Where It All Started

From the moment a child is born, they naturally explore and discover the world around them.  It is in the core of their beings.  For some kids, discovery gets lost in education somewhere along the way.  That is why it is so important to engage children in many different ways and to let them take the lead in what they want to discover. 

It really started with Billy when he received a Grossology science book.  The science experiments were, well, very boy-ish.  And gross.  And fantastic.

He was hooked before the first fake wound healed:

He was on a mission to discover the human body.  We hung a life-sized poster of the inside of a body in the playroom and he has taken it from there.

Red play-doh always becomes a heart somewhere along the way to its final formation.

Q-tips became bones and glitter paint became guts (which, according to a preschooler, are located in your feet too). 

We've done experiments to see if asparagus makes your urine smell funny, made ear wax detectors, and even created a model skeleton.  That was just on a Tuesday. 

All it takes is one experience to turn on that little light bulb over their heads!

Putting a Little Spring In Our Step

With Easter around the corner and the snow still flying, we decided to urge on the fair weather with some spring bunny slippers.  These were super simple, using only felt, pom poms, googly eyes (and what project is complete without googly eyes?), and hot glue. 

After deciding that Billy's bunnies were the mommas and Alexa's were the babies, I completely baffled them when I told them the baby bunnies are called kittens.  Alexa refuses to believe babies can be called anything other than their adult names, but we put together a spring baby themed sensory table to practice all of those crazy names.  I've included Easter grass, Easter eggs, small farm animals that fit inside the eggs, twigs for nest building/sword-fighting, and a fragile bunny.

They work hard to hide, then ever-so-carefully uncover, the fragile bunny.

Need I mention the broom and little garbage can so they can sweep up the stray grass?  I hope they never grow out of their love-to-clean phase!

Next to the box will be facial feature stickers to decorate the eggs.

How To (Almost) Catch A Leprechaun

First you have to make a plan (lucky for the leprechaun, this 5 year old decided to put padding down to catch the fall)

Get to work constructing the trap.

 And it might look something like this.  A ladder on a lego axis!  Very creative.

Oh so close.  The Lucky Charms were gone and all that was left was a little leprechaun dust...

And a delicious rainbow breakfast!

Salute to Spring

After a year of mixing primary colors, I thought it was time to take on something with a little more flexibility.  Spring colors!  The kids mixed white into the different colors they created and watched the paints turn pastel.

Then recycled some Styrofoam and made bulletin boards to showcase all of the great things they make.  They also prettied up the boring cement basement walls.

And while we were in the painting spirit, we painted an outcast piece of Sheetrock in the basement with chalkboard paint.  Cannot wait for it to cure!

Oh Christmas Tree

Play-doh is fantastic, but the fun quotient gets even bigger when you get to make it yourself.  We usually use a recipe that you have to cook, but for preschool we tried out a heat-free recipe. 

It is a good thing mixing it is half the fun, because it was pretty goopy and didn't hold its shape for very long.

But for awhile, it made terrific Christmas trees.

Monsters, Monsters, Everywhere

Even though kids are afraid of them, they love monsters.  It is baffling.  Consequently, much of what we do gets linked back to monsters.

Shaving cream sensory play turns into a monster making contest.

Finger puppets usually become monsters.

Dinosaur stompers are actually monster stompers, I am told.

And painting boogers (which originally started as a project invovling a kleenex and a handwashing lesson) became Monster Germs.

October is Spooktacular!

 October offers endless possibilities for exploration and discovery!  This year was very red+yellow=ORANGE for us!

After mixing some paints to make orange, we learned about symmetry.

Got down and dirty gutting some pumpkins to get at those delicious seeds.

 Practiced symmetry some more with construction paper jack-o-lanterns.

Discovered why pumpkins float and checked to see if everything, and I mean everything, else floated or sank.



And finally, carted those pumpkins to a remote corner of the garden to learn about the not-so-glamorous part of the life cycle.  Yuck!

Outta This World

The space obsession began in December and is still going strong.  It started with some toothbrush star painting and coffee filter worlds.  Followed by some model making and shadow casting to learn about the sun and moon in our sky.

It continued with many space missions.

Q-tip constellations (these would also be great with silver star stickers)

Watercolors over neon crayon solar systems.

And culminated in launching the new bedroom to Mars.

And look what we found at the library!  I have a feeling space is here to stay...

Their Painted Worlds

I was born with very little talent for drawing, painting, and the like.  But I am creative and adventurous.  As a result, I believe the preschoolers rarely thought paper and paintbrush when I declared "Today we get to paint!"

There is pendulum painting.

Apple printing.

Finger painting (and the messiest hands contests that followed)

Matchbox Car Painting

Monster stomp painting

And when we do use a paintbrush, it should be with something fun like super-shiny corn syrup paint.

Dog Days

Everybody loves puppies!  And at some point, I think every child loves to BE a puppy!

Being a puppy is even more fun with some doghouses.

Felt ears.

And puppy snacks, of course!

That Is Fun-Without a Shadow of a Doubt

Shadow puppets are a bedtime staple around here.  So it was no surprise that the Groundhog Day shadow wall was a hit:

Everything was subject to having its shadow traced.

It took powerful preschooler teamwork to place the spotlight just right.  Then to place the object in the right place.  And, the hardest challenge yet, to position themselves out of the way of the beam of light so they didn't block their objects!

But eventually they got the hang of it.  Two dozen sheets of packing paper and a whole lot of smiles later.

I'm not touching THAT!

Kids will touch anything with their hands-often to their parents' dismay.  But with their feet?!  Bellies?

Pasta nights at our house require extra large bibs, moistened napkins, and a mop.  And "use your fork, please" is mentioned dozens of times.  Spaghetti=playtime.

But throw spaghetti and a little oil in a pool and set the kids loose, and you'd think our spaghetti dinners would charm even Emily Post.

It took awhile for them to get brave enough to let those little squiggly noodles touch their toes.

It wasn't long before our dog was reveling in the spaghetti treats all over the yard!

And the kids were experimenting in fun new ways to see just what they could accomplish with a pile of spaghetti.

Why Humpty Dumpty Should Have Worn A Helmet

A  Lesson in Physics

First, decorate some raw Humpty Dumpty characters.

Gather different materials for Humpty to land on.  Make sure some are soft and some are hard.

And maybe something hard (like a street) protected by something soft (like a helmet).