The Day it Rained Hearts

*****The children each brought Valentine cards to share with our friends. 


Gathering: Make Bags for Our Valentine Cards

I wanted to make our Valentine mailbags with umbrellas and hearts to go with our book.  

  

Materials needed: White paper bags, small heart stickers, 3 cupcake liners per child (we used cute Valentine themed ones), 3 pipe cleaner halves, glue,crayons, letter stickers for names 

1-Glue cupcake liners upside down to look like umbrellas.  Bend the pipe cleaner to look like an umbrella handle and add it to the bag.  
2-Place heart stickers on the bag to look like it is raining hearts.
3-Add letter stickers for their names.  

4-Place valentine cards inside for our friends.

Circle Time: The Day it Rained Hearts

We read The Day it Rained Hearts by Felicia Bond.  It is a very sweet and simple story of a little girl who makes Valentines for all of her animal friends one day that it rained hearts from the sky.


 We sang a sweet song together after our story.  My little girl has sang it all week long. 


I wrote one letter on each of five hearts, and took one away each time we sang the song. 

Heart-o (tune of bingo) Instead of clapping, we blew kisses, each time we took a heart letter away.

“There is a word and it means love and heart is it’s name-o.
H-e-a-r-t.  H-e-a-r-t. H-e-a-r-t and Heart is it’s name-o.”


Art: Heart Garland

In the story the little girl strings together 7 hearts to make one of the valentines.  

Materials Needed: 7 large hearts per child (hole punch the hearts on each side to make for easy threading), yarn or ribbon, glue, crayons, sequins, stickers, any other collage materials you might want to bring

1-It was easiest to FIRST let the children thread their hearts together.
2-Decorate the hearts with collage materials provided to make your own garland. 

 

Snack: Valentine Popcorn, Strawberries, and Pink Milk

We enjoyed yummy Valentine Popcorn we made from this recipe at Nest of Posies. It is VERY ADDICTIVE!

We rounded out the treat with strawberries and pink milk!

Heart Activities

1-Conversation heart scoop “relay”

We had two buckets set up across the room from each other.  One child begins at the starting line next to a bucket filled with conversation hearts. Give each child a measuring cup scoop (Target had heart shaped ones in the dollar section).  The children carried the filled cup and emptied it into the bucket across the room.  Then they returned the cup to the next friend waiting.   

Helpful hint:
Don’t make it a competitive game.  But do supply enough materials for two or three “teams.”  (6 buckets, 3 scoops) That will give each of the children several turns, but still an opportunity to practice taking turns while their partner goes.

2- Let It Rain Hearts

We used paper and foam hearts to rain down on our little ones.
This was a fun idea inspired by Totally Tots!
(Idea based on activity found here).

3-Stacking Conversation Hearts

Give the children large conversation hearts and allow them to try and make the tallest tower they can before it falls.  They loved this game and kept trying over and over again. 

The Snowy Day

All of our activities this week were inspired by the book The Snowy Day by Ezra Keats. 

 

Gathering Activity: Pipe Cleaner Snowflake

 
Materials Needed: White pipe cleaners and pony beads

 

We had the pipe cleaners already cut and placed 3 halves in a bag with the beads ready to go for each individual child to make one. 

 
1-Mommies crossed the three halves to make a star shape.

2-Children threaded beads onto each side of the snowflake. 

Our little ones loved doing this and would have enjoyed making several each.

Circle Time

 

We read The Snowy Day by Ezra Keats.  It is one of my favorite winter children's books.  I love the illustrations.  I love the descriptive narration.   The book is the story of a young boy's adventures playing outside in the snow.   He makes footprints in the snow, makes tracks with a stick, hits a tree, sleds, and makes snow angels.  He tries to save a snowball in his pocket, but of course it melts away.   I think the thing I like most about this book is this author's keen understanding of the thought process of a little boy.  As readers, we discover the snowy world with the sweet little boy who wants so badly to be a big boy.    The text is the perfect length for a read aloud for our twos and threes.

We sang  “Once there was a Snowman.”

Once there was  a snowman, snowman, snowman.

Once there was a snowman TALL, TALL, TALL.  (Reach to the sky).

In the sun he melted, melted, melted.

In the sun he melted. small, small, small.  (Melt into the floor).  

 

If you are unfamiliar with the tune of this song, you can find the music for the song here. 

We also used these cute snowmen I have for our flannel board and sang "One little, two  little, three little snowmen." 

 
 

Art: Marshmallow Snowman

 

We were inspired by the cute Marshmallow snowman found on the website No Time For Flashcards and had to create our own!  It was great fine motor practice.  And only a couple ended up in our little ones' mouths.  Leave it to my cute girl to be the only one to try and eat them after she had dipped them in glue!   

Materials Needed: Glue, marshmallows, construction paper with light pencil outline of a snowman, orange nose, and pens or crayons to draw features on snowman

 
1-Mommy and child trace outline of snowman with glue. 

2-Place marshmallows on the glue outline.

3-Glue on orange nose.

4-Let your child draw features on the snowman.

Snack:  Snow Cones

(The little boy in the story has a snowball that melts and he is sad.  I don’t think our little ones were too sad to eat their snowballs).  

 

We made snow cones using this awesome snow cone maker by Rival.   

We added milk, vanilla, and sugar to the shaved ice.  We wanted our snow cones to stay white like Peter's snow balls.

Activities: Snowball Fight and Shaving Cream

Snowball fight:   We had an indoor snowball fight using the cotton batting.  

 
Painting with Shaving Cream: We let the children make tracks through shaving cream on the table with sticks.  (Peter makes tracks in the snow with a stick).  We thought that the stick might help a couple of our little ones who are hesitant with new textures.  However no one seemed to have a problem with the shaving cream. They all dove right in! 

Ten Fat Turkeys

Ten Fat Turkeys by Tony Johnston

Gathering: Turkey Hats 
We found these super cute turkey hats on Family Fun's website.  We made a couple of modifications to better meet the needs of our group.  We used their template to cut out all the pieces, but we stapled in some places that they glued.

Materials Needed: Construction Paper, cereal box rectangles, paper grocery bag, Googly Eyes, Stapler, Glue Sticks

1-Cut out the pieces for the turkey hat BEFORE class, using the pattern found on the Family Fun Website.

2-Measure your child's head and use the stapler to make a headband with the grocery bag strips.

3-Glue the feathers on the back of the hat.  Glue the wings, one on each side.

4-Glue the beak, eyes, and waddle onto the circle face.

5-STAPLE the cardboard neck onto the hat and then staple the face to the neck so that it is 3-dimensional.

6-Wear your hat and do a NOODLE DANCE!


Circle Time: Ten Fat Turkeys by Tony Johnston

 "Wibble Wobble, Gibble, Gobble. Do a Noodle Dance! Ten Silly Turkeys sitting on a fence!"


We read Ten Fat Turkeys by Tony Johnston. This is a new book to me.  It is a VERY silly book with funny rhymes, bold and goofy pictures.  The kids giggled as each turkey fell off the fence, one at a time, trying to do something really crazy (like roller skate or swan dive).  The length is perfect for our twos and young threes.   There is no moral lesson, no deep meaning, and I don't think it is going to win any awards.  But the pictures tell the fun story and it made our kids (and adults) laugh, and that in and of itself holds merit for me. 


We sang turkey songs during circle time, of course! 

Hello Mr. Turkey (If you are happy and you know it)

Hello Mr. Turkey, how are you, how are you? (clap twice)
Hello Mr. Turkey how are you, how are you? (clap twice)
With a gobble, gobble, gobble and a wobble, wobble, wobble (clap twice)
Hello Mr. Turkey how are you how are you?

Thanksgiving Day

"Said, Mr. Turkey, I want to play. Gobble, Gobble, Gobble, Gobble, Gobble.
But soon it will be Thanksgiving Day. Gobble, Gobble, Gobble, Gobble.
Folks all say that means great fun, but I think I'll run, run, run.
And hide until the day is done. Gobble, Gobble, Gobble, Gobble, Gobble.

Turkey Hunt Flannel Board Activity

I have had this poem since I student taught 16 years ago.  I wish I knew who to give credit for.  

I printed turkey pictures off on the colors of construction paper mentioned in the hunt.  After I said each verse, a child came and chose that color and place it on the board.  (My board is getting pretty matted, I think I need a new one for Christmas).  When the moms were packing up to go home, the kids came back to this activity again.

I'm going on a turkey hunt, just for fun.

Don't need a bow and arrow, don't need a gun.

I'm going on a turkey hunt, so up and out of bed.

I'm looking for a turkey with his feathers painted RED!

I'm going on a turkey hunt. You can come too.

Let's look for the turkey with its feathers painted BLUE!

I'm going on a turkey hunt. It might take all day.

I need to find a turkey with its feathers painted GRAY!

I'm going on a turkey hunt, my eyes are so keen.

I'm sure to spot a turkey with its feathers painted GREEN!

I'm going on a turkey hunt. Id' better not wink,

Or I might miss the turkey with its feathers painted PINK!

I'm going on a turkey hunt, that bird's a funny fellow.

Especially the one with its feathers painted YELLOW!

I'm going on a turkey hunt. I think I see a track.

It must be the turkey with its feathers painted BLACK!

I'm going on a turkey hunt. I'll look all around,

Until I find that turkey with its feathers painted BROWN!

I'm going on a turkey hunt. I'll look all night.

Until I find that turkey with its feathers painted WHITE!

I'm going on a turkey hunt, I've spotted a turtle.

I must keep looking until I find a turkey painted PURPLE!

I'm going on a turkey hunt. It hasn't been boring.

I'm hunting for the last turkey with his feathers painted ORANGE!

Well, I went on a turkey hunt, just for fun ,

And I found those turkeys ~ each and every one!

Art: Handprint Bean Turkey 

I fell in LOVE with this adorable turkey I saw on The Idea Room. I was so excited to have our kids do this one!  Hers were beautiful. But alas, sometimes we do crafts, and they don't turn out the way I thought.  Not that I don't think our children's art work is beautiful, but this time it didn't turn out quite the way I pictured it would.  I think our problem was, we chose to trace the KID's hands for our turkeys.  They were just a little too small to actually tell they were turkeys after we added all the pretty beans and corn.  Or maybe the kids added too much?  Not sure.  But I think the key would have been to use MOMMY's hand and then let the kids create the collages.


Materials Needed: Paper plates, pencils, glue, a variety of beans, lentils, and dried corn.  Spiral noodles for the waddle.  (you don't need the staplers, they were just still there from the turkey hats).

1-Trace a hand (probably a mom hand) onto your paper plate.

2-Apply glue just on the inside of the handprint.

3-Create a collage using the beans, lentils, and corn.

4-Add a turkey noodle waddle.  (Then do a NOODLE DANCE)!

Snack: Turkey Gobbler Fruit Kabobs

Our area was out of melons the week of our Turkey Mommy and Me!  We ate the fun kabobs, pictured, but alas, we had no melon to create the body.  We also had yummy popcorn and pumpkin marshmallows! However what we had planned on making this guy.  You can find the directions here.

Activities: Turkey Pokey and Turkey Hop  

Turkey Pokey (to the tune of Hokey Pokey) Let the children pretend to be turkeys. Have them stand in a circle, and sing: You put your right wing in, You put your right wing out, You put your right in And you shake it all about. You do the Turkey pokey and you turn yourself around. That's what its all about! Gobble Gobble!  (Continue with left wing, Your tail feathers, drumsticks, beaks and of course at the end you put your whole turkey in)!

Turkey Hop (The song and instructions are found at macaroni soup).

Are You My Mother?

Our Mommy and Me Class enjoyed the book Are You My Mother? by PD Eastman this week.    

Gathering Activity: Bird Seed Sensory Table 

We played together outside in our sand table that I had filled with bird seed, toy birds, feathers, plastic bugs, measuring cups, and magnifying glasses.  The children enjoyed pretending to be birds.  And any that fell on the ground would be safe for our little animal friends to enjoy.  We ended a few minutes early and the children were able to come back outside and enjoy the activity again.  It was a favorite and no one was happy when it was time to go home.  



Circle Time:  Are You My Mother? by PD Eastman 

We open circle each week by singing “Here We Are Together.”  


BEFORE I READ: I gave each child and all of the mothers a plastic bird  figurine to hold during the story.  We used these during the story and finger plays.  The moms were able to model how to act out the story with their own birds. 

Are You My Mother? is a pretty lengthy read a loud for two year olds.  I invited the children to participate with the story while I read.  So when the baby bird looked up, they made their birds look up.  When the baby bird fell down out of the nest, their birds fell down to the ground (over and over and over again).  When the baby bird asked if the cat was his mommy, the children all asked the same question.

We sang two bird songs:  “In the Leafy Tree Tops” and “We will find a little nest”
 

We did the finger play "Two Little Blackbirds."


Two little blackbirds
Sitting on a wall;
One named Peter,
The other named Paul.
Fly away Peter!
Fly away Paul!
Come back Peter!
Come back Paul! 

Art: Paint with Feathers 

Materials Needed: Poster board, bird feathers, red, brown, and yellow paint.

We cut out a large bird outline/silhouette on a quarter sheet of poster board  for each child.  We gave the children feathers to use as paintbrushes.  We provided red, brown and yellow paint, like the colors in the book.

Snack: Jello Jigglers Eggs

One of our moms had the Jello egg mold and made Jello Jiggler Eggs for the kids.  We also ate cheese cubes and apple slices.  

Activity: Musical Nests

We played Musical Nests.  One Mom made 7 large brown nests out of vinyl she found at the fabric shop.  Construction paper would work, as well.  But these will last longer and can be used throughout the year.  We  played bird themed music she downloaded to her iPod. .  While the music was playing, we all pretended to fly around the room together.  When it stopped, we flew to a nest and sat down.   (or put the next on our heads).  Never take any nests away.  There should always be enough for everyone.