Yesterday at Waimea Valley, the children made a “magic potion” with Aunty Palapala.  They used water, leaves, flowers, and herbs in a big container of water.  She had the children stir the potion with a big spoon (shovel).  Then, the children used a paintbrush to apply the “potion” to the surrounding plants.  Today, we made our own magic potion with the plants from our garden.  We used basil, mint, green onion, and impatient flowers and leaves. 

Today was our field trip to Waimea Valley.  We planted beans seeds.  We dug for worms in a compost pile.  We made a magic potion (water and herbs) and painted it on plants.

Today, a police helicopter landed in our parking lot.  It was very captivating.  Then, we saw a police robot.  The robot passed by all of the children and used its arm to grab one of the children’s slippers.  Then, two police dogs did “tricks”.  The dog’s names were Arco and Sander.  When it was our turn to go into the helicopter, an emergency call came in.  We weren’t able to go into the helicopter, but we watched as it took off.  A very exciting day!

The children decorated fabric pieces with fabric markers.  We glued them to the toilet paper rolls and stapled each child’s picture to it.  The children are using them as “people” in the block corner.

Sliding Fun!

We finally have kalo plants in our garden box by the Water Play area.  Since that area is always wet and the children love using water cans there, we wanted to take advantage of the water and plant something that grows well in soaked ground.  Aunty Trixy, one of our Extended Day teachers, donated some kalo plants that she had in her yard.  If you have any kalo plants that you’d like to donate or have connections with people that have lo’i kalo, we would welcome more plants.

Yesterday morning, we had an unexpected visitor.  A duck showed up on our playground fence.  Events like this, spark excitement.  In a school setting, educators try to use the opportunity to illicit discussion, use it as a topic for writing, or promote inquiry by asking “I wonder” question.  We call it a “teachable moment.”  When you’re out with your child, it’s something you can do too.

Tasting:  The children discovered (looked at) each other’s tongue today.  We talked about our taste buds.  For snack, we had a “tasting party.”  They tasted lemon for sour, li hing mui seed for salty, and cookies for sweet.  For obvious reasons, we decided not to serve a bitter food.  A few liked the lemon and the seed.  Of course, they all liked the sweet treat.

Touch:  The children played a sorting game with the “feely box.”  A feely box is a solid box with holes on two sides which you can fit your hand into.  We put smooth, scratchy, and soft items into the feely box.  The children used their sense of touch to guess what item was in the box and then to sort the item into the correct category. 

Three year olds are very curious.  They naturally explore and study most common objects and living things.  In preschool, we address the area of scientific investigation by promoting inquiry skills through our 5 senses.

 Hearing:  The children played a guessing game with sound tubes.  We put the sound tube in a pillow case and shook it.  The children used their sense of hearing to guess what was making the sound.  The children are also making their own sound tubes in the art studio.