Beautiful Chaos: Preschool: W is... Well for Lots of Things!

We started out 'W' week with a Table Time craft that made the kiddos think and use their imagination. I gave them a "window" made with a piece of white construction paper that we drew a centered vertical and centered horizontal line on to represent the pane. Then we cut out a frame out of brown construction paper and glued it to the outside. Each kiddo's spot was set up with markers and the window when they came in. The directions were to draw what is outside of their window, or use their imagination and decide what they might see out a window on vacation, or somewhere in their house. This could easy be turned into an early journaling with a prompt written on the top, "When I look out my window, I see..." and the kids could finish the sentence while you write it for them.

This little one chose to draw some people out her window.

This kiddo has some livestock and that is what he drew!

At Circle Time we read one of my favorite books, "Mrs. Wishy Washy's Farm"!

It is a cute book that uses rhyming prose. The kiddos loved it as much as I did.

The animals run away from their farm because they don't like baths.

They go into the city, get really dirty, go to animal jail and eventually make it back home, thankful to get a bath!

We also talked about pigs. Click Here for a free printable of the pig fact sheet that I made.

(here is a preview)

During Free Play, I set up several centers.

The first center included a tub of water, a scrub brush, a spray bottle and some small plastic farm animals. The kiddos had a blast playing in the water. ( I do recommend wearing art smocks for water play.)

The next center was also a washing station, except we used water beads, a scrubber and plastic animals.

Kids could wash the animals in a tub full of sensory fun! If you have not discovered water beads yet, you must head to your local craft store immediately and get lots! They are the coolest thing. They start out super tiny, you put them in water and over the course of a few hours they swell to a much larger size. They are squishy and therapeutic to play in. The kids LOVED this station. Best thing is, the water beads will last forever (well maybe not forever...) You can buy them at craft stores in the floral section. They are cheap too!

The art center was filled with pig cut outs that I pre-glued to various colors of construction paper and paint cups filled with brown paint and coffee grounds. I originally saw this idea here. She mixed her brown paint with oatmeal and sand I think. I forgot my oatmeal and only had purple sand on hand, so I used ground coffee and it worked out perfectly.