Fall Votive Candle Holders

Many fall activities are happening in the preschool class.  Last week the children made beautiful votive candle holders for their families to use at Thanksgiving.  

Ball canning jars were painted with Mod Podge that was slightly thinned with some water.  This makes it easier for the children to paint the glue onto the jars.

The teachers cut leaves out of tissue paper in fall colors then the Children put them onto the jars.

Mod Podge was painted over the leaves.

I  love E’s focus and concentration.

Other fall activities include playing with pumpkin pie play dough, a turkey color matching activity at the light table, counting mini pumpkins while learning one t0 one correspondence, and learning Chinese food vocabulary with Gao Laoshi.  This week the preschool class will make pumpkin pies to share with their baby home friends and teachers.

Little Pandas Preschool

Caterpillars & Butterflies

The preschool class has been studying the butterfly life cycle.  This photo is one of the ten butterflies that we watched grow from a caterpillar and emerge as a butterfly.

Larvae were ordered from Carolina Biological Supply.

The children were fascinated with the caterpillars and checked them daily for growth.  They also read The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle.

Insect specimens inside acrylic blocks showing the butterfly life cycle were set out at the science table for children to explore.

Gao, Laoshi has been teaching the children Chinese vocabulary related to butterflies.

After the butterflies emerged they were released from the habitat.

While I was on vacation I visited the Smithsonian’s Butterfly exhibit.  These are a few of the pictures I took to share with the children.

Little Pandas Preschool

Styrofoam Root Observation Box

The preschoolers have been learning about seeds and plants.  Last week they sprouted some bean seeds with wet paper towels inserted into sandwich bags.  This week they planted carrot and radish seeds in a styrofoam cooler made into an observation box.

I cut window openings on both sides of the cooler and then used duct tape to secure the 10″ x 6″ plexi glass windows to the inside of the cooler.  Our local hardware store was able to cut the plexi glass from scrap they had on hand.

A meat thermometer was used to poke holes in the bottom of the cooler.

The children lined the bottom of the cooler with pea gravel and then filled it with potting soil.

Carrot seeds were planted on one side of the cooler and radishes on the other side.

The seeds were covered with a layer of top soil and then watered.

The children will observe their carrot and radish garden each day and then get to eat the produce that results.

Little Pandas Preschool