Saturday, July 21, 2012
breakfast: whole grain organic packcake
I like this mix, easy and healthy. It only takes me about 15 minutes to make the pancakes in the morning. We have this pancake on our menu once a week.Our children love the warm, fresh and whole grain taste.
Crafts: coloring sunny caps
Our children colored their own cap this week. They were so proud to wear cap because they were all unique and beautiful.
 |
| coloring my own cap |
 |
| new look |
 |
| unique cap |
The Theme of Sand, Desert and Cactus
This week we together enjoyed the natural wonders of sands, cactus and desert.
Reading: Cactus Hotel
We read a classic children book "Cactus Hotels" together. It was about how the animals shared the giant cactus to make their own each little room in the desert.
Real Cactus
We bought variety of cactus in small pot and showed them to our children. They enjoy using their little fingers to gently touch the thorns. We talked about how much water a cactus needed to survive and the common features of cactus.
Cactus Sculpture
We made green play dough for our children to make "cactus" this week. Then our children were given dry noodles to add thorns to the "sculpture". This was not only a fun group artwork but also a good exercise to enhance the children's small motors as they tried to precisely control the tiny noodle pieces and put them into the dough.
Crafts: Sand Castle
Reading: Cactus Hotel
We read a classic children book "Cactus Hotels" together. It was about how the animals shared the giant cactus to make their own each little room in the desert.
 |
| book of this week |
We bought variety of cactus in small pot and showed them to our children. They enjoy using their little fingers to gently touch the thorns. We talked about how much water a cactus needed to survive and the common features of cactus.
 |
| cactus in small pots |
 |
| talk about desert, sand and cactus |
We made green play dough for our children to make "cactus" this week. Then our children were given dry noodles to add thorns to the "sculpture". This was not only a fun group artwork but also a good exercise to enhance the children's small motors as they tried to precisely control the tiny noodle pieces and put them into the dough.
 |
| make cactus sculpture |
 |
| cactus sculpture |
 |
| cactus sculpture |
 |
| making sand castle |
 |
| sand castle |
Sunday, July 15, 2012
The Theme of Camping
Summer is for camping. Our children have no such experience yet but it does not prevent us from enjoying tent, campfire and all the fun in the nature.
Learn Words about Camping
 |
| Tent set up in backyard with red paper campfire |
 |
| Dramatic play: camping |
 |
| Pretended to Sleep in the Tent |
Arts and Crafts: Collages
Making collage is an important crafting activity for young children. It helps them develop their fine motor skills and provides them with the first hand experience of colors, shapes, patterns and textures. When we have collage projects, we let children create without too much instructions from us. To my surprise, I found their projects always ended up quite aesthetic. I believe those little artists have their own natural taste of beauty that more than what we can teach.
 | ||
| Summer Flower Collage |
 |
| Summer Fish Collage |
 |
| Making Fish Collage |
.
Saturday, July 14, 2012
Home Made Rice Dumpling (粽子)
To celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival, we made rice dumplings with our children and cooked them for our dinner. Our dumplings were made with sticky rice, marinated pork, red bean and peanuts. For most of our children, this was their first time to taste rice dumplings. We were happy to see that most of our children like it very well.
 |
| little helpers are all ready |
 |
| making rice dumplings |
 |
| dinner |
The Theme of July 4th
We had some fun activities to celebrate the 4th of July,
An American History Book
The book was designed for young children, very illustrative and informative. It included all the significant turning points in American history, from Civil War to the Great Depression to Martin Luther King and human rights Children like the image of "Uncle Sam" appeared on each page and they learned to recognize the pattern of the star and stripes flag.
Arts and Crafts: Patriotic Star Artwork
Snack: Patriotic Popsicle
We used cool-aid and yogurt to make this fun snack with our children. Each layer of this Popsicle was frozen separately, the next layer was added when the previous layer become semi-harded in the freezer,
Music and Rhythm: Yankee Doodle
We let our children used instruments to create music rhythm of Yankee Doodle and marched together. It's important that toddlers not only enjoy being part of a group but actively participate in the music making.As they join in they develop confidence and self expression through movement while a solid musical foundation is being laid.
An American History Book
The book was designed for young children, very illustrative and informative. It included all the significant turning points in American history, from Civil War to the Great Depression to Martin Luther King and human rights Children like the image of "Uncle Sam" appeared on each page and they learned to recognize the pattern of the star and stripes flag.
 |
| read American History book |
 |
| drawing stripes on star |
 |
| patriotic star artwork |
 |
| patriotic star artwork |
We used cool-aid and yogurt to make this fun snack with our children. Each layer of this Popsicle was frozen separately, the next layer was added when the previous layer become semi-harded in the freezer,
 |
| pour blue cool-aid |
 |
| in the freezer |
 |
| pour red cool-aid |
 |
| Ready to eat |
We let our children used instruments to create music rhythm of Yankee Doodle and marched together. It's important that toddlers not only enjoy being part of a group but actively participate in the music making.As they join in they develop confidence and self expression through movement while a solid musical foundation is being laid.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)