The Kids Went Fishing!

The children are having a great time as our campground playdays continue.  Yesterday they played with beachballs, had a bar-b-q lunch, and then painted with “mustard and ketchup.”

As always the tent is a big hit!

 

The children squirted “ketchup” and “mustard” onto a grill to make prints prints on paper. 

 

Campground Playdays are Here!

We’ve turned our backyard into a campground for the week and have many fun activities planned to celebrate the end of summer.  Today the children sang songs around the campfire and had a blast playing in the tent and sleeping bags!

An African Safari!

The dinosaur wheelbarrow playscape the children created a few weeks ago was transformed yesterday into an African safari!   The kids loved it!   This is a great activity to engage children in pretend play, practice social interactions and promote language development.  For more info about the importance of pretend play in your child’s life click on this link:  The Importance of Pretend Play | Scholastic.com

Our Very Own Tide Pools!

Today we made our own tide pools!  Authentic Oregon beach sand was put into one of the pools and tropical aquarium gravel was put in the other.  A variety of real shells, coral, and plastic sea life were added to the pools for the kids to examine and play with.  The activity generated much conversation about the children’s real life beach experiences.  The tide pools are a great extension of our sand and water unit.

Campground Playday at Daycare

Today the preschoolers finished their unit study about Oregon. We set up a campground in the gym where they played for the entire day. Children paddled in the canoe on the lake, sang songs around the campfire, and napped in sleeping bags. The toddlers joined us in our celebration for the morning. One even asked if the blue mat was real water! Later in the afternoon we made s’mores at the kitchen gas stove.