Princess Ponies - Giddy Up!

Day 4 of our Princess Camp was filled with ponies, horses, and lots of "galloping here, galloping there, galloping, galloping everywhere!"

Enjoy the pictures of the girls dancing with streamers, playing egg shakers, and making their final craft of the camp.  

Here's what parents are saying about Princess Camp:

"Thank you to you and all of your staff.  The girls are absolutely loving Princess Camp!!  They all look so adorable, and you have such great ideas for them.  Thanks for taking such good care of the girls, and for taking the time to do the pictures and the blog.  What fun!"  - Wendy Skalniak, mother of Princess Grace

"Josie is having a blast at Princess camp- love the pictures on the blog!!!  Thanks for sharing them! " - Bonnie, Mother of Princess Josie

"Thank you Kathy for all of the pictures and the updates on princess camp! Elisabeth is having a great time; she just loves "her princess camp". This has been a great experience for her. I can't believe she just turned 3 a couple of weeks ago and she is on her own in a class. You have all made her feel so welcomed and comfortable.  Thank you for making our little Princess so happy!" -  Lucinda, Mother of Princess Elisabeth

The camp was a "royal hit" for one and all -- we're already looking forward to next year.

Happy Summer, Princesses!

Princess - Teddy Bear Tea Party!

It's Day 3 of Princess Camp complete with Teddy Bears and a Tea Party.  We pretended to make cupcakes and tea using finger rhymes and chants.  (Remember - Rhymers make better readers!) We danced with our Teddy Bears and the bears helped us sing the hello song.  

We included ball exploration today with a focus on language development (labeling) and fine motor skills/eye-hand coordination/spatial orientation.

While pretending to travel to our tea party with a variety of locomotor movements, we practiced inhibitory control by stopping and starting.  "We're going to a tea party, going to a tea party, going to a tea party, a tea party at the castle."  Try singing this song at home with an "Aaaand Stop!" at the end for more inhibitory control practice.

We explored using spoons as instruments, just like the people in the Appalachian mountains.  Between the ball play, spoon play-along, and locomotor movement - we provided your child with several opportunities to work on steady beat development.

Our tea party gave us an opportunity to practice our manners, too!  Hope that plays out at home with you this week.  Let me know if your child uses the word "dainty" because we used it several times today to describe a princess.

During craft time we made tissue paper flowers and colored a tea party invitation.  It was fun for all. Enjoy the pictures!!

Tomorrow is all about princesses and their ponies.  We're looking forward to Day 4, our last day together!

Special thanks to Miss Carrie, Miss Lisa, and Miss Karen for being our assistant teachers during camp this week.

Cleaning The Castle - Princess Camp Day 2

As you can see, Day 2 was filled with Creative Play, Instrument Play, Movement, and music music music!  

We pretended to clean the castle by dusting, washing clothes, washing dishes, and more.

We decorated our "cleaning wands" using stickers and ribbon.  I look forward to hearing the stories of how those wands are being used at home to help with cleaning around the house.

We practiced our Steady Beat using bells, egg shakers, hand movements, full body movement, and locomotor movement.

Speaking of Steady  Beat, did you know??

One of the first musical skills to develop is the ability to keep a steady beat.  Of course the ability to keep a steady beat is essential for future musical experiences, but it is also important in everyday life.  Think of all we do that requires regularly paced repeated motion (a sense of steady beat!) – walking, running, riding a bicycle, cutting with scissors, bouncing a ball, playing sports, and more.  Music relies on steady beat more than nearly any other activity, making it a perfect skill-builder.  

We explored Bilibos (the bowls you'll see our friends sitting in) and Puppets during our music lesson and during center time.  It was delightful to see all the different things the children came up with.

Tomorrow is our Teddy Bear - Princess Tea Party.  The children are invited to bring a favorite bear for the tea party.  See you then!