Crazy for Crickets

S sings her made up song:  "Bugs! Bugs!  I love bugs!"  but VA says "I don't like bugs."  But only until I point out that butterflies and ladybugs are bugs.  Then she revises her statement to be "I don't like bugs except for ladybugs and butterflies."
After Pops caught some crickets for us, VA had to revise her statement again because she decided she likes crickets too.

Duplo Legos

 The V's are on a Duplo Lego kick!  It's their new favorite thing to play with each day.

I recently purchased a Duplo number train set to help with counting and number recognition, but instead it has started a craze for building towers and bunny houses with the V's.

They are so focused when they're building!  And we usually end up using every single brick!  So now I've got to get more sets, but it's shocking to me just how expensive Legos are nowadays!

I wish Pops could find my old Duplos from when I was a kid.  I'm sure they're in his basement somewhere!

Exploring local parks

Our normal park is Jacobus, but lately we've been exploring more of our local parks including:  Hawthorn Glen, Hart Park, Valley Park, Washington Park, and Highland Park.  We are really lucky that there are so many great parks within walking distance!  I like the variety but the girls still prefer Jacobus best.

Today's Harvest

One of B's favorite activities is picking flowers and vegetables from the garden.  So far this year, we've harvested:

4 Zucchinis
2 Yellow Squash
7 Cucumbers
Lots of Yellow Wax Beans
Lots and lots of Cherry Tomatoes & SunSugar Tomatoes
Some Snap Peas
Lettuce, Spinach, Arugula, other salad greens, and Swiss Chard
and every couple of days we get a handful of Strawberries (which are B's favorite)

Print awareness & counting to 10, 15, 20...

Number Awareness / Counting Activities:

* Hopscotch

* Connect-The-Dots

* Hide & Go Seek

* Counting Books

* Number Puzzles 

* Number Mazes

* Number Coloring Pages
* Counting "How many?" of different items

* Number Stickers
* Beginning Board Games

etc.

Veggies from the garden

Our garden is really starting to produce veggies for us.  I don't have to purchase many veggies on my weekly shopping trips anymore - now they're coming fresh picked from the garden!  So far, this summer, we've eaten yellow wax beans, swiss chard, tomatoes, toy choi (baby bok choi), strawberries, and zucchini all from our garden here.

Girls play well together

Our beans are growing!

The bean seeds that L and I planted last week have now sprouted.  We planted green string beans and yellow wax bush beans.

And the pea seeds that V planted are just beginning to sprout too.

Let's paint!

Here's a beautiful painting by S using tempera paints.  Kids are such natural artists!

I purchased some larger paper and the girls have been enjoying making larger works of art.

Outdoor play area is all set up for the season!

 Well, I've got our outdoor play area all set up for the summer season now.

There is an adult size table with umbrella and a kid size one too.  There is a sand table and a separate water table.  There is our play house and a little slide.  There is also a shaded seating area for when the sun is really hot.

Recently, I've purchased a couple more riding toys, a magnetic fishing set, a plastic bowling set, more bouncy balls, a couple of sand & water mills, and some more sand toys too.  There are plenty of things for the kids to do outside now and they've been loving their outside time each day.

I've also gotten around to planting and setting up all the pots in my container garden.  In addition to flowers, I'm also growing 15 containers of fruits, veggies, and herbs.

On Monday, L helped me plant bean seeds in one of the raised beds in the front yard.  He did a great job and enjoyed watering it with the hose after we finished.

Today, V helped me plant snap pea seeds in a large container out back.  She likes the helper role and did a really great job too.

L's Animal Stack

The kids all love stickers.  Here's a picture that L made using animal stickers.  I love that he always puts so much thought into his placement of the stickers.  He came up with the idea of having the animals standing up on each other shortly after we read The Musicians of Bremen.

Butterfly release - take two

Today we released the last 5 butterflies.  The girls were so sweet and gentle as they watched the butterflies leave the habitat.  A couple of butterflies had gotten their wings wet, so they hung around for a bit while their wings dried in the sun.  V sang them sweet little songs.  And S timidly placed plastic grapes (toy play food) near them as a kind of offering.  So cute!

Butterfly release - take one

We released the first 5 butterflies today!  Maybe it was just the weather, but it seemed like the butterflies that had emerged first were starting to get restless.  I didn't want to risk them damaging their wings so we moved up our release date to today.

We were hoping that they'd stick around for a bit and land on the kids' brightly colored shirts, but that didn't happen.  As soon as the butterflies found their way out of the butterfly habitat, they took off!  Each one flew up high, over the house and they were gone.  L was pretty disappointed.

We saved 5 butterflies to release tomorrow since S wasn't here today to see this.

All our butterflies have now emerged!

Our butterflies have now emerged!  

The kids are looking forward to when they get to release them next week.  

Our caterpillars have formed their chrysalises

Today the kids were using their sleep mats, sheets, blankets, and pillows to pretend that they were caterpillars.  First they said they were really hungry and they "ate" their pillows and blankets (which they told me were leaves).  Then they crawled between their sheets and mats which they pretended were their cocoons.  Finally they emerged as "beautiful butterflies" and ran around the living room flying with their new wings.

It made me feel so good to see the kids playing like this.  It was entirely initiated by them and I just got to watch and take pictures.  We had recently been reading a lot of butterfly life cycle books, but I wasn't sure if any of it was sinking in.  Now I know they understand!  All of our caterpillars have formed their chrysalises now.  I can't wait until they emerge as butterflies.  I think the kids will really get it all once they see that happen.

Another cool kid app

We found another cool kid app called BUGS AND BUTTONS.  You can find out more about it at this website:  http://www.littlebitstudio.com/bugsandbuttons.html 

L absolutely loves this app.  It's not just one game, it's actually 18 different games all involving bugs (which he loves!) and buttons.  He gets to play it for 20 minutes at the end of the day if he makes it through the entire day without getting a time-out.  I think the mazes might be his favorite part but he likes all the games too.  It's not just about having fun either - most of the games are designed to incorporate early math skills like sorting, counting, and number recognition.  It's a very cool kid app!

Cool Kid Apps

A few times each week, the kids get to play with my iPod Touch or my mom's iPhone.   We're always on the lookout for some cool kid apps.  Here are some that the kids really like:

3 yr old L likes anything Toca Boca - especially Toca Kitchen, Toca Hair Salon, and Toca Doctor.  You can find out more about these apps on their website:  http://tocaboca.com


He also likes Toddler's Seek & Find and Phone 4 Kids (specifically the painter program). These are all apps that he can do on his own.

1 yr old S likes all the Fisher-Price apps - especially the Laugh & Learn ones.  You can find out more about these apps on the Fisher-Price website.  The monkey is her favorite Fisher-Price character.

She also likes Peekaboo Pets, Raising A Baby, and Kids Songs Collection.

 

Cute Kids

S doing some dancing. 

L's arrangement of animals.

Getting out on a nice day

 We took advantage of the nice weather today and got out to Washington Park for some fresh air and outdoor play.  It felt good to feel the sunshine.  L even decided to wear some shades.

We visited all the nature pod playgrounds.  There were lots of kids there because of it being Easter break.

The kids have gotten so good at climbing since the last time we got out to a playground.  I was really impressed with how fast L could climb up the different climbing structures.

What's cooking?

I love it when S gets a chance to do some pretend playing all by herself, without anyone interrupting her.  She likes to dress the part.  Want to know what she's got cooking in the oven?  I think its FROGS!  Kids are so funny!

Dancing & Playing Dress-up

All the kids love to dance and play dress up.  We've got a variety of hats, tutus, sunglasses, costumes, purses and accessories.  I always check out the dollar section at Target for anything that we could use.

Playing with little Legos

After nearly a year of asking, Pops has finally started to bring over my Legos from when I was a kid!  L is so happy about this.  But now I've got another task on my hands:  cleaning, sorting, and rebuilding!  We've got a few buildings back together so far, and L has been enjoying playing with them everyday during S's nap.  Now I need more storage space!

Joy!

Valentines

Here's a Valentine that S made.  Kids love glue and stickers!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Kids Love to Make Music

The girls love music!  They love to sing, dance, and make their own music too!  I've made an effort to get a bunch of kid instruments for the daycare.  We've got a keyboard, a guitar, cymbals, bells, a triangle, a tambourine, a rainmaker, a couple of shakers, rhythm sticks, a bodhran drum, a floor tom drum, and a glockenspiel.  And of course I've got more instruments on my wish list like some bongos, an accordion, an electric violin, and more and more and more!

Kid Art

Tempera painting by L
"Three Womans"

Tempera painting by V
"Fireworks"

Box Fort

We used the empty shipping boxes that our Youngstar grant items arrived in to build a super awesome box fort!  I wish I had remembered to take more pictures of it because this one doesn't show too much about it.  There was a tunnel and secret doors, and a boat, and cave paintings on the walls and lots more.  The kids were so excited about it and played with it for days until it finally broke apart and got recycled.

Kids Love Containers

Kids totally love to put things into containers and then dump them out.  Sometimes this feels like my entire day:  dump it out, pick it up, dump it out again, etc. etc.  We've got baskets....

We've got bug cages...

purses to fill...

shopping carts....

little suitcases....

and so much more!

Tape Collection Artwork

Here's a picture that V made using a variety of tape.  

It was an easy and fun project to do together.

Youngstar rating

I received the results of my Youngstar assessment and my daycare has been rated at 3 stars.  I actually received enough points (24 out of 40) to qualify for a 4 star rating, but because I've been open for less than a year, the highest rating I could get was only 3 stars.

If you haven't already heard about Youngstar, it is the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families 5 star daycare quality rating system.  You can find out more by going to their website at:  http://dcf.wisconsin.gov/youngstar/ .

I've heard that most family daycare providers just accept the automatic 2 star rating that they are given, but I knew I could do better than that.  I'm glad that I opted for the informal assessment and coaching.  Next year I plan on going for a 5 star rating with a formal assessment and because of the help I received this year, I know exactly what I will have to do to get the highest rating.

Also worthwhile was the $500 Youngstar grant that I received.   With it, my daycare got a new toddler height table that seats 6, a toddler sized sofa, a shatterproof mirror, and 6 chairs of varying of heights specifically for toddlers.  My daycare kids love the new furniture!