An Envelope Full of Stars

Narrative Sparkly Playdough Sensory Play

Most of the items used in this station were in the hues of blue, white, and silver. Last week, we made a “limited edition” sparkly playdough together with Nanako just in time for the winter holidays. Compared to previous Free Plays that involved playdough, we have a whole lot less items to use with this time so that both our teachers & us could give emphasis on narrating what we were doing and conversing to help widen our vocabulary and strengthen our social skills.

R “poked” (with his fingers) and “sliced” balls of playdough.

K “rolled” balls of playdough and made it “flat” using a rolling pin.

J “sliced” balls of playdough into smaller batches and “baked” pizzas for everyone

L “pressed” and “pushed” stencils unto playdough to make “prints” of all sorts

S wore the round stencils like “bracelets”

Rolling Marbles in Silver & Gold

Bowls and trays with paper stars and snowflakes in it were laid out for us to roll marbles soaked in silver & gold paint on. It was a blast hearing the sound of the marbles when they “bumped” into each other and how it left a “streak/line” design on paper that it had rolled on.

G and W both focused on counting the number of marbles they were able to use while rolling it within the tray. They also observed how much “force” each used by noticing the speed of the rolling marbles.

We look forward to seeing these sparkly paper stars and snowflakes hanging up in our room for our Holiday Party this Wednesday!

Gatcha Gatcha Surprise

Gatcha Gatcha machines are such fun to play with! To hype us up with the excitement of the holiday season, we opened up gatcha gatcha balls, excited to see what could be inside of it.

L, W, and J spent some time “investigating” the table which contained the surprises there were placed inside the gatcha gatcha balls.

K, G, S, and J all worked on figuring out the best way for them to open the gatcha gatcha balls as it required using an amount of force & strength.

Community Kitchen Free Play

While all the station activities were happening, our community kitchen area was busy with pots & pans clanging. K was the “head chef” of the day, manning the kitchen and overseeing how the operation went. He was the one distributing “foods” that others could “cook”.

N was in charge of “delivering” dishes in which she used her special chair delivery service.

While all this was happening, E had a wonderful time getting to know G. They both talked about the stuffed toy that they brought and had fun looking through the Japanese “mask” book.

Circle Time

We ice skated to Los Del Rio’s “Macarena!”... We pranced, twirled, skipped , leaped… just like Molly and the Penguin which was read to us last week.

We changed the lyrics to Perry Como’s “Catch A Falling Star” to “Catch A Falling Snowflake wherein each one of us were given a paper snowflake that we had to take care of. Each snowflake had an intricate design and we were advised to use gentle hands so it would not get ripped. We replicated the experience of being under a gentle snowfall wherein snowflakes would drizzle down from the sky. We caught snowflakes using our hands, head, and nose! Achooo! Be careful not to get frostbite!

Erika showed us her special envelope with stars inside it. Before we could see it, we had to prepare ourselves to calm down as the stars only come out when it is silent and still. After several minutes of listening to lullabies and being mindful of our breathing, we all had a turn in peeking through the envelope full of stars!

G said, “It was cool! After peeking through the envelope.

K, E, and J all said that what they saw reminded them of the stars & moon that they see up in the dark night sky.

Indoor Play Huts

Since the rain fall has been sporadic, we decided to stay on the safe side by staying indoors. Play huts were set up wherein we all could crawl through. It was interesting to see who amongst us preferred whose company… The older members of the class tended to gather together to sit and converse whereas the younger members enjoyed physical play.

We hope everyone is staying warm during this chilly Monday

Love,

Buds Class Children