A Science Lesson on Wind

We recently had a science lesson in our 3 year old classes. We talked about wind!What is wind? That’s a tough thing to explain. We blew into our hands. We can’t seen wind but can we feel it? Yes! We looked at pictures of wind… waves, a tree blowing, a windmill. Wind is air that blows.

Then we looked at some different items. A balloon, cupcake wrapper, scarf, napkin, cotton ball, pom pom, wadded up newspaper, and a rock. What things will move with wind? Each child picked an item and made a prediction.

The cupcake wrapper moved with the wind (fan)!

The feather moved with the wind!

But, the rock? It didn’t move with the wind! I asked why. And, I had several children tell me because the rock is strong! Hmmmm… we talked about the words light and heavy. For most of the children, this was a new concept for them to understand but something you could talk about at home.

The lighter items moved with the wind but the heavier ones didn’t as much. The rock didn’t at all!

Science doesn’t have to be complicated to be fun and beneficial!  You could easily do this at home or even outside!  Watch how things move in the wind, make predictions,  and then observe what happens!

 

Easter Devotion at Preschool

Hello families,

The children came down to the sanctuary yesterday to talk about Easter.

We began by worshipping God through singing and dancing.

Then we talked about why we celebrate Easter. Is it because of the Easter bunny or candy?  NO!  The Bible tells us why we celebrate Easter.  Jesus died on the cross for us.

And the Bible and the cross remind me of Easter.  So does an egg.  We talked about the baby chick that usually comes from an egg.  But I had a special egg.  Jesus died on the cross and was buried in a cave.  (Cole kept daring me to crack my egg)  So, I did and guess what was on the inside?  Nothing!  Just like the cave where Jesus was buried.

The Bible says: “He is not here, but is risen.” Luke 24:6

Jesus rose again and is in heaven!

We also remembered why we celebrate Christmas: because Jesus was born.  So we sang Happy Birthday while I lit a candle on a brownie.  We celebrate Easter because he died (I blew out the candle) and rose again (and the candle relit)!  The children enjoyed this analogy!

Dear God

Thank you for sending your son, Jesus

As a special gift to us

Help us to always know

That he is with us

Amen

We hope that you all have a wonderful Easter!

Best,

Ms. Cyndi and Ms. Shelly

Celebrating Easter

Death, burial, and resurrection… these are very important themes in celebrating Easter.  But, death, burial, resurrection for little ones?  How difficult/appropriate is it to teach young children to understand?

Quite often, it seems, that because Easter is so full of difficult topics, we choose to stick with the bunnies and eggs.  And, it makes perfect sense bunnies and eggs are so much easier than death and resurrection!

But, I think that one of the very best verses in the Bible regarding parenting is…

Train up a child in the way he should go; and when he is old, he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6

There are ways to teach about Easter that are age appropriate, meaningful and fun.  Children need to know that Easter is about Jesus.  It is our job as parents to raise them to understand Easter in the way that we feel is best understood by our children.  You know your children and what they are able to understand.

A couple books that we use at the preschool are:

And, holidays are a wonderful time to begin traditions with your family.  I’m sure that you already have some that you do around Christmas.  But, do you have any at Easter besides the egg hunt?

Here are a few options that would work for families with young children:

*After reading the Easter story and perhaps going on a walk, talk about symbols that make us think about Easter: perhaps a heart for God’s love, the cross, flowers, etc and have the children decorate a white tablecloth with drawings.  Use the tablecloth on Easter.

*Or, go on a walk around the neighborhood.  There’s so much beauty in the nature all around us at the this time of year. Spring reminds us of the new life that Jesus gave us.  Look for things that remind you of new life.

*Go on a hike at night with a flashlight.  Talk about why you would use a flashlight… to keep you from falling and getting hurt!  This is just like Jesus.  He helps guide our way too and leads us to God!

*Hide some empty plastic eggs along with those filled with treats.  As children find one that is empty the child or the whole family could say, “The tomb is empty, Jesus is risen!”

*One of our favorites is making resurrection rolls!  We did it today in Enrichment and retold the story of the tomb.  You can find the directions here.

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Are there others that you do?  We’d love to hear them!  We encourage you to comment your own ideas!

I used to teach sewing lessons to a couple of my daughter’s teachers.  It was always fun to watch them as they completed and admired their finished product.  One day, one of them said, “I don’t know what it is but every time I do this, I feel so happy!”  We all kind of laughed but it was so true… there’s such a great sense of accomplishment when you create something!

The same is true for our preschoolers.  When they are given the opportunity to create, they are building their self esteem!  We could easily say, “they’re just going to make a mess” and, while this may be true, the benefits out-weigh the mess.

This week, the Yellow and Orange classes baked muffins.  They each took turns helping in the process.  Think of all the concepts covered.  They learned about reading a recipe, they practiced math as they helped make measurements, used eye/hand coordination in pouring the ingredients in the bowl, exercised their muscles as they stirred the batter, practiced taking turns, and finally, felt the sense of accomplishment as they enjoyed the final product in eating the muffins!

And, when you bake at home together, it builds that bond with your child!  What a special time it is for you and your child!  There’s no better feeling than being able to say, “Look what I did!”