Children are full of natural creativity. Our Wee Frienders demonstrate this fact every day! We have had our new backyard area, complete with a circle of different size rocks and stones, for a few weeks now. Yet friends are still coming up with new ways to use these materials.

Today Owen and Aislinn started balancing rocks and created some very neat arrangements.

Tate observed the older children working with the rocks and decided to try it out for himself. Inspiration is all around in a multi-age classroom.

Their work reminded me of an artist named Michael Grab who is very skilled at balancing stones. Check out one of his videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JykJrVbCMuM

Today Sloane and Elizabeth decided to teach Wee Frienders how to make a caterpillar, just like they learned at camp last week! First, they made a list of the materials they needed. Next, they gathered all the supplies. Then, step-by-step, they taught friends how to create a caterpillar with paper, glue, and pipe cleaners.

The exploration of caterpillars was especially relevant because over the weekend our caterpillars emerged from their chrysalises as beautiful butterflies! We have had lots of enjoyment observing their wing colors and their tongues as they eat the sugar water and oranges we put in their habitat.

We will be releasing the butterflies outside on Wednesday as a last hurrah before summer break!

Happy Monday. –Jessica

Wee Sprouts: Pea pods and carrots. Breakfast: Toasted whole wheat bread with butter and fresh pears. Lunch: Whole wheat pasta with marinara sauce and mozzarella cheese, mixed vegetables, fresh apples and watermelon. Snack: Organic whole milk yogurt and fresh plums.

Hello and happy Friday!

A few of our friends started their morning working on their fine motor skills with the pegs.

 

While the big kids were napping, the babies spent the time playing in each other’s company.

Breakfast consisted of Kashi and Purple Porch blueberries. For lunch, the kids had whole wheat bread with hummus, fresh strawberries, and peas. Afternoon snack was cheddar cheese and fresh pears.

 

 

Enjoy your weekend!

Amanda

Today was bittersweet as we said goodbye to Emma on her last day at Wee Friends. It has been a pleasure to watch you learn and grow throughout the years. We will miss your joyful energy and sweet spirit, Emma!

Today was also exciting as this afternoon, one of the chrysalises hatched! We are still waiting to see the butterfly fully open its wings and fly.

The rest of our day has been well spent playing in the sandbox, searching for four-leaf clovers and creating at the art table.

Have a great weekend! –Jessica

Wee Sprouts: Grape tomatoes. Breakfast: Brown rice cakes with cream cheese and bananas. Lunch: Whole wheat flatbread with hummus, bananas, cucumbers and cauliflower. Snack: Mozzarella string cheese and as a special treat for Emma’s last day, strawberries with Jell-O.

Hello!

The classroom slide was our friend’s favorite thing today! There were many giggles as they went down it over and over again.

Rosemary was busy in the kitchen, sampling a variety of delicious food.

Breakfast was whole wheat toast with No Nut butter and fresh bananas. Lunch consisted of whole grain brown rice with cheese, water melon, and corn. Snack was  whole wheat crackers with sweet pea butter.

I hope you all had a great day!

Amanda

Hello!

Everyone enjoyed their outside time this morning.

Maya and Anna colored together in the new art area.

And Ruby was loving the sandbox!

Breakfast consisted of whole grain oatmeal with cinnamon and fresh strawberries. Lunch was whole wheat bread, farm fresh egg casserole with potatoes, fresh cantaloupe, and broccoli. Snack was homemade pumpkin muffins with butter made by the Wee Friends Preschoolers.

I hope you all have a great evening!

Amanda

This morning the Wee Frienders experimented with some simple ingredients: milk, food coloring, and dish soap. Although there were only a few ingredients, the results were spectacular! The fats in the milk react with the dish soap leading to some interesting movement and designs:

The reaction happens fairly quickly, but incited awe!

This morning a friend REALLY wanted to hear some spooky Halloween songs. It may be June, but we had so much fun listening and dancing to spooky sounds. We stirred brew like witches, flew on brooms and flapped our wings like bats!

This afternoon has been a whirlwind of activity as well, with friends on the work bench and playing with play dough at the art table. Eren requested the fuzzy balls from downstairs and made “bread”.

Have a great day! –Jessica

Wee Sprouts: Cucumbers. Breakfast: Whole Grain Cheerios, pears and leftover homemade whole wheat pumpkin muffins. Lunch: Whole grain brown rice with cheese, red peppers, grapes and watermelon. Snack: Peanuts and wheat crackers.

This morning friends were eager to see how our caterpillars were doing. The past few days the caterpillars have been forming their chrysalises and today they were hard enough to make the transfer to their butterfly habitat. We should see them hatch in about a week!

This morning friends got out the dot stampers and experimented with making dots and sliding the stamper across the page. Different colors were used and many different designs created.

This morning we also made homemade pumpkin muffins. We had several different choices of healthy muffins we could make, so the Wee Frienders voted. Although pumpkin muffins may seem more appropriate as a fall snack, it’s what friends decided on!

We gathered ingredients, counted the number of cups and practiced filling the measuring cups accurately, all the way up to the top. We smelled the pumpkin pie spice and the pumpkin and used our muscles to stir through the thick batter. Cracking eggs is also fun!

It was especially neat to see how the milk, pumpkin and oil mixed together.

The Wee Frienders are great bakers; the muffins were a delicious snack!

Have a great day. –Jessica

Wee Sprouts: Grape tomatoes. Breakfast: Whole grain oatmeal and red grapes. Lunch: Farm fresh eggs, whole wheat bread, fresh broccoli and cantaloupe. Snack: Homemade whole wheat pumpkin muffins with organic milk.

Good Afternoon!

This morning’s beautiful weather was perfect for outside play.

Something so easy as grass can provide such stimulation outside. Whether friends run their fingers through it or pull the grass out of the ground, the sensorial aspect is always high outside!

Breakfast was whole grain cheerios and fresh grapes. Lunch consisted of whole wheat tortilla with organic refried beans and shredded cheese, bananas, and tomatoes. For afternoon snack, the kids ate toasted whole wheat cinnamon raisin bagels and cream cheese.

Good Afternoon!

Friends were invited to the table this morning to play a category game. Using cards and objects, each child decided what object went to what category. For example, a friend said, “Basketball goes to sports!”. This was a game where friends could lend a helping hand. Some of our older friends helped their younger peers, offering suggestions or help when needed.

A styrofoam block and golf tees were put in the middle of the table for exploration. Children used hammers to hammer the golf tees farther into the block. Between making different designs and working on pulling the tees out of the block, the longevity of the activity was quite long for some friends!

We’re continuing to LOVE our new outside art area. Many kids took turns at the table using markers and scissors to make different creations. Once the creations are done, friends put them into the DONE box.

We have quite the bug exploration crew that has assembled. By lifting up small rocks and using their eye, rolly pollies and lightning bugs were found today! Friends used buckets to collect their interesting creatures!

Breakfast—Kashi Blueberry Clusters with fresh organic green grapes.

Lunch—Organic refried bean and shredded cheese tortillas, snow peas/cherry tomatoes, and banana.

PM snack—Whole wheat bagel with cream cheese.

Have a terrific evening!

Hello! I hope everyone had a good weekend.

Friends started their morning off outside. Ruby loved exploring in the sand while Anna was partial to the pebble rocks.

A few friends went to the Wee Friends door to say, “Hi!”

Maya played with the moon sand today.

She saw all the sand on the floor and said, “This is very messy! I’ll clean up.”

For breakfast, the children had whole wheat toast with cinnamon and oranges. Lunch consisted of whole wheat pasta noodles with pinto beans, oranges, and green beans. Snack was graham crackers and string cheese.