Reese is hosting Preschool Group this week

I joined a preschool/playgroup coop with 5 other moms from church. The kids meet for 3 hrs once a week and we take turns hosting preschool group at our house. It's been great for Reese since she missed the birthday cutoff for the school year and can only go to preschool 2 mornings a week, instead of 3, like many of her friends. This gives her (and me) something to look forward to once a week, and she really has a great time!
I love that it's free.
I love having a chance to play "teacher".
And I also love that I only have 7 preschoolers running around the house once every 6 weeks, and time alone with Quincy the other 5 weeks.

Preschool Group is at our house on Groundhog Day...so that's our theme. The color is Green and the letter is G.

Here's what I've come up with for tomorrow:
Circle Time: What is Groundhog Day? What is a Groundhog? Letter G. Listing G words.
Share Items: Items that begin with letter G. Wear Green.

Art: Groundhog puppets
The kids can color a groundhog and tape him to a stick. Then they can paint a TP tube green to make a "hole" for the groundhog to poke his head out of. Cute, right?

Cooking: Groundhogs live in the ground. We're going to make our own little Groundhog Dens using instant chocolate pudding, Oreo crumbs, and cool whip. The Gummy Worms were too cute to pass up for an added treat...plus "gummy" starts with G.
We also made these cute little green jell-o jiggler Trees for the kids to eat, or just decorate their Groundhog Den snack with.

Sensory: Green Playdough!
We made two batches of playdough tonight. I'm sure every mom of a preschooler has made this at some point, but I thought I'd share my favorite playdough recipe (there are dozens out there). If kept in a sealed ziplock bag or tupperware, this stuff will keep for months without drying out. You can also add 1pkg unsweetened Kool Aid to make it scented...but that usually entices my children to eat the dough. We opt to avoid that temptation, since Quincy has usually met her quota of "questionable non-toxic items children probably shouldn't eat" by about 10 am every day.
Here's the recipe:
2 cups flour
2 cups warm water
1 cup salt
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
1 Tablespoon cream of tartar (optional for improved elasticity)
food coloring (add to water to avoid having to "knead" the color in later)

Mix ingredients in a large sauce pan and stir continually over low heat until it thickens into playdough. (about 7 minutes) It starts out in liquid state and slowly sets up into a mashed potato consistency, and finally become playdough.

I made (using my awesome new laminater that I'm in love with) playdough activity mats for each of the kids. On one side there is a letter G for them to form using rolled playdough "snakes" and grapes they can make little balls to cover the picture and make green grapes of their own. On the backside there is a gumball machine (same idea as the grapes) and a list "G" sight-words to practice with Mom and Dad.

Science: making Shadows with flashlights and Weather.
Literature: Go Away Big Green Monster by Ed Emberley
I love this book so much that my sister even gave me the velcro hand puppets that go with it from Lakeshore. I love how excited kids get when they read this book, and watching their little faces as they "bloooow" away the parts of the monster's face and they disappear as you turn each page until he's gone forever. I highly recommend it to EVERY parent out there. Great book.

SEVEN 3-5 year olds. SEVEN. Plus Quincy. I've had a classroom of 12 before, but that was a classroom. This is my house. It is going to be so fun...put probably chaotic and I am so taking a nap tomorrow.