Music Day-April 26

We were planning on visiting the Strawberry Patch, since we just learned about gardens, but it rained all night and rather than get all muddy, I put together a last minute music day!

First we watched Step in Time from Mary Poppins to get the kids excited!  Then we put on our own performance!  (They did perfect when I did it with them, but it was harder when I was filming while holding Levi!)  They all took it seriously and had a lot of fun!



 Next a lesson about notes and how many beats they get.  We clapped the beats of 1/4 notes, 1/2 notes and whole notes.  Then I had the kids pick their favorite and we clapped them out.

I got out the music shakers and we sang children's songs and they watched me for when to shake and when to hold still.  They were all naturals!  They took turns with all the instruments really well!

Check them out in action:


We finished by making our own egg shakers!  I took some old Easter Eggs and the kids filled one with beans, and the other with rice, and I glued them shut with a glue gun.

Such a fun day!  I love pulling things together last minute, because instead of focusing on what we have to accomplish, we just go with the flow and I feel like the kids really enjoy the spontaneity!  Great job little musicians!

Vegetable Garden- April 24th

It was just Lucy, Ethan and Mason today.  We missed Matthew, who was at Disneyland (lucky duck) and London who wasn't feeling well (feel better sweet girl).

We started out talking about which vegetables grow underground and which ones grow above ground.  The kids would hold up their pretend vegetables and then stand up and shout "Above Ground" or get in a small ball and say "Below Ground"

 Just for your enjoyment, I posted how cheesy I am. I had Lucy take a picture of me during the next activity.  I pretended like the radishes were growing in the ground (yeah the paper bag is pretend soil) and each child had to hop like a bunny and come pick their radish.

Then they got to eat them!

Yum!

Lucy and Mason didn't like the radishes, but they tried them so that was awesome.  Ethan kept eating his and then licking his lips and saying "Spicy!" and then took another bite.  After about 5 bites, he looked up and urgently asked "Water!"  I really praised Ethan for being the most like a bunny and eating his whole radish, which made Lucy jealous, so she started chomping down on her radish.  Then she ran to the trash can and spit it all out and decided it wasn't worth it to be the best bunny.

 Then we pretended to make a vegetable soup and each child took a turn in the middle of our circle, while we stirred them into our human soup.

Next we planted basil!  The kids loved it. Mason kept packing his and packing his.  He was really into it.  He tried to be super careful and was a little worried that he spilled some, but I told him we all spill a little and then he brightened up!  

We put our plants on the windowsill to get some sun, but Levi went out and dumped Ethan's on the ground.  I secretly replanted it all during our soup making.  When Ethan went outside to look at his plant, he was so excited it was already growing (probably because of the dirt I picked up from the ground had more particles in it)!  What a good imagination Ethan!

I wasn't planning on going to the park, but Mason was begging to go, so we went for 10 minutes.  Caught them on the way back all holding hands!  So adorable.  I am so glad they have become such good friends throughout the year.

 After the park we made soup for our Mommies!  I pulled out all the vegetables I could think of!  We started with some chicken broth and then added Broccoli, White Beans, Red Chard, Artichoke Hearts, Carrots, Zucchini, pasta noodles and Italian Seasoning.  The kids loved ripping up the red chard and pulling apart the broccoli.  I encouraged them to eat whatever they wanted while we were making it. It turned out really yummy, I thought, although the kids didn't eat very much!  Oh well!  More for the Mommies!

I caught this Lizard out by the plants at the end of the day.  Lucy and Ethan tried to catch it, but it was too fast.  Keep practicing guys.  Maybe someday!