We had a fantastic Harvest celebration for Apple Pumpkin Days! The activities were so much fun for the children in Room 3. Making apple pie and pumpkin pie in a cup was a delicious and creative way to celebrate, and painting with apples and pumpkins was a fun artistic twist to the event.

The pumpkin scooping activity is always a hit, especially when the kids get to feel the slimy pulp and explore the insides of the pumpkin. Creating a volcano explosion inside a pumpkin was an exciting experience, combining science with the fun of Harvest!

This was a wonderful way to engage the children with the seasonal harvest, allowing them to learn about apples and pumpkins through hands-on activities. It’s great to see the kids make such meaningful and enjoyable memories! A big thank you to all the parents that volunteer . We couldn’t have done it without your help and donations!

During this Harvest season the children have also been hearing the story of the Pumpkin Patch Parable. The Pumpkin Patch Parable is a beautiful story that illustrates important spiritual lessons, especially for children. In this parable, a farmer goes out to a pumpkin patch and selects pumpkins that may not look perfect on the outside but have the potential for greatness inside. This mirrors how God sees us—not just for our outward appearances, but for our inner qualities and potential.

As the farmer cleans out the pumpkins, he removes the yucky stuff inside, symbolizing how God cleans our hearts of negativity, sin, and anything that prevents us from shining brightly. Just as the pumpkins can be transformed into glowing jack-o’-lanterns that light up the night, we too can let our hearts radiate God’s love and joy.

The core message is about transformation and allowing our inner light to shine. By accepting God’s love and letting Him shape our hearts, we become beacons of hope and happiness to those around us. It teaches children the importance of inner beauty and kindness, encouraging them to let their light shine in the world.

As they reflect on the story, they can think about how they can share their light with others, just as the pumpkins brighten the darkness during Halloween. This parable provides a gentle reminder of faith, acceptance, and the joy of sharing God’s love.

The Children in Room 3 help to make Pumpkin Delight this past week. Cooking activities are a wonderful way to engage children in hands-on learning. Here are some of the skills developed while making Pumpkin Delight:

Math Skills

• Measuring Ingredients: Children practiced measuring out ingredients using cups and spoons, which reinforces concepts of volume and measurement.
• Counting: Counting the number of ingredients or steps in the recipe helps develop basic counting skills. We also counted to 5 while they mixed the ingredients.

Science Skills

• Understanding Changes: As they mixed and cooked the pumpkin dish, they observed chemical changes (like how the mixture thickens or changes color).
• Exploration of Ingredients: Discussing the nutritional benefits of pumpkin and other ingredients introduces basic biology and nutrition concepts. They also enjoyed smelling the pumpkin and the spices.

Social Skills

• Teamwork: Working together to prepare the dish fosters collaboration and teaches the importance of sharing tasks and responsibilities.
• Communication: Sharing ideas and instructions encourages verbal communication and active listening.
• Patience and Turn-Taking: Waiting for their turn to stir or add ingredients helps develop patience and self-control.

Fine Motor Skills

• Cutting and Mixing: Using utensils and handling ingredients helps improve hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills.

Cooking activities like Pumpkin Delight provide a rich platform for experiential learning, allowing children to apply various skills in a fun and interactive manner. They had a delightful time learning while creating something delicious!

The preschool has so many different sensory experiences. There is sand, wood chips, gravel and a myriad of things for little hands to touch.

A place where we can experience something new is the field on the main campus. Once a week we get to walk over and roll and run in the grass.

We love the grass on the big field and it’s such a fun gross motor experience. Here are some photos of a few of our trips there.

We love running and chasing each other

We had so much fun that we didn’t want to stop and come back. Until I said that we were going to go to patio when we headed back. So we held hands with a buddy and walked back to preschool.

We are enjoying all the sunshine 🌞 and beautiful weather this week!

February is a busy month with lots to celebrate. One of the things that we get to celebrate is love!

We learn about God’s love and about loving each other

Each year we have parties to celebrate and share that love with each other. Here are a few photos of our Valentines week

We also did some crafts with hearts and stickers! Room 3 loves stickers. ❤️🧡💛💚🩵💙💜🩷

We also had a couple of parent volunteers come in and they helped with snack and craft and special stories for the day. The class loved having them here!

Our afternoon snack was a special snack mix with very berry Cheerios, craisins, raisins and square pretzels.

We also had fun in our classroom and on the patio!

Thank you to all our families that participated in our fundraiser. We reached our goal of $25,000 and then some! The children enjoyed running with their parents and siblings.

Thanks for a great time!