Ladera Learners First Field Trip: Mission Viejo Library

So I am really loving our preschool setting for Colin.  This week we had our first field trip!

We headed to the Mission Viejo library. We met in the grass out front for snacks and to get some energy out.

 The boys especially seemed to need to burn off some energy!

Colin made a new friend, too!

 Inside, the kids did fantastic!  We didn't realize it was story time day and there were A LOT of kids around, but our group did great.  They sat down and colored together for a while.  Then some of the kids read while others played in the kids part of the library. I really loved getting to interact with all of the kids in a new setting.  It was also awesome having the kids in matching shirts because it was super easy to tell which kids were in our group and keep an eye on everyone.  Many of the moms (myself included) were amazed to see our balls of energy sit down and focus on an activity.  I attribute this to the power of a group setting.

Yay for Pre-preschool!

Sensory Learning.

We've noticed the last few weeks that Colin is becoming more and more aware and interested in his surroundings.  So we decided it was time to introduce some intentional sensory experiences.

Our friend Kate mentioned that her son loves bubbles at daycare.  They were a hit with Colin as well!

This week I decided to show him the spice rack.  We haven't introduced solids yet, but after we redid our spice rack during my nesting phase, Gavin pointed out how fun and colorful it was.

Colin thought it was incredibly fascinating.  He rattled the jars and spun the rack.  We smelled several of the spices.  Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of his reactions.  He was so funny when I would hold up the spice for him to smell; he would stop what he was doing, get very still, and breath softly.  Then he would make these funny faces.  I started with Cinnamon because it seemed to me to be the one he'd like best.  Nope.  He hated it. His favorite was cloves, followed by Allspice.  He reached out to sniff again!  He didn't like garlic powder.  I loved watching him explore and exploring myself.  We had so much fun!

I can't wait to keep exploring the world through his eyes.