Time to get medieval

This week was a lot of fun traveling to medieval lands to learn about kings, queens, knights, dragons and castles.  After hearing from our Star of the Week we sorted images and words to practice sounds of words like dragon and castle and king to learn the initial sounds at the beginning of the words.

After working on word sounds we did some catapult tricks.  Using popsicle sticks and rubber bands we worked on our aim by shooting mini marshmallows into trays.  These were literally a blast to play with and fun was had by all preschoolers and teachers alike as we cheered for one another when the marshmallow would land in the tray.

We learned about the challenges knights would do to entertain the king and queen.  One of those challenges was the javelin throw.  Using pool noodles, hula hoops and a ladder we created a javelin throw challenge and the children played many times with this make shift large motor activity both days during the week.

After working our arms out we worked out our fingers by painting dragons.  We looked at a few pictures of the various colors dragons might be and then let the children choose what colors they wanted to use on their own dragons.  

Use used aluminum foil to become knights this week and built helmets and chest plates and more.  Many of the children haven't used foil before and were amazed to find out they might actually have some of this at home.  If you don't, head to the dollar store and get a few boxes, take the roll out of the box and let the kids play.  Without the sharp cutting line in the box they can play safely and make all kinds of objects and explore their creativity.

Besides playing knights we worked our letters and read stories about castles and dragons.  We built castles out of our magnetic blocks and worked on seeing how high we could build them.

  This week we learned about writing with ink and feathers then tried it out ourselves with paint and feathers.  The children were given letters and words to try to write in addition to their names and even the teachers had fun trying to go back in time.

Shields were made this week with a pipe cleaner handle so the children could practice using it once the paint dried.  Then we learned about wizards and their magical wands and created our own to cast spells around the room.

Once our wands were done casting spells we heading into science to create magic potions at the tables and really work on our sorcery.  

After all the shield and wand crafting and potion mixing, we made crowns for all of our little kings and queens.  Gems and sparkles were added to show the royal preschoolers level of treasure.  We played music in our royal court to impress each other with our musical skills too.

Overall this might have been a short week but it was a memorable new one we are sure to repeat next year.

What's Coming Up?

Don't forget next week is a shortened week du to Good Friday.  We will be talking about spring and eggs and plants as the weather is starting to change for the new season.