Butterfly Pavillion

As part of our unit study on butterflies, we thought it would be fun to visit a butterfly pavillion. Luckily, our local Natural History Museum has a butterfly pavillion during the summer months :) The kids loved it and had a wonderful time!

 We saw a chrysalis...

 ...and many different butterflies.

 Smiley was very excited about finding some rolly pollies as well ;)

 Smiley was hoping a butterfly would land on his leaf...

 Smiley found some butterfly eggs!

 (the orange dots below)

 and caterpillars...

What a fun-filled day and great summer activity for the entire family!

Linked up to: Beneath the Rowan Tree and Little Wonders' Days.

TOT School

~Our little lovebug is currently 21 months old~

We had a fun filled week with different learning opportunities. We mainly focused on fine motor skills, sensory experienes, colors and shapes.

We worked on a 4th of July themed sensory tray. Our little lovebug spooned fuzzy pom poms with a spoon...

 On a different day, she did some pouring and filling the pom poms in small holes...

 She's a pretty silly girl, always dancing and jumping around ;)

 We did some coloring... She usually needs to have something in each hand (same with food)...

 I made a sensory bin filled with feathers for the kids, which they really enjoyed...

 We played with our Melissa and Doug, food cutting toy, which the little one really enjoyed, although she typically just pulled the pieces apart rather than using the knife.

 We worked on this shape puzzle. I said the names of the shapes as she inserted them into the puzzle...

 I made a slit in the lid of a container and the little tot inserted our colored buttons. I had her get a certain color or shape at a time...

 Here she is collecting all the hearts...

 Her favorite thing to do right now is to play dress up. She loves to go to mommy and daddy's hamper or closet, pull out a bunch of clothes and put them on. Oh, SO MUCH FUN!

Preschool ~ Caterpillars

INSECT THEME: FROM CATERPILLAR TO BUTTERFLY

As part of our Insect Theme, we have been learning all about butterflies. Smiley is, of course, very interested in the metamorphosis from caterpillar to butterfly. So, to make our study really hands-on we ordered 5 caterpillars from Insect Lore.

It has been great. We are keeping a journal, in which we draw and write everyday, noting the changes we observe in our caterpillars. It is incredible how much they grow every day! Very fascinating, even for mom and dad!!

To go along with our study, we have been reading several books, including:

From Caterpillar to Butterfly by Deborah Heiligman.

This is a great book for preschoolers/kindergarteners, explaining the change from caterpillar to butterfly.

Beautiful Butterflies by Meish Goldish

This is a great book with many beautiful pictures of butterflies. It includes many interesting facts on butterflies.

A Butterfly Grows by Stephen Swinburne

Another book on the metamorphosis. It has many pretty pictures and walks through all the steps with few words. Ideal for younger learners!

In addition to the above non-fiction books, we also read a couple of board books on the topic, including:

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle and The Crunching Munching Caterpillar by Sheridan Cain. Both books were great hits with the kids.

FINE MOTOR/SENSORY WORK:

In honor of 4th of July, I put an independence day themed sensory tray together for the kids. I included fuzzy, blue and white pom poms (from Michael's) and a star ice cube tray (from Cost Plus).

On another day, the kids played with a feather sensory bin...

PRACTICAL LIFE

Smiley helped me fill our mason jars with all kinds of goodies (grains, flours, sugar etc)...

We started a garden journal, which we use to note our observations about our potted fruit and vegetable plants. Here, Smiley is measuring them...

Helping daddy plant a new plant that he had picked out at the store :)

FUN

The weekend was busy with lots of 4th of July celebrations and get-togethers :)