How Do Vegetables Grow?

The Touch and Feel pool was full of vegetables this morning.  The kiddos had so much fun exploring and pretending with yellow squash, green peppers, orange carrots, and corn.  There was a whole lot of talk about which ones were our favorites and which ones we didn't like....but we agreed that all vegetables are healthy!

Ms. Michelle was here again today.  We started the session with an obstacle course.  First each child picked a sea animal bean bag to take through the fish tunnel (appropriately named because it looks like a fish....with eyes and everything!) and place in a bucket.  Then, they each picked a frog or a fish weighted animal to take to the next stop.  But, they had to move like the animal they choose....so, hopping for frogs, and swimming for fish.  The last step was to walk sideways on a long balance beam.  Two turns each....and lots of multi-step directions and motor planning exercise!  Finger fun divided into three rotating groups.  One group had items hidden in balls of play-do.  They had to find all the gems and then re-hide them.  One group had magnetic building blocks.  They were designing helicopters and trains and tall, tall, towers.  The last group had some sensory sticks to explore.  Some lit up, some made noise, and some were full of beads like a rain stick.

Today's book was The Surprise Garden by Zoe Hall.  This story is about a group of children who plant seeds for a surprise garden.  They don't know what they will grow until the plants start to sprout.  They loosen the soil, pike the seeds in one by one, water the garden, and watch the small green shoots grow.  Then....surprise!!  The gardeners find carrots and radishes, broccoli and cauliflower, peas, beans, squash, and even a sunflower!!  When it's finally harvest time, the children have a garden party to eat all their delicious vegetables!

For our language activity, we talked about how vegetables grow.  Some grow under the ground....like carrots and radishes.  Some grow on long vines.....like pumpkins.  Some grow close to the ground.....like broccoli and cauliflower.  Some grow on tall plants....like corn and tomatoes.  We drew a chart to help us remember.....and we learned some new vegetable names in the process.

Art today was super messy....but really fun!  We took the vegetables from the Touch and Feel pool and cut them up.....and used them for painting.  The corn was easily the class favorite....rolling it across the paper.....and sometimes around on the table.....made a really cool design.  The peppers were good for stamping out patterns.....and we even ended up with some seeds on our papers.  The carrots made smaller designs, but we could hold them like pencils and "write" in the paint.  Sorry, if your kiddos came home with paint on their clothes (or in their hair), being creative usually means getting messy!!