Longwood Gardens: flowers, painters and water.

Today we went to Longwood Gardens with some friends and had tons of fun running around, enjoying each moment.

 {We saw a lot of people painting in various places throughout the gardens. The kids were fascinated by these artists. Isaac even asked one lady, "We were just wondering what kind of artist tools you are using to paint."}

 {Tag inside a treehouse...awesome!}

 

   {Ian and Kate exploring water}       {Meili stopping for a second to pose}

Zookeepers Isaac and Meili

It was raining again today... time for another game inside. Since we couldn't go to the zoo, we decided to bring the zoo to us. We pretended to be zookeepers and set up our very own Vance Crew Zoo, featuring an elephant, three frogs, several bears (including a panda bear), some monkeys, three jaguars, two bunnies, and three snakes (we don't actually have any snake toys, so we pretended we were the snakes).
First, we made signs for the animals - Meili and Isaac sounded out most of the animals' names, Isaac even wrote the bear sign.

 

We also included information about each of the animals. I suggested we look up facts on the computer, but the kids insisted they already knew everything about these animals - they were the zookeepers, of course.

After we made signs, we built them habitats.

Then, we fed the animals. Since jaguars eat meat, they got the chicken leg.

The Red Game

I've been trying to get ideas from on-line sites about activities and fun things to do at home with preschool-/kindergarten-age children. One suggestion was to play games with them. So when I asked Isaac and Meili what game they wanted to play, Isaac's excited response was, "Red game!" aka, Settlers of Catan. So we pulled out the game and turned it into a learning-time activity. For the set up, we put the circles in order A to R, then we laid out the board and put a house on one corner and the Robber somewhere further away. Then, we rolled the dice and counted the dots to see where we could place our road (the goal was to build a road between the house and the Robber). We also had fun sorting the pieces by color, shape, etc.

Weekly Field Trip

This week for our field trip we went to Kehler's Gym for fun and frolic at their indoor play zone! It was a fun way to get out and get some exercise on a rainy day.

Planning for Preschool

Our first attempt at 'homeschooling' began with a preparation day. While I planned, Isaac and Meili looked at Highlights magazines. They love the hidden pictures and "What's wrong?" pictures. Of course, this was interrupted by life (eating, napping, potty breaks, etc.) and we didn't get much planned.