Imagine

This activity was a bit more structured than the last one. After reading a book about the life cycle of the butterfly I asked the children if they would draw it for me, each stage on a different piece of paper. This work is displayed in our red room.

We introduced a new medium, wire. The great thing about wire is that it is light, easy to bend, and can be reshaped multiple times. The children made lovely sculptures of butterflies and caterpillars. With the spring celebration coming up we wanted to find a way to display the sculptures for our parents to see. We decided we would try clay. The children came up with some great ideas. The wire and clay sculptures are on the window sill in our red room.

The children already knew a lot about caterpillars and butterflies but we found out through group discussion there were many things they wanted to know. Some of the things they knew were: caterpillars turn into butterflies,caterpillars are not insects and butterflies are, caterpillars make cocoons, butterflies have "exoskeletons". Some of the questions they had were: How do butterflies eat?,why do caterpillars have silk on their bodies?,do butterflies poop?, Are butterfly wings feathers? We read books about butterflies and in the studio the children put to life some of the things they knew and some of the things they were learning about butterflies. Some children worked alone and some worked together. With various materials like, sticks,tissue paper and glue the children created visual representations of their knowledge. We hung their work on the wall and on the branch in our studio. We learned that butterflies do not have feathers they have win...

The children drew their favorite part of the book "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" On white paper they used pencils,crayons and markers. It was interesting to see what each child decided to draw. Their creations are hanging in the studio for everyone to enjoy.

This year's spring celebration is more than meets the eye. It has been a journey of discovery for our preschool. About a month ago the children became extremely curious about the caterpillars popping up all over our playground.Because of this interest we read "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle. At the same time we were trying to come up with ideas for this years spring performance. We asked the children if they would be interested in turning the story into a play and there was an astounding yes! We wanted this to be a group collaboration so we set out asking questions..."what kind of costumes should we have, what should they be made out of and how can we make them?" The children had some terrific ideas! We then set out to bring some of their ideas to life. We put various materials out on the the table and let the children design their own caterpillar masks. We put watercolor paint in spray bottles and the children dyed the wings. The...

 On a beautiful sunny day the children decided that it would be nice to have snack outside. We started talking about patterns and before we knew it they were making patterns with their snack!

Most of the activities we did for numbers week are always available in our work room.These are materials they work with throughout the year. The children spent a lot of time writing their numbers as well.