Sponges

Today I had Rainbow work with sponges.  I bought some pre-cut sponges in different shapes (but you could easily do this yourself if you are crafty...I'm not).  I put some washable paint on a plate and put the shower curtain over Rainbow's art desk.  I taped some paper to a tray and let Rainbow experiment with the sponges.

She really enjoyed printing and creating patterns.

What we used: 

Moving to Wordpress

I started this blog not to long ago on Blogger.  I don't have a problem with blogger (I found it easy to post and set up the appearance of the blog) but I felt like it was really hard to get traffic going on the site.  I decided to move my blog over today to wordpress (Sorry blogger nothing personal).  I will be posting the other stuff slowly to not overwhelm and to make it fun to read.  

So hello Wordpress peeps, I'm excited to be here.  I hope you enjoy my blog.  Basically, the blog is about my daughter and I exploring her world.  I am really hands on when it comes to my daughter's education.  I participate a lot at her preschool and I am always coming up with crafts and outdoor activities to do with my daughter.  Please go back and read my posts and you will see lots of fun things to do with a 2 year old. I hope you enjoy. Here is a link to my new wordpress blog:

http://daydreamingrainbows.com/

Sincerely, 

Seattle Mom

Bugs

Yesterday's theme was bugs so we started by going outside and looking for different bugs.  We used a magnifying glass to look at ants and other creepy crawlers up close.  Than we read The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle.  

Via Wikipedia

We ended the theme with Rainbow creating little bugs. In the living room I have her artwork desk (an old classroom desk I bought used with a matching chair... love it).  I covered the desk with my art shower curtain and placed her play dough and a paper plate with a couple of wiggle eyes and colorful pipe cleaners.  Rainbow really enjoyed this project and got very creative.

What we used: 

Via Amazon.com

Via Amazon.com

Collage Fun

Today Rainbow worked on a collage.  Once again I covered her art area with a shower certain since she hasn't used glue on her own before.  I than taped a paper to a tray and handed Rainbow a paper plate with a bunch of different collage material.  Some of the materials were feathers, gems, glitter embedded tissue paper.  I showed Rainbow how to squeeze the glue bottle and put items on the glue.  Than I let her experiment on her own.  She had a really good time and said, "This for Dada!".   When my husband came home Rainbow was very excited to show him the collage.  They spent at least 10 minutes talking about it.

FYI I didn't let her use the scissors, that was so I could cut the tape.

What we used:

via Crayola Washable Glitter Glue

via www.dickblick.com Creativity Street Feathers

via www.dickblick.com Creativity Street Fun Gems

via Amazon Glitter Tissue

Breakfast Date

This morning my husband took the day off work and we dropped our daughter off at preschool.  I must admit even though I knew Rainbow would be fine with out me I was a little nervious.  Since we had some free time, Planner and I decided to have a breakfast date.

It's been a very long time since we've been on a date.  I think the last time the two of us went out was 2-3 months ago.  It was nice being able to sit down in a restaurant and focus only on what my husband was saying.  After a couple of hours we than went to pick up Rainbow.  

As I suspected she had done just fine without us.  One of the parents working in the class room mentioned she was amazed at  Rainbow's high verbal skills and independence.  99% of me was very proud that Rainbow did so well but there was 1% hiding deep down inside that wished she had needed me.  But I try to push that 1% down and not verbalize it because I know in the long run it's better to have a strong girl that has a can do spirit.  They grow up so fast.

Sidewalk Fun

Having gone to my daughter's preschool board meeting the night before I really wasn't in the mood to leave the house.  However, it was a lovely sunny Seattle day so I felt obliged to get some Vitamin B. We began the day by going to Starbucks for my weekly iced Americano and Rainbow's chocolate milk.  We took with us Rainbow's magnifying lens and every couple of seconds we stopped to look at a flower or twig up close.  

When we finally made it back home I grabbed Rainbow's chalk and we drew on the sidewalk.

I asked Rainbow what shapes we should draw and she picked heart, than circle, and finally star.  I drew them with different colors and asked her to tell me which onesthey were.  Lastly I made a hopscotch game from 1-9 and we practiced her numbers.  We spent about an hour doing this.  

Finally I took out Rainbow's sensory table and filled it with water. At some point I gave her a paint brush and let her"paint" the trees and plants with water.

After all it was a hot day and Rainbow needed to keep cool.  We did this until nap time.  

Co-op Preschool

Since Rainbow was a year old I have been taking her to Preschool.  Take that all in.  I know, how can a one year old go to Preschool?  

Well, in Seattle we have a great co-op system.  For those who don't know what a co-op is it's a school that is run by parents.  If there is a trained teacher (the one my daughter attends does) than this person would be the only person getting paid.  

A more specific definition can be found at: http://preschoolers.about.com/od/parentingglossary/g/Cooperative-Preschool-Co-Op-Preschool-Preschool-Cooperative.htm.  

Parents help out in the class room on a rotating bases and also have an outside of the class room job (for example, fundraising or cleaning up toys).  There is a board that oversees the running of the school and each position is filled by a parent.  There is a tuition but it's usually much lower than other types of preschools.  The Seattle co-op system is all overseen by the Seattle Central Community College.  The community college provides insurance and parent education to the schools.  

So when Rainbow turned one I had her attend a co-op that had a class for her age group once a week.  There wasn't any real lessons.  It basically was a play date in which the same kids attended.  The teacher would set up different activities around the room and the kids were given the opportunity to go around a play with blocks, do art, use a sensory table, so on.  Rainbow loved going to class and sometime in the Spring the kids became old enough to pay attention during the last 30 minutes for circle time.  They got to sing songs and dance around as a group.  Since the kids were only a year old parents were required to stay for every single class.  The class was only for an hour and a half.  

Rainbow this year

 Rainbow is now going into her second year in a co-op and this time the class is twice a week for the whole morning.  I will only be helping in the class room a handful of times during the month. The class  is still play based which I think is very important.  At this age socialization is what they should focus on the most.  There will be more structure as the school year goes on and there is learning but it's not a sit down and work in a text book type of learning.  I'm excited to keep you updated with how the school year goes and if there is any projects that we do in class when I'm there I will make sure to blog about it.