheets of paper and put them into water. They colored one sheet with markers, one with crayons, one with chalk, and one with colored pencils. Then they asked me for "a big thing with water" (which I deduced was a large, flat baking dish that would fit all of the pieces of paper). They put the papers in water and watched how their drawings changed (or didn't change in a few cases.

The kids played hide n' seek quite a bit this week....they even tried to get the cats involved (spoiler: it didn't work). The best part was when they would stand in the middle of the room, close their own eyes, and claim to be "hiding." We had to go over how to play the game once or twice.

Painting with mini pumpkins has been one of their favorite fall painting projects. They liked it even more because they used neon paints.

With cold temps on tap beginning next week, we've been trying to find ways to use up our corn supply in the cornbox outside. We've fed the neighborhood woodland creatures this week (we've got a couple of chubby squirrels who won't leave our yard now) and the kids made Thanksgiving corn shakers. I had these planned for later in November (when the cold weather usually hits), but since it looks like our outdoor time won't be happening in the next week or two, we moved the activity up.

This was a great hand-eye coordination activity for some of the younger kids since I had them put the corn kernels in one at a time. It took them quite a while to fill their bottle up with corn (less than half way), but their favorite part was when I let them put glitter in their bottle.

The kid's Thankful Trees turned out great! Read more about the activity and craft here: http://ashlen-kidspert.blogspot.com/2014/11/thankful-trees.html

The boys brought out their Innovation First Hexbug Hive Playset. The kids had a blast watching the bugs race and fight each other.

Feeding the neighborhood creatures the corn. We had quite the collection of animals surrounding the backyard so we put some corn in the front so the kids could watch out our big front window.

The kids have been awesome with using scissors. I made up sheets of papers with lines for them to cut on. Some kids did great, some kids.....well, there will be more practicing!

These turned out so cute (and I failed to get a picture). The kids did need help with these, so pretty much, it was me putting them together while the kids stood next to me, clapping their hands, asking when I'd be done.

The kids got creative with the ZOOB 0Z11075 ZOOB 75 Moving Mind-Building Modeling System, Assorted Colors, 75-Pieces  

The toy catalogs were the kid's first choice during free reading time.

The kids LOVED playing with the Kinetic Sand (http://ashlen-kidspert.blogspot.com/2014/11/best-toy-buy-kinetic-sand.html).

We ended our daycare week playing with Pumpkin play dough. With the exception of snacks, meals, and naps, the kids played with this ALL DAY! Bonus, I made the dough so it wasn't messy at all. There was very little clean up, but a lot of pots and pans were used and needed cleaning!

The kids got the telescope taken away when they tried to use it as a machine gun. Then they tried looking for stars on the living room ceiling.

Next week, we'll be continuing our Thanksgiving talks, reading Thanksgiving books, do a few activities with the weather (it will be super cold here to begin the week), and the kids will have a chance to make turkeys using clay and feathers.