Under the Sea

This month, we're had a beach/ocean theme for our curriculum. We've done several items for this theme, including counting seashells, matching similar beach object worksheets, as well as alphabet worksheets that are beach themed. Three activities, however, definitely stand out in my mind.

The first one was making a sand castle. I took an assortment of toilet paper and paper towel rolls, and had the kids paint them with glue. I had poured some sand onto a large plate, then we rolled the tubes in the sand. After letting the tubes dry, the idea was to put the tubes together to make a sand castle. The kids were really excited about it, and although it didn't turn out exactly as planned, they had fun with it.

The second activity was entitled ocean pictures. I had printed off several pictures of ocean animals for the kids to color. They each selected a couple of pictures, then colored the animal. Once they were finished coloring, I mixed blue food coloring with water, which they used to paint on the paper. After they finished painting, I had them sprinkle salt onto the picture to give it a neat effect!

The third activity was my personal favorite. I had read about this one online, but gave it my own spin. I took several 20 oz Coke bottles, took the labels off and washed them. After they dried, I poured brown craft sand in the bottle. The kids each selected some shells they wanted in their bottle, then we added those. I took blue and green food coloring and mixed it with water. When it was the color that they wanted, I added it to the sand and shells. The result: a bottled ocean! They absolutely loved these and wanted to play with them for the rest of the day. I also noticed when I came in two days later that three other classrooms had done the same project after seeing my class!

I Love a Parade

Today, we made musical instruments. Toilet paper tubes combined with tissue paper and rubber bands became kazoos. Paper towel rolls decorated by the kids became horns, and pie pans made for some nice cymbals! I turned on Stars & Stripes Forever and we had a grand parade! After we finished the song, we'd all switch instruments and play the song again and again until everyone got a chance to play each instrument. I don't know who has more fun, the kids or me!

Splash Day

Today was Splash Day for my class! Everyone (except me) came dressed in their bathing suits, and with a packed lunch. While the kids were arriving and beginning their routine, I was attempting to make water balloons. While it turned out fine in the end, I did manage to get water all over myself, the sink, counter and floor. Oh well, that's why I have a mop!

After our morning activities, we all trooped outside for a picnic lunch! We enjoyed eating outside, then I set up the wading pool. The hose had a hole in it, so I had to angle it at a weird angle to fill up the pool. I also had fun squirting the kids with it. I think they enjoyed being squirted than they did the actual pool. Oh well!

We then decided it was time for the water balloon fight! We each selected a balloon, took aim at our chosen victim, and threw............then nothing happened. The balloon had to be thrown just right for it to pop. We tried sitting, stomping and jumping on the balloons to make them pop, to little avail. I did find, however, that using my rings to pop them was a good solution. Although they didn't work quite as planned, nonetheless, we had a marvelous time!

The piece de resistance was after we all dried off and went inside. I had bought frozen fruit pops for the occasion, which were thoroughly enjoyed by the kids and I! They really enjoyed seeing how their tongues changed color the more they worked on their popsicle. It was a fun ending to a great day, however, I'm glad not to be doing that again any time soon!