Turkey fun

We are finishing up our last week of giving thanks. I have loved teaching this because the kiddos love talking about what they are thankful for and learning about how thanksgiving came to be. I also know that right after the giving thanks unit, we head into christmas themes and I CANNOT for that. You can?

We have done a lot of fun things this so far.

Turkey feet supplies

Kaelis thought it was so funny that her foot was covered

with paint.

They turned out so cute.

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I love projects that I can frame and this is one that will come out every year for decoration. I loved it and so did the other parents.

I honestly would not think of some of these projects and I am so thankful the funshine provides such wonderful and simple activities.

One of the activties that was in the curriculum guide was to put our hands behinds our backs and pretend to grab candy corn with only our mouths just like chicken and turkeys. The girls thought this was so funny. The kept doing it over and again.

We made a corn on the cob yesterday using bubble wrap and paint.

The temptation of popping all the bubbles made it hard for them to paint. I let them pop them... Why not? fine motor?

Have a wonderful thanksgiving!

Giving thanks

We have officially started the countdown to Turkey day.We have done several activities   that makes us think of thanksgiving and bring thankful. 

  Turkey gobblers headbands were so cute. Funshine included all the supplies for it.

                  Patterned scrap paper

                  Turkey cutouts

                   Eyes

                   Magic foam peices 

The kids colored there head bands however they wanted. I loved seeing how each child decorated differently. One took  a lot of time and effort to make the whole head was colored. Another child just did enough to say she colored it and was finished.  We did the turkey trot while wearing the hats. 

 This was a game that came with curriculum. The children would pick a number card and then add that many children to the table. I had them even take away some cards and see how many cards were left. 

 You never know what will keep a child's interest for a certain period of time, but this kept busy for about 10 mins.

Quill writing was another neat idea that we did. We used feathers and paint. I did not have ink on hand. The girls thought it was really neat and it ended up being a painting, but they got the idea of writing with a feather.

I had this felt turkey and I thought it would be a great time to bring it out. I love watching all the creative ways the kids sort the feathers or what patterns they make.

 What activities are you doing?

Giving thanks

We have really enjoyed learning about giving thanks and what we are thankful are. Funshine express has some really neat ideas for this theme.

 One of the favorite songs we did was 

                    If your Thankful

                    

                    If you are thankful 

                 And you know it,

                  (Clap your hands)

                  If your thankful and you 

                  Know it

                  (Clap your hands)

                  If you are thankful 

                 And you know it,

                  And your face will surely 

                  Show it.

                   If you are thankful 

                 And you know it,

                  (Clap your hands)

                 Repeat with 

                 Stomp your feet

                      Turn around

                     Shout hooray

Every month funshine does a character counts activity.

 Tony the Thankful Tiger was the character today.  After introducing him to the kids we discussed what it means to be thankful . Theo was thankful for a lot of things . He was thankful his friends felt sad when he was not feeling well. I asked the question;How can we show people how we care for them? 

One of the kids said " we give a huge wet kiss and a great big hug."  How sweet.

                   Meet Theo

Today we read the book Manners at the table , this book can in the kit.

It was about what are good manners are. It was easy and simple for them to understand.

      

Our embossed foil activity was really neat. The kids thought that it was cool that the harder they pressed the more the design would come out.

These are the supplies that came with the kit. 

                Foil

                Golf tees

                Cardstock

Fantastic feather was the Math activity and the kids decided to count the feathers whole making a turkey with playdough.

It is so helpful that funshine provides a math game every month . I know I can grab it and begin. I usually laminate them so I can use them again.

Lena did a great job matching numbers.

Hope everybody's week is going well.

Sweet dreams

Today ends our 2 week theme sleep tight. The kids really enjoyed learning about counting sheep, that stars are rounded and not pointy.
One of the reasons I love teaching preschool is because of the excitement they get over the smallest thing. Their brains are so curious and they are eager to learn.
 Having an inhome daycare can have some challenges because of the mixed ages and planning things that the older children will learn from, but still having toddlers that need things simple.
funshine express makes it simpler to get activties based on age. Buttercups are for 6 months to 36 months. Fireflies, which I currently use, are for ages 3-5, they have a faith based curriculum and then jitterbugs 6-10.
 Every month I know I will get age apporiate activties and a ton of facts that those sponge brains can still soak up.
If you are new to lesson planning or in home or just need a curriculum ,funshine is perfect. On the teacher guide it outlines an activity for Math, music, gross motor, creative arts, literacy and social and emotional. Even one for dramatic play.


Yesterday we talked about dreams and what dreams are. Some are scary, some are funny, some are sad. I had one girl , with the biggest smile "my dreams are about princesses all the time, so they are always happy."

 

We pretended we were sheep jumping over the fence.

I had some stuffed animals so I got those out and then it was their turn to jump over the fence .

   This was a felt story about a girl who made a wish upon a star. Felt peices were provided by funshine.

We made a wishing pouch yesterday and put 3 wishes in. 

It's always a fun day when the funshine box arrives and we open it up to aim much learning.

These are the books we read and because we had Pj day, the perfectly perfect pajamas was the perfect book.

We look forward to jumping right into Let's give thanks.

Stars

Stars.

We have had a busy week so far.

The kids are enjoying sleep tight theme. 

Last week we made a star mobile. 

Yesterday we played a matching game that was in the funshine curriculum guide.I put a certain number of stars one stick and then a number on the other side .  They matched the number of stars to the actual number. I love the excited expression on Kaelis's face.

Yesterday we made shooting stars. Funshine provided foam pieces that could be bracelets, but the girls decided to just shake them while listening to twinkle little star. I found the song on the Funshine's music cd that goes with curriculum.

We decided to get blankets out and wrap ourselves inside and pretend to gaze up in the sky and look at stars. We talked about stars and that they are round, not pointed. I never knew that. We also learned that a shooting is actually a meteors made up of rock and debris. 

Funshine provided fun facts again.

November

Happy November! That snuck up on me quick. 

Sleep tight is the first theme we are learning about. 

Yesterday was national sandwich day. I had no idea! Funshine express teaches me something new everyday  We discussed what are favorite sandwich is . 

 We made our own sandwiches with paper toppings. 

 

We sang the peanut butter and jelly song to go along with the activities.We introduced the letter G. I have the kids bring an item from home that starts with the letter we are talking about. Lena bought glasses in. 

Check these beauty queens out. 

    Today we talked about when we go asleep is it dark out or light out.

 Lena made a good point at circle time. She told us that when we take naps it is day light out. Why yes it is!

 Today's activity from the Funshine curriculum book was to place star stickers or stamps on each letter of the name. 

 Lena did so well with this. Check out the pattern she did with the stars.

I had the younger ones just place stars anywhere on the paper.

We also  pretended to sleep in a tent and look up at the star stickers( pretended they were stars in the sky) "like camping " 

Lena said. 

Funshine express makes it so easy to get everything together and it is dated and gives ideas and what to discuss. Along with gross motor, fine motor , science,cooking,social development and comes to your doorstep in a box.