Dinosaurs!

Hey everyone -
I'm so sorry I haven't posted in a couple of weeks - I completely forgot to write about what we did last week! Last week was our "Gardening Week", but honestly, it was quite a dud because it snowed and rained all week :( So we had a lot of fun doing some gardening activities inside, but I was pretty bummed the kids weren't able to help me plant flowers. They've been helping me water them this week and will continue to do so all summer long - so that will be fun for them for sure.

I have several pictures from this week to show you all. Our theme was dinosaurs and we had a blast! Some pictures are of the craft projects we did. One is a picture of the kids pretending to be paleontologists and digging up dinosaur bones (the chocolate chips in a chocolate chip cookie). Another chance they had to do this was when they were chipping away at a frozen ice cube trying to get the dinosaur toy out. Pretty fun! The cute snack was a "Dinosaur Claws" - biscuit with graham cracker claws :) Another picture is one from lunch today - it was completely random, but I noticed that all our food was orange, so I dyed their milk orange too. Just a fun picture to share!

Hope you all are having fun reading the blog - we have a lot of fun here at Monarch Kids, that's for sure!

Take care,
Kendall Stark
Monarch Kids Preschool

Happy Mother's Day!

Hey there!

This week we celebrated Mother's Day week! The pictures above are all of different crafts that the kids made for their moms this week. We had a lot of fun doing them and they meant a ton to the mommies! The first picture is a hand-print craft - that's always something that moms love to get and keep through the years. The second picture is one of a "My Mommy" book. Each page had part of a rhyme on it and either had a hand-drawn picture or something that the kids glued on the page. The third picture is a craft in which I wrote down something the kids said about their mom on each petal of the flower. Finally, the last picture is a beautiful tulip flower "planted" in a used soda bottle. Cute huh?!!

Today we also celebrated Cinco de Mayo by eating fruit salsa for snack (lots of different cut up fruits mixed with jelly, cinnamon and brown sugar - yummy!) and tacos for lunch :) One of the books we read this week was "Happy Mother's Day Mami!" - a Dora, the Explorer book.

Hope you enjoy the pictures - have a great weekend, and Happy Mother's Day!

Take care -
Kendall Stark
Monarch Kids Preschool

Butterfly Pavilion

Hey there -
Here are some shots from this week's field trip to the Butterfly Pavilion - we had a great trip and loved seeing all the bugs, spiders and other invertebrates! Enjoy the pictures!

Kendall Stark
Monarch Kids Preschool

Lacing

Hey there -
I just wanted to let you all know about a great pre-writing activity you can do with your kids. It's great for fine-motor skills, super easy and really fun! Just cut the front or back side of a cereal box and punch holes around the edge. Then have the kids lace yarn through the holes. I put tape on the ends of the yarn so that it was easier for the kids to grab and pull the yarn. Then I tied a knot at the end. Then at the very end we colored the box inside the lacing. The kids really enjoyed this and were very focused on their lacing - pretty cute! Now you can put all those empty cereal boxes to good use!

Enjoy the pic -
Kendall Stark
Monarch Kids Preschool

Earth Week!

Hey everyone -
This week we celebrated Earth Week in honor of Earth Day on Friday, April 22nd. This is one of my favorite topics, especially with my nature background.

Some highlights:
*Nature hike - saw prairie dogs, spider webs, rabbits, squirrel, animal poop (scat), worms, bird nest, and much more!
*Arts and crafts - made worm tunnels out of brown paint and yarn, planet earth (see picture), painting with mud (see picture) and muffin tin flower prints
*Books - "The Lorax" by Dr. Seuss (of course!) and "Leo's Tree"
*Lots of games and other activities

Enjoy the pictures -
Kendall Stark
Monarch Kids Preschool

The Royal Family

Hey everyone -
This week we focused on the Royal family - kings, queens, princes, princesses, knights, castles, dragons... Our letter was "K" for king and kingdom. We had so much fun! Today we specifically based all of our games and activities around the classic story, "The Princess and the Pea". The kids especially liked a game in which I would secretly put 1-4 green pom-poms (peas) under a blanket. When they came in and laid down on the blanket, they had to guess how many I placed under it. If they guessed the right number then it proved they were a real prince or princess :)

We also played a game outside called "What Time is it Mr. Dragon?". I was the dragon and was at one end of the yard with my back to the kids. They were at the other end of the yard. They would ask me, "What time is it Mr. Dragon?" and I would reply with a time, such as 1 o'clock or 6 o'clock... Whatever the time was, that was how many steps they could take trying to get closer to me. But if I answered, "Its midnight!", then I would turn around and chase them back to the start line. They loved it! And they all got a turn being a dragon. So fun!

Anyway, we had a blast and are looking forward to next week. Our theme will be "Earth Week" in honor of Earth Day on April 22nd. It truly is one of my favorite holidays - I'm really looking forward to all the fun activities and discoveries we'll make next week. (Side note, but as we were outside playing today, a Swainson's Hawk flew right over our house and called as he was flying! All the kids got a great look at the beautiful bird - so incredible!).

Have a great evening - thanks for reading!

Kendall Stark
Monarch Kids Preschool

New Kids!

Hey everyone -
It's been a great couple of weeks here at Monarch Kids. Not only have we been having a blast doing crafts, games, field trips, playing outside...we've also had 1 new boy start this week and then 2 more start next week! So if you are interested in enrolling in Monarch Kids, now is the time! Space is limited and spots are going fast!

Feel free to email me at kendall@monarchkids.org or call me at 303-524-2003.

Thanks and have a great weekend!

Kendall Stark
Monarch Kids Preschool