Preschool: President's Day

This week our theme was President's Day and we learned a little bit about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln and being a president. Since Paige didn't have school this week she got to join in on the fun and we loved having her.

Tuesday we started off with some President Day's coloring pages.

Then for art we created Lincoln's log cabin with lots of glue and pretzel sticks. I drew a simple house on Baylor's and she had fun just adding more and more glue and more and more pretzels. She had a road around it and then some of the sticks became grass. She was having quite fun with with pile. Paige was of course was more precise and wasn't sure how to do the roof so some marshmallows and toothpicks were her solution.

We sang a few songs which included teaching Baylor "Yankee Doodle" and then for learning time we read a story about George Washington when we was younger about some apples and made some homemade applesauce. Paige helped slice the apples and I cut the skin off. Baylor would throw the skin into a bowl and take bites off some of the slices. :) I didn't get a picture of the final product but it turned out so pretty and so delicious. Paige especially loved it and asked why I didn't make more. We also played a patriotic bingo for finish our learning time for the day.

Then for their active time they created a gym in the living room and went around and around on all their obstacles. We ended our day with a YouTube video of a story being read about President's Day.

Wednesday our first activity was sorting pennies and quarters. I printed off some large images of a penny and quarter and put them by some bowls and Baylor sorted them into the right bowl.

Then for art we created George Washington. They both turned out so cute!

Then for music we played "drums" on some pots with some wooden spoons. We tried to do kind of like follow the leader with it but Baylor didn't quite understand that so it mostly turned into us singing songs while they banged the pots.

For learning time we watched a couple of video about what the president does and what you have to do to be president and we watched another one about all the presidents of the United States. Then after lunch they played outside for a while with chalk and then with the baseball and bat. They pretty much kept each other entertained and it was nice to be outside and that the snow is pretty much all gone.

Since Addison and Kinsley came over on Thursday, we moved our last day of preschool to Friday. We stared off with finding pennies in bowls of flour. Then once they found them all they got to wash them off with some water and lots of bubbles.

For art they got to create Abraham Lincoln this time. They are both way too cute!

Then for learning time and to end our President's Day week we had a birthday party for George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. We started off by making some cupcakes.

Then while the cupcakes cooked and cooled we did some art and played some games for the "birthday party." First they made fingerprint American flags and then we played I spy something Red, White, or Blue.

Next we did a coin toss. I got some pennies and quarters and they had to toss the different coins at the right paper printed one. They tried throwing, rolling, and scooting the coins. Baylor was struggling with following directions and would just sometimes throw handfuls and would just laugh especially if a coin got on its side and would roll all over the place.

Then after dinner we celebrated by singing happy birthday to Abraham (Baylor) and George (Paige). They each got to blow out a candle though Baylor didn't want to blow out hers so Paige blew them both out and enjoyed our cupcakes. It was a fun way to end our preschool week!

Valentine's and Snow Fun

We had a fun filled weekend and are having a fun week off of school. Last Friday we started off our fun with a little Valentine's "exchange party". I texted some of my friends and we all made valentine's for all the kids and had boxes/envelopes on the front porch to drop off the valentine's to each other. It was a lot of fun and I loved seeing the kids come to our porch and seeing their smiles and excitement. Paige was able to spend the day at Addison's house on Monday and they always have fun together.

Saturday we woke up to our first snow of the winter! It was pretty exciting especially to Baylor. They both went out in the morning and Paige wanted to measure how much we got with a ruler and Baylor wanted to walk through it though she was very insistent on only wearing a jacket and her vans. The girls played with their dolls the rest of the morning and got them all ready to "play" in the snow. Paige got a big bowl of snow and they ate the snow and had their dolls feel it and that led to some raspberry snow cones which were delicious. 

Then it was time for playing in the snow. Baylor threw a long crying fit about her snow clothes especially the pants. She did NOT want to wear them but I told her if she wanted to play in the snow then she had to wear them. It was quite the battle and once she was outside she realized the snow clothes weren't so bad and absolutely loved playing it the snow.

We went sledding over at the park and I wasn't sure if Baylor would like it but she loved it. She went down first with Paige and then after that was only wanted to go by herself. I got quite the workout walking up and down the hill carrying her sled for her but she was also quite the trooper and walked up the hill by herself every time. Paige also loved it and wanted the biggest hill she could find and wanted bumps and would do anything to make herself go faster. Nona even joined us for awhile and when Baylor said her legs were too tired she walked back home with Nona and Paige and I enjoyed a few more runs before going back home.

Poor Nate didn't get to join in on any of our fun since he was plowing the roads for the city. We appreciate all he does and we missed him so much! The girls especially did since they only saw him briefly in the mornings. He worked from 10 am to 10 pm from Thursday to Sunday.

Happy Valentine's Day! The girls were excited about all their little gifts and Paige was her gift giving self and gave each of us the most sweet and thoughtful gifts. We also had stake conference that was virtual, more snow fun for the girls, and our fun day ended with dinner at Anna and Scott's house.

The girls had so much fun playing in the snow and I loved it because they played so nice together in the yard and I was able to stay inside and watch them from the warmth of the house. 

It was cute watching them sled down the slight incline in the back yard. I especially loved watching Baylor. It was so entertaining and cute watching her pull and lift her sled to the top and watching her use her hands and eventually go on her belly to get the momentum to get down the hill.

Then I gave them the snow ball makers and that's when the true joy and laughter came out as they were throwing snowballs at each other.

Nona and Pops joined in on the fun and helped the girls build a snowman.

And Pops got the old car out to do some donuts.

The snow all came in the weekend and by Tuesday was pretty much all melted. It was quick and I got to enjoy it for the weekend and now it is gone which is exactly the way I like it. Then we planned a fun Valentine's party with Addison and Kinsley and today was the fun day. The girls were so excited for them to come and as soon as they saw their car pull up, they waited at the door for the knock.

They first decorated some bags to hold all of their candy and things in.

Then they painted their nails and waited until it was time for them to make their own pizzas for lunch.

While their pizzas were cooking they did some Valentine's drawings and then we played some games. We found a fun dice game with candy that they really enjoyed, then Valentine bingo, musical hearts, and a chocolate kiss memory game.

Our last thing was decorating heart sugar cookies. They had a lot of fun and then it was about an 1 1/2 hours of them playing. I loved listening to them talk and giggle in the bedroom. They are such good friends and I'm grateful they met in kindergarten and have each other as friends especially during this time.

Preschool: Valentine's Day

We had fun in preschool this week with our theme of Valentine's day which included lots of hearts. Tuesday we started our day off with a little sorting activity. I cut out some small hearts that were different colors and searched through Paige's craft things to find some red and pink pom poms and things that she could sort in an empty egg carton. 

Then for art we created a magic heart art drawing. I glued on some paper hearts and then put a blank piece of paper over the top and while she colored with crayons the hearts would magically appear onto her paper.

We did a quick music time since she wasn't really in the mood to sing and I had a doctor's appointment to get to. Then for our learning time I had cut out some heart number puzzles. I mixed them all up and she had to match the two numbers together. It helped her more with number recognition and then once she got them all matched up, I tested to see how well she knew all the numbers. She is getting really good with counting and recognizing numbers 1-10 though she still calls an 8 a B which is pretty cute.

She rode her scooter in the house for a little bit and I read her "Clifford, We Love You" for our story time to end the day.

Wednesday we started off by playing with kinetic sand.

Then for art she did some yarn weaving on a heart.

Music we brought out the musical instruments which is always a hit and makes music time last a little longer.

The highlight of the week for Baylor was our learning time. I used some of the extra Valentine's we had and cut them out and taped them on some Popsicle sticks and we made up our own puppet shows. Baylor loved it! At first, she would just show us each one and tell us what it was. Then we all took turns (Nona and Pops were good sports to join us) and Baylor would have another turn after each of us and always incorporate something from our story into the one she did. It was cute to watch and Baylor loved it. I loved hearing everyone's stories and we did it again in the evening with some of our finger puppets with dad.

I loved watching her light up and just being enthralled with each story and how cute she was when she made up her own.

Then for our active time, she danced with Paige and with her kitty and we threw her kitty back and forth for a little bit. Then to end our day, we read "The Bernstein Bears Valentine Party."

Thursday we started off with playing with blocks. She quickly built Nona and Pop's house and then was ready for the next activity.

For art, I printed off a whole bunch of things that Baylor loves and she glued them onto a heart and then decorated it with heart stickers. On the back she drew the cutest picture of our family (pictured bottom left). It is Nate, Baylor, me, and Paige. I love toddler versions of people.

We sang a few songs and then for learning time I put a heart with a number on it at the top of a pipe cleaner and she had to string on the number of beads that were on the heart. At first she wanted to put them all on at once until she realized what we were doing. It was a lot of counting practice and she did great at putting the beads on the pipe cleaners all by herself.

For our active time, we did a heart hide and seek. I got 12 big foam hearts from the dollar store and hid them all over in the front room. We took turns and I loved watching her find and seeing the cute places that she hid them. It was a fun activity to end our week. We ended our day with the reading of "Happy Love Day, Daniel Tiger." It was a fun theme and a fun week!

Preschool: Alphabet

On Tuesday we had an extra person join us for preschool. Anna's internet wasn't working so her kids came over to our house for their school so Eliza joined Baylor in her preschool activities for the day.

We started off playing with letter tiles. At first Baylor was picking out the A's and B's since those are the two letters she recognizes the best and then she found a few more like X's and Y's and then both of them starting "building" houses for each other. It kept them entertained way longer than I expected which was awesome.

Then for art it was Q-tip painting a block letter of the first letter in their name.

We did some singing in the backroom which was fun having an extra person to do it with especially when doing ring around the rosy. (I can only do it maybe once and then get dizzy) Then for learning time I had the capital letters on the the tree and Baylor had to match the capital letter sticker and put it on the matching letter on the tree. For Eliza I had to quickly come up with something so I drew the tree and put the capital letters on it and when she found the letter she put a circle sticker on it. I'm glad Eliza was there since she knows all her letters. I think it helped Baylor out and also helped Baylor stick with it to the end even though the last 10 or so Baylor was done.

Then for active time, they took turns playing the piano while the other jumped on the tramp. We ended our preschool with the reading of a Baby ABC book and then the had fun playing together until lunch time.

Wednesday we started with playing with playdough. Baylor was content to make mountains and cut her playdough. I would make some letters out of it and ask her what the letter was.

Then for art she colored an "alphabet soup". She first colored the pot of soup with colored pencils and then added alphabet stickers.

We sang a few songs and I sang "Five Little Ducks" for the first time and she loved it so I am sure that will be one on repeat for awhile. Yesterday and today we started our singing time with the alphabet song. Then for learning time we playing alphabet bingo. She was cute while playing and eating a marshmallow or chocolate chip in between each turn.

Then for outdoor/active time we went on a walk outside. I pointed out different things in the yard and told her what letter they started with. We have a Disney ABC book that we read to end our day.

Thursday's starting activity was a hit for Baylor. I had some flour and sugar that she could mix and then had some letter cookie cutters that she could mix in and really do whatever she wanted. I let her use her imagination and didn't worry about how big of a mess or how dirty she was getting. She really enjoyed it and mostly loved the measuring cup and scooping it up and flattening it out and dumping and doing this over and over.

Then we moved to the sink where I had a little bit of water with lots of bubbles so she could wash the dishes and the letters off. This also gave me some time to clean up the table before moving onto art.

For art, I first had drawn on a paper plate the letters and the dashes for her to trace to write the letters. She traced then letters and then colored it with a marker. Then I put two arrows on and she had to point the two arrows to the matching letters.

We sang a couple of songs and again started with the alphabet song and of course had to sing "Five Little Ducks" before doing learning time. For that, we went around the house and put note cards on ten things in the house. Once I wrote it I would ask her was the first letter of the word was and then she would tape it onto that item.

Then for active time, I turned on some "Frozen" music and let her dance away.