Messy and Clean!

I love art and sensory activities with the toddlers. The messier the better, but sometimes the challenging part is getting everyone cleaned up!

                               We finger painted with Red and Blue pudding paint, We made PURPLE!!!

Sweet Strawberrys!

 

                      The kiddo's Lil Strawberry's

 

       Lemonade Cake Mix Cupcakes

I wanted to make some pretty strawberry lemonade cupcakes but was feeling pretty lazy and decided to experiment by combining cake mixes!

These are my ingredients (strawberry jam not pictured) plus whatever is listed on the box:

I made both boxes separately. For the lemon cake mix, I added a heaping tablespoon of lemon curd (more if you want a stronger lemon flavor).  I decided to mix the cake mixes in different bowls so I could experiment with with how I wanted the cupcakes to turn out.

I wanted a pink center in the cupcake so I added the lemon first then strawberry on top.

For some of them I mixed both cake mixes together evenly to see if I could get a swirl but no luck.  For the icing, I used the pictured can of icing but added some strawberry jam to get a little strawberry flavor. If I had fresh strawberries, the puree would've worked much better. The flavor was perfect. I just added a little at a time until I got the hint of strawberry I wanted. (sorry I don't have exact measurements on it)

I thought they turned out to be very yummy!

Aren't they pretty?? Below are the cupcakes I layered: lemon cake batter on bottom, strawberry batter on top. I prefer the layered ones because the flavors were more distinguishable and created that perfect strawberry lemonade mix I was aiming for!

These are the cupcakes where I mixed both cake batters together. They look pretty but the taste had a more strong lemon flavor and I couldn't taste the strawberry. I wouldn't make them like this again unless I were to add fresh strawberries to it so make it pop more.

Happy Mother's Day Projects

Pinterest has helped me this year come up with cute projects to try on my Baby Bears. It was a little expensive but I bought 12 canvas panels for $15 dollars and then taped the word "Mom" to it and let the kid's finger paint them. Then when they dried we peeled off the tape.

Our Sensory of Ripping paper and crinkling it, turned into this huge mess! But they had fun!

 

But, we did have gluing our torn pieces to paper! 

       Painted with a paint brush, great fine motor skills!

  This, is what Miss Ashley did when I asked to trace their hands, this will be the only time they use glitter days when I'm not there, because glitter stresses me out! Ha-Ha!

            My bulletin board outside my classroom!!!

How does your garden grow!

Supposed to be doing spring activities, but it's really hard to do that with four inches of snow on the ground. Yes, in May it snowed!

This week we painted with carrot applesauce and made some really fun messy art!

PAJAMA DAY TODAY!!!

May Newsletter and Lesson Plan

         Baby Bears

      May, 2013

     Dear Families,

 Thank you for such a warm welcome to the Baby Bears toddler classroom! It has been fun getting to know your little ones      and reconnecting with some of the toddlers that I had as infants. I’d like to start with a few reminders. Please use the silver binder that has your child’s daily sheet in it. There is a section noted “Parent’s Message” in this binder.  Any important info that you need to remind us of, you may do so by writing it down. The binder will always be on the counter as soon as you walk into the classroom. I’ve also included an attendance sheet; please start signing your child in each day.

As the warmer weather approaches, please provide a light jacket if necessary, a sunhat, and sunscreen. There will be a form for you to fill out for sunscreen. We cannot use sunscreen on your child until you fill out the form. We have a big move coming in May. Five of the toddlers will move up to the Fluffy Ducks 2 year old room. If I have talked to you, then your child is moving up. I want to wish Lily a Happy Birthday; she will be two this month! We will celebrate with special birthday treats and a party!

This month we will focus on sensory activities. Sensory play is very important for toddlers, as they are still experiencing the sensory motor phase of their development. Some of our activities will include finger painting with applesauce, happy feet on bubble wrap, water play in the sensory tubs, rolling a ball in paint, and just plain old finger painting. We really like to get messy in this room; please bring extra socks as sometimes we get a little too excited before we are all ready to go!

For our quiet time of the day, which is right before we go to lunch, we will be reading some new books, including “Baby Bear, Baby Bear What Do You See?”,” Llama, Llama Hoppity Hop!”,  “Hands Are Not for Hitting” and much, much more reading, This group of toddlers just loves books and we love to read to them! We read

 daily!

Just a reminder: My hours are from 7:15 a.m.- 5:15 p.m., Tuesday through Friday, and Miss Molly’s hours are from 7:00 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. If you ever have any questions, please fill free to ask us, we’d be more than happy to help you!

We are in the process of creating a fun gift for all you mommies out there!

Love,

     Becky

Theme: How does your garden grow?!	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Music and movement	Clapping Song! Who’s Here today?	Oldies music and singing and dancing	Rolling ball back in forth in paint sensory tub	Parachute Game Up and Down in gym	Singing Row, Row your boat and abc’s
Arts and Sensory	Feeling and Tasting Oranges	Robin Foot Prints	Strawberry Hand Prints	Applesauce Group Finger Painting	Colored Spaghetti Noodles
Language Development	Touch and Feel Sensory Cards	Baby Bear, Baby Bear what do you hear?	Baby Sign for Bird and Flower	Reading Teeth are not for biting	Reading Hands are not for hitting
Motor Development	Playing outside Climbers	Playing with String Pieces	Stamping our feet to make carrot footprints	Have a picnic inside	Sticker Fun on green paper

water color painting

Summer reminds me of water color paints. My mom used to do it with my sister and I when we were young outside, but I think we will be doing this a lot this summer!

Bug Footprints

Since it's Bug Week, of course we had to do some cute footprints!!!