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.