Skip to main content

Where in the World, Winners, AND I'm back!

Image
By
I'm back! We had a fantastic vacation, too hard to pick any "favorites" but here are a few highlights of the past two weeks:

We visited Marine Land in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. It was fantastic! We had the opportunity to feed and touch beluga whales!!!!
Niagara Falls was unbelievable ;). We loved the Maid of the Mist boat ride (among other things....)

All and all, we traveled just short of 2100 miles. It was great! I'm sure I'll be sharing more of our adventures in the days to come.

Just before we left on vacation, our new globe arrived. We have a lot of maps, atlases, and puzzles of maps, inflatable globes, but we didn't have a "real" globe to explore. I decided to buy this one because Dane (and some of the other children) are wild about animals!
 Is this globe cool or what? There are animals on it all over the place! When you plug it in, it illuminates even more critters that you cannot see when the light is off in the oceans.
The children were very quick to start identifying locations they were familiar with. Then they started hunting down our animal cards and toy animals, matching the animals to their photos and location on the globe.
Right now, Australia is on their brains. (I think it might be because of the great little critters Donna from Irresistible Ideas for Play Based Learning sent to us!)
After we were finished with the cards and some of our toy critters; we took out the computer and started to do a little google research on some of the animals and places. We spun the globe and randomly stopped it by poking it with one finger. Whatever animal was under our finger was our research target. We had a great time learning about some of the more uncommon animals on our planet and their habitats!


I am really excited to be sharing some information with a couple of other folks about where we live through the "PAY IT FORWARD" project. We received a wonderful package about Tennessee from Scott over at Brick by Brick, and I am happy to report that I will be sending out 3 packages to the following folks:

Pam from How Long is This Hall
Greg from Males in Early Childhood Education
and
Stacey from Boys, Baking, and Bargains

Please drop me a personal email with your address so that I can get a great Upper Michigan package sent to you and your children!

I am still getting back into the swing of things, I am hoping to get back into my "normal" routine by the end of the week.

Comments

Play for Life said…
Welcome home Amy ... Man those beluga whales are awesome and so are our Aussie animals. I'm so glad Dane and the other children are having fun learning about them. That's a really awesome globe!!!
Donna :) :)
July 12, 2011 at 8:39 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Our DIY Light Tables

By
There has been a lot of buzz about light tables over at Teach Preschool on Facebook . Deborah has collected some great ideas for light table play and has been experimenting with making her own table over on the Teach Preschool blog.   I thought I would share with you our two light tables and how we made them. This first table is one that we put together with some scrap wood pieces, an old plexi-glass door from an entertainment center, and a couple of aquarium lights. Total Cost = $0. (We had everything on hand.)  The table needs a little bit of tweaking. (It is on my to do list).  Basically, we made a frame of wood around the plexi-glass and placed the lights under it. Our DIY skills in putting this together were far from expert, so the frame has a couple of gaps (and the reused wood is warped). We plan to try a new frame and use some caulk to seal any gaps.  We also plan to attach the lights to the side of the frame instead of just placing them on the f...
15 comments
Read more

A Few Ideas With Marker Caps (As Promised)

By
Yesterday, I hope I convinced you not to throw away your markers that "don't work." Today, I will share with you a few ideas for what to do with all of the caps. The possibilities are nearly endless, but here are a few of our recent creations: 1) A Leprechaun/Fairy Ladder/Rope Ladder: 2) #1 if not permanently secured can also double as a rope bridge: 3) #1/#2 can also be made into a train track for your homemade trains :). (No photo available) 4) You can use them as beads for a necklace: 5) You could make them into a wind chime. (No photo available). 6. You can use them as small manipulatives to count, sort, and make patterns with. (No photo available). 7) You could use them as playing pieces in your own homemade board game. (No photo available). 8) You could put them on a wire and glue them in place to make a twirling whirly-gig. 9) You could top them with a lid from a milk jug to make tiny tables or toadstools. 10) You could make them...
15 comments
Read more

Yes, WE CLIMB UP THE SLIDE!

By
Yes, we do climb up the slide. We climb up the slide here at Child Central Station in the backyard... We climb up the slides when we are at the park..... and here are a few reasons why we think you could reconsider climbing up and allowing the children in your care to climb up the slide too! 1. Climbing up the Slide uses MUSCLE!  Young children need to be active and climbing up the slide requires a lot of muscle and coordination. It is not an easy feat- and requires strength, concentration, determination, and will power. 2. Climbing up the Slide is RISKY! Yes- climbing up the slide is potentially risky, but so is sliding down! Your job as a caregiver is to carefully observe and monitor the situation, to be close by- but not to interfere unless necessary. Part of a child's learning process must include managing risks- climbing up the slide is a perfect way to practice this skill. 3. Climbing up the Slide involves potential CONFLICT! It ...
24 comments
Read more