School's Out For Summer!

We had a fun and hot week to end our preschool and Paige's school for summer break. Our theme for preschool this week was summer and we had fun with it.

Monday after lunch we started our fun week with a lake swim.

Tuesday we did preschool and we started off with playing Camping Spot It.

Then we switched things up a bit today and next did our music time. We sang this song a couple of times about things we will do this summer. (To the tune of Mulberry Bush). What do we like to do in the summer, do in the summer, do in the summer? What do we like to do in the summer? Have lots of fun! Other verses that I had pictures of were: Swim a lot in the swimming pool....And don't forget the sunscreen; We build sand castles at the beach..... And find some sea shells; We go on trips to Idaho.... to see lots of family; We hike in the trees..... and find some water.

For our learning time we went on a walk to observe and talk about the signs of summer- the green leaves, flowers, bees, the sun, etc. and our walk of course led to the park for some outside fun. Baylor gathered a few things that reminded her of summer on our walk too.

Then once we got back we did art by making a summer mosaic of the things she collected on our walk. We ended our day by watching a couple of YouTube preschool videos on summer time.

Wednesday we started with perlor beads and did ones that reminded us of summer. Baylor picked the butterfly and I picked a car since we are doing lots of traveling this summer to see family.

We sang a few songs and then for art she created a lemonade sign. I would tell and show her the letter to write and it says "Lemonade For Sale" with all of her cute red lemons on the bottom. We read a pile of library books and did our learning time after school and lunch. The girls created a lemonade stand. Paige enjoyed it just as much as Baylor. Paige created a menu for people to order from and Baylor decorated it.

The girls were so excited and the wait was hard for them until their first customer, Dad, got home from work. The top left picture is them looking down the street waiting for the precise moment when they could see his car to hurry and get everything ready. And then their cute excited faces to see Dad in the bottom picture.

Dad was their first customer and then once they saw Pops get home to his house, they ran over and told him to come order some. Then it just so happened that some cousins were staying the night at Nona and Pops so we got some extra customers which the girls loved.

Wednesday we started off playing Jenga and then played with the Jenga blocks to build whatever we wanted. Baylor loved this and I need to remember to get them out more often for her.

For art she created a fire with paint and aluminum foil.

We sang a few songs and then for learning time we talked about camping and set up a fort for her to "sleep" in. I read some books to her in her fort and she pretended to sleep.

For a fun, summer outdoor time the girls played in the sprinklers and threw some water balloons at each other.

Then that evening since Baylor is done with preschool until the fall, Paige thought it would be fun to have a "graduation" thing for her. Paige created the hat and the diploma and all I can say is that Paige is amazing and Baylor looks so cute!

Then to celebrate and a fun way to end our summer themed preschool week, we had smores.

Friday was finally the last day of school for Paige! She made it through 3rd grade, going from online school to in person school, wearing masks at school, and so many more changes and handled it all like a champ. She thrived this year and learned so much! She loved her teacher and I loved that her teacher let her implement the ideas that she brought to her. She is definitely going to miss her friends and her teacher but is looking forward to summer especially all the fun we will have in Idaho at family reunions and LOTS of time with cousins (beside the drive- she is not looking forward to that at all and constantly asks why we are not flying...)

And to celebrate Paige being done with school and a fun way to start summer break in the evening once it cooled down a little bit we went out kayaking on the lake. It was a beautiful evening with my sweet family!

Let summer begin!!!

Preschool: Father's Day

It was a theme all about Nate his week, our favorite guy and our favorite dad. 

We started the week off doing some perlor beads.

Then for art Baylor created a Picasso like picture of her dad. She had fun cutting out pieces of paper. The only thing I did was cut out the circle head and she did the rest. We created it to be a card. Then I asked her what she liked about dad and she said him coming home and hiding under blankets with him. She then drew the word Dad on it along with her name and drew a picture of her and Nate together. 

We sang "Daddy's Homecoming" and a couple of other songs. I'm going to focus on that song this week and sing it every day since she is singing with a group of kids on Sunday at church. It will be her first time going up and singing during sacrament meeting so we will see how it goes.

For our learning time I had printed out some pictures and told her a story of a little girl who loved her dad and wanted to buy him a present for Father's day. She went to her piggy bank and didn't have any money and was sad and didn't know what to do. Then she thought of other ways she could show her love like folding his clothes or making his bed, cooking him something that he likes, and giving him hugs. I then had her tell a story with the pictures and she pretty much told the same story but so much cuter. I was surprised at how many details from the story she was able to retell back.

We then ended our day reading some Bernstein Bear Nursery Tales. For our outdoor time this week I didn't do much since it was a nice week and I didn't get any pictures. Two of the days after lunch the girls were out in the backyard for most of the afternoon playing school in the playhouse and then another day while I was weeding the front yard, the girls rode their bikes.

Wednesday we started with some play dough fun. She loves play dough and when someone is doing it with her it can last quite awhile.

For art she colored and created this ribbon for the best dad. I love the letter S that she attempted to draw for writing the word best. We then sang some songs and did a couple of fun activities for learning time. She wrapped a present for Nate and put her ribbon that she colored from art on top. I love how she was using her little foot to hold the fold of the wrapping paper down until she could get tape on it. 

Then we played memory with some pictures of Nate that I had printed off.

Then we made Nate a special treat, peanut butter cookies. She loved to help pour things into the bowl though on the first thing she missed and got some brown sugar on her dress so a clothes change was in order. She tried to help crack an egg but didn't like the slimy feel on her fingers. She loved eating the dough. :) After I got them all cooked, she colored on a sandwich bag and picked out the best ones for Nate to take to work the next day.

For story time we looked on Google photos of pictures of Nate and some of the stories behind the pictures. Most of the time we were saying how Daddy is so silly.

Thursday ended up being a super simple and quick day but a fun day to end our theme.

We started off with doing stop and go. She thought it was pretty fun and wanted to show Paige and do it with her as soon as she got home from school.

Then for art she colored a tie to give to Nate.

For music time we practiced "Daddy's Homecoming" and sang a few other songs including one of her favorites "Where is Thumbkin?"

And for learning time we talked about things that she likes about dad and things she likes to do with dad and I wrote some of them on the back on the tie and she gave it to him after he got home from work.

What a fun week and we are excited to celebrate Dad even more on Sunday!

Preschool: Space

This week's theme was space so a lot of our focus was on mostly the stars but we mentioned a few other things. We started off on Tuesday with some moon and star sorting. She first sorted them into different color piles and then I had her count how many were in each pile.

Then for art she decorated a sun and a moon that we used for some of our other activities for the day. She loved using the Minnie Mouse stickers.

For music time we sang "Twinkle Little Star" and we each picked out two colors of stars from our sorting activity to hold up while we sang. Then we sang "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam" and she held up her sun.

For learning time we talked about how the sun is out when we are awake and the moon is out at night. I asked her different questions like "Which one is out when we eat breakfast?" or "Which one is out when we get our pjs on?" I probably asked her about 8 different questions and she pointed to the right one each time. She has her day and night figured out. Then we watched two YouTube preschool videos about space. It was a good introduction to stars, planets, the moon, and the sun though I don't think her little 3 year old mind quite understands it all.

    We read a star book that we have and then the girls played outside after lunch for our outdoor time.

Wednesday we started our day off with some sand digging. I hid some small toys in some sand that we have and then she had to dig with a spoon to find them. Once she found them she eagerly asked to just use her hands to play in it and loved to do that for quite a while. I did have to keep reminding her to keep the sand in the bowl.

For art she created her own night sky. The C looking shape on the top left is her moon and then the rest are stars.

For art we talked about star constellations and how they are star shapes in the sky. She used chocolate chips for the stars on a little dot to dot star constellation page I printed out. I had her count how many stars were in each one and she kept sneaking chocolate chips and after each one it was the cutest little sneaky giggle along with a big smile. Then we made our own constellations with marshmallows and toothpicks. For her the more toothpicks the better and she liked making squares and then just adding more toothpicks to her square.

We read a night time story with Daniel Tiger since we see the stars at night.

For our outdoor time, she got to help me out in the garden. She helped me weed, I transplanted a pea plant, she helped me plant some carrots and move our tiny broccoli starts to some bigger pots.

Thursday we started off with play dough. I had a star cookie cutter and a circle for the moon. She loves play dough and it keeps her entertain for awhile. When the play dough is hard to flatten it she uses her elbow and it is the cutest thing.

For art she created her own planet. I cut out a circle and put it in a pan. I put some paint on it and then she put some marbles in it and swirled them around in the paint to make a really cool design on her planet.

For music time she used the star wand to swing "Twinkle Little Star" and then I put some music on for her to dance to. It didn't last very long since she just kept spinning and wouldn't stop and I could tell she was getting dizzy but refused to stop so we were done with that activity and moved on.

For learning time I had cut out some stars, the moon, the sun, the Earth, some clouds, and a rocket ship. I asked her what each thing was when I taped it to the window. The funny thing is when I put the Saturn like planet on and I asked her what it was her reply was "the space needle." We must live in Washington. :) Then I told a story I made up as I went about the different pieces and used spatial words like under, around, over, etc. Then I let her tell her own story. It was very simple and very cute.

We read a another night story for our story time and then cousins came over to play after lunch for our outdoor time.

Preschool: My Family

Tuesday was a little crazy since Monday was a holiday and Tuesday I had some errands to run but we made some time for preschool throughout the day. Baylor started the preschool day off with cleaning some dishes.

Then for art she drew a picture of her family. I had her trace the words "My Family" and all of our names besides her own.

Then for singing time we started off by singing one of her new favorite songs, "Where is Thumbkin?" and then did a little finger play poem. It went like this: "this is my mother, so sweet and nice (thumb). This is my father, who hugs me twice (pointer). This is my sister, so big and tall (middle). This is me who's still quite small (ring). This is our family, small but great (pinkie). All different sizes in this family."

Then for learning time we waited for Paige to be home so we could do some role playing. We talked about different situations in our family and how to act. We talked about when someone else has a birthday, when a babysitter comes, when a neighbor or friend comes over to visit, when we eat dinner/meal, and when there is a new baby.

She was so sweet with the baby and pretending it was real.

Then the balloon that got blown up for the birthday situation kept her entertained for awhile.

For story time we looked at some of our family photos on Google Photos and talked about them and the stories behind the pictures. It was pretty hot on Tuesday so we enjoyed some pool time for our outdoor play.

Wednesday we started with playing with kinetic sand.

For art I traced her body with chalk and then she colored all of her features.

For music time we sang a new song to the tune of "The Farmer in the Dell": My daddy goes to work, my daddy goes to work, heigh ho the derry-o, my daddy goes to work. (other verses: My mommy cooks me food, my sister goes to school, I play with Paige, and my family loves me so.) It must have been catchy because she sang it throughout the day.

For learning time I got the video camera out and recorded her with the microphone and asked her all sorts of questions about her family. She was being pretty shy for the camera but some of her answers were pretty cute. It will be a fun video to look back on over the years.

We read a collection of Bernstein books "All About Family" for story time and waited until after lunch for our outdoor fun.

Wednesday was another hot day so we went to the lake. First lake swim of the year!

Thursday we started off with stamps. She said she was making it for "normal grandma" (that would be my mom who is grandma and my grandma is great grandma which makes my mom normal grandma). 😁

Then for art I had printed off some family pictures and she got to cut them out and make a family picture collage.

Thursday's learning time we took a field trip to go and see Dad at work. We took him a little treat and got to talk with him. Of course it is a bonus that he works at the park so she got to play on the playground too.