Snow Much Fun

Full disclosure: This was a straight up repeat program! The only thing I changed was the book that I read. You can read my original post here, and read on below for the *new* and (juuuust barely) updated version:

As usual, we started with a book. This time I read the classic, Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats. It's perfect for this age group, and, in fact, perfect for lots of age groups. Just about a week before this program we had an actual snowy day, which I think was a good reference point for making the story sort of come to life for the kids. I was was able to ask things like, "Did anyone else make angels in the snow the other day?" and the kids could actually remember if they did or didn't.

Next, was the craft. I did the same thing I did last time: snowflake tape resist paintings. For this, mom/dad/caregiver puts down painters tape in the shape of simple snowflakes and then the kids can watercolor over the whole sheet however they want. This time I added dot markers to the mix too. Then, later, when the tape is pulled up, it looks like a snowy sky! Just a thing to note: Don't have patrons pull the tape off until their paint has dried. It's way easier and there's a much lower chance of the paper ripping this way. Here are a few craft pictures:

Last, when there were about 20-minutes left in the program, I took out the "snow" bins. These were cooling for about 30-45 minutes in the fridge ahead of time, just for fun. This was the part of the program that we were all the most excited about. It was a chance for the kids to get some good sensory play in. The snow wasn't made with the kids, but rather made ahead of time for the kids. There are a lot of homemade snow recipes floating around online, but my go-to one is ridiculously easy! It is made with only baking soda and white conditioner:

Two 1-lb boxes of baking soda + 1 cup of conditioner.  

2 boxes. 1 cup. Mix. Done. 

You wind up with something the consistency of dense snow, possibly just a little less wet and "pack-y." I also added a few plastic toy animals and matchbox cars to each bin, and, like I said, let them chill in the fridge for a little bit and--viola!--snow that's fun to play with inside! 

What worked least: I'll say the book worked least, but not because it was a bad book or even because it just wasn't a success. It was, in fact, probably about as successful as reading to 2-4 year-olds can be! But compared to the craft and the homemade snow, I'd call the book the least exciting part of the program.

What worked best: The snow! IT was SNOW MUCH FUN! We even played with it at home the next day, as seen below:

Littlest Learners

Littlest Learners (for, quite literally, the littlest learners-- ages 6-16 months) was a program that I was SO EXCITED about. It was a chance to do some of that cool, Pinteresty stuff that I always think about but never actually try. 

The program breakdown went like this:

Circle time - 5 minutes

Parachute time - 10 minutes

Sensory play - 30 minutes

Bubbles - 2 minutes (during sensory play)

I had a relatively small crew, 5 babies in total ranging from 6 months to 12 months. This was the absolute perfect allotment of time for each thing. I wouldn't change it a bit. I'll go into detail below (but try to be a little more concise than I usually do!): 

Circle time:

Five Little Monkeys (with the monkey mitt)

Itsy Bitsy Spider

If You're Happy and You Know It

Parachute time:

The Colors Over You, with babies under the parachute *

Twinkle, Twinkle, with babies under the parachute

Peek-A-Boo, with babies on top of the parachute **

In & Out the Window, with babies on top of the parachute *

Wheels on the Bus, with babies on top of the parachute *

* You can read about these songs in lots of detail on other posts I've made if you want, but here are a few shortcuts:

I write in detail about The Wheels on the Bus in this post; Jbrary explains The Colors Over You best in this video; and Jbrary explains In & Out the Window best in this video.

** Peek-A-Boo is quite literally what I am saying when a patron snapped the photo of me seen above. This is a cute little song that encouraged playing peek-a-boo. To the tune of Frère Jacques, it goes:

     Peek-a-boo, Peek-a-boo 

     I see you, I see you

     Are you over here?

     Are you over there?

     Peek-a-boo! Peek-a-boo!

Then it was time for sensory fun! Here's where I got to be a little creative! I had 4 distinct stations:

1. Edible finger paint, which I have made a handful of times in the past. This is just Greek yogurt with food coloring on finger paint paper! SO easy, although a word to the wise, it doesn't dry so great. It gets kind of peely and cracked. So it's really more of an "process, not product" activity. The parents are not going to be taking home a lasting piece of art.

2. Bubble wrap paintings, inspired by this post: https://www.artycraftykids.com/art/baby-bubble-wrap-art/. Only one baby attempted this, but I was still happy to have it. When I set it up, I taped down the paper to the table cloth, then put paint on the paper, then taped the bubble wrap on top of that. One thing I noticed was that the packing tape was REALLY strong. It was impossible to avoid ripping the paper when we pulled it up. I think if I ever do this again, I wouldn't tape down the paper, but instead cut bubble wrap pieces that are slightly larger than the paper and let the paper just sit under it instead. No tape on the paper. That way, when I pull up the bubble wrap, it only rips apart the table cloth.

3. Shredded paper pool! SO COOL. I was a little worried about potential paper eating and choking but with lots of adults and lots of watchful eyes, it didn't happen. All was good and the kids had a BLAST. One boy was literally rolling around in it!

4. Sensory toys that I borrowed from our county library system. This included stress disks (seen in the photo below and also seen in the photo at the top of this post), sensory tubes (these from Lakeshore Learning), Sensory shapes (these from Discount School Supply, also seen in the photo below), and squishy numbered disks (these from S&S).

Then I did bubbles at the very end, sort of to signal the end of the program in a way that felt natural to me, but also because bubbles are fun and babies love them. I played Laurie Berkner's "Blow A Kiss," which is always my go-to for ending a program.

What worked least: The bubble wrap paintings went the most unused but I still feel like they really worked. I liked having a mix of messy and not-so-messy activities for the kids and a lot of the moms liked it too. I think I would still include the same activities if I chose to do this program again in the future.

What worked best: The shredded paper pool was SO GREAT. I think that, with the parents there to supervise, it was a wonderful activity to get to try together and definitely the kind of thing people aren't likely to have done at home.

Snow Much Fun!

I have this thing about winter. Mostly, I absolutely despise it. But for the month of December, and the month of December ONLY, I actually kinda like it! It's new! It's exciting! The holidays are upon us! And my winter coat still feels cozy instead of cumbersome! Last Friday I decided to embrace the one lasting good thing about winter-- playing in the snow! (Please note: I hate the snow and wish it would just stay July forever. But bringing my daughters outside with the neighborhood kids on a solid, no-pressure-to-drive-in-it snow day IS sort of enjoyable.) So, despite my true feelings, I was able to muster up enthusiasm--quite a bit actually--for an exciting, snow-themed program.

Snow Much Fun!, for ages 2-5, was, well, snow much fun. It consisted of 3 parts:

1. A book. Specifically, The Jacket I Wear In the Snow by Shirley Neitzel (an oldie but a goodie!). If you're not familiar with it, this book uses lots of repetitive words and pictures to explain all of the bundling that goes in to getting ready for a day in the snow. And it replaces certain words with pictures. For example the word "jacket" is always a picture of a jacket. The word "zipper" is always a picture of a zipper. It's good for little ones because, theoretically, they can chime in as they recognize the pictures. Each page builds on another item that the main character has to wear to go outside. In my head, I imagined the kids chiming in each time one of these repetitive pictures presented itself. I definitely thought there would be a lot of kids yelling "mittens!" and "socks!" But in real life, I mostly just read it straight through and was lucky if they chimed in for just the last word on each page, "snow." That was fine though. It held most of the kids' attention, even that of a couple of two-year-olds.

2. A mommy & me craft. I decided on snowflake tape resist watercolor paintings. Basically, for this,  mom/dad/caregiver puts down painters tape in the shape of simple snowflakes and then the kids can watercolor over the whole sheet however they want. Then, later, when the tape is pulled up, it looks like a snowy sky-- stolen from Little Bins for Little Hands, thank you.

Here are a few picture of kids working on their craft:

And here are a few finished products (minus the ripping off of the painters tape):

3. Sensory play. This was the part of the program that I was the most excited about. It was a chance for the kids to play in homemade snow. The snow wasn't made with the kids, but rather ahead of time for the kids. There are a lot of homemade snow recipes floating around out there on the ol' Internet, but the one I used today is one that I used once before a few years ago in a program called "Snowmen For Everyone." It's made with only baking soda and white conditioner. I found a few different recipes online with slightly different ratios of each of these items, but I wound up working out a super easy one:

Two 1-lb boxes of baking soda + 1 cup of conditioner

Last time I made this snow, I wound up doing a ton of measuring and portioning and it made a huge mess and took forever. This time, I figured out this shortcut and it was super quick and easy. 2 boxes. 1 cup. Mix. Done. You wind up with something the consistency of dense, wet snow. It's like the kind that's good for making a snowman and that you hate to clean off your car. We even tossed it in the refrigerator for 45-minutes before using it so it was cold like snow! In the future, if I ever do this program again, I would do 4 boxes of baking soda and 2 cups of conditioner in each bin. But today I used 2 boxes and 1 cup and it really worked out just fine. There wasn't a ton, but there was enough. I added a few plastic toy animals, matchbox cars, and plastic spoons to each bin, and--viola!--donezo! Fun snow to play with inside!

What worked least: I'll say the book worked least, but not because it was a bad book or even because it just wasn't a success. It was, in fact, probably about as successful as reading to 2-4 year-olds can be! But compared to the craft and the homemade snow, I'd call the book the least exciting part of the program. That's ok! Something has to be.

What worked best: Is it not obvious? The snow! SNOW MUCH FUN.