Rumble in the Jungle, Day 2

Today was a really fun, froggy day at SDS summer camp!  Our morning choices were centered around our theme for the day: frogs.  We made frog prints in Play-doh...

 And fun little froggy scenes!  There was a time when I had a "don't mix the play-doh colors rule" (gasp), so glad those days are over.  If that rule was in place, this piece would never have been created.  I think that in the end, the colors were not mixed, but if the rule stood, the child who sculpted the work might not have wanted to take the risk of possibly getting them mixed up.

I was happy to capture this sweet moment when the boys were helping each other clean up after morning choices.  Team work is the best work!

We started circle time with a short animated sing-along, "5 Speckled Frogs". 

 We practiced counting down the frogs and learned this fun new song.  

During centers, we spent some more time exploring our Jungle Tree.  

We are always spotting new things there!  WB was trying to determine what type of snake was on the bottom limb.  He grabbed a magnifying glass to get a better view.  Once he had some time to look, he determined that the snake was indeed a "coral snake".  Yep, just had to google it to check and he was right.  I thought I had just painted a cool snake with fun colors...  

Today we spotted these two wild cats sneaking around our tree!

These 3 pictures depict a neat learning experience that occurred in the block center today.  It all started with a thirsy elephant who needed a place to drink.  To solve the problem, we built him a pond using blocks and blue paper water.  Then the zebra was hungry, so we built him a pasture with green grass to graze.  The next creature that needed sustenance was the giraffe.  We talked as a small group about what a giraffe might eat.  We discussed how he was made with such a long neck, and what that might be for.  The children decided that it must be to reach tall things.  We brainstormed what tall things a giraffe might eat.  Once we decided on leafy trees, we had to figure out how to make one.  A little tape, scissors, and team work later, we had 3 trees for our hungry giraffe.  Sure, it would have been easier to just tell them that giraffes eat from trees, but it was a much more valuable experience to see the children considering the form and function of the animal's body.  Studying habitat and ecosystems doesn't sound like it would be too much fun, until you try it in the block center with some thoughtful preschoolers! 

Today, as promised, was our junk food snack day.  I am thinking that with 3/4 of the days featuring healthy snacks, that one wouldn't be too bad.  We had gummy frogs on a log, and some ants for good measure!

Our second day with the stream was still fun!  I am thinking that when it is 100 degrees on Friday, we will just have to get in the thing!

We culminated our froggy day by making a set of 5 Speckled Frog puppets and story-telling math manipulatives.  We painted egg cartons green, applied 2 eyes and a pink tongue to each one.  

Then we sat them all on a log and practieed removing each frog along with the lyrics to the song.  We counted with one-to-one correspondance, we added and subtracted, and continuted to build number sense.  

A fully integrated lesson incorporating art, music, math, literacy, science, play, and fun!