year of the Snake

Happy Friday Buds families! 

Today was still quite chilly outside but we were so excited for our special chinese new year circle time!

At the front of the room we had the blue play doh. L made a beautiful heart and L a unicorn with the stamp cutters. K smiled as he made cookie shapes and Ichiri enjoyed squeezing the playdoh as tight as he could. 

N was so excited to see the crayons on the back table he reached and grabbed a blue to scribble. His friend N liked red and 

At the back of the room we had some toy trains. L and S made a wonderful track. S and T enjoyed making the trains go fast on the track.

At circle time we danced to some of the songs that we heard on Wednesday to celebrate the Chinese new year. L showed us a story about Nian the dragon and how the people made him run away by setting off fireworks and painting their houses red. That's why red is a lucky color and why people set off fireworks for Chinese new year. 

To celebrate Chinese New Year Yuto's mom W came in to explain to us what happens and how they celebrate. She showed us a map of China and told us where she was from and where Y's dad is from and where L, S and L mom is from. She showed us the twelve animals and the different types of activities that people do to celebrate the new year. Some of our friends helped W to remove the stickers to reveal the different types of food. S was very happy with the sticker he received. 

Y gave his friends a new years card. He was so proud to give his friends the card he made. In the children's pouches we also have given everyone a red pouch with a Chinese candy inside from Y. Thanks Y and Yu! 

Today we did the earthquake drill. Lucy showed us how to protect our head and how it's very important to cover our heads and go under the table and to wear a helmet to stay protected. Everyone did a great job of showing where their heads are and some of us even got under the table! 

After snacktime we went to the park. It was quite cold today but we were lucky to be able to run around in the warm sun. Y and K investigated the water fountain, they were great detectives. I and L were investigating the soil with R and La coming up behind to check out the huge tree stump. S and L screamed as Tamara chased them around with N to help. 

After burning all of that energy it was time for some lunch.. Wow, where did the day go? Where did the month go?! It's already the last day of January. Wishing you a great weekend and so looking forward to seeing you on Monday for our Setsubun event. Oni wa soto, fuku wa uchi! 

 Love, 

Buds