Grow Me. Grow You.

Preschool Theme: Music

Who doesn't love a good dance party?!! Not only were the kids having fun, but I had a blast as well.

Here's what we did if you want some fun ideas for your kiddos:


Self-Selected Time. So, I cut out computer time as one of their options because the kids can do this at home and it's such a great opportunity to play with each other for a few minutes. Apollo has been looooving this free computer learning program. It has creative ways for kids to learn to read. I don't like my kids watching TV but is a good break for me during the day and a great learning tool.





Circle Time. We went for a walk to see what the weather was like and I showed them little pictures and asked, "Is it rainy today?" "NO" until I found the sunny picture. We sang a "Days of the Week" song and talked about it being Thursday and I showed them on a calendar. Each child had their own little book called "Bluebird, Bluebird." It will take us awhile until we can all turn one page at a time and look at the pictures together:)





Art Time. The kids made shakers:



1. Tear off any extra toilet paper




2. Put some beans or a noise maker in the middle.


3. Wrap foil around the rolls to keep the beans inside.


4. Wrap a colorful piece of paper around it all.


5. Squish the ends together and tie the ends (I used yarn).




6. Decorate. We used alphabet stickers today and puff paint.





I found the first letter of each of their names and stuck it on and circled it so we could find their shaker later. Since we celebrated "B" today we found talked about it as we found some.


The kids colored some pages that I printed for free off the internet about music. Some of them had ads on them so I copied and pasted them to a word document. I got three of the instruments here.




Academic Time. Target had a bunch of workbooks for a dollar so I got one for each child. There are little activities to do and numbers to trace.





Snack and a Story. I bought some sweet potato fries from Trader Joes-just threw them on a cookie sheet for 18 minutes...and done! The kids really liked them (well 4 out of 5 did). A little pricey, but a lot easier than chopping sweet potatoes. While the fries were cooling, I game the kids some alphabet cookie crackers from Trader Joes.






Music Time. We played "Freeze" where the kids danced around until I paused the music and they all had to freeze. I gave them each bug wands with ribbons to march around the house.




Each child brought a handmade instrument from home, so we danced with those, too. I took out Apollo and Annie's bath toys (fish, sharks, dolphins, and an octopus) and each child got one to sing "Slippery Fish"-one of my favorite kid songs.



Games. We played "Name that Tune". I played the first few notes on the piano until one of the kids recognized the song, then we sang it the rest of the way through. I got the sheet music from here.




The kids drew to different musical sounds and noises. I read about it online but wondered how it would really play out with the kids. They all had chalk and I played short sounds out of a couple books I had (you know where they have the short sound buttons on the side). I told them to draw the sound...and they did! It was amazing to see. They drew little lines or half circle type things. I then sang to them. They drew slower when I sang slow songs and faster and choppier when I sang a fast song to them. Cool experiment.





Physical Fitness. DANCE PARTY! It was darling to see them bopping around with big smiles on their face. I brought the mini trampoline so we could jump on and off.




Science Experiment. When you add cornstarch to water it is so fun to play with. When you rub it in your hand fast or try to move a spoon in it, cornstarch acts like a solid. When you move slowly or don't do anything, it acts like a liquid. We talked about solids and liquids. After giving some examples of solids, Myles said that concrete was an example-smarty.





Sending Annie off in style. Little Annie loves baby Anna and gets the chance to be the oldest for a few hours during preschool. I send her off with a different cute bag each time, snacks, and a toy.