Fun in Enrichment

Hands on learning plays an important part in development and creates a fun learning experience for children of all ages. Pre Scholar Enrichment classes provide this experience for our Academy kids every week! Through movement, science, art, and culture our kiddos are able to engage in a wide variety of activities. This past week our kiddos learned all about being healthy and staying healthy. On Monday, our friends got to learn how to make healthy smoothies and even taste super sour lemon juice! On Tuesday,c they were all really excited to help put the ingredients together for the smoothies and then taste them. On Wednesday, our wonderful Pre Scholar Enrichment teacher helped the kiddos get their bodies with some movement through Go Noodle! Our fiends love to jump, dance, and move around to all the fun songs. Every once in  a while,  the kids get to jump on the computers to learn through play in a technological way. On Friday, they got to play a game where they sorted food and categorized them as healthy or not healthy. They were really silly  at first as they would drag a cookie to the "healthy" plate! Enrichment classes always bring new and fun experience and activities to our school and our kiddos just LOVE getting to learn this way.

We  are in the final weeks of our Summer  of Stem theme. Soon we will be entering our school year and enrichment will get a brand new theme!

Learning how to squeeze the juice out of fruit. Fresh juice is so refreshing and very delicious!

Talking about the different fruit for the smoothies. This is when the kiddos got  to taste the super sour lemon juice!

Making healthy and yummy smoothies! Our friends got to help measure the ingredients.

Being healthy means more than just eating healthy. We also have to get moving! The kids love to dance, jump, wiggle, and jiggle to Go Noodle!

Winding down to read a book  about having a  healthy mind and  body!  

Learning the difference between healthy and unhealthy. Do you think a cookie is healthy or unhealthy? What about broccoli?

For more information about AoFC and the programs we offer,  please click HERE

For more information about the Pre Scholar Enrichment program, please click HERE

Baby Doll Circle Time

Circle time is an important part of the day as kids and teachers are able to unite as a class and all come together on the carpet to engage in songs, books, questions, and so much more. For our smaller friends, circle time looks a little different than what our older kids participate in. When children are in the toddler stage it is important for them to create bonds with care givers and it is import for caregivers to set the tone and path in creating those bonds and attachments. Baby doll circle time provides an experience that does exactly that; help create bonds and attachments between children and educators. The curriculum behind Baby Doll circle time focuses heavy on attunement which helps pave the way for positive attachment. The educators in our toddler and preschool 1 classrooms love seeing how excited the kiddos get when the basket of babies come out. They love getting to pick out their baby and squeezing them tight with love. Baby Doll circle time is just getting started and they are currently working on the first unit: Peek-a-Boo!

These babies are ready to be loved on! let's sing "Get your baby, get your baby, get your baby, time to play!"

Starting with Unit 1.1 : Peek-a-Boo. Everybody hold their baby and get ready to start! 

 When participating in Baby Doll circle time, it is important to look the children and your babies in the eye. Can you point to your babies eyes??

Where is my baby?? Peek-a-Boo there you are!!  Where is my baby?? Peek-a-Boo I see you!! 

Giving lots of love while we sing "My baby's in my arms, my baby's in my arms, this is my baby, my baby's in my arms!" 

Learning how to rock the baby and while we sing about where our baby is! 

Participating in Baby Doll circle time helps children create attachments help pave the way for caring for others as they grow older. Our friend here noticed his baby did not have her pacifier in. How sweet is this?!?!

Getting ready to sing Bye bye baby as we wrap up circle time. Don't worry, we will play again next week! 

 Bye bye baby, bye bye baby, bye bye baby, we'll play again some day!

For more info on AoFC and the programs we offer, please click HERE
for more information about our curriculum, please click HERE

Sensory Week

This week is sensory week at AoFC! We are diving in and getting our hands messy as we learn through play. Sensory week was kicked off with a fun cloud dough activity. Teachers were able to make a fluffy, cloud-like substance for our friends to explore by touching it, playing with it, and talking about what they see and feel. Tuesday was all about water beads. This one was a hug hit! The kids were able to feel the squishy beads through their hands. They figured out that the beads were wet and that they could smash them, bounce them, and squish them together. These beads were also multicolored so our friends were able to talk about what colors they see as well as what they feel. Our last sensory activity was rainbow spaghetti! The kids loved that they got to play with their "food." Although they understood they could not actually eat the spaghetti the kids were able to pretend and use their imaginations. The kids talked about how the spaghetti felt like skinny worms and that it was cold and colorful. All of these activities provided the kids fun ways to explore a really import sense... touch! Through touch, kids develop and grow their fine motor skills for writing, cutting, zipping, shoe-tying and so much more as they pinch, grab, pull, and pour. These activities go far beyond they sand and water table and help provide kids with fun and interactive learning experiences. 

So much fun getting our hands messy! We loved getting to hear what they thought about this activity.

Fluffy, blue, messy, squishy. So much fun figuring out how to play and imagine with this cloud foam. 

So many colorful beads to sink my hands into! How do the feel? How do they look? 

Learning through touch is helpful in developing fine motor skills. This will help when learning to use scissors, tie a shoe, zip a jacket, etc..

Can we sort by color? Can we make a pattern? How else can we play with these sensory beads? 

Have you ever seen such colorful spaghetti?! Here, we are encouraging kids to play with their "food" 

These kiddos were SO excited to squish this spaghetti around and explore the way it feels in their little hands. 

The bigger kids were really interested in sorting the spaghetti by color and pretending to serve the spaghetti to their friends and pretending they were bright, colorful worms.

For more info on AoFC and the programs we offer please click HERE

For more fun sensory activities to do with your kiddos at home please click HERE

Tie Dye Tuesday!

Calling all hippies! Hip Hip Hooray for an awesome Tuesday! Today we had so much fun showing off our colorful tiedye t-shirts! Two weeks ago we all had a blast creating these t-shirts with our awesome staff and kiddos. Each child was able to be hands on in helping to tiedye. This process was so much fun for each child as they got to choose which colors they wanted to use, and where they wanted each color to go. So today was a blast getting to see what everyone worked so hard on! Free art is one of the most exciting things to take part in, starting with our tiniest of friends! The act of getting their hands dirty and be able to just CREATE is truly one of the most fun activities to watch them do! This was one of the coolest ways to do free art. The kiddos love when something different is presented to them, so the imagination sparks were flying! Plus, who doesn't want to actually be able to WEAR their free art!? Check out some of our incredible kiddos tiedye shirts!

Check out this sweet babe showing off her colorful tiedye onesie!

A Mohawk AND a tiedye onsie!? This boy knows how to show off!

Looking like a model showing us his masterpiece!

Our girl playing on the playground in her pretty purple! (say that five times fast!)

Hey the blueberries really bring out the colors in my shirt right!?

Babies in tiedye t-shirts..... need I say more!!?

The sweetest babe taking a quick water break on the playground! We love saying "Cheese!"

Check out these selfie skills! Taking a break from Baby Doll Circle Time for a quick picture!

Hey! Check out my tiedye shirt I made all by myself!

Our adorable girl just lounging this morning while being read to!

Full of  JOY on Tie Dye Tuesday! 

Cheesin' for the tie dye! Look at how cool my blue shirt is!! 

Just sliding into this week like.....

The sun is so bright, just like my shirt! Check out these colors on our sweet boy!

Showing off those muscles y'all! Loving his muscle tank!

All this tie ye excitement has worn me out. I look like I am ready for a nap!! 

For more information on AoFC and the programs we offer please click HERE

For more tie dye activities to do with your kiddos at home please click HERE