An Enchanted Childhood~ Daycare: February 21-25

We have been asked many times to write up our "lesson plans" so others could use them.  Honestly, we just spend a little time thinking about how we want the "school year" to look and go from there.  We wing-it a lot, doing impromptu things that add to our plans.  I am always amazed that anyone would think what we do is worthy of writing down for others to read, but here it goes!

This year, we are doing "Childhood Classics"--reading great children's books--you know, the kind every child should get to know, and then doing little activities to go with it.

This week's topic was Winter Birds.  We used two of my favorite bird books, Backyard Birds of Winter and Our Yard is Full of Birds, to read about and look at the various birds we see daily at our many birdfeeders.

On Monday, the children made pinecone birdfeeders to take home.  These are very simple (and very messy) to make--spread peanut butter on a pinecone, roll in birdseed, tie on a piece of twine, and hang in a tree!

Tuesday, the children colored a bird picture with markers. I googled "winter bird coloring page" and then printed the one I liked onto card stock so it holds up well.

Later in the week, we used a paper plate, paint and feathers to make a bird mask.  The children had their choice in making a Black Capped Chickadee, a Blue Jay or a Cardinal.