At the math center, the children were able to play “1,2,3,GO!” by Discovery Toys, a wonderful, easy board game that teaches beginning math concepts.  It also introduces the concept of playing board games, following rules, and taking turns.  Its simple “rules” are easy to grasp.  Players take turns rolling a die (either a 1-3 die or a 1-6 die).  If the child rolls a 2, they must cover two pegs.  This can be done by using a #2 playing piece or two #1 playing pieces, etc.  Currently, the “Turkey Feather Match” game is available.  Each feather on the turkey has a different pattern with different colors and shapes.  The children put a feather of the same color and pattern onto the turkey.  The game promotes recognition of patterns, shapes and colors, as well as eye-hand coordination.

The Dramatic Playroom (sometimes referred to as the Magic Playroom) was transformed into a grocery store for two weeks.  The store was stocked with empty food containers, play money, cash registers, paper grocery bags, and grocery carts.  Some of the children were able to shop for groceries while others pretended to be cashiers.  The cashiers collected money and sometimes made change.  This provided the children an opportunity to make decisions by organizing the foods on shelves, scanning the groceries at check-out, and either collecting the money or giving the money to the cashier.  The children also learned about working cooperatively with their peers. 

Currently, our housekeeping theme has returned to the dramatic playroom  There are suit jackets and ties, a football uniform, princess gowns and slippers, and ballerina costumes that the children can use for dress-up and role-playing.  There is a tea set, microwave, telephones, picnic blanket and play food, as well as the 

usual high chairs, baby dolls, ethnic dolls, and strollers.  There is never a dull moment as the children try out different roles relevant to their lives.

Late last month the children worked with a wonderful substance called “model magic.”  This sculpting mixture is somewhat similar to playdough.  The children thoroughly explored the properties of this mixture by rolling, stretching, squeezing, flattening, pushing and pulling.  All the while, they were conversing with their peers about what they were making or doing with the dough.  The end product of their manipulations was not important, because the process of working with the mixture was so much fun!  When they had finished, we put their dough on a tray to dry.  The next week, they were able to paint it!  They used several colors of acrylic paint in a palette, along with a small paintbrush for each color.  Little did they know they were learning the important math concept of one-to-one correspondence as they exercised their creativity in the process of painting their very own sculpture.  We hope you enjoyed talking with your child when they brought their project home. 

Our next craft activity involved several steps.  First the children used eye droppers to place three colors of “biocolor” paint (similar to tempera, but flexible when dry) onto a 5” x 7” sheet of Plexiglas.  When they were satisfied with the amount and pattern of paint they created, they placed another sheet of Plexiglas on top and pressed down to “squish” the paint!  We then took the pieces of Plexiglas apart and placed them down onto white paper to make a print. All  of the children were thrilled with the result, and many wanted to do it again!  This craft, while simply being lots of fun, also incorporated many concepts and skills – how to work an eye dropper (the physics of suction and mastering a sequence of small muscle movements), eye-hand coordination, one-to-one correspondence (one eye dropper for each color), how