Springing to Life

The weather is warm, the world around us is becoming green, and the children are electric and seem to be moving and growing faster than the speed of light. I have noticed many of the children have grown taller, their conversations are becoming more dynamic and clear, they are more confident and capable in their movements, and they are trying out new things.  It really is an exciting time.  

In the midst of all this growth and change, we have been having our usual fun at school.  Many new songs have emerged from our new Co-Teacher Ms. Tricia, she is the music anthology of children songs.  We have been playing new games like "Mr. Raindrop what time is it?" The guessing egg nest game, where the children sit on a nest and have to guess how many eggs are in the nest.  Egg hunts and dance parties galore.  Coffee shop has been a new favorite dramatic play game as well as playing "Frozen."  We planted some snap peas, gone on some nature walks, talked about birds building nests, and have even gotten a couple visits from our ground hog friend, who is looking very skinny after his long rest.

The art-room has also been a very place.  Check out the carrot pens we made this week.

This was a fun project for the kids.

We started off by taping a sprig of leafy greens to the end of a pen.

After they taped the sprig to the top, they then wrapped aluminum foil around their pen, "Easy Peasy" as one of the children declared. 

Perhaps the trickiest part was wrapping masking tape around the Aluminum Foil, but they persevered.  

 

 The final step was for the children to mix the shade of orange they wanted their carrots to be and get to painting.

They of course had to test out the pens as well.

 

This is also the time of year that we get out the salad spinner and make spin-art eggs.

This is a much loved activity for the kids, and I have to admit, I love it as well.  It is just so cool to see how the colors mix with each other each time.

It is so cute how the children were encouraging each other, here they are checking out the paints after one of the children had their turn pouring, and then caught in a moment of being proud of the end result.  Too cute!

It was also a wonderful activity for practicing patience because only one person could go at a time.  So, as the children waited, they encouraged their friends by chanting "go, go, go, spin, spin spin!"

I loved watching the moment just before they unveiled their projects and the excitement they all had at looking at each others artwork.