Happy Halloween

The children had a blast at our Halloween party this afternoon.  We were super busy with many different activities and games (all of which are posted below).  Here are some descriptions of the events that kept us going, giggling and smiling all afternoon long.

Crafting Creatures - children made Halloween creature puppets on popsicle sticks

Spider Web Walk - on a spider web created out of Halloween tape, children had to walk along the web and pick up a spider; if they "fell off" the web, they would then become a spider snack

Witches Brew - using a straw, children had to suck up and drop pumpkins, cats and bats into the cauldron for the witches brew (those witches were hungry!!)

Pumpkin Walk - this game is similar to musical chairs except they had to touch/sit on a pumpkin when the music stopped

Boo Bowling - using a pumpkin (who did not like ghosts) children had to bowl over the stack of ghosts

What Time Is It Ms. Ghost? - similar to What Time Is It Mr Wolf only adapted for Halloween; boy, monkeys sure do run fast!!!

Jack-O-Lantern Toss - children had to try and feed the hungry jack-o-lantern some eyeballs

We at Susan's hope everyone had a happy, safe Halloween.

Crafting Creatures

Spider Web Walk

Witches Brew

Pumpkin Walk

Boo Bowling

What Time Is It Ms Ghost?

Jack-O-Lantern Toss

Pumpkin Carving

Susan bought 3 pumpkins this weekend and today the children helped get them ready for carving.  This meant pulling out all the "pumpkin guts". Ewwww... did they feel squishy and funny between our fingers.  We did a very good job though of getting all the seeds and pulling out the guts.  Tomorrow we'll post pictures of what they look like with lights inside them.

Spooky Spiders

We made THE CUTEST (albeit supposed to be scary but just too darn cute for scary) spider hats yesterday to transform ourselves into creepy, crawly critters.  We learned many things about spiders too! (Did you know they have 8 legs and spin webs? They only drink the blood of their "meals".)

(For some reason the music won't play while viewing the slideshow on the blog so please click on the slideshow - anywhere other than the play button - and it'll take you to the slideshow via Photopeach and you can hear the music there.)

Haunted Houses

Spookiness has entered in to Susan's this week!  The children made creepy, haunted houses and behind every door and window a scary creature can be found.

Create your own slideshow

Snow

Well we had a bit of a snow fall the other day.  You couldn't really tell today but yesterday there was enough for us to make SNOW PEOPLE!! We had so much fun rolling up the snow into balls and creating our new play friends.  We have to remember to dress warm which means winter jackets, ski pants, toques, mitts and boots now. Brrrr!!  We definitely want to stay warm so we don't get sick.

Woooooooo

We are getting quite into the Halloween spirit at Susan's now.  Not only does she have the house decorated but the children are doing various activities around the theme.  Check out our scary ghosts!  Don't worry - they're just pretend. ;)

Scary Witches

With Thanksgiving behind us, we are right smack dab into our Halloween themed activities.  Although Halloween is not for another couple of weeks, there are so many cool activities to do that we thought we'd get started right away.

This week, children made paper bag witches. SCARY!!  Actually many of them turned out pretty cute ;)  It's amazing to see how well our fine motor skills with cutting and colouring have improved.  Also, Susan always has us counting and learning letters while we're working (children have to count to 10 or 20 when they are holding their glued items onto their craft).  During our conversations at the table, the children build on their schema with all the information, facts and stories they share.

(For some reason the music won't play while viewing the slideshow on the blog so please click on the slideshow - anywhere other than the play button - and it'll take you to the slideshow via Photopeach and you can hear the music there.)

Happy Thanksgiving

We here at Susan's wish all our children and their families a safe, happy long weekend and a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

(Check out our wonderful fine motor skills with our fabulously coloured pictures).

Turkey Time

It's turkey time!! The children at Susan's made the cutest hats today to disguise themselves as turkeys.  They cut out feathers and glued them to a band which fit around their heads.  Not only did they dress as turkeys but they also learned some turkey moves to "gobble it up" on the dance floor.

Outdoor Fun

Even though the weather is starting to cool off, we still enjoy getting our fresh air and running about in Susan's backyard.  There are so many things for us to do back there!  We can swing, play on the play structure (that has two slides, a rock wall, a tunnel, and more), make sand creations, enjoy the kitchen, write/draw on the boardwalk and much more!  Check out all we like to do outside:

Under The Sea

During the "Under the Sea" week, children made many crafts related to sea animals.  Along with making the cute activities, the children also learned many facts about each of the sea animals. For instance, sea turtles lay their eggs in the sand.  Jellyfish bites sting.  Male seahorses are the ones who have the babies.  Not only are children getting fine motor practice with colouring and cutting but they are building their schema (prior knowledge) to aid in reading comprehension.

Structures

One of the cool things children get to do at Susan's is explore structures.  She has MANY different building tools (Lego, Kinex, blocks, etc.) that children get to use to create various structures using their imaginations. It's great to see all the things they conjure up to make! :)