Make snack time learning time with a patriotic snack

  We decided to pack our kids up today and take a little adventure. We went to a local blueberry farm near the Wacissa River. There were so many blueberries! Our kids each got a gallon bucket and were encouraged to fill it up, neither one of their buckets ever had more than a few berries at a time because they spent their time eating them...once my 1 year old discovered he could just walk right up to a bush sit down and eat, it was all over. 

I think in order to get their money from us they should have weighed my son when he arrived and then again when he left.

This was such a neat experience for my four year old to see where our food comes from, the owner of the property talked to her about how they cared for the bushes and even showed her how they take little "suckers" from the plant to make new ones. She saw blackberries and blueberries growing straight from the Earth.

 

 We took those berries home and since we have a whole gallon of them we brainstormed some ways to use all those blueberries, Kaitlyn loves them in oatmeal and on cereal, her daddy is looking forward to a fresh blueberry pie and I can't wait to make some of Amanda's homemade lemon blueberry bread.
But before all that we decided to turn snack time into math time.

To get in the spirit of Memorial Day we decided to go patriotic with our snack. I used my star shape cookie cutter to cut some star watermelon while Kaitlyn rinsed and cleaned the blueberries. She played around making different patterns focusing on A-B-A-B patterns as well as A-BB-A-BB patterns. She was learning and exploring all at the same time, making snack time learning time!

Blueberry Springs

383 Wacissa Springs Road, Wacissa, FL 32361.
Phone: 850-997-1238.
Open: Now Open, May 12, 2012, Tuesday through Sunday, from 7 am to 12 pm and 5 pm to 8 pm; Closed Mondays; We will be open through mid July, 2012
Bring Cash! 1 gallon of berries is $12

Do yourself a favor and pack a picnic lunch, go blueberry picking and then go dip your toes in the Wacissa River.

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Lil Sprouts May: Ocean Fun

 

Our lil sprouts had a whale of a time today learning about the ocean!

We started off with a book about whales, Baby Whale's Journey

We did a little science demonstration to show the lil sprouts how whales use their blubber to keep warm on their long journey to arctic waters.

Our lil sprouts put their hands into our ice bucket to experience the frigid temperatures. Then they slid their little hands into a glove insulated with blubber (crisco) and dipped their little hands back in. Our little ones noticed a definite change in temperature and were able to see how a whales blubber would help to keep them warm and insulated.

 Learning Centers

Next our lil sprouts were divided into groups.
They rotated between 3 learning stations to complete 3 different activities. First they made jellyfish, they added tentacles and used their hands to get creative with some finger paint.

 The next station was ocean sensory bags. We love encouraging our lil sprouts to learn through sensory experiences. They filled their ocean bags with shells, ocean animals, fish stickers, and fish bubbles (sequins). We then added a little glitter sand and then the fun stuff our blue ocean goo (or dyed hair gel) When the little ones were done we closed them up tight and they had an ocean in a bag. These are great for counting, classifying, and tracing their letters. Our lil sprouts practiced making o's for ocean using their pointer finger tracing it in the gel.

                                                                                The last activity was painting seashells, our lil sprouts examined some pretty cool seashells and looked at their brilliant colors, then we let their artistic touch take over. they used q-tips to apply paint to their seashells, we had some beautifully colored shells when they were all done.

Making an Edible Beach

To finish our activity day our lil sprouts made their very own edible beach. We talked about seashells and how the waves pound them down to make sand. Each lil sprout got their own bag with Nila wafers in it and we encouraged them to crumble, smash and bang them until they were mere crumbs. Like the waves erode the seashells in the ocean. We discussed animals that live in the ocean and they added gummy fish and sharks to their jello ocean. When they were done adding their wildlife they sprinkled their sand on top of their ocean. They added a gummy beach towel an umbrella and some star fish and crabs, some even added a few water toys like a gummy life preserver.

Exploring the ocean with a sensory pool

 

To encourage our lil sprouts to learn, laugh and play we set up a double sensory pool that had a sandy shore where they could investigate with shovels, seashells and sand toys. And an ocean sensory pool where they could explore with ocean animals, water buckets and other water toys.

These ocean sensory pools are great summer fun for your little ones, they take just a few seconds to set up and provide hours of learning fun for your little ones.

The kids really enjoyed their playtime as well, its always fun to explore and play on a swing set!

We had a whale of a time learning with our lil sprouts today! As favors our lil sprouts took home their very own sea creature we can't wait to hear their observations as they watch them this week! We look forward to comments from our lil sprouts!

Amanda and I love watching our little friends play, learn and explore! We look forward to next month when we explore a new topic and have s'more hands on learning fun! We hope you will join us next month, Saturday, June 23rd in the afternoon, more details will go out via facebook later this week, and as always will be posted on our site.
Be sure to sign up as a follower so you don't miss important dates and new activities!

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