Little People Land

Monday was my Mom and sister Tracy's birthdays so Sunday we celebrated with lunch, cake and presents at Mom and Dad's.  I asked Mom while we were there if she minded if I had a look through our toys that we grew up with and maybe take some of them to the day care.  I wound up coming home with a load of good stuff!  I brought the Fisher Price Little People school house, barn and village along with people, furniture, animals and vehicles.  So awesome!  I also came away with a big tub of Lego's and a set of Lincoln Logs.

Monday morning I cleaned everything when I got to work and set it all up on the kitchen table.  When the kids got there they thought Miss Laurie's new toys were terrific and I quite agreed!  I'm saving the Lego's and logs for later in the week when the weather won't be as good to be outside.

It's amazes me at the things that my mother has kept from when we were little.  I'm almost afraid that I don't know the half of what she's still got.  I did see my old Fonze sweatshirt in the attic yesterday!

As you can see, some of the stickers aren't stuck so swell anymore and have bubbled up due to storage and heat and such... not to mention they're forty years old!  I found a dealer on ebay and bought and entire new set of decals for the village!  I'm so excited about that too.  Not all of them need to be replaced right away but when they do I will have extras ready to go!
HERE's a link to the listing.

My sister Marty's initials on the school house.

days of our play care

I have two things to share with you today!  One... it's HOT outside.  It's funny that when the days begin to warm up, in the beginning of summer, the kids complain that it's too hot outside but when we get as far as 90s in September, they are pretty much used to it.  Although they rather like to play in the shade more they still don't complain much... as long as there's plenty of cold water or juice to drink.

Last week I decided to make a big fort out of the smaller swing set to give them more shade to play in.  I used two big white sheets on each side and a vinyl tablecloth on the end that was getting the most sun.  There was a good breeze through the tent and we wound up having story time right there.  Yesterday I made the tent again but it was called a "caterpillar laboratory" since there seems to be an abundance of caterpillars in the yard right now from our walnut tree.

The second thing I wanted to share is a blog that I am pouring over!  It is from a very experienced kindergarten teacher who has wonderful ideas, worksheets and fun projects that are suitable for some of the kids here.  I have two that will start school next year and I feel it's never too early to get them started on real activities and school-type learning.  Click the picture to be directed to her site.  I love it!

Days of Our Play Care

I can never remember if I title this Plays of our Day Care or Days of Our Play Care.  Doesn't matter truly does it?  When it is hot outside... and I mean hot... and humid... this day in particular the temp was 91 with heat index of 104... I like to drag the old sprinkler out at the day care.  It changes the entire aura of our playground and drops the "feels like" temperature to a more comfortable level.  Let us not forget about the fun when you add sprinkler water plus hot day plus three and four year old kids.  That equals pert near perfection. How bout that car wash!

  Happy Fourth of July to you all!!!  Get outside and have fun!

days of our play care

I get a little cranky at masking tape that won't hold.  I come in to work with things lying on the floor where they've fallen off the wall over night from tons of tape that won't stick.  I seriously don't know what kind to buy anymore.  I have three rolls of not-so-good masking tape right now and here is what one of my friends and I decided to do with some of it to use it up. 

I think it's quite arty don't you?  He made a house and mine was just abstract lines.   

Hey... it kept us busy and quiet until the rest of the kids woke up from their naps.  

days of our play care

Honestly... I don't know what we'd do without the dirt pile that's out behind the day care.  It is a little walk down our driveway but just far enough away that we've gone somewhere.  The kids and I climb, jump, hunt, run, fall, throw, yell, and imagine.  The pile they are on here is our space ship.  I am on the ground looking for imaginary food.  We get dirty and sometimes a little hot but in the mean time we are all learning a lot.  This day we discovered bird prints and hundreds of tadpoles around the edge of the water.  Fascinating.  We are so lucky to have a big dirt pile in our world.  

By the way, here's a book we read on pond life.

days of our play care