With the weather getting colder, we discussed dressing appropriately for the cold temperature. We talked about how the season has changed from Fall to Winter and with that the weather starts to change. We read the book “Under my hood, I have a hat.” The story went through a child getting ready to play outside in the cold weather and snow. We talked about having to wear a hat, mittens, socks, snow boots, snow pants, a warm jacket and a sweater underneath the jacket. At the easel, we dressed a person to be ready to play outside in the cold. We put their snow pants, socks, boots, jacket, mittens and hat on! For our art projects, we made mittens, hats, and boots. We decorated paper hats using water color paint and added a pom pom on top. For the mittens, we experimented with what happens when you add water on top of tissue paper. We discovered that the color dye bleeds off of the tissue paper and onto the white paper below. We laid tissue paper on top of the paper mitten cut outs then sprayed water on the paper. Once the water had dried, we took the tissue paper off and revealed the new colors of the mittens. For the boots, we did some process art using kush balls and cardboard boxes. We laid the paper boot cut outs in a cardboard box, dipped the kush balls into paint, then tipped, turned, and shook the box. We discovered it made a sort of splattered pattern. 

In the sensory table, the children maneuvered around a tape web and used tongs to “rescue” snowballs and collect them in a bucket. Using the tongs helps develop hand strength and fine motor skills. 

The children participated in sensory play with some home-made play dough. They made shapes using cookie cutters, but also poked the play dough and described how it felt. They experimented with different textured rolling pins. Some children made the observation that one rolling pin made the play dough “look like a waffle.” The children worked on social skills by sharing the rolling pins. They asked “can I try that one” and traded the pins. Sensory play supports scientific thinking by encouraging children to experiment, hypothesize, investigate, and observe. 

Under the loft, the children participated in pretend play using the old phones and wrote down important messages from phone calls they “received.” Up on the loft, they engaged in cooperative play with a Little People dollhouse. On the rug, the children played with duplo blocks, cars, and people.