Since playing "restaurant" was such a hit with the kids I decided to accumulate food boxes and other containers for a "grocery store". The red wagon served as a grocery cart for the shopper. Then of course we had a cashier and a bagger! They have wonderful imaginations!

We talked about the letter "M" and the sound it makes. After they came up with a list of "m" words we headed upstairs for a little "monster" business. We read three great monster books by Mercer Mayer....."There are Monsters Everywhere", "There's an Alligator Under My Bed", and "There's a Nightmare in My Closet". They loved these stories! Of course we discussed that monsters are not real so your kiddos should all sleep fine tonight!

We baked "monster" cookies. I'm not sure why they are called "monster" cookies but that is what the recipe calls them. They are oatmeal, peanut butter, m&m, and chocolate chip cookies. I guess it is just easier to say "monster" cookies! The kids dumped all of the ingredients in the mixing bowl and did MOST of the mixing. While the cookies baked we watched another clip from the "Kids for Character" video. Today it was about "respect". Ask your child what respect means.
While the cookies cooled we made our own crazy monster creations! Notice the "p" on Harrison's monster. He did not plan this, it just turned out this way! They worked very hard on their monsters and I think they turned out great. After our cookie and banana snack we headed outside to enjoy the beautiful weather!

We had so much fun "cooking" last week that I decided we should do it again this week.....and maybe every week! We reviewed the letter "p" and the sound it makes. Then we made our own personal pizzas!
Before we started cooking we read the story " The Little Red Hen Makes a Pizza". She discovered that her friends didn't want to help make the pizza but they did want to help eat it. Then when it was time to do the dishes and clean up they all decided they needed to pitch in and do their part.

We read this story for two reasons. First, we were going to make pizzas just like the Little Red Hen and second, we talked about being helpful and doing our share of the work. Even though these kids are young and their hands are small, they can do many things. We talked about families and how everyone in a family has a job to do. We traced our hands and cut them out. We glued them onto a sheet of paper titled "My Helping Hands" and then they told me what their hands can do to help out. They listed jobs like picking up toys, getting dressed, helping with younger siblings. We read a story called "We Help Mommy" and discussed what kind of "work" they can do around their houses.

We learned a new song today that was sung to the tune of "Mary Had a Little Lamb". Each time we sang it we inserted a different child's name. They each loved hearing us sing a song with his/her name in it. We also inserted a line in the song that told what each child liked to do with his/her family. I hope you all get a chance to sing the song your child brought home and insert your own ideas!
When my sons were very young we bought them a VHS tape called "Kids For Character". It is a wonderful video that talks about being a good person. I think there are seven different short stories on the tape that each last ten minutes or so. We watched one of the stories today (while our pizza was cooling off) called "Caring". It was about a boy who yelled at his friend for breaking their limbo stick and ruining the game. The boy who gets angry ends up feeling just as sad at the one who gets yelled at. They sing songs in each story that teach a lesson. I tied this in by talking about feelings and how families and friends need to care about each other. Your children LOVED this short story and wanted to watch it again! We just watched it one time but I told them that maybe we can watch one short story each week. They talk about trustworthiness, fairness, etc. These children are still learning and it is so difficult not to be selfish when you are so young but I truly believe that they "get it". It is obvious to me that they care about each other......even when they don't want to share......

Then we headed outside and struggled to walk against the wind as we made our way to the swings!

This week we introduced the letter "P" and had all sorts of fun with it. First the kids finger painted with chocolate pudding....yes, we have done this before but when you are three or four you just can't get enough of this activity! Smear, lick, smear, lick.....and so on! They were making mud puddles for their "P"igs! Garrett is carefully painting his piggy that he is going to put in his pudding puddle! We also took out our pink and purple markers and colored construction paper "P's". PPP!

When we were done painting we went on a "P"icnic and only ate the food that started with the letter "P". The kiddos were great at making the"p" letter sound and finding the "p" foods in the basket. As you can see from the picture, these "p" foods were not real but have no fear.......we did manage to work in a real "p" food.....

"Pigs in a blanket"........they rolled up their sleeves, washed their hands, and put on their chef hats! They made their own snack. Some of the pigs were wrapped a little more neatly than others but they all tasted the same! Yum! They ate yummy "p"eaches too!

After all of that hard work they enjoyed some well deserved play time! They had so much fun playing restaurant. They each had a job to do and took turns with the different roles. In the above picture you can see the paper and pen by Charlie. He was the waiter and scribbled out Garrett's order. Garrett was the customer and Katie was a server. Harrison was there too, he was the cashier! Cha-Ching!

Charlie is taking his job very seriously from the looks of this picture. I'm not sure what he is saying but he has cash in his hands! This in no time for monkey business!

Every week I find myself smiling as I listen to these children talking to each other. They have become friends and truly care about each other. Here they are waiting in line to wash up after our project.

The boys are reading a book while they wait for Katie to finish washing her hands.

We talked about spring weather today. The kids made paperplate umbrellas and marched around the room chanting "It's raining, it's raining, oh me, oh my, but my umbrella will keep me dry!"

We made flowers from cupcake liners and popsicle sticks. They added a sun, rain, and grass.......because we all know that those are the things flowers need to grow!

Today we read a book about opposites and looked at pictures of opposites. Then they learned the "Opposites Cheer".......

Hello Everybody.....Come on over here.....we are going to say the opposites cheer.....I'll say "hot" ......you say "cold".......Hot......Cold......Hot ......Cold! I would point to the children when it was their turn to shout out their word! Try it at home!

I went to an Early Childhood conference at UW-Platteville this past weekend. I heard a couple of wonderful speakers. One guy who spoke was Stuart Stotts. He is a children's song writer from Madison. He talked about music in the lives of children and the LACK of music in many homes. It was very interesting. I bought his CD and sang several songs with the kiddos today. It might take a couple of weeks but your child should be coming home with some new songs soon! There are FIVE Wednesdays this month so we should have plenty of time to learn some fun new songs!

Happy Day! See you next week!