Dramatic Play
Inspired by our interest in fire trucks and sirens that we hear outside, our dramatic play area turned into a Fire Station! Complete with our own fire truck, fire hydrant and burning house. We loved dressing up as fire fighters (especially the boots!), using the hoses to put out fires, and playing inside the truck and the house. We enjoyed plugging the hoses in to the different places and finding lots of different things that fit inside them! Bo discovered that they made his voice sound funny when he talked into one end. We put fires out all over the room with the fire extinguishers and loved driving the truck all over town.
Block Area
The new wooden planes and helicopters have been lots of fun and inspired lots of imaginative stories. We especially like putting the people into the planes and decided who they are. Finn even discovered that the trees and signs fit into the holes! The trains continue to be popular, with everyone working together to build different tracks. The wooden cars became race cars on our car mat and we enjoyed playing with them alongside our friends.
Quiet Area
We've been reading lots of books, both together and alone. We also enjoy going into the tee-pee, to play hide and go seek, to have some alone time, or to play with the animals. Finn helped give the baby a pacifier and everyone likes seeing their eyes open and shut.
Nature Area
We are using the kaleidoscopes in many interesting ways. Joe found that they roll in circles because of their shape and Bo and Finn found that they are fun to line up and stack. The magnafying glasses continue to be fun to look through.
Art/Literacy
We explored dry rice in our sensory table,with lots of different pouring tools. We discovered which worked the best and explored the sound as the rice fell through. We continue to enjoy coloring with markers and crayons,often making pictures for our family members. We enjoyed trying out new play dough tools inspired by our desire to cut and make different shapes.
Gross Motor
We continue to love running and jumping on our mattress. We often play follow the leader and run from one end to the other. Sometimes we are riding on a train or a plane with the leader being the conductor/ pilot. We also often crawl and pretend to be animals. Alex and Bo were bunnies hopping and Joe and Aria were horses. They all went to "sleep" on the mattress.
Music Area
We have loved exploring the new rain sticks talking about the sound they make and comparing it to what we hear when it actually rains. We often ask to listen to music and always use the ribbons to dance along to it.
Cognitive Area
The new light table has been an exciting addition! We have been exploring light and color with geode rick slices. We continue to enjoy creating with the stretch builders and using teamwork to try and put the puzzles together.
Outside
We spent lots of time outside in between the rainstorms and enjoyed seeing what the rain would do. Our mud kitchen was often filled and the sand in the sandbox was damp- perfect for making castles! When the slides were wet, we didn't want to slide down them, but discovered it was fun to put other things like the trucks down it instead! We still often use the dump trucks to move sand and play together making different things. The hula hoops have been fun to watch roll around and we continue to attempt riding the tricycles. We decided to use the balls as soccer balls and had fun running around together trying to kick them. When everyone wanted a turn on the swing, we decided to try to fit together and discovered it was even more fun than alone! We still love looking for bugs, especially in the creek bed. Zachary tried to see if there were any underneath the bridge.