Big Energy-Little Learners...Can I do it all?

We just finished up a week of opposites and this science experiment, dancing raisins , was suggested to go along with the theme.  It is suggested because the raisins go up and down (which are opposites) during the experiment. Materials; 1/4 glass of water 4 T vinegar 3 t baking soda some raisins We do not have clear glasses but I had a mason jar so we used that.    Fill the glass 1/4 of the way with water then add the vinegar.  Next add the baking soda slowly.  Drop in the raisins.  Then it is a waiting game.  The instructions did say you would be waiting for awhile but after 20 minutes with no movement from the raisins we were doubting the experiment would work.  We added more vinegar and baking soda thinking that the mason jar is bigger then most glasses so the solution may be deluded.  We tried small amounts at first then added larger amounts until we had the effect of overflowing.  We waited some ...

Bible The second half of the week we took our understanding of Mary and Martha a bit further by acting it out.  Putting on their shoes per say. The Dragons used the felt board for a retelling. They also used puppets to act out the story.  We continued to focus on our bible verse as well.  We played a matching game and did a simple craft.  I printed out 2 sets of the bible verse and cut each word out.  We used the pieces for a matching game.   After all the matches were found all the pieces were put back in the middle face up.   The Dragons then put the verse together in the right order from start to finish and glued it onto a blue piece of paper. Blue Little Dragon colored his blue dinosaurs for his color book. Many of our activities incorporated blue without the sole focus being on blue. Alphabet To decorate the letter o printout the dragons used bottle caps.  This was a really fun activity, a new way to pain...

This is the second time we have tried discovery bottles and this time the results were much better then the first. The first time I made the discovery bottle.  All The Dragons wanted to do with it was open it up to see what was inside instead of looking at the items through the bottle. This time I set out different items and let the kids create their own discovery bottle.  One thing we were focusing on this week was the color blue, that is why there blue items.  The cotton balls I added because I thought it would be fun for them to push inside the bottles.  I would have never thought to add clothespins to a discovery bottle, I got this idea from my lesson plan at motherhoodonadime .  The discovery bottles were a mathematical science activity. Who knew putting stuff into a bottle could be called science and math!  We started with a question: How many items can you fit in the bottle? How many clothespins?  How many cotton balls?...

Focusing on opposites was a ton of fun!  I wish we had more time to go over this.  Not because it was the kids weren't catching on but because there are endless opposite activities.   The one thing we did not get to do due to scheduling is have an opposite day.  That would have been awesome. Bible Story is Mary and Martha.  Mary and Martha are different and they react differently when Jesus enters their home.  Even in the pictures you can see they Mary sitting and Martha standing.  They are opposite, which is our main theme this week. Bible Verse: " Be still and know that I am God." -Psalm 46:10 After our first reading of Mary and Martha we took  the morning to be still like Mary before being busy like Martha. We discussed: What the differences or opposites are between Mary and Martha. Why Mary made the right choice.  Why Martha was mad. I wanted to make sure The Dragons understood that it is okay and good to serve others, but we...

Even though our days are pretty full and busy of fun hands on activities my children never stop moving!  I am not exaggerating either.  When I say Big Energy I am not joking.  After all the preschool we do The Dragons are still ready to run around and have a good time. Here are a couple activities we have done outside of our curriculum.  Played Lego's.   We play Lego's often.  When Barbies are out so are the Lego's.  When cars are out so are the Lego's. The Dragons play Lego's in the tub a lot too. Go on a quest.  This is an often occurrence.  We give The Dragons a quest like finding a special flower at a far away lake to heal their precious stuffed animals.   They ride their pet dragon to far away lands to complete their tasks.  Play with Play Dough   Play dough comes out a lot.  It is easy to get to and easy to play with.  The most common thing played wi...

When we were studying our senses I had wanted to spend 1 day on each sense.  I had a bit of a hard time coming up with fun nose activities aside from blindfolding and smelling. I wanted The Dragons to see how noses are different so we did profile art.  We taped a piece of paper to the wall where there was plenty of sun then The Dragons stood in the sun to cast a shadow on the paper.  I traced the shadow.  Doll Dragon Little Dragon After their profiles were traced and they saw their faces they were stoked!  It was really neat for them to see their own face on paper.  I left decorating completely up to The Dragons.  I gave a couple pointers such as only needing 1 eye but I didn't press it.  Although I did give them some Mary Kay sample lip liner to use for some outlining.  They turned out amazing!  The Dragons were both very proud of their masterpieces. :)