Caterpillars and Butterflies
This week the children made caterpillars out of egg cartons and butterflies using a variety of materials. Our book bucket was filled with books related to this topic. It was quite the coincidence on Thursday when we read that the Very Hungry Caterpillar (by Eric Carle) ate strawberries on Thursday and the children were having strawberries for snack the same day.
The ‘insect scramble’ puzzle pictured here can be quite challenging for young children. The insects on all the sides of each piece must match up correctly with the piece next to it. Most, if not all, of the children had a turn working it. I was very pleased to see that after showing them how to match up the insects, they were able to put the puzzle together on their own.
The children enjoy building with Magnatiles. These are available for play frequently because of their popularity. Today I discovered that another classroom has a box of mini-Magnatiles. I put them out instead of our standard sized ones and they were also very popular. When I was questioned about what happened to them because they were so small, I said they shrunk. No one doubted my explanation. So if your child tells you that the Magnatiles shrunk, just go with it!
On Friday, I needed to extend Circle Time so we looked at items in my special bucket that we haven’t seen for a while. The children watched my fingers go for a walk while wearing boots. We didn’t talk about why they needed to wear boots, but maybe your child will come up with an explanation if you ask him/her.
Friday was the first time in quite a while that the playground was too wet to go outside. Instead we had a sing-a-long while I played a small keyboard. The children could be heard singing up and down the hallway.
Last but not least, our Circle Time visitors this week were Peppa Pig and George.