Life Around The Pond
March 7, 2020
We started out this unit talking about one of my favorite animals in a pond, TURTLES. The kids made a smaller turtle when we talked about baby animals. This one was bigger and was a bit easier for the kids to make. This post may contain affiliate links. This Make & Play activity had a bigger bowl for the shell, same type of bowl, just larger. Miss Jenni drew the basic shape on the shell in black sharpe and they colored it whatever color they wanted their turtle to be. Then we glued the eyes on the green turtle shape before gluing the shell to the body. They drew on the foot and drew a mouth. We decided to leave off the yarn pull string. It was my favorite craft of the week.
The kids played shell math every single day this week and most times several times in one day. Super easy but fun. They had to pick a cup and say what number it was before placing it on the matching number on the turtle mat. It was a great way for the kids who weren’t so sure about the higher numbers to learn them. Sometimes they could see the numbers before picking one and sometimes we hid the numbers so they had to draw randomly.
We decided to make a “pond” with our big sand/water table. We got out as many of the creatures and animals that live in and around a pond to play with. They had a great time. Of course, the little one decided to get completely wet and try and splash water on everyone. He is taking swim lessons so he knows how to splash.
Each month, our curriculum comes with a theme poster that we attach to the circle time board and four pretend Looking Glasses. Three have a picture from the poster and one is open so they can find anything. On the back of them they have things for the children to DO. After the activity is done, we put the poster back on the board.
Our Invitation to Create was a snake. This was exciting for them because they love to cut and when these fat straws are cut, they go everywhere. They put beads on the pipe cleaners and put the straws over them. I had to really think how could I help their straw pieces NOT to fall off after they finished. I decided to run some yarn through the straws and tie it to both ends so the straws could slide over the beads. They loved it and enjoyed playing with their snakes.
We combined our tadpoles and frogs days since we spent Monday celebrating Dr. Seuss. The Make & Play was a tadpole Ribbon Dancer. They each had a tiny craft stick and a green ribbon. They decorated the stick with markers and we tied the ribbon to the stick. They held the stick and moved it so the ribbon swayed back and forth, the way the water moves after a tadpole has swam through it. Of course, they wanted to hold it by the ribbon and swing it, but then people would have been getting hit by the stick. They LOVED the Frog Jump game because it had the fun plastic frogs that you can push down on what looks like a tail and make them fly through the air. They had to say what number they landed on if it did. They learned that sometimes you can push hard and sometimes when you are more careful, you can land on the numbers more often.
This month, we have already had so many fun games that they just keep going back to. This one is called Hop the Alphabet. You had to turn all the letters over, take turns drawing a card and then put a green cotton ball on the letter. We had four cotton balls so each boy got two.
We finished off the week with a DUCK PNO. The kids played with “tiny Legos”. They always have so much fun when I take out the Legos for them to work on. Some just cover the entire board and others build things.
The kids did a fantastic joy on this Invitation to Create of a duck. They were allowed to cut however as long as they put it back together again. Some actually really look like ducks. Than others look like just a jumble. But they created, they used scissors and they had fun.
I’m looking forward to week two of Pond Life. Which was your favorite? Remember, the turtle was mind.
We started out this unit talking about one of my favorite animals in a pond, TURTLES. The kids made a smaller turtle when we talked about baby animals. This one was bigger and was a bit easier for the kids to make. This post may contain affiliate links. This Make & Play activity had a bigger bowl for the shell, same type of bowl, just larger. Miss Jenni drew the basic shape on the shell in black sharpe and they colored it whatever color they wanted their turtle to be. Then we glued the eyes on the green turtle shape before gluing the shell to the body. They drew on the foot and drew a mouth. We decided to leave off the yarn pull string. It was my favorite craft of the week.
The kids played shell math every single day this week and most times several times in one day. Super easy but fun. They had to pick a cup and say what number it was before placing it on the matching number on the turtle mat. It was a great way for the kids who weren’t so sure about the higher numbers to learn them. Sometimes they could see the numbers before picking one and sometimes we hid the numbers so they had to draw randomly.
We decided to make a “pond” with our big sand/water table. We got out as many of the creatures and animals that live in and around a pond to play with. They had a great time. Of course, the little one decided to get completely wet and try and splash water on everyone. He is taking swim lessons so he knows how to splash.
Each month, our curriculum comes with a theme poster that we attach to the circle time board and four pretend Looking Glasses. Three have a picture from the poster and one is open so they can find anything. On the back of them they have things for the children to DO. After the activity is done, we put the poster back on the board.
Our Invitation to Create was a snake. This was exciting for them because they love to cut and when these fat straws are cut, they go everywhere. They put beads on the pipe cleaners and put the straws over them. I had to really think how could I help their straw pieces NOT to fall off after they finished. I decided to run some yarn through the straws and tie it to both ends so the straws could slide over the beads. They loved it and enjoyed playing with their snakes.
We combined our tadpoles and frogs days since we spent Monday celebrating Dr. Seuss. The Make & Play was a tadpole Ribbon Dancer. They each had a tiny craft stick and a green ribbon. They decorated the stick with markers and we tied the ribbon to the stick. They held the stick and moved it so the ribbon swayed back and forth, the way the water moves after a tadpole has swam through it. Of course, they wanted to hold it by the ribbon and swing it, but then people would have been getting hit by the stick. They LOVED the Frog Jump game because it had the fun plastic frogs that you can push down on what looks like a tail and make them fly through the air. They had to say what number they landed on if it did. They learned that sometimes you can push hard and sometimes when you are more careful, you can land on the numbers more often.
This month, we have already had so many fun games that they just keep going back to. This one is called Hop the Alphabet. You had to turn all the letters over, take turns drawing a card and then put a green cotton ball on the letter. We had four cotton balls so each boy got two.
We finished off the week with a DUCK PNO. The kids played with “tiny Legos”. They always have so much fun when I take out the Legos for them to work on. Some just cover the entire board and others build things.
The kids did a fantastic joy on this Invitation to Create of a duck. They were allowed to cut however as long as they put it back together again. Some actually really look like ducks. Than others look like just a jumble. But they created, they used scissors and they had fun.
I’m looking forward to week two of Pond Life. Which was your favorite? Remember, the turtle was mind.
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