Reminder- Field Trip Monday and Tuesday

Trinity Preschool Fire Safety Field Trip Monday, May 2, 2011 for Maple and Willow Room- MWF classes

Trinity Preschool Fire Safety Field Trip Tuesday, May 3, 2011 for Oak Room only

NO FIELD TRIP FOR TERRIFIC 2's and 3's class

1. Please be sure your child uses the toilet before coming to school.

2. Please be on time – we are leaving at 9:35

3. Have your child wear their school T-shirt

4. Talk to your child ahead of time about how we will be riding a bus, going to the fire station, seeing the fire fighters, and that their teachers will be there with them. We are talking to them at school as well to prepare them for the trip.

Trinity Preschool Activities for Thursday, April 28, 2011

Oak Room:

We read "No roses for Harry" by Gene Zion

We made flower pictures. We used a cardboard tube with slits cut in it dipped in paint, so it looks like flower petals. We added other things to embellish the picture. The children dipped Q-tips in green paint to make grass, and we glued on mini muffin papers, and pom poms to be the center of the flowers.

We had rubber band design boards out, bead stringing, and bristle blocks.

We did a color rhyme- each child holds a flower and "Two little blackbirds"

We played a small group game - rhyming words.


Willow Room: T/TH class

We read "Let's paint a rainbow" by Eric Carle

We used watercolors on doilies, we will make something special out of them.

We had chalk and stencils at the easel.

We are practicing our songs for Mother's Day at music.

Four of our butterflies just opened! We were all very excited. We are still waiting for our moth and the rest of our butterflies to open up. We put flowers and sugar water in with the butterflies for some food.

Lady Bug "We're "buggy" about spring" bulletin board

Same idea April 2012

Closer view

Close up of sun and one lady bug

This bulletin board was created using paper bowls, red paint with brushes , and corks dipped in black paint dabbed onto the red paint. We added some legs, and a half circle for the head two eyes and you have an adorable lady bug that is so good for the gardens. We were also going to add the butterflies the children made, but they were so excited when they came out of their paper chrysalis we had to send them home instead.

Trinity Preschool Activities for Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Willow room: MWF class

We read "One Windy Wednesday" by Phyllis Root

We asked the children if they had the letter "T" in their name?

We used water colors on doilies to make something beautiful.

We practiced for our Mother's Day tea.

We looked at objects that begin with the letter T.

We are still waiting for our butterflies to come out.

Maple Room:

We read "Where's my mother?" by Julia Donaldson

We used the new flip flop painters to make colorful kites. These are fun things to paint with because you put your hand through the toe part of the flip flop and press it onto the paper.

We had flower shapes at the easel with water colors.

We sang the April song and practiced out songs for Mother's Day.

We did letter Y activities and did a letter sounds game using the letters M,n,O,P,Q, R

Three of our butterflies came out and the children had put their caterpillars a while ago into a bag to pretend it was a chrysalis and today they wiggled and out came beautiful paper butterflies!

We have camping day on Friday.

Oak Room:

We read "Butterfly House" by Eve Bunting

We drew a special picture for mom. The questions was "what would you give mom if you had a million dollars? They pictures are in the hall.

We has some letter lacing, and a wooden rhyming pairs words puzzle.

We sang "Went to the pet store", we did the ABC sounds song, using some different flash cards, and we practiced our Mother's Day songs.

We had the estimating jar- How many crayons are in the jar?

Trinity Preschool May 2011 school newsletter

Mark your calendars:

Field trip May 2: Rooms Willow and Maple MWF classes-

May 3: Oak Room-

We will be going to the fire station for fire safety lessons.

Children in our Terrific 2’s and 3’s class will not be going on the field trip this year.

Thursday, May 26: Last day of school for Terrific 2’s and 3’s – end of year family picnic.

Friday, May 27: Last day of school for MWF and 5 day classes- end of year family picnic.

Camp dates: June 14-June 30 and July 12-July 28

Last day of school- Family picnic

We always celebrate the last day of school by having a picnic time together. We ask that you bring a lunch for your family, and a blanket to sit on. The children come to school at the normal time (9:15), and parents are invited back to join us at 11:00 a.m. for our picnic. It is important for you to be on time, the children get upset if everyone else is here and they are waiting. If you are unable to join us, send a sack lunch with your child and make sure the teachers know you won’t be coming so we can arrange for your child to sit with a friend. Dismissal time is 11:45 a.m.

SPECIAL NOTE: We have children in our school who have peanut allergies. We are trying to keep all peanut butter products out of our school and out of our playground as well. You may wonder why it matters if your child eats a peanut butter sandwich on the playground….well, they may get a smudge of peanut butter on their finger and then go down the slide. One of our children with a peanut allergy may then go down the slide and have a severe reaction. Thank you for understanding! Let’s keep all of our kids safe.

Infant and Child CPR & first aid

All of our teachers just updated the training on both of these important safety procedures.

Warning about Soap:

There was an article in the Scholastic Parent and Child magazine that we send home about a chemical in soap that could potentially be harmful and may possibly by banned by the FDA. This chemical is called Triclosan and it is in antibacterial soap; it is listed in the “Drug facts” portion of the label. The soap we were using, did contain this substance, so I got rid of our soap and bought new hand washing soap without it. If you would like to use soap at home without this- buy NON- antibacterial hand soap. Method Brand, Softsoap are two I found. Look on the label for a drug facts box, if it is not there, the soap is Triclosan free.

This chemical is in many other common personal care products, so if this is a concern for you, check the labels.

Another note about soap: We use the foam pumps- did you know you don’t need to buy the special foam soaps? You can just dilute the thicker soap and it will foam in the special pumps. Portion is about ½ soap and ½ water.

Books – lending library

Please return books you have at home to our lending library.

Also, we are always looking for new books to add, so if you are cleaning things out and have books you are getting rid of, donate them to Trinity.

Program Evaluations for Trinity Preschool:

I will be sending home a program evaluation form in the next couple of weeks. If you would please take some time to fill it out and return it to school it will help us make our program even better. You can do it without signing your name. Thank you.

Earth Quake Preparations:

The central portion of the US is having an earth Quake practice day on April 28, 2011 at 10:15 a.m. The Chicago area is not in a high risk for earth Quakes, but portions of southern Illinois are.

They are encouraging all schools, families, and businesses to practice what to do in the event of an earth quake. We are not going to practice with the children, but mostly because I just got notice of this event this week, so we cannot prepare the children for the practice drill. I do not want to scare them, so if we could have had a little more time to prepare them, we would have done it. For your information: if the ground starts shaking, they say to DROP, COVER, and HOLD ON. Do not run outside or stand in a door way. They say to get under something sturdy, cover your head and hold on to the table or desk you are under. Stay there until the shaking stops. You may want to talk to your children at home about how to stay safe as earth quakes come with NO Warning. If you want more information, go to www.shakeout.org/centralus

Parent-tot class:

Our popular parent-tot class will be starting up again in September 2011 on Tuesday mornings. This is a class for 2 years olds to attend with an adult. This is a 90 minute class with art, music, movement games, gym time or outdoor fun, choice time and more. Sign up now, space if filling fast.

Picture CD:

At the end of the school year, we give each child a memory picture book with a few pictures taken during the year.

However, we have taken a lot of pictures during the year of the classroom activities. If you would like a CD of the pictures of your child, and pictures of classroom activities; they will be available at the end of the year for a donation of $12.00.

As I make each CD individually for each child; you must order the picture CD in advance; I only make the CD’s up for the children I have orders for. Order forms are on top of the children’s cubbies. You may drop your completed form with the money in the orange basket that is on my desk. CD’s will be given to you the last day of school unless your child is in camp- then I give it to you the last day of camp and include camp pictures.

BLOG:

I hope you have a chance to check out our BLOG. I do list the daily activities and I also show some pictures of art/bulletin boards, our butterflies, etc. I try to give some ideas for activists you can do at home too. I also started posting this newsletter on the BLOG, so if you need any of the information, you can find it there. My plan, next year is that we will do the newsletter online, via email and the BLOG and save some paper and money.

If you view our school BLOG, you may notice that on the right side of the page, it shows a BLOG I am following. It is a BLOG by Kate Askegaard and you may wonder why it is on our school BLOG and who this person is. This is my daughter and she is a talented artist who has a BLOG showing one of her art pieces as it is being created.

Using children's art to decorate rooms

At Trinity Preschool we like to showcase the children's art in our rooms and hallways. This helps the children have a sense of pride and they understand that what they create has value. We prefer to do this than to cover our walls with ready made stuff.

In the spring we talk about butterflies and spring; including rain, flowers, rainbows, worms, etc. The children made the butterflies by using an eye dropper to drip watercolors onto a coffee filter. After they dried, we just pinched them together with a clothespin and it makes a great butterfly. We added them to a bulletin board with some tissue paper lilacs and some rain clouds.

On the other bulletin board we had the children paint paper plates green and that became the body of the caterpillar. we added a cut head and some big eyes too. We also put the children's butterflies flying all around on a great sunny day.

These are a great way to brighten the room on these rainy spring days!

Trinity Preschool Activities for Tuesday, April 26, 2011

The weather outside was windy and rainy again, so we rode trikes, played with balls, and hula hoops and see sawed on our rocking alligator in the gym today.

Willow Room:

We talked about Dr.s and the different kinds of doctors and how they help us and our animals. We looked at a book called "you're a community helper" by Karen Bryant-Mole

We asked the children if they like to visit the doctor?

We looked at an x-ray of the bones in our hand and then at art, we glued Q-tips onto a shape of a hand to look like the x-ray bones.

The children enjoyed pretending to be doctors and nurses in our pretend dr. office and they took good care of the babies and each other.

We had the magnetic gears at the easel.

The children really enjoy playing with the corn meal flour (Mesa) that we have in our sensory table. It has a wonderful texture and feels so soft on the skin. It will pack down, but not hold it's form when you turn the form over.

We practiced our songs for Mother's Day.

Oak Room:

We read " I'm not going ot get up today!" by Dr. Suess We also read "Wacky Wednesday" by Theo LeSieg

We are working on our bulletin board of hot air balloons. The children cut out the balloon shape and did fun painting by rolling bumpy balls over the balloon shape in a box. We took a picture of each child and will add it to the balloon as if they are riding high above the world in hteir own specially designed balloon.

We had watercolors at the easel.

We practiced our Mother's Day songs.

Trinity Preschool Activities for Monday, April 25, 2011

We played in the gym today. I know all this rain is going ot make pretty flowers, but we really want to play outside!

Willow Room: MWF class

We read "You're a community helper" by Karen Bryant


We talked about visiting our Doctor and asked the children how they feel about going ot the doctor?

We made X-ray pictures using Q-tips on a hand shape.

We painted at the easel using water and powder paint.

We sang "Your face will surely show it", Dancing in your seat and "5 little monkeys"

We discussed the different kinds of Dr.'s and what they do. We looked at real x-rays of the human body.

Maple Room:

We read a cute story called "The fox and the springtime blossoms" by Julia Rawlinson

We mixed red and yellow finger paint to make orange today. We used red and blue watercolors at the easel with small brushes.

We sang the April song and we practiced our Mother's Days songs.

We did letter Y activities


Oak room:

We read "Because a little bug went Ka-choo! by Rosetta Stone

We made a special picture to use in our Mother's Day program.

We practiced our special songs for Mother's Day.

We also read "Spring is here" by Will Hillenbrand.

One Luna Moth Came out of Coccoon today!

We came into the room and looked at our Luna moth cocoon (in the Maple room) and it was still in the cocoon. We had our group time and afterward we looked again and WOW, it had popped out of it's cocoon. At first it was wet looking and wrinkly, but it crawled up to the top of the case and soon, it dried it's wings and got bigger. It is so hard to believe that big thing fit in the little cocoon and the hole it came out of was so tiny! We can't imagine how it does that.

They are called Luna Moth's because they go out at night when the moon (Luna) is shining. They hide during the day to stay out of the bright light.

Another interesting fact about Luna moths is that they have no mouth! They only live for a week and they do not eat or drink during that time!

We will let it go outside next week.

We are still waiting for the two other Luna moths to open.

Trinity Preschool Activities for Wednesday, April 20, 2011

We played in the gym today, it was too cold and wet outside to play in the playground.

Willow Room: MWF class

We read "Planting a rainbow"

We looked at objects that begin with the letter "S".

We painted with dish scrubbers in bright rainbow like colors.

We had dry erase markers and stencils at the easels.

We practiced singing our Mother's Day songs so we will sing so great for the moms.

Maple Room-

we celebrated EARTH DAY today! and we read a book called "Earth Day" by Mercer Mayer

We were working on part of our Mother's Day surprise for moms, so we can't tell you what it was or it won't be a surprise.

We had paint and brushes at the easels and butterfly stampers.

We sang "The April song, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle by Jack Johnson/w shakers, and we practiced our Mother's Day songs.

We played game using a recycling song about throwing the can in the recycle bin.

We talked about the letter X today and we did a letter sorting activity with words that begin with the letters g-l. The children looked at the picture, figured out what letter it began with and added it to that category. The children are not just learning ot recognize the letters, but the sound the letter makes.

Our Luna Moth opened today.

Oak Room:

We read "A fish out of water" by Helen Palmer and Rhyming Dust Bunnies" by Jan Thomas

We did a watercolor and salt process for art. We will use the project to make something special for a present. I wonder who we could be making a present for?

We had a variety of magnetic items in the room for some exploration.
We had "career" Mr. Potato head pieces.
We had bead stringing activities

We practiced our songs for Mother's Day.

We had the estimating jar out today, "How many bears are in the jar?"

During our group time, we each did a matching rhyme using pictures. We had to find the
matches.

we have also had out in the room the addition game the children learned in small groups the other day. They put the number of disks in each box, add them up and check to see if their answer is right. It is a fun, hands on way to learn the concept of addition.

Trinity Preschool Activities for Tuesday, April 19, 2011

We played in the gym today.

Willow Room: Tue./Thur. class

We read "Alphabet under construction" by Denise Fleming

We used eye droppers and watercolors to drip the colors onto coffee filters. We will turn them into the colorful wings of a butterfly.

We practiced our songs for Mom's tea coming up.

We have Masa (corn meal) in our sensory table. We have a dinosaur excavating kit in with it so we can pretend we are excavators looking for dinosaur bones.

Our dramatic corner has been turned into a Dr. office. The children had fun pretending to be doctors for our doll patients.

Oak Room:

We read "Where does the butterfly go when it rains?" A great, fun book.

We painted on white paper with watercolors. When they dry we will cut wing shapes out of them and turn them into beautiful butterflies using toilet paper tubes as the bodies.

We sang animal actions, cool bear hunt, on the count of five and we practiced our Mother's Day songs we will sign for our moms.

We also read a book called "What's the difference between a butterfly and a moth?" by Robin Koontz

Trinity Preschool Activities for Monday, April 18, 2011

We played in the gym today with trikes, tunnels, hula hoops and alligator see saw, and balance beam.

All of our caterpillars have turned into chrysalis, so we took them out of the cup and taped the paper they formed onto on the side of the butterfly house. In a little while they will come out as butterflies.

Willow Room:

We read "Are you my Mother?" by PD Eastman

We charted words that start with the letter "R".

We used watercolors and eye droppers to make the colorful wings of a butterfly. We used coffee filters.

We had painting at the easel with two kinds of brushes, regular and flat foam brushes.

We put "masa" (corn meal) in our sensory table with dino bones and an excavation kit! We had fun. Our dramatic corner is now a Dr. office.


We practiced singing the songs we will sing for our Mom's for our Mother's Day tea. We hope all the moms will be able to come.


Maple Room:

We read "The grouchy lady bug" by Eric Carle

We made lady bugs out of paper bowls today. We painted hte bowls red and used corks to stamp black dots onto it.

We had lady bug shape paper at the easel with cork stampers to add black dots.

We practiced our songs for Mother's Day.

We learned about the letter X today.

We had fun playing with long rug tubes and cars; we even help two apart from each other and saw the car jump the space between the tubes.

Oak Room:

We read "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle and "Waiting for Wings" by Lois Ehlert.

We cut out a leaf shape and then we used a caterpillar shape stamper with green paint to make it look like the caterpillar is on the leaf eating it, like in our story.

We sang Two little butterflies, Finger poppin, Jump Jack Joe and we started to practice out Mother's Day songs.

We are working on activities with the numbers 6-10.

Trinity Preschool Activities for Friday, April 15, 2011

Wow, it was windy today, which made it a little uncomfortable to be outside, so we played inside today.


Willow Room: MWF class:

We read a fun caterpillar to butterfly story called "The crunching, Munching Caterpillar" by Sheridan Cain.

We asked the children if they had the letter "R" in their name.

We made kites for our bulletin board using tissue paper and glue. We had watercolors at the easel.

Kites were very fitting for our windy windy day!

We played with hula hoops, balls and the tumbling mat today in the gym.

We sang "I like my hat" and we did the Alphabet letter sounds song.

We looked at objects that begin with the letter "R" and we added "Q" words to ur word chart.


Maple Room:

We read "Spring is here" by Will Hillenbrand

We worked on a special project for part of our Mother's Day songs at art today.
We had paint at the easel with large paper.

We practiced our Mother's Day songs.

We played a game in the gym today since it was too windy to be outside.

We practiced writing "W" on our dry erase boards and then we thought of words that start with the letter "W" and sounded out the other letters and wrote them on our boards.

Oak Room:

We had our "Beach Day" today!

We read "Harry by the Sea" by Gene Zion. We played a game "Guess what is in the beach bag?"

We made salt clay creations, we mixed a salt and flour clay, then added shells, and toothpicks to make a sea shore sculpture.

We had out the water tables, we had sand in the sensory table, magnetic fishing games.

We sang and danced to "underneath the broomstick" (we did the limbo), we pretended to surf, and we played and danced to some beach music.

We played balloon volleyball, and tossed around some beach balls.

We ate our snack on our beach blankets and towels in the gym.

We had a great time pretending to be at the beach on this chilly day!

Is your child facinated by the butterflies?

http://earthsbirthday.org/butterflies/

Copy and paste the above link to go the the Earthsbirthday webiste. They have a video showing the transformation from caterpillar to butterfly in rapid time. They also have Frequently asked questions and activities to do with children.

So if your child is asking a lot of questions or seems very interested, this is how you can extend the learning with some fun.

Trinity Preschool Activities for Thursday, April 14, 2011

We played outside today.

Willow Room- T/TH

We read "Ten Tiny Tadpoles" by Debbie Tarbett

We worked on our Mother's Day gift. We had watercolors at the easel.

The children enjoyed the play dough and building on the rug with the bristle blocks and large lego blocks.

We also practiced singing our Mother's Day songs.

We looked at our caterpillars and saw how they are beginning to change.


Oak Room:

We read "A house for Hermit Crab" by Eric Carle

We created a sea mural. We brushed light blue watercolors over a large sheet of paper. Then we used sea creature shaped stampers dipped in paint to add sea animals to our underwater picture.

We had the light table in the room with colorful translucent objects to observe.

We had the small legos out to build cars, houses, creatures.

We had out the small snap together number blocks.

We also took the children in to the room next door today in small groups and played a math addition game. The children did a great job adding the numbers.

We sang a 5 little fish rhyme and we did the freeze dance while wearing jingle belts.

Trinity Preschool Activities for Wednesday, April 12, 2011

We played outside in the playground today.

CATERPILLAR UPDATE:

Our caterpillars are changing. One the far right in the picture is one that has changed already into a chrysalis, the one in the middle that is curled is ready to change and the one one the left has just gone to the top and will begin to form into a chrysalis. There is still one on the bottom of the cup eating food getting ready to change. They have grown from tiny caterpillars in less than 2 weeks! When they are all in chrysalis, we will remove them from the cup and hang them from the side of the butterfly house. Then when they emerge, they wil have room to fly around before we set them free outdoors.


Willow Room: MWF class:

We read a book called " Because a little bug went ka-choo!" by Rosetta Stone

We had face's showing different feelings and the children out their name under the face that expressed their feelings today, Happy, Sad, Silly Mad, Sleepy.

For art we are working on our Mother's Day Presents.

We are practicing our songs for when our Mom's come to school too.

We made a chart of words that begin with the letter Q.

Maple Room:

We read "The crunching Munching Caterpillar" by Sheridan Cain

For art we are working on our special Mother's Day project and we practiced our songs we will sing today too.

We had different textured brushes at the easel today.

We also sang The April song, Today is Monday.

We worked on letter W activities. We looked at a book by Eric CArle called Today is Monday. and we played and alphabet sounds gamed.

Oak Room:

We read "The bravest fish" by Matt Buchingham and The tiny tadpole.

We worked in our journals on numbers, writing and drawing the numbers 1-5.

We sang "Which fish is missing?", 5 little ducks, rock and roll freeze dance.

We had the estimating jar out today, how many animals are in the jar?

We also read: Commotion in the ocean and The biggest animal ever (a book about whales)

Trinity Preschool Activities for Tuesday, April 12, 2011

We went out to the playground today. We love to climb on the "rock mountain" and our favorite is to ride on the spring horses.


We looked at our caterpillars and saw how much they have grown. We are so excited to see that they are starting to move to the top of the cup and curl up. That is the first sign they are ready to start making their chrysalis. We have only had them since March 30 and in that short time they have grown so much already. Our Luna moth is still in it's cocoon, but pretty soon, it will be ready to come out too.

Willow Room- T/Th class:

We read "Mouse's First Spring" by Lauren Thompson

We fingerpainted with bright colors today- red, green, orange and blue. Some of the children are hesitant to put their fingers in the paint, that is OK, we just give them brushes to use. Some of the children just loved to fingerpaint and use their whole hands, practically move their whole bodies to enjoy the entire experience. So you may find fingerpaint all the way up to their elbows! Remember, we always encourage play clothes for school so your child can enjoy all the experiences without worrying about messing up good clothes.

We also worked on our Mother's Day presents today...shhhh...it is a surprise.

We practiced singing some songs the children will sing for the mom's at our Mother's Day tea. See the invitation that has or will be coming home soon.

Oak Room:

We read "Dear Mr. Blueberry" by Simon Berry. and we read "Ten little Tadpoles" by Debbie Tarbett

We used a new fun art tool today. They are paint stampers that look like flip flop shoes. Each one has a different pattern on the bottom and the children slip their hands through where your toes would usually go and stomp around on the paper. They had great fun and the designs were really cute. We used bright colored paint and made cool looking pictures. (We bought the flip flop painters at the Lakeshore learning store- see link on the sidebar). It was one of the items we used auction money to get for school.

We sang Bean bag boogie, and we did the bear hunt song, using the drums.

We talked about "sponges" today, real sponges grow in water, and we looked at how much water a sponge can hold, how many different shapes and sizes of sponges and what they are used for too.

Trinity Preschool Activities for Monday, April 11, 2011

We were able to play outside today on our great playground.

Willow Room:

We read "Mouse's First Spring" by Lauren Thompson.

We are talking about the letter Q and asked the children if anyone has the letter Q in their name?

We fingerpainted today and worked on our Mother's Day presents.....shhhh....it is a surprise.

We had dry erase markers at the easel.

We sang "Your face will surely show it" "Little Fish", and "I like my hat"

We measured our caterpillars- they grew again! They are starting to go to the top of the container, when they do they will turn into chrysalises where they will transform into beautiful butterflies.

We looked at objects that start with the letter Q.

Maple Room:

We read a wonderful book called " Where does the butterfly go when it rains?" by Mae Garelick One thing nice about this book is it leaves it open ended for children to discuss and think about it.

We used water colors with eye droppers on coffee filters. We drip various colors of watercolors to mix and blend. We had chalk with colored paper at the easel.

We sang "The April song", and some other special songs the children will sing for our Mother's Day programs.

We did some letter W activities. Have you seen our "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Tree" on our bulletin board in the classroom?

Oak Room:

We read "The foolish tortoise" by Eric Carle and "Don't eat the Teacher" by Nick Ward

On a tortoise shape paper, we placed small cut up pieces of tissue paper ( the kind the color will bleed from when wet) all over it. We brushed it with water and when it dries we will take off the tissue and see the color pattern left behind. It will make a colorful tortoise shell.

We sang "Two little blackbirds", "toe, leg, knee":, "couch potato pokey", and "There was a little turtle."

Water Play Fun for Children

Children love water, it is soothing, has fun properties and it is messy. All things kids like! Whether in the bath tub, a kitchen sink, or just a tub of water on the floor, kids love water and the mess it can make. So grab some towels in advance, and let them enjoy the mess.

SAFETY!

• Always supervise water play- children can drown in water only inch deep! Also watch with young children that they don't drink the dirty, soapy water, little ones put everything in their mouths!
• Never give kids glass items to play with in water or any sharp objects.

• Make sure you have plenty of towels to keep area kind of dry. Prevents slipping on wet floors too. When they play in the sink, put towels behind the faucet too.
• If they play at the sink, have them stand on a kitchen chair or a step stool. Being able to reach to the bottom of the sink is important.
• NOW THE FUN BEGINS!
  
• Soap bubbles always add a level of fun to water play, start out with plain water, later add bubbles to add more interest. If they are playing with water in a clear tub, add a few drops of food coloring to change it up too.
• You don't need to buy expensive water toys, you can find or make your own.
  
• Scoops from laundry detergent, drink mixes, etc are great toys. Also laundry soap bottle lids, empty dish soap bottles with the pull up pop tops, empty syrup bottles, ketchup bottles, any clear plastic empty clean bottle is great fun.
  
• Kitchen utensils, like a whisk, colander, plastic measuring cups, plastic dishes, any kitchen utensil that won't get hurt in the water, and won't hurt your child is perfect. They love playing with "grown up utensils"
  
• Dolls, any plastic kids toys that water cannot get inside of are all great. Children love to wash dishes, clean their toys, give their dolls a bath, etc. Give them a small washcloth and a clear space to put washed items.
• Adult only part... Use use a drill with a small bit to make holes in the empty plastic bottles you have saved. When your child adds the water, it will come out of the holes too (try this too....put water in the bottle, put the cap back on and see what happens- then remove the top). Drill a hole in the lid of other bottles.
• Cook up some noodles and add them to the water.
• One toy that is fun and inexpensive to buy is a water wheel, children love watching the wheel spin as they pour water in the top. (Works well with sand, or rice later too.)
• When it is warm outside, put a tub of water on the ground and continue the fun outdoors, they will add mud, leaves, grass and anything else they can find though, so don't let them bring your good kitchen utensils outside, this is the perfect place for recycled toys. I also like to give the kids old pie tins so they can make mud pies outside too.
• If you are somewhere you can set the hose up on a light trickle, they will have fun rinsing things off, adding water, and seeing what happens then. A water can can be used instead of a hose.
  
• Another fun thing with water outside is to let your child have an old rag and soapy water and they can wash off outside toys, trikes, climbers, etc.

Water can be fun, loud, or soothing. If your child has sensory issues, water can calm down a fussy or hyper child too. Try different temperatures of water, see what your child prefers, warm or cool. On a hot day, add some ice cubes and watch what happens. Freeze a big bowl of water into a block of ice and add it to the water- both in winter and in summer, see what happens. Hide a plastic toy in the water before you freeze it and it will appear as the ice melts.

I hope these ideas will get you started on the hours of fun water play can provide! You can also create some "teachable moments" about properties of water, all while having fun withe your child. Join in the water fun too.

Sensory ideas

We have sand tables inside our classrooms and outside in our playground, but we only have sand outside in the ones in our playground; the sand is too damaging to our floors, so inside we use other sensory materials in our sandbox.

A few pictures of some of the items we use are found here....

We use:

• Packing peanuts- both the dis solvable and non- dis solvable kind.
• Ground up plastic
• Ground corn meal
• Beans
• Rice
• Water
• Snow
• Cut up paper (also including scissors to cut it up)
• Bows
• Corn starch and water -
  
• Water
• nature items
  
• any fun, safe items we can find

Add scoops, laundry caps, funnels, spoons, magnifying glasses, and other items to enhance the fun.