Playgroup: Our Friends at Playgroup

Hello again! We had another fantastic playgroup last week. We focused on the awesome kiddos who join us for playgroup every week, and even made some decorations for a bulletin board we are putting up! My major is public health, but several child development students from UVU have been coming to observe and help out with activities, and more than once have I been told, "You need a place to put a picture of each of the kids!" This helps create an atmosphere of belonging, and give them a sense of permanence in the activities we do here. They love to see themselves as part of a whole, and I couldn't argue with that!

The kids decorated half sheets of construction paper with a traced hand print, feathers, stickers, foam shapes, glitter, crayons, string, and anything else I could find. It was fun to watch how each child's art work showed their unique personality. I'll be printing pictures of the kids to put on their paper and hanging them up in the community center that serves as our playgroup room. Other tutoring organizations and sports teams have already done similar projects, so I'm excited for our kids to feel like we belong there! The moms helped the kids bring their ideas to life by helping them use scissors, glitter, and glue. Everyone was getting so creative!

This art project could be fun for kids to do even at home to establish belonging, or could be done with cousins, groups of friends, church classes, or preschools. Get creative!

Our snack today was simple and delicious: graham crackers dipped in milk! It's a sweet and savory alternative to snacking on junk foods high in sugar, saturated fat, sodium, and empty calories, and it takes no preparation at all. Kids should have a variety of healthy snacks to choose from, so this would be a good option to start incorporating in your home. Plus it's fun to dunk crackers!

I didn't get a picture of our book this time, but it was one by Eric Carle that I'd never heard of, titled Do You Want to Be My Friend? Each child was given an animal puppet, and when their animal was featured in the book, we had them stand up and move their puppet. We met a horse, an elephant, a tiger, a walrus, a fox and more as the little mouse in the story looks for a friend. The book surprisingly had no words, which allows the reader to do their own narration. The kids were excited to find out which animal we'd find on the next page!

We ended with an activity about spider webs after reading Eric Carle's The Very Busy Spider. The kids got all tangled up!

Thanks for stopping by! 

Join us next week for a Valentine's Day activity!

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