Tiny Tots -- Dinosaur

Today's Tiny Tots sure feel like they got extra funding in. The moment I walked in I see clay on the table, and during circle time, there were even instruments for the kids to play with while singing.

But Katie wasn't too thrilled about all the new additions, she still love the old toys, especially this one:

Anyway, here is today's art and craft activity, similar to last semester's spotted giraffe this time it is a dinosaur. Katie is totally into the bingo markers today, so she did all the orange spots on the sheet, while mom did all the tissue gluing.

Hiller Aviation Museum Trip

This Sunday we went to the Hiller Aviation Museum in San Carlos. The museum itself is actually pretty small but just the fact that you get to sit in the pilot seat of a Boeing 747 is enough reason to convince me to go, we also got to sit in a helicopter seat and jet pilot seat too. My husband was happy that there was this flight simulator, like a big video game for him. I didn't learn much about planes from this trip since Katie was getting close to a melt down, so I was busy just trying to get photos. Maybe we will learn more together about planes when she is older.

Dramatic Dad

Tiny Tots -- Corn

Today's class project is to make a corn picture. So we started out by coloring the corn and cutting it out and gluing it on a purple color paper. Then we put yellow glitter glue on the corn and put actual little kernels of dried corn on. Katie helped me with about two kernels and then she got some glue on her fingers, which she absolutely hated, she moved on to more coloring, so I completed gluing the rest on for her, but she did enjoy putting on those two kernels. Later on she also tried to peel the kernels off but soon found out that also gets glue on her fingers.

Two days ago, Katie went to Ardenwood Farm and got some dried popcorn as well, looks like it indeed is a corn theme week.

Lakeshore Learning Store Free Craft -- Make-Your-Own Fossil

It is Saturday free craft for kids at  Lakeshore again. We decided to go eat at a Mexican restaurant nearby, this restaurant is rated by my husband as the best he has tasted so far. It is Taqueria Los Pericos in San Leandro. And I'll have to say, it does taste pretty good, and the price is cheap also.
Free chips and salsa from the buffet, yum:

The cow tongue and fish tacos are super delicious, and Katie's favorite too.

Daddy loves to order that seafood soup

Here we are at the Lakeshore Learning Store, and Katie joins up with her friend Tiffany and start making their button and gem encrusted clay fossil.

This is the finished product, I must say this reminds me of Roger's jewel encrusted gold poop in American Dad, too bad I didn't get the yellow colored clay, or else it would look even more similar.

Last class at Gymboree

Katie has really opened up to Gymboree, now she enjoys the classes, follows directions and does all the moves and songs. She even started busting out Gymboree moves at home. This happened right about the time after I decided to cancel the class for her of course. Regardless, Gymboree is getting a little bit old for her, and a change of pace should be nice, plus, it is pretty expensive to keep up with every month. These are some of the photos of her last class.

Tiny Tots -- Bear Paper Bag Puppet

Today's Tiny Tots craft project is a bear paper bag puppet, this is actually the exact same project as the lion puppet before, I guess this is considered a new semester so this repeat is not that bad. Katie showed immense interest in the glue stick after I glued the bear head and arms on, and did not even want to touch anything else, so of course I completed the coloring for her.

After how many classes, Katie finally discovered that there is a kitchen set in the classroom, about time. But I guess that caused her to be an indoor girl today. She stayed indoor during recess to play with the kitchen and toys, until it was time that everyone came in, then she realize she missed out on going out to play.

Lakeshore Learning Store -- Free Crafts for Kids

Today we went to Lakeshore Learning Store in San Leandro, many of the classroom items and library items for the children sections are all purchased from Lakeshore. They make very nice educational supplies I will have to say, but they are a bit pricey. We went today for the purpose of buying Katie a tiny chair. See, there is this thing about toddlers and chairs, they love them for some mysterious reason. However, we walked in at a time that there is a free arts and craft event going on, so what a bonus. The project is to make a personalized desktop caddy, which is really just decorate a piece of shaped cardboard paper and stick it on a paper cup. But I am impressed with the amount of art supply provided, sure beats that Tiny Tots class. Katie was super excited and was having so much fun gluing bunch of stuff on her cardboard chicken. This is actually the first project that I will say that the majority of the work is done by her actually. She did not want to leave at all, after the chicken is glued full, she continues to pile more items on top of it, but I had to stop her or else we will be there all day.

Look at the amount of supplies:

The finished product:

Oh, and those chairs that we came for, we got the cheapest one for 12 bucks, not bad of a price I guess.

Next week they are doing Make-Your-Own Fossil, looks like fun with clay, definitely coming back.

Tiny Tots -- Paint an Apple

After a short summer break, Tiny Tots' Fall program begins and today's topic is apple. Katie is super excited about this topic since apple is one of her favorite word, so the whole class she was saying "apple apple." Arts and crafts activity is paint an apple with red and green foam paint, this is the first time ever that she actually sat there for a while in order to put some strokes on the paper.

Learning to count apples on the tree:

Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose

Once in a while we take our daughter to the Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose. They have lots of different areas and toys designed to stimulate the young brains. They even have story times in the book area too. The admission price is expensive though, at $10 each person that is a whopping $30 plus outside parking fee $5 for our family of three.

This is the art area, my daughter hates wearing that apron and wants to take it off constantly.

Giant blocks are available for building or shape sorting.

Toys for pretend play is also around.

But the favorite for my daughter is still the water area. I came prepared this time with a swim outfit since she hates wearing that smock.

Water Activities on Hot Summer Days

#1. Playing with the water table.

#2. Go for a swim in the pool.

#3. Water the plants.

#4. Use water and paintbrush to draw on the floor.

(Yeah, she wasn't too thrilled about drawing on the floor, so mom had to do it for her...)

Ardenwood Historic Farm -- Toddler Time

A fellow mom at Gymboree told me about the Toddler Time at Ardenwood Historic Farm, so I decided to check it out. Every week there is a different animal as topic, and today is chicken. The toddler time started out with reading a story about chicken hatching an egg. Then we were taken to the barn and taught how to shell corn off the cob and how the method modernized to machinery. The kids had a chance to work on the machines and the corn were grinded and ready for feeding the chicken. A chicken was taken out for the kids to see and pet, while they learned about how eggs were hatched each day. I actually learned a lot from the presentations, but I feel my daughter is still too young to gain much out of it. I will definitely bring her here again for field trips once she is old enough enjoy this.

Story reading:

Corn shelling:

Petting and feeding the chicken:

More eating fresh picked blackberries:

Tiny Tots -- Paint an Elephant

This is the last class of summer for Tiny Tots and today is just a simple project of finger painting. And... she is done.

It literally took like two seconds before she lost interest. Of course with all the prep work of putting on her art smock, laying the paper in front of her, and scrambling to find her the paint brush took much longer. Luckily I got a shot of her before she toss the paint brush away and wanted to have nothing to do with it anymore. All the other parents were pretty much in the same situation. How naive of us parents to think that painting will be so fun for them, at least not at this age. :p

Gymboree Music Class Tryout

I decided to give the Gymboree music class a tryout since it is free anyway. I like how it has a theme each period and this class was a Hawaiian theme, so the songs were Hawaiian songs, feels just like a unit study. I also like how there is a lot of musical tools used in the class and requires a lot of parental participation, which the bad thing is lead me to less photos. But here they are anyway:

Yay, maracas.

Which one should I play with next?

I can hit a drum.

Tiny Tots Class -- Binoculars

This week’s project is to make a binocular out of toilet paper rolls. This is how you do it. Save two finished toilet paper rolls and staple them together in the middle. Use a hole puncher to punch to holes on top to string a piece of yarn on for hanging on your little one’s neck. How does your little one participate in this project? By painting the binoculars green. My daughter played with the finished product, however did not want to have any paint on her hands. So again, good job mom for making a nice set of binoculars.

Recess time, Little Tikes company is so fun, not only do they have cars, they even have gas stations for the cars. Look at her pretend play to the maximum.