Animals

Day 1:

It's spring break and I couldn't take being in the house anymore so we ventured out to the MN zoo Thursday.  The 1st this we did was ride to Monorail (aka zoo train).  JV enjoyed the ride itself, but we didn't see very many animals so we of course had to walk the trail to find the animals.  Of all the animal at the zoo JV was focused on finding a horse! 

 

***Side note: We drove out to the country to see horses "in the barn" as JV would say with no luck.  We did however get to see quite a few dairy cows.*** 

Luckily for us there were a few horses at the zoo.

 

We stayed with the horses for quite some time.  At one point the horse walked right up to greet us.

Towards the end of the day we ventured inside to see the penguin exhibit.

Here JV is greeting the penguins.

 

Day 2:

 

Today, we tried out Como Park Zoo.  While I feel bad for the animals, there isn't much room for them to run and play, it was a much better zoo for small children since the animal were up close and easy to see.  We ever got to play peek-a-boo with an orangutan!

 

JV is a happy camper here!

 



Really mom, another picture?

The 1st animal sighting.

 



Look carefully and you might see a fox.

"Long neck!"

 Summer time isn't the only time you can splash in puddles you know.

 

"A tiger Mom!"

 

At the end of the day I asked JV what his favorite animal at the zoo was.  I expected him to say tiger or bear.  He replied, "horses!"  I guess we need to visit a farm next.

Checking off the Bucket List: Maple Grove Days

I was very excited to go to Maple Grove Days this year since it was the 1st year that JV would really be able to participate.  I couldn't wait to get there.  We were forced to park in the grocery store parking lot which was roped off with carts to separate the Maple Grove Days parking from the grocery story parking.  I don't know why they used the kids car cart, because just like JV I'm sure every kids that passed it wanted to play there instead of walking to the festival. 

JV refusing to leave the car:

The 1st exhibit we went to was the animal petting.  I couldn't help but love this chicken!



The camel was the most popular.  He had a lot of personality and wasn't afraid to introduce himself.   JV and BV and lightly hesitant but warmed up after a minute or two.  

This is the main reason I wanted to bring JV to the festival.  I always heard my mom talk about riding ponies as a child and thought that it would be so fun.  JV liked the idea until it was time to hope on.  You can see that he was holding onto me more than he was the pony!

Playing at the park beside the festival is probably JV's favorite event of the day.  Look how strong he is.

 Good thing dad was there to catch him!

Time for BV and me to race!

I had a good start but then I lost momentum :(

Now JV wants to race me.  

Pony ride #2!  Here BV is showing JV how nice the pony is.

Cheese!  JV looks more comfortable riding with dad.

Farm Week 1

During nap time, aka, break time for MamaRach, I found this website: Everything Preschool .  It has a few sample lesson plans and lots of ideas.  I was so thrilled that I attempted to follow their lesson plans titled "Farm Week".  I made my own changes since my charges (nanny kids) are on 1.5 years old. 

Little People Barn and Farm Animals

Above:  The boys LOVED these!  I was lucky enough that there were 2 barns.  Even with both barns there were times that we had to work on sharing and 'gentle hands'.

Coloring a farm picture

We also worked on fine motor skills through artwork.  Here, I had the boys color a picture of a farm.  As they colored we talked about the the objects in the picture and the sounds each animal made.

It snows on the farm too!

Too cold to play outside?  Bring the outside in!
Honestly, I had high hopes for this but it just didn't work out as well as I had hoped.  Although my oldest charge (5.5 years old) loved it!  The plan however was to have the boys play in the snow with the Little People animals.  Next time I will set up cookies sheets with snow.  The little guys (1.5 years old) just couldn't reach the animals in the tub.

Painting a horse

Don't interrupt.  He's very focused!

I love texture play, and the easiest way to do that is with paint.  Dump a little paint into a bowl.  Give the kids paint brushes, a picture to paint and you have an instant master peice!  (This is also good for fine motor).
*tip: Use painters tape to hold pictures in place

'P' working on his puzzle

Little Man working on the puzzle with 'P' there for support.

These Melissa and Doug puzzles from Target proved to be a big hit.  I specifically like that the are thick for little hands and have the picture on the puzzle board.  It only took one or two times of working with the boys before they started figuring it out on their own.  'P' was able to complete a whole puzzle by himself!

Mama Rach



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