Winter Clothes

Ryan and Ethan were greeted by cotton "snowballs" and snowflakes at the Touch and Feel pool today as we continued to learn all about winter.  We talked about the color of the snowballs and how they felt, and we counted the six sides to the snowflake stickers and described them as being sparkly and sticky on one side.  Some kiddos pretended to have a small snowball fight in the pool and others made the snowflakes fall from the sky.  

We didn't let the weather get us down today!  After our morning circle and open center time, we headed outside for a Squirrel Hunt as we walked around the block to get some fresh air.  The language stimulation opportunities are endless on a simple walk around the block.  We didn't spot as many squirrels as we had intended and decided that they were all staying in away from the bad weather.  But we did see 3 little ones scamper across the street and perched high in a tree.  We answered questions like, "What do squirrels eat?" (acorns), Where do they live? (in nests high in the trees), How do they stay warm? (by wrapping their tails around themselves like a blanket.  We found a million acorns and examined them (see below) and put the acorn hats on!  You can find these treasures and probably a few more in Ryan and Ethan's pockets where we decided to keep them safe! When Ryan and Ethan spotted a squirrel high in a tree, they decided it would be fun to try to shake the squirrel out of the tree.  But the tree was too big and too heavy!

Acorn examination

Look, this acorn has a hat!

Squirrels! Where are you?

We found a squirrel nest high in the tree!

There's a squirrel! High in the tree!

On our walk, we splashed in many wet puddles (Sorry for the wet clothes today! Don't forget to pack more on Thursday!), and we heard airplanes, sirens, and even spotted our favorite garbage truck again.  This particular truck even gave us a "beep beep!" as it drove by us.  We also spotted some beautiful green moss and lichen on a big tree and we talked about its color and how it felt like a soft carpet.  Ryan was super excited when he found a small hole in the same tree, and he was sure that it was a bunny hole.  We discussed all the other possible animals that could live in that hole too...a mouse, a chipmunk, etc.  As we ended our walk, we found a yellow fire hydrant, and talked about how the firefighters use it.  So as you can see, it was a very eventful and productive walk around the block; and Ryan and Ethan had a blast!

Ethan feeling the soft moss

Ryan's bunny hole.

So we have had a lot of practice over the last two weeks putting on all the different winter attire that we use to keep warm, but we thought we would further emphasize the vocabulary for winter clothes this week.  Our book today was Boots by Anne Schreiber.  This is a great repeating line book (which aids in memory when learning new words) about a child at school who is putting on all the different pieces of winter clothing before heading outside. Each page introduces a new piece of winter clothing while repeating the previous piece of clothing.  When the child finally finishes putting on all the winter clothes, her teacher says that it's time to come in!  Ryan and Ethan were introduced to the following winter clothes: boots, sweater, hat, scarf, coat, and mittens.  

After reading the book, we headed to the art table to decorate our own winter hats.  Ryan and Ethan enjoyed finding the letters in their name and gluing it to their hat.  They added beautiful snowflakes and cotton balls for the puff ball on top of their hat.   

Then we got out some shaving cream and created some designs in the "snow." We talked about the color of the shaving cream and how it felt.  We wrote our names in the shaving cream and practiced making a variety of different shapes.  We also used cookie cutters to make the shape of an alligator and a giraffe.  By the time we were finished, Ryan and Ethan had shaving cream up to their elbows and smelled freshly shaven!    

So it was another great day at the Speech Garden.  Here are a few questions to ask your kiddos about their day.  It's a great way to work on answering the tricky WH-questions!

1. What do squirrels eat? acorns

2. Where do squirrels live? nests

3. How many garbage trucks did you see on your walk? two

4. Who might live in a hole in a tree? bunny, mouse, chipmunk....

See you all on Thursday as we continue to talk about winter clothes.  

Also, here's a favorite snowflake video that Ethan and Ryan love!