Seahorse!

We learned that a daddy seahorse carries the baby eggs before they hatch. Then, we played a "Daddy Seahorse Game". The children had fun drawing number cards, and stuffing their daddy pockets with baby seahorses that matched the number they drew.

The kids are exploring the room, and stuffing toys in their shirts just like a daddy seahorse.

We discussed why a seahorse has a tail. The kids discovered that a seahorses have small fins that propels them through the water. We learned that a seahorse uses its tail to grab onto things when they want to stop drifting in the ocean.

The children are taking turns wrapping a pipe cleaner around the letters O and W. 

Even the youngest ones had a great time with this exercise. The children are developing phonological awareness, and using fine motor skills with this activity.

We also learned that a seahorse can change colors to camouflage itself. They use this to hide from predators. Afterwards, the children took turns hiding puzzle pieces next to something that is the same color. 

Now, everyone is working together to assemble the puzzle.

Trying to see how a seahorse and a horse are different! The kids noticed that the seahorse does not have four legs like a horse. A seahorse also lives in the ocean unlike a horse that lives on land.

Pretending to drift in the ocean like a seahorse! When the music stops, they each grab onto something to stop (just like a seahorse). 

Reviewing our numbers 1-8! 

X-Ray Fish!

The children are enjoying a book about the ocean (it came in our MGT packet) before nap time.

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Making our X-ray fish. 

L built a group of red fish with 7 blocks.

M & L built 2 schools of fish.

C said he has green eyes, and L has brown eyes.

The toddlers had fun digging for bones (pieces of yarn) in colored rice. I saved the rice from another MGT project a few months ago.

The kids are taking turns looking in the mirror to see how their features differ from each other. They are also looking for features that are the same.

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We discovered that X-ray fish like to eat worms, insects, and small crustaceans. The children had fun digging for bones in the sand.

The children took turns feeling for bones in their bodies. L & M discovered bones in their elbows.

C said his toy is clear, and he can see through it.

K searched for a toy that she could see through. She found a clear plastic bin.

M thinks it is really neat that he can see the letter X through the bag.

S put the hands on letter X in a transparent bag, so he can pretend it is fish bones.

We learned that an X-ray fish is transparent to hide from predators.

K is attempting to make a letter X with her fingers.

The children look forward to hearing our circle time song play every morning. When they hear the song play, they know its time to start our day.

Plankton & Jellyfish

They enjoyed their jellyfish hats so much that some of kids wore them while playing outside. 

The kids loved pretending to be jellyfish floating in the ocean.

How do you think a jellyfish could be dangerous? We learned that a jellyfish's tentacles can sting their predators. The children loved exploring, and trying on their plastic shower caps. 

M was so excited when he finished making his jellyfish hat. 

The children went right to work cutting and taping curly ribbon (tentacles) onto their shower caps. 

S picked a jellyfish!

Who do you think eats plankton? We found out that plankton are tiny floating creatures in the ocean. Many fish and mammals eat plankton for food.

C matched the letter "T" with a turtle.

K collected 11 pieces of plankton. 

What goes together? The children took turns selecting animal picture cards, and picked letter cards to match. I thought this was a great way for the kids to exercise letter recognition skills.

How do you think jellyfish move? K is sprinkling glitter into water to see how jelly fish and other sea creatures drift in the ocean. We learned that jellyfish are a type of plankton. They float and drift in the water like plankton. Jellyfish also pulse their bodies to move about in the water.
 

Wiggling our arms and legs as we move around the room. We are also practicing our manners by saying "excuse me" when we bump into someone. Overall, I think we had a great time learning about plankton and jellyfish.

Sea turtles!

                                                                                                                                                                                             

C is playing a game  called, "Who Is Hatching."  Now he's sorting them by color to determine how many pairs of turtles he has collected.

The children are playing on a blanket (island) to see what it is like to live on an island. Afterwards, they played with blocks and created several pretend (block) islands for fun.

L is proud of her island.

The children learned that baby turtles hatch on the beach. When the egg hatches, the baby turtles  race to the water to get away from predators. Now they are playing a sea turtle race game. M is playing the predator, while the other children pretend to be baby turtles racing to reach the water. 

M caught 2 baby turtles.

As the children learn fun facts about turtles and tortoises, they have fun acting out the differences between the two. Some of the children are pretending to be sea turtles in the water, the others are crawling like tortoises.

What are the differences between turtles and tortoises?  L said that a tortoise's skin looks rough compared to a sea turtle. C noticed that the sea turtle has arms (like flippers) that allow it to swim in the water. 

K is pointing to The Gallapagos Islands on our world map. They learned that many beautiful creatures live there, including the green sea turtle.