November Week 1

Theme: community Helpers Transportation

This last week and a half we learned about community helpers and their transportation vehicle. 

I had four cute small wooden autos: a police car, ambulance, school bus and fire engine. Since we were talking about land, air and water transportation last month, in October, I thought how fun it would be to learn about the community helpers that are associated with these wooden automobiles.

Using card stock paper I assembled a police station, fire station, hospital and school house. Using double sided tape, I taped them on boxes I had around the house (one shoe box and two diaper boxes). I used an utility knife to cut an entrance into each building. I then made a little town road with masking tape. 

We talked about each car and where they belong. We also talked about who works at each station: police officers, firefighters, doctors and teachers. E had a blast driving the cars and driving them into the building.

Doctor:

E already owned a retro doctor's kit which I then added some colored band aides, gauze and a working thermometer. I took an old white t-shirt and cut it down the middle for him to use as a doctors coat. {He loved that thing! He wore it out to lunch! The Dr. was in the building! Haha}

 I googled images on the i pad of doctors and discussed them with E. other things we shared:

- an ambulance takes you to a hospital to see a doctor.

- Doctors help us when we are sick and use these tools to check our body.

-we discussed each item in his doctors kit and how to use them (some he already knew from his well-checkups).

We used one of his teddy bears as a patient and Dr. E got to work! It was really cute to see him role play. As he placed band aides on the bear we reviewed colors!

Firefighter:

I googled images of fighter fighters and we discussed what they do:

-when there is a fire, firefighters come to the rescue to put the fire out!

-they use big, strong and long fire hoses to put the fire out.

For the activity I made paper flames out of card stock paper. I filled plastic clear cups up to 1/3 of the way with baking soda and added vinegar to his play fire extinguisher. 

E got his firefighter gear on: hat, belt, badge, ax, and used the fire extinguisher to put the fires out! He had a blast! First he sprayed the flames with the extinguisher but then we got to business and filled a cup with vinegar and we really got to see some smoke! He loved pouring over and over vinegar in the cups to see an eruption of "smoke."

**don't have a play fire extinguisher? Use a spray bottle! :) Need some ideas for DIY firefighter gear? My Preschool Fall

activities Pinterest board has some great ideas. check this one out: http://pinterest.com/pin/147492956520015846/

Police Officer and Teacher:

I created activity trays for both Police officer and Teacher. 

For both community helpers I first started by going over images of them and discussing what they do.

-Police officers keep our city and streets safe. When there is an emergency and you need help dial 911. 

In the tray I places a NON-working phone for him to pretend to dial 911 and badges for him to role play. 

-Teachers teach us our letters and numbers. Teachers help us learn many things, like teaching us how to read.

In the teacher tray I placed a bowl with letters and numbers and a stack of flash cards. We matched the letters to the coresponding flash cards, made three letter words and E played with the magnetic letters on the fridge. 

These trays (and activities) are  an invitation to play to let the child lead the lesson with the parent guiding and supporting. A way to guide is by asking questions to create discussions which result in learning! :)

* * *

It was a blessed and busy week and a half of Harvest fun and learning! for the next couple if weeks, leading into Thanksgiving, we will learn about health and nutrition. 

Thank you for stopping by! Hope these activities inspire you!

Blessings,

Erica

Love to hear from you!

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