Experience Early Learning

Tadpole Sensory Bin

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March 10, 2020 by Stacy Leave a Comment

We’re starting a fun spring theme called Pond Life from Experience Preschool. We’re going to hesitantly say it’s spring in Wisconsin. It was such a beautiful day today we can’t help but have spring fever! During morning outdoor time, we played with this fun tadpole sensory bin.

Tadpole Sensory Bin made with penne noodles in water for Pond theme in preschool

Learning about tadpoles is part of the Life Around the Pond weekly theme. We’re also talking about turtles, snakes, frogs, and ducks.

Swiming Tadpoles is a sensory STEAM Station from week one of Pond Life. We love the STEAM Station ideas in the front of each teacher guide! They really make learning fun and hands on.

To make this sensory bin, just cook some penne noodles. You don’t want to overcook them and make them mushy so cook on the shorter side. I added a drop of blue food coloring to the water and gave them scoops and containers to put them in. You can add rocks or little plant pieces but my kids loved it just with water.

Tadpole Sensory Bin

We took our sensory bins outside since everyone was already dressed to get wet! It wasn’t too cold so they didn’t mind getting their hands wet for a bit.

Kids love water so no explanation needed – just play! However, we did talk about how tadpoles might feel.

They would be hard to catch so we might need to use a net. We used these sand sifter scoops but soon they were discarded to just use their hands.

It’s funny how cooked penne pasta is perfect for pretending we’re catching tadpoles.

Scoop them, catch them, dump them back in the bin and do it again!

Our noodles last for the duration of the activity, easily 30 minutes. I could see bits of starch in the water and some of the kids broke some of the noodles apart but in all, they held up well to the play.

It’s so fun to catch noodle tadpoles! They would also be minnows.

Enjoy this fun idea from Experience Curriculum Pond Life theme!

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Making Hot Cross Buns in Preschool

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March 10, 2020 by Stacy Leave a Comment

One of the most fun activities we’ve ever done is making hot cross buns in preschool. This activity was part of our nursery rhymes themes from Experience Curriculum. I’d say it was everyone’s favorite rhyme because not only did we get to “cook”, we got to eat a treat! What a memorable way to learn.

Making Hot Cross Buns in Preschool

I’m ambitious, but not so ambitious to make hot cross buns from scratch. It’s just not feasible with two infants in care plus 5 others. What’s most important when working with kids in the kitchen is that everyone gets some hands on experience and get to eat what they make.

I used this recipe from McCormick. It’s super simple and so yummy! To simplify the process, I measured out the cinnamon and brown sugar into little cups. The kids stirred it together and then spread it on their flattened biscuit.

They added raisins and then rolled up the dough into a ball. I recommend marking the pan and making a diagram of whose bun is whose. That way you don’t have to be so concerned about germs and everyone can eat the one they made.

Bake for 15 – 20 minutes. While you’re waiting for the buns to bake, make icing.

I put the icing into little snack size bags for the kids to squeeze their own icing on their bun.

Yum!

If you don’t like raisins you can leave them out. All of my kids were happy to have raisins.

This recipe was super simple and yet so good for my preschoolers.

Hot Cross Buns Icing Art

Making pretend hot cross buns with icing is fun too! We just used brown circles for buns glued to a paper plate. All the materials were provided by Experience Curriculum.

Draw on raisins if you want.

Then mix together shaving cream and some glue to make pretend icing. Put it in a plastic bag, cut the tip and squeeze! Icing the hot cross buns was so fun!

We used a lot of pretend icing but that was the idea of this project, to squeeze on icing. It’s a great activity for little hands and they don’t want to quit!

The glue and shaving cream icing dries puffy and then eventually quite flat as the air dries out of it.

Our awesome hot cross buns and icing activity.

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Humpty Dumpty Preschool Activities

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March 7, 2020 by Stacy Leave a Comment

Humpty Dumpty is a preschool favorite! We started out our Nursery Rhymes theme from Experience Curriculum with character rhymes including these Humpty Dumpty Preschool Activities. This rhyme is about an egg-shaped character who falls and breaks into pieces. Humpty Dumpty is a good rhyme that helps children practice putting together puzzles. Of course, nursery rhymes are all about literacy, literacy, literacy. So much learning takes place when we expose children to these short rhymes.

I Can Read Books

We love these books from Experience Curriculum. They are short little emergent reader books that focus on specific words. This month we were focusing on “look”, “and”, “at”. When we read these books, I’m not expecting my preschoolers to begin reading or even to memorize the book. It’s just exposure to letters, words and the enjoyment of reading.

It’s not long when they begin to match up letters and words to the pointers. If nothing else, they each get a book of their own to explore. Turning pages, looking at pictures, understanding that words have meaning is all apart of the reading process.

Each a month a storybook is included with our curriculum so here’s the Humpty Dumpty rhyme from the Nursery Rhymes book:

Humpty Dumpty Preschool Activities storybook from Experience Curriculum

Acting Out Humpty Dumpty

This is a simple little activity but kids just love to pretend they are Humpty Dumpty sitting on a wall of pillows. Stack up some pillows, Humpty Dumpty sits on the “wall”, recite the rhyme and Humpty Dumpty falls off the wall. They will do it over and over again!

Through these repetitions and fun actions, children can also learn about responding and caring for others.

Make a Humpty Dumpty Art Puzzle

Using an oval shape, draw Humpty Dumpty. Then cut him apart and put him back together again! So fun. I’d recommend cutting the pieces apart for the child to put back together or he/she may cut them into *many* small pieces making it difficult or impossible to put back together again.

Humpty Dumpty Art Puzzle Make & Play activity

Humpty Dumpty Preschool Activities art puzzles

Build Block Walls

One of our STEAM Station ideas for Humpty Dumpty was to build walls with various kinds of blocks. Add plastic eggs to balance on the walls. This is a good opportunity for children to explore making different kinds of walls, problem-solve ways to change the wall designs to hold the most eggs or even work together.

Humpty Dumpty Preschool Activities Block Walls

Fixing Broken Hearts

Humpty Dumpty can’t be put back together again and it breaks our hearts! This is a fun shape activity for Humpty Dumpty or Valentine’s Day.

taping together heart shapes Humpty Dumpty Nursery Rhyme Activities

Cut out some heart shapes (or any shape will work). Then cut them into simple pieces for the children to match back together and tape. We used Washi tape to tape our hearts back together.

Since ripping tape is challenging, I pull off some pieces and stick it to the basket so they can tape without frustration or waiting.

We hope you’ve enjoyed our Humpty Dumpty Preschool Activities! There are so many great ideas each month, we can’t wait to see what’s next.

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What’s in the Box? Pond Life

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February 19, 2020 by Stacy 1 Comment

Our Experience Early Learning preschool theme for March will be Pond Life. We’ll learn about life around the pond, pond plants, pond insects and life in the pond. We’ll learn about all of that through play, art, music and investigation. The focus will be on letters N, W, Z numbers 13 & 14, the star shape, color black, ABB pattern as well as some sight words, the -un word family and the responsible character trait. Read on to see What’s in the Box? At the Pond.

Theme Web for Pond Life Experience Early Learning preschool curriculum

Pack a picnic and meet us at the pond for a month of learning about frogs, ducks, fish, snails, turtles and more! Become scientists and build a pond habitat. Paint with algae, relax on a lily pad and count dragonflies as you observe pond life from different perspectives.
What animals and insects live in and around the pond? What plants grow there? It’s a place teeming with life and activity, and you’ll dig in and explore it all!

Pond Life Experience Early Learning preschool curriculum

What’s in the Box? At the Pond

You may also be interested in Using Mother Goose Time Curriculum: Getting Organized and Organizing All Those Supplies.

Teacher guides Experience Early Learning preschool curriculum

Teacher Tool Bag

Teacher tools Experience Early Learning preschool curriculum

theme poster and calendar Core concepts Experience Early Learning preschool curriculum

Core concepts Experience Early Learning preschool curriculum

Day 1: Turtle

Day 2: Snake

Day 3: Tadpole

Day 4: Frog

Day 5: Duck

Day 6: Submerged Pond Plants

preschool submergent pond plants lesson pond life theme

Day 7: Bog Plants

preschool bog plants lesson pond life theme

Day 8: Emergent Pond Plants

preschool emergent pond plants lesson pond life theme

Day 9: Floating Pond Plants

preschool floating pond plants lesson pond life theme

Day 10: Algae

Day 11: Dragonfly

preschool dragonfly lesson pond life theme

Day 12: Mosquito

preschool mosquito lesson pond life theme

Day 13: Water Strider

preschool water strider lesson pond life theme

Day 14: Mayfly

Day 15: Backswimmer

preschool backswimmer lesson pond life theme

Day 16: Snail

Day 17 Crawfish

preschool crawfish lesson pond life theme

Day 18: Lizard

Day 19: Alligator

preschool alligator lesson pond life theme

Day 20: Fish

Now that you’ve seen What’s in the Box? Pond Life, it’s time to order your kit and get ready for March!

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What’s in the Box: Nursery Rhymes

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January 20, 2020 by Stacy Leave a Comment

This month’s Experience Early Learning’s preschool curriculum kit is sure to please once again! The Nursery Rhymes theme is another of my favorites. It’s rich in literacy, high on the cuteness level and covers such a wide range of topics. Did I ever mention that I need change, novelty, and variety too? Just like a child. I’m always glad to see my new kit arrive. It’s like a fresh start with new inspiration to teach, fresh goals for my group and an excitement to share these wonderful materials in meaningful ways. This post covers What’s in the Box: Nursery Rhymes.

What’s in the Box: Nursery Rhymes

I continue to be impressed with the wide variety of materials, tools, and activities Experience Early Learning provides. This month I laminated all the Daily Topic posters so I can save them and make a nursery rhyme book. The rhyme pages are so cute, I must keep them! I love Experience Early Learning for their adorable illustrations each month. I’m not sure how they do it.

Be sure to look for the nursery rhyme storybook, this month’s manipulatives and the Hey Diddle Diddle puzzle, which I’m partial to since it’s the name of my child care. 🙂 Day 11 Pat-a-Cake materials are so sweet and I’m looking forward to playing the sight word and number games!

Teacher Tool Bag

Teacher Tools Experience Early Learning Nursery Rhymes

Teacher Guides

Core Concepts

This month we will be focusing on numbers 11 and 12. Our core concept letters are A, G, Q. Color purple and the heart shape fits in great with Valentine’s Day too!