Worms, Slugs, and Snails Oh My! Winter Closing

We ended our winter session with fun learning about worms, slugs, and snails and celebrating the winter together with hot cocoa!

Tuesday Froglets:

We went on a bunny hunt and found 2 cuties across the road from the park. We decided we better keep an eye out for easter eggs...

In the woods we really went to town searching under logs, finding witches butter, sliding down hills etc. We had a fun celebratory day!

Tuesday Frogs:

We found a fort that really needed our attention today and worked hard to make it better,

Then we had our party in the woods during story and snack time:

Then it was time for a jumping party!

Wednesday Froglets:

It was Seriously WINDY! for us so we gazed up at the dizzying trees during snack and marveled at how fast the clouds were going by:

Of course we also used regular doses of froggy strength, keen observation skills, and kid powered creativity to power our day!

Thursday Tadpoles:

The tadpoles did an excellent job of using their little magnifiers to investigate under logs:

 We also were amazed by this downed tree which must of fallen overnight from all the wind!

 All of the classes were full of hardy Winter FH kiddos who did a great job learning outside and I'm happy they were able to join us adventuring together during the colder, rainier part of the year!

Shoreview Park!

We had our "field trip" at Shoreview Park this week! For some families this was a new venue, hooray for learning about new parks!

Tuesday Froglets:

We flew around the park like birds, put on a show, hung out "backstage" in the "green room" aka a cedar tree, and had a fun hike down to the lake,

 

then had a great time seeing the buffleheads and mallards, making troughs between the puddles, making an adorable home for baby beavers (upper left) out of alder catkins, and even rescuing a flyaway hat!

Tuesday Frogs:

 We took a longer route down to the lake through the woods, had fun making flower chains on our way, and climbing madronas,

The kids had a great time continuing those troughs and connecting the large puddles in the entirely different beach area that the lake now has,

Oh and there was some terrific running over the shallow water, just like a basilisk lizard!

Wednesday Froglets

We had some very silly playground time in the wet weather, and had a really fun time by the lake, then hunkered down under a cedar for story and snack time,

We noticed all sorts of new spring growth starting to emerge, like the horsetails by the creeks, and had some silly time on the stage, ran through puddles, and showed our strength even (that's Erin's heavy pack!):

Thursday Tadpoles:

After a good time on the playground we trooped down to the lake,

Playing in the water, feeling and learning about all the different new plants and birds down there, and  enjoying the space together we had fun!

 When we are somewhere new our time always flies by especially fast! We will look forward to visiting this park again in the Spring!

Spring Registration

FYI Spring Info:

Spring registration is 3/21 for residents and 3/23 for non-residents. 

The Spring session will follow the same schedule as the winter, with the exception of the toddler class going back to 2 hours. 

 It will run April 9th -June 20th with a break for the Shoreline Spring Break April 22-26. During that week we'll have a little spring break camp Mon-Thurs from 9:30-11:30. 

If you know of interested folks for the Tuesday or Thursday classes (Wednesday is super popular!) let them know we have space for visitors this week and next. 

Thanks and Happy Almost Spring! 

Owl Week

We had a whoo filled week in the woods! We studied owls, their pellets, read some cute stories, made nests, crafted owl puppets, sang some made up owl songs and of course had lots of pretend time in the woods!

Tuesday Froglets:

The kiddos were really into imaginary play today. They also built a giant nest, started making daisy chains!, and made little owl puppets:

They also worked on their machine, wrote on "tablets" with their "pencils", opened a drive through cafe, a loved running down mountain trail!

 Tuesday Frogs:

I set up 3 stations for these students. They did an owl pellet dissection (actually fake owl pellets so they each had a guaranteed skeleton), paper owl puppets, and tube owl puppets:

 They also explored, went on a good hike, were very attentive to my big pile of owl books, found some beetles waking up for spring, smooshed in the mud, and built a good pine needle fort with "stabilizers":

 Wednesday Froglets:

We passed around the "bones" from an owl pellet and ooed over how tiny they were, and then proceeded to find a real skeleton after investigating under some logs with a dead bird nearby:

Ahh, the wonderful part about being a preschooler is no squeamishness in their investigation of a dead bird, and with guidance they are safe and careful

They also worked well on teamwork today, going together up trails, holding hands, opening up a restaurant together (serving Teacher Erin some bracken fern yummies below), and comforting each other when needed too!

 Thursday Tadpoles:

Yowza, I flaked on the pictures this week! Not that you kiddos aren't adorable, I think it was the bit of rain in the way of good shots and lots of action! We also made little puppets with adult help, took a good walk around the woods, and enjoyed owl stories during snack time!

We'll take our bird and owl knowledge to Shoreview Park next week!

Birds in Winter Week!

We studied birds, their nests, and had fun back in the woods after our week off! I checked out the kit from the Seattle Audubon again and the kids had a great time studying the real stuffed birds. 

Tuesday Froglets:

This week we had one last class with 2 very sweet kiddos who are heading off on an adventure with their family, we wish them all the best on their adventure! They gave me a sweet book (made all 3 Erin's tear up) and I enjoyed sharing it with all the classes this week.

This week we also had fun with bird food:worms! and searched for birds with our binoculars, studied strange orangish tree wood, found letter C in giant branch form, and had fun with those stuffed birds! 

Tuesday Frogs:

 We celebrated a birthday this week, with Miss. A who has been in my camps and classes for 3 years now! We made little nests of seeds, fed the birds and squirrels, explored and imagined galore!

Wednesday Froglets:

We started off by making nests for the toy birds from the kit, and the kids quickly had an adorable bird village!

In the woods these students were FULL of imagination! They were on a serious fire fighting mission, were active super heroes, and were using a "GPS Unit" (piece of bark) and "compass" (rock" to help us navigate around the woods!

Thursday Tadpoles:

This week we colored our own "binoculars", stomped in the creek and in the mud, went fishing, looked for birds in the woods, had a nice bird story time, and enjoyed seeing the stuffed birds!

   

It was a fun birding week!

Spring and Summer Camps!

Here is the scoop on SPRING and Summer Camps! 

Froggy Holler Spring Break Camp
Come join us this SPRING for a mini Froggy Holler Preschool Camp. We will meet at Hamlin in the morning for some fun forest play, crafts, games and more!

April 22-25 (Mon-Thurs.)

9:30-11:30

Hamlin

 

FH Preschool Summer Camp
9-12
July 29th-Aug 2
at Hamlin
for ages 3-5.
Join us this SUMMER for camp in the woods! Each day we’ll have a different nature themed topic to guide our play. We’ll read, sing, craft, and enjoy the park together. Please provide a nut free snack for your child. Camp comes with a free Froggy Holler tee shirt!

FH Pirate camp
9-3
August 12-16
at Richmond Beach
for Ages 5-7

Ahoy Mateys! FH is going to have another pirate adventure this summer at Richmond Beach! Come join us for the wild fun exploring the beach, telling pirate tales, fort fun, pirate crafts, and maybe even a little buried treasure action at the end of the week! We will stay at the beach longer this year, so please provide a nut free lunch for your child. A Froggy Holler tee shirt for every pirate is included!

 

I'm also offering some garden camps at the Kruckeberg Garden in Richmond Beach this summer, more details on these camps is coming soon! These details are subject to change slightly but the weeks are not! I just had to share info on these with you all first!

FH Garden Camp 

9-3

July 22- 25 (Mon-Thurs)

at Kruckeberg Garden

for ages 6-8

FH Garden Camp

9:30-1:30 

August 19-23

at Kruckeberg Garden

for ages 4-6

 Please feel free to ask if you have any questions about camps!

Precipitation Week

We had fun with a seasonally appropriate topic this week, RAIN! We learned about rain and the water cycle and of course listened to our favorite water cycle song!

Tuesday Froglets:

These kiddos were super into finding "power beads" today! They lucked out and found over a hundred! Between the classes we have now named the colors too, so we have this power color chart:

Red= power of heart

Yellow=power of sun

White= power of mind

Green=Frog power!

Bring greeen=power of nature

Glow in the dark=power of night

and other colors we have yet to find, have powers yet to be named! 

 

 They also played at the "chocolate factory" to get ready for Valentine's Day. ;)

Tuesday Frogs: 

The Frogs were also into finding power beads this week (they have been for years after all...;)), and doing some nest building. They also had fun having a little Valentine's party with treats from Jackson in the circle fort, thanks Jackson and family!

 There was also some impromptu "Mail Myself to You" singing around this mossy tree while discovering new types of fungus.

Wednesday Froglets:

 Wednesday froglets also had fun with power beads and circle fort, and then had a nice visit in Elf Cove, riding the "train" and finding purple fungus!

 They are very kind to each other, and such a loving group, Erin and I don't have enough hands for all the sweeties to want to hold them, so we are often in a long hand holding chain around the woods. At the end of class we had a water cycle dance party!

 Please note the cool dude, holding up my water proof speaker ghetto blaster style! ;)

 Thursday Tadpoles:

Thursday was Valentine's Day! We celebrated by singing some Valentine's songs together, and then sharing the love with the birds of the woods! My Valentine to them included a bag of seeds, so they had a lovely time spreading them all around!

 We also played at elf cove on the train, said "hi" to different plants by shaking their branches, and did some fabulous running through the woods! We also found a heart woodpecker hole, stopped in boat fort for story time and a special Valentine's treat from Sophia and Zoe, thanks girls!!!

 Then there was the ever popular puddle in the parking lot, wouldn't be rain day without a little puddle play right!? 

Thanks for the fun week kiddos and parents! We'll look forward to seeing you again NOT NEXT WEEK (Shoreline schools in out and we follow their calendar) but the following week on February 26th-28th. We'll be studying birds from the Audubon society!