Gardening Week

It’s gardening week throughout the center and even though it has been cold and dreary outside, we have been brightening up the classroom with flowers and colors.  The older children “planted” flowers in our shoebox garden and stamped with flower stamps on paper.  Shape sorters have been out, as well as chalk and chalkboards, popsicle sticks and juice bottles, plastic containers and lids, and toy gardening kits to explore.  All have watched puppets, both the farm animals as well as finger puppets singing various songs to accompany them.  The younger babies watched bubbles, listened to the rain stick, practiced shaking the sensory bottles and studied their reflections in the mirrors with the teachers.  There have been lots of books about flowers and digging in the dirt, as well as fine motor activities such as pulling scarves out of small balls.  Several of our children have shown interest in how to roll and/or kick balls so that is ongoing in the classroom and outside right now.  They are figuring out which ones are easier to maneuver based on the size of the balls so watching them figure it out has been a lot of fun.  As always, they are busy building with blocks, discovering toys that make sound, “talking” on their toy phones, and giving baby dolls lots of love.  Many are learning to sit, eat food with help or on their own, roll, and walk.  It has been a colorful week and one filled with lots of fun and laughter!