Well our first Wacky Wednesday back was just that.  Many of the children did not have boots when we went outside to paint the snow, so they had to wear plastic bags on their shoes (what a sight)!  The children really enjoyed making the paint to spray onto the snow.   To make snow paint, fill a spray bottle or squirt bottle with water.  Add a little tempera paint or food coloring and shake!  For crazy hat day the children were able to make their own crazy-wacky hats.  For an upcoming project we are in need of some pickle-size jars, so if anyone has any we would really appreciate them.  Thanks.

The first week back from vacation the children began working on a craft called mirror prints also known as "spilt milk" pictures, after reading the book "It Looked Like Spilt Milk".  They chose either dark blue or black paper.  Using eye droppers they squeezed the top of the dropper and dipped it into white paint, squeezing then releasing, trying to fill the tube.  The next step was to repeat squeezing and releasing the eye dropper over their paper, dropping large or small droplets of paint.  When they decided they were finished, the final step was to fold the paper in half, smoothing it over with their hands.  When they opened it up it looked the same on both sides, and as if someone had spilled milk all over their paper.  Each child had his or her own opinion of what their picture looked like to them, such as a butterfly, a frog, or a fish.  Their thoughts were written on their paper.  This craft promotes abstract thinking, developing and strengthening fine motor skills, listening and following multiple-step directions, and lots of conversation and laughter with their peers!  Currently at craft we are working on "Down by the Bay" pictures.  The children have been practicing this song at song time, and also in our circles as we talk about rhyming words.  The words to the song are as follows-  "Down by the bay, where the watermelons grow, back to my home, I dare not go, for if I do, my mother would say, did you ever see a ...{whale with a polka dotted tale}... down by the bay."  The children were asked to make up the ending with their own silly rhyme and draw a picture to go along with it.  They are really enjoying making up silly rhymes, or just

silly sentences!  This craft encourages the children to use their imaginations as well as learning how words can be different, but sound alike.

The science table has been very busy so far this month.  The wave and tornado bottles are a big hit.  Bottles filled with oil and water, when tipped on their side, create waves that roll gently.  The children are also discovering that when you take two bottles attached one on top of each other and then filled with water and swirl it in a circular motion, it can create a tornado inside.  This activity is a great hands-on activity as well as minds-on activity.  The children have learned to try and predict what might happen.

We started the month off with “geo boards.”  The children really enjoy stretching rubber bands from one nail to another.  They usually start off making a straight line, but then realize that they can create many different shapes (squares, triangles, rectangles, etc.) by stretching the bands around many more nails.  We now have a number matching game out.  The children identify a number and then match it to another card bearing that number of a certain animal.  This game promotes the practice of problem solving as well as number and animal recognition.

The children had fun practicing their pre-writing skills by tracing a variety of winter shapes.  The choices included a snowman, an evergreen tree, a hat, and mittens.   Some children also enjoyed using crayons or colored pencils to color in the picture they had traced.  During "transportation" week there will be a matching game for the children to expand their vocabulary as they identify and place pictures of vehicles in the air, ocean, or roadway.  There are also many picture/word books always available at the writing center for looking at or copying words.   The older children often like to follow through on our "letter of the week" by looking up words in the books that begin with the featured letter.