We love Birthdays! It's a fun time for us to celebrate the young boy or girl, and give everyone a chance to help create something tasty. Today, all the kids helped make "Blonde Brownies" with chocolate chips. And Grayson got to wear a special hat!

Our kids love pouring water as part of a Montessori Station, so we decided to take it to a new level outdoors at the water table. A quick trip to Home Depot got us all the PVC pipes, sponges, and funnels we needed. Time to enjoy the action...:P

We like using our favorite books as themes for arts & crafts that then help the stories come alive. When you are going on a bear hunt, you're going to need binoculars...

We're going on a bear hunt. We're not scared!!!

Finn found a bear! And each child took home a rememberance of their special adventure...

Special thanks to Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury for a week's worth of inspiration, and a pretty awesome story.

One day, during Circle Time, a child asked how volcanoes work, so we made volcanoes the topic of our themed activities that week.

We explored the letter 'V' and the sound it makes. We sang our Alpha Friend's song 'Vinny Volcano'. We made a letter jumble and challenged to children to find the 'V's hiding on the board. We drew volcanoes with markers, and cut volcanoes out of construction paper. We even made a larger tent size volcano where the children could hide and play. Finally, in a showdown between teachers, we made model volcanoes that erupted in the back yard. 

Check out the fun in the pictures below and, for a short video, click on the following link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeIAP1fBPco

At one of the childrens' favorite workstations, we get their fingers opening and closing boxes with different closures to find a variety of treasures hidden inside. Sometimes there is a sticker, sometimes it's the Letter of the Week, and sometimes it's a tasty morsel. 

It happens a lot that the natural development of a child leads to unwanted situations, i.e, children throwing toys in a preschool. At The Sprout House, we look for ways to encourage the children's curiosity and give them what they want. Afterall, learning to throw is a valuable and necessary developmental step. Our indoor basketball court sets up in seconds with the help of a wire clothes hamper and some scrap pieces of paper. Time to 'make it rain!'

 At The Sprout House, the children are invited each day to explore different Montessori themed work stations where they not only challenge their motor skills, but their focus and independence as well. We start with detailed demonstrations, and then observe as the children work to repeat the exercises.

In the photos below, one of our two year-olds transfers beans from a bowl to a small decanter using tongs. This simple task is great for strengthening the pincer grip that leads to writing. What's better...the children like it too!

Sometimes crafts are really simple and still loads of fun. During the holidays, the children got a big kick out of decorating their own Christmas trees using the Do-A-Dot markers. With a simple stamping motion, even the youngest children are able to add loads of color with ease.  And voila...a new masterpiece for the home art gallery!

When the leaves changed colors last Fall, we took the children on a leaf hunt outdoors. We made stencils of the more distinct leaves and asked the kids if they wanted to get their hands dirty...they said 'yes!' 

We started with the colors they found on the leaves and added in a couple extra for good measure. In the end, each child took home a fun rememberance of their time at The Sprout House.

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Growing up in New Jersey, Laura loved to go apple picking in the Fall. We recently talked to The Sprout House kids about apples and all the yummy things we make with them. The kids worked on an art project, decorating their own apples, and then tasted real homemade applesauce. Yummy!