Bouncing Ball Co-operative Nursery School

The children sure had fun looking at and creating shadows this week for Groundhog Hog Day! They also worked on eye hand coordination with the pegboards and while matching letters. The children also worked together to create a 3D heart, used paint and salad spinner’s to create spin art and made love bug headbands. For the month of February we brought back the much loved Show and Share time.

Good friends, new learning provocations and a visit from Yoga Appleseed were exactly what we needed for this cold blustery week!
The children continued to enjoy taking on the roles of doctors and patients which was inspired by a classmate with a cast. They also tried their hand at ice fishing which proved to be quite the challenge. After reading a book that happened to show Smores we decided to make our own version for snack. The children painted snowflakes, drew pictures and explored the science experiment of mixing oil with coloured milk. We also practiced lots of body awareness and gross motor activities by walking like various animals, passing a ball to our friends and through yoga.

This week our preschoolers had a great time learning and creating together! The children loved exploring our sensory bin filled with corse sea salt and construction vehicles. They practiced scooping, pouring, and loading the trucks, which helped build fine motor skills and encouraged imaginative play. The children also practiced their cutting skills using red paper strips and scissors. They carefully cut each piece, demonstrating concentration throughout this activity while working on building their hand strength as well.
At the table, they worked on number recognition and problem-solving using colorful number puzzles and gear toys. The children loved matching, sorting, and turning the gears. The children also enjoyed using the peg boards and colourful elastic bands to create snowflakes, shapes and other unique designs! Early math skills were also practiced using winter themed pictures and markers. The children worked on recognizing numbers, counting objects, and then circling the correct answers.
The children also engaged in imaginative play in our doctor’s office! They took turns caring for stuffed animals and babies using toy stethoscopes, bandages, thermometers, reflex hammers, casts, and other various medical tools. This role-play activity encouraged kindness, sharing and communication as they pretended to help their patients feel better.
The children also happily participated in hands-on art activities making winter toques and mittens to match. They decorated their winter hats using colorful craft materials like paper shapes, sequins, and sparkles. They practiced using glue and placing decorations carefully, creating their own unique toques. For the mittens the children used crayons, markers and pastels to decorate them, carefully choosing colours, while practicing holding their chosen tools.

What a fun filled week we had together! This week our students LOVED taking part in parachute activities where they swam amongst the waves, created a snowstorm, and laughed while running underneath to switch places with their friends!
At the sensory table our students had so much fun exploring snow and bright colours! Using droppers, they squeezed, splashed and mixed colours onto the snow which created a beautiful rainbow of colours!
Our students also enjoyed many other great activities such as using small penguin figures to practice counting, sorting, and organizing, explored colourful foam blocks to create towers and structures while experimenting with stability, and also happily listened to stories where they engaged with pictures while practicing early literary and attention skills!
Our students also engaged in some gross motor activities using the balance pathway, where they strengthened their coordination, balance, and motor planning as they carefully walked along the balance beams! Fine motor skills, focus, and patience were also strengthened this week by rolling and cutting play-doh, as well as using pipe cleaners to thread cereal onto to create bird feeders that hang on trees!

What a great first week back after the holidays! The children were excited to see one another, were full of energy and were ready to learn! Our students engaged in many fun activities such as putting together and creating Mr. Potato Head figures. They carefully placed colourful pieces into tiny holes which encouraged fine motor movement, practiced hand eye coordination, as well as body part identification.
In the kitchen area our children engaged in pretend play, preparing and serving food while practicing communication and social skills.
For art the children loved dipping different sizes of lego blocks into paint and making unique designs by stamping the lego pieces onto paper! They also got creative with foil and glue to make sparkling New Year’s Eve disco balls! They also participated in a group activity where they painted makeup remover pads on the tuff tray table to create a giant snowflake! Our children also used wooden blocks this week to stack, balance, and create together. There was lots of teamwork, problem-solving, and excitement as they built structures together!
For math our student enjoyed using the wooden peg boards to practice number recognition, one-to-one correspondence, and counting while also strengthening their focus and fine motor skills. We ended the week with a Dental screening provided by the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit, where our students did a fantastic job getting their teeth checked and counted!

Wishing you a happy, healthy, peaceful New Year!🎉

We had a great week full of learning, playing, and fun festivities! This week the children enjoyed using wooden blocks and colorful loose parts, while working together to create beautifully decorated trees. The children also enjoyed working with our number boards, matching the numbers, colours, and counting carefully. Play-dough time was a big hit! With rolling pins and festive cutters, the students were busy squishing, rolling, and creating all kinds of masterpieces. Our students also liked using geoboards and stretchy bands to create shapes, patterns, and designs while strengthening their fine motor skills.
Out on one of the tables we set up a winter tray that included styrofoam, winter animals, icy blocks, and seasonal figures. The children used their imaginations to create stories, move pieces through the snow, and explore pretend play in a winter setting. This week our children also happily made stained glass tissue paper ornaments, played with friends in the blow up gingerbread house, and participated in a relaxing yoga session. The highlight of the week though was our gingerbread decorating party where family members came in to share treats, decorate cookies, and celebrate the holidays!🎄

Reminder: we are closed on December 22nd, and will return to class on January 5th.

This week was filled with curiosity, calm moments, and festive fun! The children had a wonderful time at our sensory table this week! They explored colorful magnetic tiles, bells, and scoops, practicing fine-motor skills as they built and experimented with sound. They enjoyed discovering which pieces stuck together and how the bells jingled as they moved. At the light table the children worked together to sort, stack, and build with transparent tiles. They enjoyed experimenting with color, patterns, counting, and building towers with their friends. Our wooden snowman and gingerbread shape sorter were also a big hit! With the wooden snowman the children enjoyed twisting, stacking, and balancing the wooden snowman pieces. With the gingerbread shape sorter the children happily explored the colourful shapes and pieces while matching them to their correct space. For craft this week, our students were busy making wooden star ornaments with sparkly paint, and some special gifts for their parents, in celebration of the holidays!
We also had a few exciting visitors this week! On Tuesday our students enjoyed a yoga session with an instructor from Appleseed yoga! The children started off the session exlporing a singing bowl where they practiced taking turns, listening carefully to the gentle sound, and calming their bodies as the tone faded. The children practiced mindfulness and listening while learning various breathing techniques and fun winter themed yoga poses!
We also had avisit with Santa this week! The children loved telling him what was on their Christmas wish list, getting their picture taken with him, receiving a book from him, and singing songs together!

It was another fun filled week at Bouncing Ball! For craft this week the children enjoyed dipping q-tips into various paint colours and dabbing it onto paper to make bright Christmas lights. They also collaborated on a craft decorating triangle pieces using glue, stickers, and gems which were then placed on the walls to create Christmas trees. Our students also loved exploring the light table this week. They practiced number recognition, colour sorting, and patterns all of which encourage early math skills and fine motor development. In the house area our gingerbread shaped figures were a big hit! The children enjoyed sorting and counting them, and of course baking them in the oven to then share with their friends.
Using our large foam blocks the preschoolers worked together to build tall structures and creative designs, and even a made a bed for our plush gingerbread man! They also did a great job exploring the lock and latch boxes where they practiced opening and closing various types of latches, colour matching, and shape sorting. This week our students also worked on building hand strength and coordination by carefully placing plastic nails into styrofoam hammering boards and then gently tapping the nails into it. At the end of the week our students had a visit from the library and had lots of fun singing, dancing and listening to stories!

We had wonderful and busy week in preschool! The class was full of creativity and exploration! The children loved using the light table this week!
They sorted and arranged colorful translucent pieces, experimented with patterns, and strengthened fine-motor skills while collaborating with friends. This week, the children also loved using our soft, felt food pieces to build their own "sandwiches." They matched items, stacked layers, and followed picture cards to create different combinations. Our students also enjoyed spending time at our chickpea sensory table. They practiced scooping, pouring, and filling containers which is great for building fine-motor skills and encouraging focus. For craft, they worked on decorating gingerbread shapes using glue sticks, sequins, foam shapes, and lots of imagination! The children enjoyed choosing their own decorations and creating unique pieces all of which encouraged creativity, choice making, and hand eye coordination. They also had a great time painting this week, using partially blown up balloons dipped in colourful paint and stamping them onto paper!
Our students also practiced early literacy skills, vocabulary, and letter recognition using a large alphabet floor puzzle and connecting letters and sounds to complete the puzzle.

Unfortunately due to the weather our snow maintenance crew are unable to get here for us to open. Unfortunately we are closed for today.

Sorry for the inconvenience and stay safe.

This week the children enjoyed many great crafts! At the beginning of the week they engaged in some creative painting using hot drinks such as tea, coffee, and hot chocolate. They then made colourful cookies using cardboard circle cutouts, coloured rice, shiny jewels and bright pieces of paper. Our preschoolers also enjoyed decorating their own coffee cups followed by a tasty snack which included mini cookies and hot chocolate! Our students also enjoyed spending time in our cafe this week, engaging in imaginative play. We loved seeing them taking turns and interacting with one another while they baked and sold timbits, cupcakes, cookies and coffee.
In the classroom the children also enjoyed using magnetic drawing boards to create their own artwork. The practiced holding writing tools, making different lines and shapes to strengthen their fine motor skills and early pre writing skills.
The preschoolers also worked on improving their hand eye coordination and problem solving skills by exploring a variety of puzzles including number puzzles, scene matching puzzles and character building puzzles. At the end of the week we had a Pyjama Day and many of the children loved coming in wearing their cozy clothes, showing them off to their teachers and friends!