New Tree Logs in the YP Patio

Today, we introduced new tree logs into our outdoor patio play! Our younger pod friends felt on top of the world, as they climbed, balanced, stepped and jumped off. Check out our big smiles and our BIG gross motor skills!

Also, are you seeing these social skills?!? We’re taking turns, being patient, sharing space and encouraging each other! Look at us letting our light shine for Jesus!

Please, keep our outdoor classroom in mind if you come across fun natural materials or recyclables. We love to integrate the two–nature and play!

New Year, New Fun!

Happy New Year! We’re so happy to be back together in younger pod– exploring our winter themed activities. Check out some fun from our first week back!

For art last week, we painted with shades of blue to create snowman masterpieces!

Our snowflake counting game was a hit!

Check out how we scoop, pour, fill and dump salt at our winter sensory table!

It’s the question everyone is asking, Do you wanna build a snowman? In our dramatic play area, we built snow people! We counted the “snowboxes” and pointed out the different details, shapes and colors used for the parts of the snow people! We had a blast seeing how tall we could build it, and of course, knocking it down!

One of our gross motor activities is a snowman toss! Check out our friends working together to collect all the snowmen (styrofoam balls with snowmen faces) and toss them into the white basket!

Our friends are getting strong spiritually, socially, emotionally, cognitively and PHYSICALLY! On Thursday, our friends worked together to roll, flip, carry and move the BIG tires in our outdoor environment. Check out this teamwork!

Let the Gourd Times Roll

Our little ones have been having a blast in Younger Pod this fall! Check out some highlights from our enrichment patio and outdoor classroom that will LEAF you smiling!

Enrichment Patio Library

Our friends are learning how to handle books! Turning pages with tiny hands is a major fine motor challenge. Book handling, orientation, turning pages one at a time, pointing to pictures and talking about the illustrations develop important early literacy skills.

Writing Center

Our little ones are so creative and love to color, stamp and sticker. Scribbling is so important to build dexterity and begin to understand that marks and lines can represent shapes, letters, objects, and people! We’ve been working with crayons, colored pencils, oil pastels, and chalk! As the year goes on, we’ll continue to progress using other fun materials.

Art

You’ll commonly see art alternate between table art and easel art on the patio. This intentionally engages a different set of muscles. The easel is a fantastic medium for our little ones! It allows them to take a step back and see their creation from a different perspective or physically lean in to their art.

Science and Sensory

At this age, science is sparking curiosity, exploring textures, colors, cause and effect. We are giving our little ones early exposure to a wide array of tools to manipulate and move objects around–tools like safe scissors, tweezers, scoops and measuring cups.

Dramatic Play

Pretend play expands our imagination, language and social skills! We’ve enjoyed home and kitchen, a pet shop, a farmer’s market, western and are currently enjoying a petting zoo.

Building

When we build we’re making connections, exploring cause and effect (filling and dumping), developing spacial awareness and so much more! We love to build!

Gross Motor

Movement is our favorite thing to do at two! We’re putting our muscles to work, practicing skills, developing eye-hand coordination and having fun while we do it! Our October pumpkin toss was a blast. Currently, our little ones are working on coordinating upper body movements with lower body movement via our yarn ball game. Practicing gross motor movements is so important and enables our little ones to perform everyday functions and self-help skills.

Friendship

Everyday, our little ones are practicing how to show love to each others by sharing, taking turns and of course HUGS! They especially like to help each other with their “jobs” (classroom routine tasks).

A Personal Note

It is such a joy getting to spend time with your little ones in younger pod. Their unique personalities and preferences are expressed everyday in our outdoor classroom and on the younger pod enrichment patio. The time I have with them is so special to me because I get to see their faces light up with intrigue and excitement in response to the carefully planned activities that I set-up for them everyday. I can’t adequately express just how much I value each relationship and bond that I get to build with each child. I pray for your family and your little one often!

💕

Ms. Kristen

YP Outdoor Specialist

Tiny Bodies in Motion

Our tiniest friends took on a big gross motor challenge this past week! This is just one of the many ways we incorporate an array of learning into a single activity. Our little ones are learning to take turns, follow directions, recognize colors, understand positional words, improve coordination, and develop a sense of accomplishment! They might be small but they are capable of BIG things! Check out younger pod’s hoola-hoop hurdle!

Younger Pod Play

Welcome to a new school year! We are so thankful that GOD has given us the opportunity to serve so many wonderful families this year! Our friends in the younger pod are settling into THE OUTDOOR CLASSROOM quite nicely. We are enjoying getting to know your little ones, building relationships with them and facilitating fun activities that cultivate curiosity and propel them into purposeful play. As we explore in the outdoor classroom and the enrichment patio, we focus on developing skills across every domain of learning. Check out some highlights from our first month together!

American Sign Language in Room 3

This morning we welcomed a few Maranatha High School students to be apart of storytime, in Room 3. These third year American Sign Language (ASL) students shared what ASL is and demonstrated their fluency with some fun stories! Our special guests read: How to Babysit Grandma, Butterfly Garden, If You Give a Moose a Muffin, Curious George Curious Kittens, and Ten Little Fish. They taught us a few words like: grandma, moose, puppy, and fish. It was a wonderful opportunity to gain exposure to a beautiful language that many of us do not get to encounter very often. Check out this clip from storytime!

Zoo-pendous Day!

On our field trip today, Room 3 ventured out of the classroom to explore the Los Angeles Zoo! We used picture maps to find our way to flamingos, alligators, giraffes, elephants and other incredible creatures. As we trekked through the zoo with our little ones, we observed and discussed so many interesting characteristics of the animals around us. Together, we invested in building friendships, language development, color awareness, pre-reading skills, listening skills, gross motor development, and expanding our knowledge of the world around us. Check out some fun moments from our zoo-pendous day together!

Thank you to all of our wonderful parents for your participation and for keeping our little ones safe. You make our field trips possible so we thank you for helping us create these moments to remember!