There's Mud on a Farm Too!

It was all about seeds in the touch and feel pool today.  Bristol and Ryan enjoyed feeling how all different types of seeds felt in their hands.  We had pumpkin, corn, lima bean, green bean, lettuce, tomato, grass, and pinto bean seeds.  We talked about how some were little and some were big.  We also shook the seed packets and tried to hear whether the seeds sounded like they were big or little.  

After a short morning circle, we headed back to our room for language circle.  So, I know it's a stretch trying to relate this week's book to a farm...but I really wanted to use a mud theme during our language circle today because I knew that Bristol and Ryan would love the book, One Duck Stuck by Jane Chapman.  This rhyming book has great repeating lines, counting opportunities, and animal vocabulary as it tells about a poor little duck who gets stuck in the mud and all of the different animals who try unsuccessfully to get the duck out. Until...they all work together.

After we read the story, we made our own "mud" out of corn starch, and water; and we got our own animals stuck in the mud.  This gooey substance is super fun to touch and feel.  We used one container to mix our mud and another container full of warm water to rinse the mud off of our hands and give the animals a bath after they got stuck in the mud.  Bristol and Ryan LOVED this activity, and they would have been happy playing in the "mud" and giving the animals a bath all morning.  We talked about how the mud was wet, slimy, and dirty.  We reviewed the names of each animal getting stuck in the mud along with their sound.  We worked on expanding our sentences to say "I want more animals" "Take a bath animals" and "Dry them off please!" as some examples.  Ryan and Bristol both preferred to give the animals a bath over getting them "stuck in the muck."

    
After we finished bathing our animals (and the floor!), we moved to the table to glue and paint our own ducks stuck in the muck!

The playground was busy as always today.  Ryan seemed particularly interested in playing with some new friends in the playhouse, and Bristol enjoyed rolling the balls down the slide.  We also tried "Ring Around the Rosie" for the first time today and held hands with some of the other children on the playground.  It was a big hit!

It's Thursday!...Which means music therapy! After the playground, we headed inside to see what Ms. Gretchen and Ms. Kylie had planned for us today.  We sang all the letters of the alphabet with their corresponding sounds and then we had to act out a word that started with each letter of the alphabet.  Bristol and Ryan's favorite sound was /r/ for "run!" which they thoroughly enjoyed demonstrating as they ran around the room in circles.  We also sang, "If You're Happy and You Know It!" using picture cues with pumpkin faces showing the different emotions.  We also sang two songs about apples and leaves falling off of trees.  Bristol and Ryan were happy and interactive and really seemed to enjoy the whole session.  

Another successful day at the Speech Garden.  Next week we are going to be talking about "Foods that Grow."  Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!