Grow Me. Grow You.

Preschool Day 9: Creepy Crawlers.

Self Selected Time. Carleton saw this play table on the side of the road with a sign that said "free" so he added some bolts. The kids love it. We've even had kings and firemen try it out and they love it too.

Circle Time. We talked about items the kids have been testing out to see if they sink or float. We read some bug and Halloween books. There is a cute one that has a bug dance in it. We all did the bug dance together.

Art Time. We attempted to make "worm" bowls out of clay. To make the clay:1 Cup salt, 1 Cup flour, and 1 Cup water. Here's the one my niece, Maddy made (she's 7) I think the kids need at least another year under their belts to try again (or some 1 on 1 help).

My friend Carol, left some insect and other sun catchers that the kids painted.

We made bug antennae out of pipe cleaners, beads, and headbands (from the Dollar Tree)-no glue necessary.

Here are their "bug" faces. Never seen cuter bugs!

4. Academic Time. We celebrated the letter I today...I is for insect. I put together a little sheet of insects for the kids to color from here and added upper and lower case "I"s on the bottom of the sheet. If you want one, let me know and I'll send an email attachment.

I found this darling caterpillar to help the kids celebrate number 9. I put a little glue in each circle. Click on the caterpillar template image below to print it.

I cut up these circles and we glued them all together one at a time. When we were all done, we pointed to the number as we counted out loud. Click on the image below to print.

Snack and a Story. The kids ate and decorated bran muffins. Making them look like some type of bug.

Bran muffins

Ingredients
1 cup Bran Flakes Cereal
1/4 cup Skim Milk
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup melted margarine
2/3 cup mashed ripe banana
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

Directions
Heat oven to 375 degrees. In a small bowl, soak cereal in milk for 5 min. In a large bowl, combine remaining ingredients, then add cereal mixture. Beat at medium speed, scraping bowl often, until well mixed (1 to 2 minutes). Spoon into greased or paper-lined 12-cup muffin pan, filling cups 2/3 full. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until tops spring back when touched lightly. Cool 5 minutes; remove from pan. Yield: 12 muffins.

Music Time. Each child chose a colorful sock to make a worm hand puppet (thanks Carol for the beautiful socks). I wanted to keep the socks, so we just stuck little eyeball stickers that could be taken off once the kids were done. We used our little puppets to sing some bug themed songs I found here.

Bringing Home a Baby Bumble Bee

I'm bringing home a baby bumble bee, Won't my mama be so proud of me
I'm bringing home a baby bumble bee
Ouch! That bumblebee stung me!

I'm smashing up my baby bumblebee, Won't my mama be so proud of me
I'm smashing up my baby bumble bee
Yuck! It's all over me!

I'm licking up my baby bumblebee, Won't my mama be so proud of me
I'm licking up my baby bumblebee
Ugh I don't feel so good!

Bee Hive

This is my bee hive (put hands together)
(loud) but where are the bees?
Hidden inside where nobody sees
One, two, three, four, five, (raising up fingers)
There they go, off to the trees (point)

Caterpillar Change

There was a little caterpillar crawling all about. (Walk with fingers on arm)
He worked and he worked without a doubt. (Wiggle fingers)
Wrapping himself in a snug cocoon.(Wrap other hand around fingers)
Waiting and waiting, will it be soon? (hold fingers)
Look, he's coming out, my oh my! (raise arms in excitement)
For now he's become a beautiful butterfly (Cross thumbs and flap hands like wings)

The kids had bug wands and black ribbon wands I made for preschool.

Games. I bought some plastic insects from the Dollar Tree. Grant and I hid them and the other kids came back in and collected them in their bug catchers. It's good to practice so the kids know what to do (how to use and open things) before going outside to find the real bugs.

Physical Fitness. Put a soccer ball in the middle of the circle and take turns kicking it to one another.

Science Experiment.We went outside to find real bugs. Every time we go outside we find worms...but not on the day we purposely go out to collect them. I sent them home with their bug collecting kits (also from the Dollar Tree) so they can find more at home.