Ten Red Apples

Ten Red Apples by Pat Hutchens



Gathering Activity: Apple Pie Play Dough Exploration 

This play dough smells soooo good!  We used the recipe found here at The Picky Apple.
The children had fun exploring with the play dough and fall cookie cutters. 





Circle Time: Ten Red Apples

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



We read Ten Red Apples by Pat Hutchens.  This is a colorful rhyming book that counts down from ten apples to no apples as the farmer's animals each come and eat one of the apples.  In the end, they discover another tree filled with apples for the farmer's wife to use to make a pie.

While I read the story, the children took turns coming up with their moms and picking an apple off of our own apple tree.  Together we counted down with the story.

 Fingerplay:  

“Way up high in the apple tree, (point to the sky) 3 little apples smiled at me. (show three fingers)  I shook that tree as hard as I could, (pretend to shake the tree) down came an apple. (fall on the floor)  Mmmm, it was good.” (rub your tummy)



Art: Fingerprint Apple Tree

Materials Needed: construction paper, green paint, brown paint, glue, and red hots.

1-Use brown fingerpaint to create a tree trunk with thumprints.

2-Use green fingerpaint to create the leaves on the tree with thumbprints. 

3-Glue 10 red hot candies on the tree.  

Snack: Red Apples


We enjoyed red apple slices, of course!  We added three special dips: chocolate, peanut butter, and whipped topping.

Activity: Apple Hunt

We scattered paper apples outside on the ground and let the children hunt for them and place them in their basket.  

The idea was inspired by an idea found on Chasing the Goose.



Closing: Good-bye Poem  

Llama, Llama Red Pajama

Gathering Activity:  Bedtime Stories

Our kids came dressed in jammies.  We read bedtime stories with our mommies with pillows and blankets on the floor.   

Circle Time:  Llama, Llama Red Pajama 


We opened by singing "Here We Are Together."  

We read Llama, Llama Red Pajama by Anna Dewdney.  This is a fabulous read aloud for toddlers and preschoolers.  The book has bold and colorful pictures that capture the emotions of the main characters perfectly!  It is the perfect length and the rhymes are fun! And the subject matter is one that little ones (and their moms) will find familiar.  Baby Llama doesn't want to say goodnight.  He pouts and shouts and stomps.  Mama Llama teaches him about patience and comforts him in his distress.

As I read the story, I had the children mimic Baby Llama as he pouted, whined, stomped, etc...  And then of course, all of the Mamas kissed their own little "llamas" at the end.



Finger Play and Song:

We sang "There were ten in the bed."   

We ended Circle Time as we do each week, by singing "Shake Our Sillies Out" (Then we did the things Llama does in the story...stomp our sillies out, shout our sillies out, cry our sillies out, etc...).


Snack: Red food

We enjoyed strawberries, raspberries, Baby bell cheeses, watermelon, and red peppers.  

ART: Llama, Llama Red Pajama Paper Bag Puppet

***Print pieces on card stock.  Have all pieces pre-cut before class.  Too much cutting for little ones ability or attention span.  :)   


Materials Needed: Paper Bag, Glue Stick, Crayons, and Templates.

Here are templates you can use to piece together.  

Print the llama mask for the puppet’s face. 


Llama Face



One of our moms drew llama pajamas for the children to color red. 

But if you don't have an artist in your group, you could use the template for a santa suit, below, just printing and cutting out the arms and shirt.  


Santa Suit Template


Assemble the pieces to make your own Llama in Pajamas puppet!

My daughter loves her puppet!  She makes it say "Mama Llama loves you so!" and gives me a big kiss!



Activities: Wake-Up Game and Blanket Parachute Fun 


Wake Up Game: Have the children pretend to go to sleep.  The Mama calls “Wake Up, Llamas in Pajamas!” and the kids all “wake up!”  (A simple game, but lots of fun for this age).  

Blanket Parachute Game: Use a large, thin quilt or sheet (that you are fine with bringing outside) and play parachute games with the blanket.  Let each mom and little one hold part of the blanket.  Shake the blanket, lift in the air to make a tent for the little ones to get under.    Place balls in the middle of the blanket and shake, etc... (It rained on our Mommy and Me day, so we played this one inside).

Closing: Goodbye Poem

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. 

Brown Bear, Brown Bear

Today was our first Mommy and Me Book Club of the school year.  We have 7 super cute 2 year olds and their Mommies. 

Gathering Activity:  Make Brown Bear Necklace with Mommy.

Materials Needed: Pictures of Brown Bear Characters, Yarn with ends taped to prevent fraying, foam beads, crayons

We had pictures of the book characters printed on card stock and cut out with a hole punch BEFORE class. We provided multiples of each animal in case EVERYONE wanted the same one.  The children selected a picture to color.  Then with their mommies, they strung the animal on their necklace and added colorful beads.   They may or may not want to wear these.  


We found this activity and pictures of the animals to use at Making Learning Fun.  As the mommies and children finished before the others, they read stories together in the living room and waited for circle time to start. 


Circle Time:  Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See? 

We introduced our friends and sang “Here We Are Together.” 

I selected Brown Bear, Brown Bear as our first read aloud of the year because I knew all of the children were familiar with the book.  The repetitive, sing song nature of the story and bright pictures of recognizable animals make it a perfect book for twos and threes.  The kids  and moms all read the book aloud with me!  The children were all very attentive because they were all involved in "telling the story."

After reading the story, we let the children take turns placing animals into a clank can to help retell the story.  We called one child up at a time and gave everyone two turns.  It was a great opportunity to practice waiting, taking turns, and practice saying each other's name.

 Everyone asks, “Molly, Molly what do you see?”  She selects any animal of her choice and puts it in the can.   “I see the blue horse looking at me.”    Then the next child picks up one of the animals and we ask them, “Maggie, Maggie, what do you see?”  She picks up the purple cat.  “I see the purple cat looking at me.”  

After the Clank Jar game, we closed with an alternative version of the song “Shake My Sillies Out”  

After we shake, then we “Fly” our sillies out around the room like a bird, "crawl" our sillies out on all fours like a dog, "stomp" our sillies out around like a bear, "swim: like a fish, "gallop" like a horse, "quack" like a duck.

Art Activity:Brown Bear Collage Art

We found this great art project on the Gummy Lump blog.

Materials Needed: Brown Bear Outline from the blog link above, glue, small foam brushes, 2 googly eyes per child, brown materials for collage (We used ground coffee, brown rice, brown beans, cinnamon, nutmeg, torn paper).

1-Allow each child to "paint" their bear with glue.

2-Sprinkle the materials of their choice on the bear outline to cover as much of the bear as they wish.

3-Add the googly eyes.

Snack:  Bear Bread and Fruit Salad 

One of our moms made homemade wheat bread that she baked in a bear shaped cake pan.   Another mom made a rainbow fruit salad that included the colors from our book!

Hands-On Activity:   Rainbow Rice Exploration

Our little M&Ms had a great time pouring, measuring, and scooping rainbow rice in our rice table. We included colorful scoops, balls, alphabet letters, and plastic bears. 

If you have never dyed rice before, you can find great directions on Totally Tots.   It is VERY EASY!

 

Henry and the Buccaneer Bunnies

****The children were invited to come dressed as pirates.

Gathering Activity: Pirate Spy Glasses 

A mom made these ahead of time for each child using directions found here at DLTK.

The children added pirate and beach themed stickers to make it their own.

Circle Time:  Henry and the Buccaneer Bunnies 

by Carolyn Crimi 

This is by far one of my son's favorite books.  It is full of pirates (who are not scary) and is also so very funny.  The illustrations are fabulous, rich in detail that add to the story.  It is also one of my favorite to read as well. There are lots of humorous parts that the children get, and even more humorous references that the adult literature loving reader will appreciate.   It is a funny book about "fearsome" bunnies who are pirates.  The leader of these bunny pirates is the very embarrassed father to a book loving son who prefers READING to doing normal pirate things.    In the end, the son's vast knowledge gained from reading books saves the entire crew from certain disaster.  The Captain decides that books are the best treasure of all!  (A perfect theme for our very last Mommy and Me of the year)!



We sang lots of fun pirate songs and did finger plays that I found here on the Born Librarian Blog.  They were so much fun!  I highly recommend you check them out!  The kids favorite was "One Eyed Jake!"

Snack: Sandcastle Cake and Pirate Boats

One of the moms has a wonderful Williams and Sonoma Pan that she used to make this awesome Sandcastle Cake.

Another mom, modified this adorable ship found on the blog Cooking With My Kid.   These were a hit!  (I see myself making a lot of these boats this summer for my kids). 

Art: Treasure Chest

We purchased little mini treasure chests for each child to paint.  They also got to place little sticker gems on their treasure chests.  All of their older siblings wanted one too when they came home from school!

Games: Pin the Patch on the Pirate and Pirate Ring Toss

Pin the Patch on the Pirate: One of our artistic moms created this awesome pirate game.  The children took turns pinning the patch on the pirate.  (Special tip:  use an airplane sleep mask as a blindfold)!

Pirate Ring Toss:  The same mom had purchased this game for her children's birthday parties.  Our Mommy and Me friends had a great time playing with it!  Oriental Trading Post had them, but they are out of stock currently.

Good-Bye Class

Today was our last class this year.  We had a fun time trying to get pictures of our little class together!  I will miss all of my little friends and their moms!  Thanks for sharing this fun adventure!  (We will be back in the fall with a new group of Mommies and friends)! 

The Little Red Hen

Gathering Activity:  Barn Fun

We played with the Fisher Price Little People Barn and animals while we waited for our friends to arrive.

Circle Time:  The Little Red Hen

We read the traditional version of the story of The Little Red Hen.  The kids enjoyed the story.  We had a good talk at the end of the book about how it wasn't very polite for the red hen to offer the bread, if she knew she wasn't going to share. 

We sang Old McDonald Had a Farm. 

We also sang this song to the tune of "Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush."
"This is the way we plant our seed...so early in the morning."
"This is the way we water our plant....."
"This is the way we reap the wheat...."
"This is the way we grind the wheat..."
"This is the way we make the bread..."
"This is the way we eat the bread..."

Snack and Activity: Making Biscuits

We made biscuits together with the kids from scratch.  Just use your favorite biscuit recipe.  We also ate some of our jam from last week! 

Art: Little Red Hens

While our biscuits were baking, we made these adorable hens we found on Making Learning Fun.  We made them our own by painting them red and gluing red feathers and googly eyes.  I LOVED the way these turned out! 


We had planned on playing Animal Sound Bingo with the children when we were finished with snack and art, but they all wanted to go back and play with the Little People Barn.  So...we let them!  

Jamberry by Bruce Degen

Gathering Activity: Strawberry Streamers

Materials Needed: sturdy paper plate, variety of colored streamers cut into lengths, clip art of large strawberry coloring sheet, crayons, glue

Directions: Allow the children to color their strawberries.  Then glue streamers onto the bottom of the paper plate, so that they hang down from the plate.  Glue colored strawberry on top.  Allow to dry before use.

Circle Time:   Jamberry by Bruce Degen

 Jamberry is a beautiful picture book which tells the story of a young boy and his friend, the bear, who go on an adventure picking berries.  It is a nonsensical rhyming story with a fun rhythm that rolls off the tongue.  My own children ask me to read it several times in one sitting.  Each page is rich with humorous details.  
 
After reading the book, we sang our own version of "One little, two little, three little berries..."

Outside Activity: Strawberry Picking

A few weeks ago, we had planted strawberry plants in our garden.  Today it was time to harvest them!

Inside Activity and Snack: Making Freezer Jam 

We allowed the children to make freezer jam using the strawberries from the garden (plus a few additional berries from the local strawberry patch).  The children were each given a jar to take home.  After making the jam, we sampled several kinds of berries that we had read about in the story.   For directions, see the back of your freezer jam packet.

Dancing with our Streamers

In the book, the characters dance with streamers in strawberry fields.  Our little ones danced with their streamers to fun music.  It was hard to catch the action with my camera!

***We had some friends this week who were unable to come, so we had only 3 boys.