ELC Toddler Twos

Learning Through Play

2012-01-21T07:58:00.000-08:00

Children learn so much on their own as they play. The pictures below will show you how we allow the children to naturally play so they can challenge themselves.

These three girls are playing with the animals together

and the range of ages is from 18 months - 30 months.

The youngest one is engaging in parallel play

while the other two are talking and interacting with each other.

This type of play strenghtens their language, social and emotional development.

These children started to play with the plastic zoo animals and a woodpecker house.

They were figuring out which animals fit in the hole

and how to get the animal out once they placed the animal in the hole.

A lot of cognitive development and social play in this activity.

I love when older and younger toddlers play with one another.

One of the reasons why we have mixed age groups in our toddler and infant program.

This younger toddler is looking at what the older toddler is doing

and immitating her.

This is a prime example of imitation.

How many parents sit next to their child and read a book to them before bedtime?

Again, a younger toddler (15 months) interacting with an older toddler (3 years).

Ms. Lee built a roadway with a tunnel for the kids to roll a ball through.

This is what the toddler do just before naptime.

They are allowed to sit together or alone and read a book

while we clean up and change diapers after lunch.

Bringing the Outside In Lesson

2012-01-21T07:35:00.000-08:00

Now that the temperatures have become cooler and often wet too, we are inside more than ever.

But that does not stop us from having fun with nature!

Our current lesson is all about bringing the outdoors in.

One of the first activities we did was paint with mud, after we made it of course.

And playing in dirt.

You can imagine the fun the toddlers had!

Mad Science

2012-01-21T07:28:00.000-08:00

Mad Science came to visit us and showed us how fun mixing can be!

These two pictures are showing what happens when vinegar and baking soda are mixed together.

It makes a ton of white bubbles!

We are seeing how water and vinegar do not mix.

The toddlers watched the blue water seperate from the oil

after they stopped shaking the container.

We are making our own play dough!

These toddlers watches the color tablets bubble after adding water to it.

Now we are mixing some white powder to our colored water.

The play dough is now being made.

Each of the toddlers got a cookie cutter to take home along with the play dough.

Our Names Lesson

2012-01-21T07:06:00.000-08:00

We did a quick lesson on names. The younger toddlers were beginning to say all of their friends names and the older toddlers were beginning to recognize their name on the cubbies. For our lesson, we played games to help us recognize the first letter of our name and did activities around the toddlers as individuals.

Below are pictures of the toddlers having their bodies traced and they colored the outline of their body, then I wrote their name on their paper, saying each letter as I wrote it. I went around intending to take a picture of one of the toddlers laying on top of their paper. The rest of the toddler saw what I was doing and they all laid down on their paper wanting me to take their picture!

We made a chart to see how long our names were. The toddlers could pick out the color they wanted me to write their name, I said the letters in their name as I wrote them, and we counted the letters. Later on I noticed the toddlers looking at the names and finding their own name and sometimes their friend's name.

The toddlers are feeling their names! Cool huh?!

Their names were written in glue and after the glue dried the children could feel them.

We also placed a piece of paper on their names and rubbed a crayon over their name.

November

2011-12-07T06:36:00.001-08:00

NOVEMBER LESSON: MANNERS AND THANKSGIVING

I combined practice saying "Thank You", "Please", "I'm Sorry", "Your Welcome" and "Excuse Me" with some Thanksgiving activities during the month of November.

The children were playing with various tools
that are used when cooking Thanksgiving Dinner.
This toddlers is squeezing water with a turkey baster.

He is squeezing water from a turkey baster into a measuring cup. Great coordination!

We counted how many scoops of water it took to fill the larger measuring cup with water.

This young toddler just learned how to put these waffle blocks together
through his play and observing his friends.

A REPTILE RESCUE GROUP CAME TO VISIT

MORE WATER PLAY WITH COOKING TOOLS

WE ARE SHOPPING FOR FOOD- A THANKSGIVING TRADITION!

THE TODDLERS PLAY WITH DRY BREAD

WE ARE PLAYING 'FIND THE PUMPKIN' IN THE BIG ROOM

The toddlers are hiding their eyes as I hid the pumpkin... too cute!

THE TODDLERS PICK KERNELS OFF OF THE CORN COB

Somebody has been working in the kitchen!

Playing in the sensory table with rice.

This toddler watches the balls roll down the ramp as he pushes the balls through the hole.

Playing together! This older toddler places rice in the hand of a younger toddler.

These toddlers watch the rice fall from their hands.

He matches the colors of the balls to the colored rings around of the holes.

Being Silly!

October Pictures

2011-11-21T10:48:00.001-08:00

The toddlers enjoy the warm sunny weather as they play in rice.

The toddlers painted with feathers outside against the outside wall of the school.

This is a popular way to move across the balance beam for the younger toddlers.

This toddler always finds water somewhere to step in. Our outside boots come in handy when it is yucky outside!

We all know what they are thinking about!

Smile!

Our Costume Parade! The kids had a lot of fun getting dressed and finding a special gift outside.

Big Sis and Little Brother

Big Sis and Little Sis

A Lucky Leprechaun!

A Glow in the Dark Skeleton- He loved his costume.

Friends! Minnie Mouse, Mickey Mouse, Pumpkin, and soon to be Rock Star (she didn't have her costume on yet)

We made goop before the Costume Parade. This toddler is trying to wave the goop off her hands.

These pictures are of us making the goop. I had a lot of great helpers.

This young toddler put a kernel of corn on each corn picture.
Then he took handfulls of the corn to dump them on the paper.

These two were also placing kernels on the corn picture.

We played in chocolate pudding-YUM!
The kids were encouraged to use their fingers to make designs in the pudding.

Of course some toddlers had to take a taste!

After we were done playing with the corn kernels we threw the kernels in our tall grass.
Who knows what animals may come around and eat the corn or what may grow in the spring.

During pajama day we had pumpkins for the toddler to roll pumpkins down.
The pumpkins sometimes rolled the entire length of the room!

More corn pictures. You can see all of the different materials I had for the
toddlers to scoop the corn with: cups, bottles, toilet paper tubes, and fruit baskets.

This young toddler used the shakers that we made and was stacking them up.
He was really careful to make sure the containers were stacked just right so they would
not fall down.

The activity was to rip up paper, but the older toddlers thought of making
a picture with the paper. I didn't have any glue in the classroom, so I
made sure to take a picture of their work.

In a Grasshopper's World

2011-10-14T10:39:00.000-07:00

During a few weeks in September and October we learned about grasshoppers. During our walks on the nature trail we noticed a lot of grasshoppers sitting on blades of grass and jumping out of our way as we approached them. The end of summer and during the beginning of fall grasshoppers seem to be everywhere! They have most likely grown to their adult size and are starting to mate and lay eggs. Below are pictures that I took during some of our activities.

She is carrying the terrarium we made as we begin our walk to catch grasshoppers.

He is carrying one of the nets we used to catch the grasshoppers.

We begin our walk on our nature trail.

These children are using the magnifying glasses to look at the grasshoppers we caught. The children tried their best to catch the grasshoppers, but Miss Bev and I ended up catching them.

We are hiding in the grass like the grasshoppers!

We made grasshopper antennae so we could dress up like grasshoppers.

We painted with plastic grasshoppers using brown and green paint.

The toddlers are making grasshopper with clothespins. They are coloring them with green, black, brown, and gray markers. I added the feet and antenna after they finished coloring.

We are making music like grasshopper by rubbing a wooden stick across a comb. How Fun!

We ate like grasshoppers too! We had only green vegetables: lettuce, spinach, and sugar snap peas. We learned in one of our grasshopper books that they eat mainly grass and green plants.

Learning About Camouflage

2011-09-20T12:13:00.000-07:00

During our zoo lesson we talked about the colors of animals at the zoo. We discussed how the colors help the animals hide from other animals. We read 'A Color of His Own' then went outside to find bugs that hide in our tall grass. Below are pictures of what we found.

One of our toddlers found a small moth sitting on a leaf. One of her friends came over to look at it with her.

We found several spiders webs. This one did not have a spider on it, but some did. It was fun trying to find the spiders hiding amongst their webs.

It is hard to see, but there is a yellowish grasshopper on the red part of this plant. We thought the coloring of the grasshopper was pretty.

Here we all are walking slowly on the trail searching for hidden bugs.

Busy Busy Toddlers

2011-09-20T12:00:00.000-07:00

This is our newest addition to our class. He is moving up from Miss Penny's class to our class. he brought over cups of crayons over from the easel. He sat down to dump the crayons from one cup to another cup. Great coordination!

When he was finished with the crayons he found some shapes to bang on the table to make some music.

What a project these guys started! Again using a lot of coordination and their small muscle skills. This group of toddlers wanted to hang our scarves up on the drying line that is usually used for drying paintings. The boy in the photos would try to put the scarves on the line by himself but couldn't quite get the scarf to stay on the line.

This group of toddlers noticed I was making a sign for an art activity we just completed. They all wanted to make a sign too! Wonderful beginning writing skills and imitation work.

This toddler is has grouped together all of the giraffes and elephants in their own groups. This is a beginning math skill.

These two boys are banging toy animals against the wall of a bookcase. They were making some pretty good music together.

He started to gently bang the animals against the glass door.

This girl is moving the beads through all of the twists and turns on this toy. She is using her problem solving skills to move the beads from one place to another.

She wanted me to take her picture after she matched to halves of an animal picture together. She was feeling very proud of herself (emotional development).

She is also matching two halves of an animal picture together, but she solved the puzzle in different way. Instead of putting pieces side-by-side she put them one on top of the other.

These children are covering up their friends with the scarves. This was a game for a couple of weeks where one toddler would tell someone to lay down, then place all of the scarves on top of them.

She again wanted her picture taken after she completed this matching game!

More grouping and lining things up. These children are doing these skills naturally, without any instruction!

He is feeling the acorns that were brought in by one of our toddler friends. Acorns are really neat to touch. They are both smooth and rough.

This boy is putting dirt in his hat then placing the hat on his head. What an experiment he is doing! I wonder if he thought the dirt would fall out of his hat once he put it on his head.

I was asking this little girl to find certain animals for me. I was observing her cognitive development and listening to her language skills during this activity.

These children are working with acorns. They are trying to place all of the acorns on the bark without the acorns falling off. What a great science experiment.

She is again grouping the animals by families.

Kokorodza Marimba Ensemble

2011-08-24T10:32:00.000-07:00

From Kings School the Kokorodza Marimba Ensemble came to visit our school and had a great performance! At first the sound from their xylophone type instruments were surprisingly loud, but once the toddlers got used to it they couldn't help but dance and move to the rhythm of the music. The children were given rhythm sticks to play with during a few of the songs and they were also allowed to bring out our shakers. The songs that the kids from Kings played were so unique, and the children had so much fun, that we have to invite them back again soon!

Growing Up Wild Lesson

2011-08-10T09:55:00.000-07:00

I brought in some logs for the toddlers to investigate. The first 3 pictures show how two children took our toy bugs and made them a home with the bark! We also touched the bark and talked about the textures we felt. The outside of the log was rough and when we took the bark off the inner layer of the log was smooth. Some of the toddlers even tested their strength and carried the logs around the room.

Mad Science came to visit us and taught us about the sounds we hear from different instruments. The pictures below show the children hearing the vibrations of the cymbals and when they touched the cymbal the sound/vibrations stopped.

We went outside to look for animal homes. We found nests in the trees, ant hills near our fence, bugs on leaves, and small black beetles in a wild flower.

We made our own tree house inside our classroom! We first colored a white plastic tablecloth, then draped it over a table. For the rest of the day the toddlers played inside their new tree house!

We got creative with this project! First, we collected leaves from outside, then found some hammers within our toys. The toddlers hammered the leaves under a piece of paper and the leaves bled into the paper making a cool picture. The toddlers seemed to enjoy being allowed to hit something!

(one of our infant friends)

These two girls just wanted me to take their picture!

Rain, Rain, Go Away?

2011-08-09T10:14:00.000-07:00

On this day we just had a big rainstorm in the morning and I thought it would be fun to take off our shoes and play in the wet grass. I got the hose out to fill the water table with water and the toddlers poured water on my feet, felt the water spray out from the hose, and used various outside toys to scoop up the water. There were big mud puddles in the play area next to ours and we went over there to walk in the puddles. Some of the toddlers jumped right in, while others put their piggy toes in first before standing entirely in the water. We felt the mud squish between our toes and the soggy grass tickle our feet. We also walked over to the trees and shook the branches to feel the raindrops fall on our heads. We were all soaked after all of our activity, but it was the one of the best times we have had this summer.

More Music

2011-07-17T13:47:00.000-07:00

We had a guest from Pied Piper come and teach the kids some songs. We danced and played with musical instruments. I don't have many pictures because I ran out of memory on my camera! But when you look at the expressions on the toddler's faces you know how much fun they were having, especially the blond haired boy in the third picture!

Irish Music

2011-07-17T13:26:00.000-07:00

We had Irish Music at the school! We did so much during this visit. The toddlers made swirls while listening to the fiddle being played. Many of them made more than swirls. A story was read, we danced a jig, and clapped our hands along with the Irish music being played. What a great morning we had.

Planting the Fruit Trees for our Edible Garden Project

2011-07-17T13:13:00.000-07:00

I have mentioned before how amazing toddlers can be, and these set of pictures proves it again! My toddlers worked all afternoon planting 11 trees for our Edible Garden Project. I couldn't believe how involved they were. From carrying buckets of dirt, to simply observing the planting process. They are simply an awesome group!

The Other Things We Are Doing...

2011-07-17T13:09:00.000-07:00

Playing Music on our Popular Music Tree

Making Stairs with our Large Blocks

Helping Me Control the Weeds in our Gardens

Making Rubbings

2011-07-17T13:04:00.000-07:00

The toddlers went around our play area finding things to make a textured rubbing with. They found so many different things that had texture. Some rubbed on their leg, the outdoor easel, a tree trunk, the concrete stoop, and the siding on our school. Others went over to our music tree to play some music!

Making our own Binocluars

2011-07-17T12:57:00.000-07:00

Using toilet paper tubes we made our own binoculars. The toddlers decorated the binoculars by first painting glue on the toilet paper tubes. Then applying glitter, colored paper, and wrapping paper scrapes onto their binoculars. After their binoculars dried we went outside to use them to find our bluebirds.

Painting with Textured Paint

2011-07-17T12:53:00.000-07:00

These toddlers are painting with textured paint. I mixed granola in with the paint and they used popsicle sticks to paint on our outdoor easel. Pretty Neat!

Water Day

2011-07-17T12:43:00.000-07:00

These pictures show you all of the fun we have during water day. We play in shaving cream, sensory tables, and at times like to pour water on teacher's feet!

Music Tree

2011-07-17T12:23:00.000-07:00

We made our own music tree! We hung measuring spoons, cups, and tin baking pans of various sizes. The kids listen to the clanging of the metal hitting each other when there is a breeze. They also regularly visit the music tree to bang the objects together to make their own music. I plan on keeping our music tree up for the remainder of the summer. The toddlers are loving it!

The Harpist Visit

2011-06-17T10:31:00.000-07:00

After playing us a few songs, she let everyone play the harp! So Cool!!

May was Hair Month for the Toddlers

2011-06-15T10:10:00.000-07:00

Curing hair

Washing hair

haircut

styling hair

Putting on a headband.

Cutting my hair!

I get clips put in my hair too!

Refilling shampoo bottles.

Measuring hair.

Playing with shaving cream.

We placed corn silk on a picture of a bald person. It was funny where the toddlers placed the "hair".

The children created some great artwork using hair curlers to paint with.

Hello, hello, is anybody there? Hello.

Our Naturalist, Miss Jessica, Came to Visit

2011-06-15T09:58:00.001-07:00

Miss Jessica started off with a book about plants and the animals that live in the ground, and insects that live above the ground. We made a pyramid to show how important it is to have worms and grubs. Then we went outside to find bugs. We found several worms!

2011-06-14T09:55:00.000-07:00

We are blowing like the wind! During our Earth Lesson, we used straws to blow tissue paper across the table. One toddler figured out how to put the entire straw in his mouth!

Peek-a-Boo

This toddler is reading a book under the table!

Painting with pine cones.

This video shows how toddlers can work together.

Wes Visits From Marvin's Organic Gardens

2011-04-20T13:42:00.000-07:00

Wes from Marvin's Organic Gardens came out to teach the children about herbs and plants. He let the children taste several herbs. He wanted the children to tell him what it tasted like and if they liked it. Below are some great pictures of the kids eating the herbs.
He also let the children play in worm casings (they all thought it was dirt)! The toddlers made some cool designs in the "dirt".

2011-04-20T10:36:00.000-07:00

These two toddlers are taking rocks from the dirt and placing them in the tree to make bird nests. We were watching two bluebirds from our window earlier that day making a bird nest in one of the tree houses we have. It seems that observation inspired them to make a nest too!

The picture of the tulips is to share what is growing in our garden right now. They are so pretty that I have been placing them in our classroom.

2011-04-20T10:21:00.000-07:00

We are using several natural materials this month for our Earth Lesson. We are building with wooden blocks, empty food boxes and painting with pine cones. We are also playing with toys that represent animals, such as a pet floor puzzle and figures of zoo animals. All of these materials spark wonderful conversations and creativity.

2011-04-20T09:39:00.000-07:00

This month we are exploring the parts of the Earth: wind, dirt, water and plants. We started the month planting flower seeds. The tiny terrariums will allow our seeds to grow into seedlings and once the weather gets a bit warmer we will plant our "baby flowers". The flowers we are growing are marigolds, cosmos, and forget-me-nots. I chose those flowers not only because they are hearty, but they attract bees, and hummingbirds.

We also made flower markers for our garden. The toddlers colored pictures of the flowers we are growing. This activity gave the toddlers the opportunity to talk about the colors they were using and to use polite words to ask for a marker they want. I was very proud of this group, there were no arguments and a ton of sharing!

2011-03-31T10:07:00.000-07:00

He is matching the numbers on the bottom of the eggs to the number written in the egg carton.

The girls enjoying themselves in the playhouse.

She found a thistle branch on our walk through the nature trail.

He is digging in the mud trying to find some worms.

The boy in these pictures started out trying to step on each of the stepping stools, but would not step across the higher stools. He decided to crawl across them instead and his friends followed suit. Great problem solving!

Getting to Know Our Chirpy Neighbors

2011-03-30T10:39:00.000-07:00

For National Wildlife Week Miss Jessica came to visit us and to teach us about "Our Chirpy Neighbors". She started off reading a book about birds, then we learned about some of the birds we see in our yards. We learned about their color, how they sing, and what they use to build a nest. We also got the chance to build a nest like birds do. We went outside and collected anything we found that birds like: grass, leaves, twigs, lumps of dirt, etc. Then Miss Jessica hung the nest we built in one of the trees in front of our school.

2011-03-30T10:25:00.000-07:00

These two toddlers noticed the flowers that just bloomed outside and wanted to touch them.

Don't you wish you could be as care-free as the toddlers?

March 21st

2011-03-24T10:25:00.000-07:00

We put birdseed in our sensory table. The seed had fruit, nuts, and various types of seed to attract most birds. This toddler is looking at the seeds individually, then she would throw it out on the grass for the birds to find and to eat. The rest of the toddlers also took the birdseed from the sensory table and threw it out in the grass for the birds. Later in the day we watched a squirrel hide some nuts, blackbirds, redwinged blackbirds, a pair of morning doves, and some chickadees eating the birdseed.

While we were outside we marked how many birds we saw. Sometimes we would see a group of birds and sometimes we would only see one. No matter how many, the toddlers would make tally marks on the paper representing how many birds they saw. After we went back inside, we counted how many birds we found outside and we saw 28 birds!

This toddler always finds a mud puddle to play in. Today she used a small rake to dip in the muddy water and she put mud inside the truck beside her. She played this way for about 20 minutes.

Arrowhead Reptile Rescue

2011-03-16T09:39:00.000-07:00

Arrowhead Reptile Rescue came to visit us and they brought a lot of reptiles for us to learn about! They started off talking about the difference between a tortoise and a turtle. We watched Tank walk around with a orange cone on his back! How funny! We had the opportunity to touch his shell and feet, some of us were a little scared of his size. We also were able to touch a little turtle. What a difference from Tank!

(Tank)

We also touched several snakes. One was about the size of our stage! His name was Big Al and he was a Burmese Python. We were able to pet his tail, it felt so strong and smooth when we touched it. There were also smaller snakes, like the orange corn snake, a white snake named Pearl, and a larger spotted snake.

(Big Al)

(Corn Snake)

(Pearl)

Next we were shown lizards! Some were spotted, some were spiky, and others were soft to the touch.

(Leopard Gecko)

(The toddler in this photo said this little greed lizard was soft)

(Bearded Dragon)

2011-03-14T10:21:00.000-07:00

We are well into our bird lesson plan. One of the activities we did was glue some birdseed onto a cut-out of a red bird (cardinal). This activity is simple but was very enjoyable to the toddlers. One of our youngest toddlers sat to work on the activity for over 20 minutes! I placed only 3 bowls of seed to encouraged to sharing.

We still have costumes in our dramatic play area for the children to wear. These two toddlers took a toy camera and took pictures of each other!

This toddler found a hole on our metal bookcase and stuck the trunk of the elephant in it! How imaginative, and it looked cool too!

I wanted to take a picture of the toddler in the dragon outfit, and when I said smile she stuck out her tongue! Then two of her friends asked for me to take their picture with their tongues sticking out too. What a humorous group!

What We Have Been Up To....

2011-03-08T10:04:00.000-08:00

Making eggs by gluing cotton balls on egg shaped cut-outs

Playing in the mud after a days of rain

The boy dressed up in the cookie monster outfit made a train using our chairs and yelled, "All aboard!" They both took the train to Kings Island to get ice cream.

These girls are delivering valentines to each other. The girl sitting behind the bench sorted out the envelopes and handed each of her friends a valentine.

Cookie Monster is smiling for the camera.

Working with stampers at the writing table.

The toddlers are coloring in birds using crayons.

The toddlers are dressing up in the costumes located in the dramatic play area.

This toddler is placing a stamper in and envelope, then putting the envelope in her cubbie.

She is picking out the envelopes that have been stamped.

He is interlocking all of the gears together.

Game of Hide and Seek

2011-02-03T10:28:00.000-08:00

With the temperatures being so low outside we played a game of hide and seek in the Big Room. The toddlers played some practice rounds to get used to the rules, then the rest of the school joined us. The videos show how much fun we had!

Building with Snow

2011-02-03T10:16:00.000-08:00

This year we have played in and with snow a lot! On this day we used spoons and bowls to play with the snow. I showed the toddlers how to pack the snow in a bowl and stack the snow. One of the toddlers called it a snowman, another said it was a tower. All of them wanted me to keep adding bowls of snow to make it taller!

Top and Bottom

2011-02-03T10:03:00.000-08:00

During our opposites lesson the toddlers colored on top and on the bottom of a table. Each toddler had their own color to draw or write with. We hung the paper outside of the classroom for everyone to see the toddler's work.

2011-01-17T10:17:00.000-08:00

Opposites: Fill and Dump

Working on putting a truck back together.

Building together

Opposites: Warm and cold water

Dancing on the stage with the stage lights on! I can see these two organizing a dance routine one day.

Mad Scientist

2011-01-17T09:44:00.000-08:00

The Mad Scientist came to visit us at school and we learned a lot about colors. Below are all of the things we discovered and made. First, she got our attention by making baking soda and soap explode!

Making playdough: We mixed up food coloring with our playdough mixture. We even got to pick what color we wanted!

Making a rainbow: Each table got a bag with 3 different colors: yellow, red, and blue. We used our fingers to mix the colors and we noticed a lot more colors appeared in our bag! Cool!!

Color tablet: We each got to put a color tablet in a cup of water. We watched the tablet dissolve and make our water turn blue. Then we added another tablet (yellow) and watched our water turn from blue to green!

The mad scientist showed us layers of colors in a bottle. How did the colors stay on top of one another and not mix?

One of the toddlers is shaking a tube of oil and colored water. After the oil and water mixed we watched it separate back.

2011-01-17T09:41:00.000-08:00

More opposites... This toddler is painting with white paint on black paper. The children also were painting on white paper with black paint.

2011-01-17T09:33:00.000-08:00

The toddlers are making beach scenes using stickers. We have been learning about opposites and the toddlers made a summer scene and a winter scene.

More Toddler Pics...

2010-12-31T16:12:00.000-08:00

Two friends sitting by the mirror together reading books, and showing me the pictures!

Helping a friend ride her bike...hold on!

Ice Skating

2010-12-31T15:09:00.000-08:00

Playing in Beans and Split Peas

2010-12-31T14:37:00.000-08:00

The toddler with the toy camera is imitating me taking pictures of her friends playing in the beans. How Cute!

The toddlers kept pouring more and more beans in my hand to watch them spill over.

These toddlers are using everyday items to fill and dump the beans and peas. Some used yogurt cups, others used small plastic cups, and one toddler used a funnel. We used these items to find out how many scoops it took to fill our cups and when the cup was full.

Making Mittens

2010-12-31T10:17:00.000-08:00

One of our winter crafts before the holiday break was decorating mittens with fun noodles. The toddlers dabbed the noodles on a wet wipe then stuck them onto their mitten. Our younger toddlers put several noodles on their mitten then took them back off again. One of our older toddlers made a line with the noodles. Another toddler placed only blue noodles on her blue mitten. I love watching the toddlers create their own work on these open ended craft projects!

Jingle those Bells!

2010-12-31T10:00:00.000-08:00

We jingled these hand made bells to the popular holiday song, Jingle Bells. The toddlers made sure everyone had one bell to ring and once the song came on we all shook our bells and danced! During the song we rang our bells on our bellies, knees, elbows, feet, etc. Then we rang them loud, quiet, and even stopped ringing them at certain points of the song.

Snowww, Snowww, Snowww, SNOWWW!

2010-12-31T08:57:00.000-08:00

Going outside to enjoy the snow! Watch how some of the toddlers ran outside.

This toddler first emptied the snow and ice from the truck before he pushed it through the snow.

We found a lot of snow in the outdoor sensory table.

Our infant friends came to watch us through our door.

Inside we had a couple of sensory buckets filled with snow. This young toddler is holding a little snowball.

Snow makes us all feel happy!

This picture came out a bit blurry, but you can still see this toddler digging in the snow. He ended up taking all of the snow from one bucket and putting it in another bucket, so that we only had one sensory bucket with snow in it.

These toddlers are making different designs in the snow using the various materials that were set out for them. We had detergent caps, playdough molds, and even sea shells. The shells made wonderful swirl designs in the snow. The toddler on the right made circles in the snow with the detergent cap.

Our Rock Families

2010-12-30T09:50:00.000-08:00

As part of our family lesson we made rock families. First we went outside to collect rocks and we found most of the rocks around our garden areas. They were big, little, colored, smooth, rough, heavy and light.

Once back in the classroom, the toddlers picked rocks to represent the people in their families. All of the toddlers made a mom and dad, but no one included their brothers or sisters. The toddlers could color their rocks and with help put googly eyes on the the rocks. This fun craft created incredible rock families!

Puzzle World

2010-12-30T09:32:00.001-08:00

We have several types of puzzles in our classroom for the toddlers to solve. Our classroom has become a puzzle world! One entire shelf is full of puzzles and the children work with them all day long. Sometimes the same child works with the same puzzle to solve it in different ways. Keeping the same puzzles out for the children gives them the opportunity to solve the puzzle quicker or find creative ways to put the puzzle together. The toddlers at times work together, or work in the natural light that comes through our large windows. However they play, they are certainly having fun with puzzles!

2010-12-14T10:22:00.000-08:00

We are loving our puzzles these days! Our newest puzzle is the tangram shapes puzzles. The toddlers complete a picture using various wooden shapes. One of the toddlers used the shapes to make a train on the table.

As part of our family lesson we are dressing up like members of our family.

Is there a trucker in the family?

She looks like a southern bell.

Barbecue time! He is smart to keep those harmful sun rays off his face.

Looking like Daddy!

Beautiful! Is there a princess in the family?

Stuffy the BIG Anatomy Doll!

2010-12-13T09:38:00.000-08:00

Stuffy the Anatomy Doll came to visit us last week (Tuesday, December 7th). He taught us what foods we should eat to keep our bodies strong. We also learned about some of the body parts inside our body: esophagus, large intestine, small intestine, liver, lungs, and kidneys. The toddlers do not usually join in on the museum visits (the topics are usually too complex for them), but they couldn't resist finding out about why we had a big doll at our school. They loved feeding it food and seeing the body parts.

The toddlers are listening very intently at what Stuffy is going to have for his lunch. One of our toddlers feels the heartbeat of Stuffy.

The toddlers are listening to their heartbeat.

This toddler is shrugging her shoulders to keep her stethoscope on!

Nursery Rhymes

2010-12-03T10:15:00.000-08:00

Many of the nursery rhymes we read were about kings or queens. The toddlers decorated their own crowns with gold glitter and rainbow sprinkles.

2010-12-03T10:11:00.000-08:00

Painting a picture of Humpty Dumpty. The toddlers that were waiting their turn choose to watch their friends paint. It is surprising how patient toddlers can be!

Humpty Dumpty

2010-12-03T10:01:00.000-08:00

During our Nursery Rhyme lesson we read a story about Humpty Dumpty. We went over to our block area and built a wall and balanced eggs on the wall. Sometimes the eggs fell and we would say, "Humpty Dumpty had a great fall!"

Below are some videos of the toddlers singing the rhyme Humpty Dumpty and acting it out. It is very cute!

Making the Itsey Bitsey Spider

2010-12-02T10:27:00.000-08:00

As part of our Nursery Rhyme lesson the toddlers made an Itsey Bitsey Spider after we read 'Little Miss Muffett'. The toddlers were given clay, black paint, googly eyes, and pipe cleaners to make their spiders. See how creative they are!

One of our younger toddlers started out placing a pipe cleaner on her spider. Her spider started out with several eyes and legs, but she decided to take them all off and painted her spider black.

This toddler also started to put legs all over his spider. The second picture shows how many legs covered the spider's body! He also took off the legs...all of them!

This toddler put a little of everything on her spider.

This toddler spend most of her time painting her spider. She added on some eyes and decided to paint those too!

Everyone is working hard in this picture. Those toddlers that were not making a spider watched their friend's working.

Costume Party 2010!

2010-11-01T09:56:00.001-07:00

Sitting on the stage with our friends. Look at all of the wonderful costumes!

Looking in our goodie bags to see what we can play with. One of the toddlers found bubbles and was trying to blow bubbles.

Mickey Mouse has ears that squeak! Cool!

Going outside to find our goodie bags filled with stickers, silly bands and bubbles.

Making some finishing touches to our costume. Little Miss Bumble Bee putting on her antenna and Mr. Firefighter straightening his hat.

Say "Cheese" Daniel Boone and Spongebob!

Dancing to the Conga Beat

2010-10-29T10:24:00.000-07:00

You all asked for it. Here is the class dancing to 'Conga' by Gloria Estefan. This is what inspired me to do a song and music lesson with the kids.