Thursday- Music Class

Music Class- The kids had fun playing a new instrument today-The Q Chord, check out the video below. They also enjoyed rhythm sticks, singing and dancing and had a good class. Lots of wiggles today, definitely a snowstorm day!

Next week- bring your favorite book to class! We are starting the "Book It For Beginners" program. I thought the kids might enjoy bringing their favorite book with them and sharing it with their friends. We will read it together and I will send it back home again by the end of the week.

Music Class- The Q Chord

Wednesday's Photos

Wednesday- where did the snow go? The kids shoveled ice into piles, dug holes in the ice and played with chalk. They also had fun playing a game of tag on the driveway. The little ones had fun swinging around on the flagpole, they slip, fall, laugh, and get up and do it again.

Tuesday's Photos

Tuesday was really nice out. The kids desperately wanted to build a snowman but the snow wasn't sticky enough. They were able to get three snowballs together after a half hour of work. It was a fun way to spend then morning!

Thursday- Birthday Boy

We celebrated Myles birthday today. The girls made birthday cards before they left for school and Tate (kindergartner) made one during nap time. I was helping spell it out for Tate and he said "wow, there are a lot of "Y's" in Happy Birthday Myles!" I thought it was a funny observation. The kids loved having cupcakes with Myles and singing to him. Birthday boy's little sister ate 1 whole cupcake and two mini banana muffins- I think she is going through a growth spurt!

We also were talking about getting older and growing bigger. The kids started comparing who was bigger. So we put up a height chart and figured out who was the tallest. It is amazing how close most of them are in height for varying from 5 years old to 3 years old.

The kids also had fun playing dress up. The boys were pirates and the girls princesses, of course.

This week so far...warm weather & cold weather activities

We really enjoyed the warmer weather on Monday and Tuesday. The kids were so excited to be able to spend longer periods of time outside. The backyard is a skating rink, the kids thought it was exciting to slip and fall all round but it really didn't excite me. We ended up moving to the front yard and riding big wheels and trikes on the snow and ice-free driveway. They were really excited to use the chalk again too. This group is very active and we really love getting outside.


When it gets cold, we have to get more creative with our activities. We brought one of the outside toys inside and played with it- the jumping stick game. We ended up splitting the groups up into boys and girls groups because as you can see in the videos, the boys really liked having it go fast and wild. The girls preferred slower and a bit easier. It worked well to have different groups. The object is to jump over it or it makes a silly noise and turns off. Everyone got a little exercise, and had to practice a little patience- waiting for their turn.

Boys playing the jumping game.

Girls playing the jumping game.

Valentine's Music Class Photos

Sorry for the delay posting the Valentine's Party photos . We are still battling the cold & flu bug here.

We started out the morning playing guess what is in the Valentine's bag. They could feel and shake the bag to guess what was inside. Each child was able to hand out their Valentine's by matching the name on the card to the name on each bag.

Then we played "find the hearts." I hide colored hearts all over the play rooms and each child had a specific color to find. We actually found all of them!

We also made Valentine's Day cards for Mom & Dad. Lots of glue and glitter!

At the end of the day, we enjoyed Valentine's cookies from Hannah.

We also had music class so it was a really busy day. Preston joined music class for the first time. The kids have to be at least two years old and be able to follow directions and not disrupt class to be able to join. Some days, even the older kids find it challenging to do all of this.

Music Class Video of everyone singing the Valentine's Day Song

What instrument is this? Kristen asks the kids to identify the instrument by sound before she takes it out of the bag and then each one gets to chose the instrument they will play. Preston playing the guitar for the first time at the end of class. Everyone was really good in class so they each had a turn playing the guitar.

Valentine's Cookies- delayed

I really wanted to make cutout sugar cookies today with the kids. We have so many fun Valentine's cookie cutters and they love the little rolling pins. But many of the kids have a really fun cold- coughing, sneezing, and runny noses. So rather then have inedible cookies, I think we will wait. There is no school on Monday (President's Day) so if everyone is feeling better- we'll do them then & the big kids could help!

The decorating process is a lot of fun too- it turns into an art project. I make the powdered sugar frosting a little thinner and we use paint brushes to frost the cookies. They turn out like little paintings. Then they thoroughly coat them with sprinkles so you can't see any of the frosting but we try and encourage them to do a few without the sprinkles!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Blue Faces?

We had waffles with homemade blueberry sauce and eggs this morning. It was a hit with most of the kids and I like that it had much less sugar then regular pancake syrup. It is super easy to make if you are looking for a new treat at home. Costco sells a fantastic bag of frozen wild blueberries- 2 cups frozen blueberries (thawed in microwave), add 2 cups water, and 1/2 cup sugar mixed with 3 tablespoons of cornstarch in a saucepan, bring to a boil for a couple minutes, serve over warm waffles, yum! We had to wash blue faces after breakfast!

It was a fun start to the day. Unfortunately, a cold & flu has been moving through the group. I have been cleaning and bleaching everything to try and keep it to a minimum. Hopefully Spring will be here soon!

Valentine's Projects

The walls are now decorated with the kids projects for Valentine's day. They had a good time making a heart fish and a heart cat. Anything involving glue and googly eyes is a favorite with the kids.

Travel Tots Tuesday

The kids learned about Switzerland today, they played with trains, instruments and an accordion, and learned about compasses. They made their own little compasses.

The kids had a lot of fun figuring out which direction was North, South, East and West.