water, worms, and wands

Today I had the joy and pleasure to host Adelaide's preschool class. We learned about the letter W. At first I wondered why on earth did I pick W? I even considered changing it at the last minute. I'm so glad I didn't. I've pondering on what to do with the kids for last few weeks, and drawing a complete blank. So, I decided it was time to call in the big guns. No, not super experienced teacher Jason, My Heavenly Father. The most experienced teacher of all. I prayed for inspiration, and boy did it ever strike when I needed it. I was flooded with ideas all of a sudden, and everything came together beautifully.

We talked about the letter W and what it looks like, what sound it makes, and what things start with W. We talked a lot about water, and some of it's many uses. Then we went outside to play with water sensory boxes. I have been wanting to make sensory boxes for Addie and Ella for a while now and I am super excited to have a water one all ready for them. It was also probably the easiest to make. A plastic storage bin filled with about 2 quarts of water. Some measuring cups and spoons, and some plastic sea creatures. The kids loved this activity. With played with it for a little over 30 minutes, and when entertaining 6 preschoolers, that's saying something.

Form there we moved on to worms. I bought a container of big juicy night crawlers. We took some out and held them. We talked about where they live, and what they eat. We watched them wiggle around on the ground, and we saw how they use their bodies to crawl. The boys were a little squeamish at first, but soon warmed up to our wiggly friends. The girls dove right in, holding them and washing them with water from our boxes. When our worms needed a break from all the attention, we went inside to paint worm pictures with cooked spaghetti noodles. We dipped the noodles in paint, and pulled them across the paper the way worms crawl, to make worm tracks. The kids thought this was cool. I'm a little afraid I didn't throw away as many noodles as I cooked. I wonder where they all went??? We also painted wormy apples. Apples pictures with a hole in them for their finger worm to fit through.

We took a walk around our circle, and got our wiggles out by doing the hokey pokey. We played with colored ice cubes from my fish, star, and pumpkin trays. they colored ice was actually a bigger hit than I expected, and the kids liked munching on the cold frozen shapes. 

We read books about witches for our last activity of the day. I love how easy it is to get the kids to settle down for a story. They love books and being read to. I could have gone on longer and I think they would have loved it, but by then it was lunch time.

Everyone got to take home a whistle, some gummy worms, a magic wand that I made for them, and a cup of live worms. I had so much fun, and I am so thankful the the inspiration that came to me. It is such a small thing, but it really means a lot to me that everything worked out so well.