Fire Safety

If you aren't speaking with your children regularly about fire safety, I encourage it. Even though we talk about it at preschool every month or two, I can tell it isn't frequently enough:

{After brainstorming where a fire should or could be (on a candle, on the stove/pilot light/BBQ, in a fire place) this conversation occurred...}

Me: "Girls, what should we do if we see a fire in a silly spot, like the bathroom?"

Miss Em: "We should laugh!"

I guess calling it a 'silly spot' made her think it would be funny, instead of alarming.

A few ideas we covered this this afternoon:

1. Fires are hot, and the smoke can hurt our bodies.

2. If we see, smell or hear a fire in a 'silly spot' we should tell a big person and go outside right away.

3. The firemen/fire women help us. They have special tools and clothes that help them fight fires without getting hurt. {An important fact to point out to our brave little ones who ask, 'why can't we use our own hose?'}

(Fire safety craft idea courtesy of icanteachmychild.com)

Chinese New Year

Handprint painted dragons

Dragon masks

And a crafty treat....

In a large ziploc bag add:

- 1C pretzels

- 1C toasted coconut

- 1 C chow mein noodles

-1 C peanuts (optional, and we went without)

Seal bag and take turns crushing the contents into little pieces.

Meanwhile, in a double boiler melt:

-1 to 1.5 C semi-sweet choc chips

-1 C butterscotch chips

Once the chips are smooth remove from heat, add dry ingredients and stir. Drop by small spoonful onto parchment lined cookie sheet. Place in freezer for 10 minutes to harden. Yum!

And FINALLY! (A recipe without raw eggs) We can lick the spoons!

Weather Journal

For circle time I have been trying something new. The 3s have been bickering about the calendar so I decided to give each her own weather journal. The idea is that they can write the date in the correct day spot, write the numbers for the temperature, then color what the sky looks like.

It might be a little too advanced. Or they are catching on that it is a little too school like. Or maybe it isn't as exciting as bickering over laminated squares for the playroom calendar. The weather journal is on and off in its popularity.

Clocks, Cats, Cars and the Letter C

These were fun and easy clocks to cut out and assemble. The hands rotate with a brad. With chatty 3's it is easy to start a dialogue about clocks, how they work, what we need them for. Or what three-year-olds need them for (is it snack tiiiime yet?!).

These guided activities are great for helping the children follow directions, work on fine-motor skills (coloring), counting and being creative.

Some of our directions:

Circle the clocks, count them, trace the 6, color the crab red, color the cat your favorite color, and write your name!