Healthy Bodies

Dramatic Play

Doctor's Office. The kids had been begging for this center all year, so we finally got it back out!

 
 
 

 


Blocks

Small wood blocks


My Job Leap Frog puzzle (you can see on the shelf above)

Magnatiles. Again, another request. When these are out, they don't play anything else. So they were out two days due to popular demand.


Art

Playdough and face mats


Body shape stamps and paint


Making bread for snack. Than glue and magazine face parts to make faces. The things they made cracked me up!

Scrub brush painting. They were pretty unsure of this one, wondering why I let them paint with scrub brushes. I had to reassure them that it was ok.

















Small Manipulatives

Vegetable dot pages and flat marbles


5 Little Monkeys books and tape. They were so confused when I had to rewind it. It was pretty funny! And they enjoyed the story.

Doc McStuffins Memory game


Food lacing cards


Bunch 'ems. I recently found them on clearance at Target, and love finding more open-ended building toys. They're like a velcro ball. The kids liked the texture and playing with them, but just built a few simple things, then were easily frustrated it wasn't a big statue or something. They were asking me to build things for them, but I kept encouraging them to figure it out. Hopefully they'll get it after a few more times.















Emotion faces on the magnet board. They could change the eyes and mouths for more expressions.


Fruit and vegetable matching game in the pocket charts.


Writing

Stamp markers

People color crayons


Snack

Each day we tried new food groups and talked about how they help our bodies (giving vitamins and minerals, giving us energy, helping us grow, etc.)

Day 1, fruits. We had bananas, strawberries, blackberries, and grapes.

Day 2, vegetables. We ate cucumber, tomatoes, bell peppers, and carrots.

Day 3, we had grains and ate the wheat bread we made. Well, the bread I made the day before, then at the end of the day, they took home a slice of bread they made.

Day 4, we ate dairy and protein by having yogurt and trying different nuts.

Outside

Sensory Table:  dried macaroni with toy fruit and scoops. Kinda random, but just wanted something new. They had a lot of fun with it.


Large Group

Day 1, we learned how to take care of our teeth. We read Going to the Dentist. I used the big model teeth and toothbrush and we learned to brush all sides of our teeth. Then the kids stood up, shoulder to should, like teeth, and I "brushed" them with the giant toothbrush, front, back, and on top of their heads. It was hard with all the giggling and shaking they were doing! Then I flossed them with a jump rope. After that, they got to use dry erase markers to color germs all over the laminated teeth. Then they brushed it off with toothbrushes. Some of it didn't come off well, so I improvised and squirted on a little hand sanitizer for toothpaste, and it came right off! It ended up a great object lesson.


Day 2, we learned about germs. One of our class moms who is a nurse, which by the way, I could have invited more than half the moms in our class, came and talked to us. She showed us how to wash our hands properly. Then she talked about what it's like to visit the doctors. The kids each got to listen to their hearts with a real stethoscope.

Day 3, we had run out of time last time, so we did more talking about germs. I used fingerpaint at the germs and "coughed" it into my hand, then I high fived kids, and shared pencils with them until we all had fingerpaint on our hands, to show how germs travel. Then we all washed our hands to show how to get rid of the germs, instead of passing them.

Day 4, we wrapped up talking about all the foods we'd been eating. We talked about the different food groups from our lacing cards. I spread them out on the floor, then they each got a food ad. They could cut out as many food items as they wanted, then they put them in the group they belonged to. It was great cutting practice, which they all need! Miss Kim and I were repositioning hands a lot, making sure they keep their thumbs on top, and cut away from themselves.

As we talked about food here and at snack, I never referred to it as healthy vs not healthy, or bad vs good food. It was all just food. I talked to them about the importance of eating a variety of food groups and colors of food, not just the same thing all the time since we need all the unique things each food offers. And we talked about things like sweets being a "sometimes" food, since it doesn't give us the nutrients we need and it may have ingredients not good for us. So we just eat them sometimes. But we need the other food groups each day. I was very impressed by their willingness to try new things at snack, even if they didn't like it. I just ask that they taste it.

Small Group

We read about Bones and found the different bones on my toy skeletons. They cut out a picture of a body with the outside, and the bones on the inside too. It was mostly for the straight line cutting practice.

The other group made foods out of play dough with food molds I have, and fed them to Cookie Monster, so he could have a variety of food besides cookies!

The next week, they wrote in their journals about their favorite foods, and did a counting game with Miss Kim.

5 Senses

Playing catch-up here! Thanks for your patience with my blogging, or lack thereof last month.

Dramatic Play
We just simply had our housekeeping/kitchen set up. This was the kids' request. I had thought about another restaurant area, but when I asked them, they just wanted to play house. Simple, and a well-loved center!

Blocks
Large foam number puzzle. I love this one for the texture.


ABC train blocks

Wood train tracks, for 2 days due to popular demand


Art
Day 1, since we missed 1 apple day due to sickness last week, we finished some things today. So for art, we did apple stamping.


Jello collages. I LOVE the smell of this one! This one was popular all day, with a line waiting to fill an empty seat. They loved the smell, and watching the colors turn bright in the glue.

I decided to get rid of this spice rack this summer, then as I dumped out the few spices that weren't empty yet, I realized I should have kept them for a great sensory experience too, but too late! I recycled this for our art, and filled the jars with Jello powder. When we actually did it, I needed the space for the bins to collect extra powder, and it looked more like this.


Play dough with different textures for stamping. They liked showing off cool designs to each other, and they table ended up pretty full with other stuff they brought over to stamp and see its texture. And we used that word "texture" over and over and over.


Made gingerbread men for snack, then painted with dot markers.

Small Manipulatives
Links

Bristle Blocks

File Folder games about faces (my kids have cool church teachers that make these-and then I steal the ones I want for preschool)



Gingerbread Man floor puzzle


Letter magnets on the board. They loved these more than I expected. They liked connecting them to make trains, and spelling their names.


Farm Sounds Bingo was out after we'd used it in small group too.


Writing
Scented markers

Scented colored pencils

Texture Line markers

Snack
Apple Pie, from last week. They weren't huge fans, but they tried it.

Smoothie. This was a fun way to use all 5 senses, since the blender is so loud!

Gingerbread Men. They made them during art, then got to eat one for snack, and decorate another to take home during small group.

Outside
Sensory table: cornmeal, because it's a sensory experience we hadn't done yet! I added in test tubes (the kids call them potion bottles) just for something different, and they had a lot of fun.

Tents and Tunnels. I didn't get a pic without kids, but they had a lot of fun dragging them around and making new set ups and designs. They especially liked them upside down this time. I guess whatever works.

Large Group
We didn't learn a new song this week, but we did read and act out this poem each day.

Day 1, we read Your 5 Senses to introduce them. We went outside with a 5 senses paper on a clipboard, and they drew pictures of what they smelled, heard, saw, touched, and tasted. Most tasted the raspberries or grapes, but a few got more adventurous and tasted grass, which I strongly discouraged! They had a great and productive time exploring, often running up to me to tell me something else they heard or touched. So even though a paper comes home with scribbles, I know they were observing and finding real things.

Day 2, We read about our sense of touch and made texture hands. I had hands cut out already, and a tray full of items. They chose which ones to use and glued one to each finger. Then I had them describe its texture and I wrote down on each finger how it felt.

Day 3, We read Look Here, and talked about sight. Then we played a game about not having sight. We set up some obstacles in the room, then they each took turns walking through it blindfolded. They got to choose a seeing friend to help them, by using touch to hold their hand and guide them, or using sound by telling them where to go.

Day 4, we read The Gingerbread Man and acted it out. This was their favorite activity of the week! We then talked about what senses we used to make and eat our gingerbread men for snack (spoiler alert: all of them), and then again for the book, what senses did we read about? And we filled those out on a chart. They really loved the retelling part! The next week, I kept the book in the reading center, and found quite a few of them "reading" it as they flipped through and read the pictures.

Small Group

We finished the apple centers we hadn't from last week.

We explored taste by tasting salt and sugar, then journaling our favorite things to taste.

We explored texture and touch by making texture rubbings around the room.

We explored sounds by playing Farm Sounds Bingo.

We explored smell by smelling different bottles and sorting which ones smelled good or bad to them. Then they did a worksheet (Ugh, you know I hate those), but with a good purpose. While I'd always rather sort the real smells (like we did) than do a worksheet, they really need the cutting practice! So they cut along the straight lines and I helped them hold their scissors correctly. I didn't worry on the sorting and gluing side, since many were just being silly, and that's just fine in preschool! So if your child came home with garbage on the good smelling side, I know :)

Feelings and Emotions

Dramatic Play
Doctor's Office



 
 
 

 
 The pictures pretty much explain it all. There was a waiting room, receptionist desk with calendar and notebooks, plus a phone, then the dr. office. There was a big chair for the big patients, and a baby bed for the dolls. We have all sorts of dr. tools, plus empty pill bottles, ace bandages, q tips, and popsicle sticks. Each day, I added something new to make it interesting. Day 2, I added glasses and band aids (those were a hit), and the 3rd and 4th days, I added dentist items so it could also be a dentist's office.

Blocks
Cardboard bricks


Puppet Theater


Art
I managed to not take many pics of art this week, but here's what we did:
 
Play dough face mats

Watercolors

Collage faces

Paint

Small Manipulatives
Feelings puzzles and game

Lacing cards

Bristle Blocks

Links, and whatever this collection of things from Wendy's are called.



















Writing
Blank faces for drawing in emotions


Outside
Snow! We switched our schedule to go outside last, to accommodate how long it takes us to get ready to go outside. The snow was so much fun! They love tubing down our little hill, and all tried it. They also love eating the snow. The second week, I also added bottles of colored water to color the snow. We've had a lot of fun outside this week! Please remember we go outside all winter, so pack all the winter clothes they'll need out there. We've had lots of cold hands this week. I have a few extra gloves, but not enough for everyone. And I've appreciated the labeled ones, since a few have been left at school and I've been able to get them home to you.

Large Group
Day 1, we read Meet the Moodsters. The Moodsters help a little boy overcome and talk about some strong feelings. I found it on clearance at Target a few years ago, and the kids love it because it came with a "Moodster Meter" that helps them share their feelings. They loved the book and the meter!
We did an activity with feelings cubes, where I would roll one cube with emotions on it, and another with animals, and they have to act out that emotion and animal. It's fun to watch.

Day 2, we read My Many Colored Days by Dr. Seuss. He uses colors to talk about feelings. We than painted our own feelings. The papers came home just a bunch of mixed colors, but the process was wonderful! As they chose colors, they actually talked about what feeling they were showing with that color. We had a lot of great conversation going on as we painted.

Day 3, we read The Way I Feel. We played the feelings cube game, and acted out lots of different emotions from the book. We also watched a Sesame Street clip about jealousy.

Day 4, we read Alexander and the Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day and talked lots about grumpy feelings. After small group, we got together as a large group again to talk about empathy and thinking about how other people are feeling. We've had a few problems outside, with kids not taking turns with the snow tubes, or just jumping on them in front of other, instead of waiting in line. We watched a Sesame Street clip about empathy, then as we got them dressed in their snow clothes, they watched part of a Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood episode about the same topic. It was nice to discuss a relevant topic, and we related that once outside, that they needed to think about how other people are feeling before they used a tube twice in a row, or butted in line, or took it from another person. The talk definitely helped!

Sesame Street and Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood are awesome resources for learning about feelings! I love how they describe and show them on a child's level. I especially like the songs Daniel Tiger sings. We used the song about anger all week, "When you feel so mad, that you want to roar. Take a deep breath, and count to 4." I recommend looking up episodes of both of these shows if there's a particular thing you want to teach your child, or help them with. It's most helpful when you also take the time to discuss it with them.

Small Group
Week 1, I talked to the kids about anger and sadness. We read a book about anger, then role played several situations that could make them feel angry. We practiced taking a deep breath and counting, then talking calmly to express our feelings. They were GREAT at role playing, and without much prompting, knew exactly how to express their feelings. Although, minutes later, they were fighting over blocks again and yelling, hitting, and throwing, instead of taking deep breaths and talking about it. But, that's why we're still in preschool. We'll keep working on this throughout the year.

Miss Kim did this Sesame Street worksheet to help kids talk about their feelings.

Week 2, my group and I role played different feelings with puppets in the puppet theater. I had it out in the block center this week for them to play with, so it wouldn't be new. I know they wouldn't be able to use it how I intended in a lesson, if they hadn't had a chance to play and explore with it first.
They were a lot of fun, and I loved role playing with them. Even the kids who don't like to talk in front of the class, were fine doing the puppet show. It was cute watching them choose an emotion and then act it out. It was also fun watching them doing it again during free time, after having done it with me.

Miss Kim helped the kids make pipe cleaner faces. She read an emotions book with them, and they would change their pipe cleaner to make that face expression. Then they glued on the mouth to bring their face home.