Pre-School Graduation Project, Falmouth, MA
A Fun Pre-School Graduation Project
It’s graduation time! From pre-school and middle school to high school and college there are many graduation celebrations. This is a quick, easy and fun snack that a colleague first made for our Falmouth, MA pre -school children years ago. I have made these sweet treats for many graduation parties. They are always well received and the platter is empty at the end of the event!
Today I made graduation caps with a small group of my Falmouth MA pre-school aged children for their teacher who is about to graduate from college.
We started by washing our hands and gathering our ingredients:
Chocolate covered graham crackers (square) OR square of chocolate (in this post we used chocolate covered graham crackers)
Fruit roll ups (pick a flavor /color to coordinate with school colors)
Mini Reese’s peanut butter cups
Small bag of M&M’s
SassieSap, icing OR melted chocolate (in this post we used SassieSap)
Unwrap a Reese’s peanut butter cup. Squeeze a small dab of SassieSap, to the bottom of the Reese’s peanut butter cup. (See photo with cute little Falmouth MA pre-schooler’s hand!)
Place a square chocolate graham cracker on top of your SassieSap dab.
To make the tassel, unroll the Fruit Roll Up, keep it cool so it is more manageable. Cut off a strip using scissors. It will need to be long enough to hang over the side the cracker. Use a pair of scissors to fringe the bottom with a few cuts. You should not worry if it looks like a scarf you will arrange it so it doesn’t in the next step!
Add a dab of SassieSap to the center of the top of the graham cracker. Position your fruit roll up tassel. Using another dab of SassieSap, place an M&M in the center of the graham cracker right over the end of the fruit roll up tassel. Remember to use coordinating school colors if so desired! Let dry.
Place on a platter and enjoy!! Congratulations graduates from pre-school on up!
Friendship Garden Pre-School Hatching Project
Our Falmouth MA pre-school hatching project
Every year at our Falmouth MA preschool we put a few fertile eggs into an incubator and hope for good results.
Before you set forth on this project be sure you are either able to raise the chickens properly or you have a reliable backyard farmer who will take your chicks. While they area fun as babies, they quickly outgrow being an indoor preschool project.
We have a backyard chicken coop and we are ready to increase our flock.
This year we bought 12 eggs from a farmer on ebay. We chose the breed, Cuckoo Maran, since you are supposed to be able to sex them by the color of their down when they are small chicks. This was important to us since 2 years ago we raised 3 beautiful ROOSTERS. Boy did they fight! They had to be hauled off in a farmer’s truck!
The 12 eggs went into the incubator and we started our 21 day countdown. We faithfully monitored the temperature and turned the eggs 2-3 times/day. We began every morning with an all preschool assembly to discuss the project.
Day one. We open a raw egg from the grocery store and examine it. We start learning the vocabulary associated with the project: incubator, temperature, thermometer, 100 degrees, embryo, yolk , chicken, hen, rooster to name a few. It is fun to hear the children tossing these new words around.
Days 2-6 Our Falmouth MA nursery school children make sure that each day 
before handling the eggs I wash my hands. We have learned that eggs are permeable and we don’t want to compromise our project with germs. We read different stories, some fiction, some non-fiction. Every day we open another of our plastic eggs to see what our chicks should look like. (see photo)
Day 7 We are able to “look” into our eggs by candling them. During this process we concentrate a strong light on each of the eggs individually to try to see the air sac at the bigger end of the egg. We find one egg where we can clearly see the yolk and no developing chick. In the rest of the eggs we can see that the chick is developing and the air sac is evident. Candling is harder to do on Cuckoo Maran egg since it has a darker shell than some breeds.
Days 8-20 Time is passing quickly as we have weekends to account for in this 21 day process. We continue to turn the eggs, read stories, ask questions and hope for chicks. Our Falmouth MA preschool children have begun discussing names, something I have to shy away from in case nothing hatches. We learn more vocabulary: embryo, membrane, wattle and comb.
Day 20 We use another grocery store egg and this time we each try to break it open using our index finger nail to get an idea of how much work it will be for a little chick to break the egg shell. We find out it is very hard to break an egg. The chick will be very tired when it hatches. We set up a brooding box with a nice warm light. We have a fun pre school discussion, “which came first, the chicken or the egg?” 
We are ready for hatching day.
Day 21 We can hear the peeping, we see a pip in one egg. All day there is no progress. (see photo)
Day 22 We arrive at school and we have 5 chicks. There are cracks in 2 more eggs. Over the next day we end up with 8 chicks in all.
Giving up the Binky/Pacifier
Giving up the Binky/Pacifier!
Is your child still attached to his/her pacifier and you have long
since decided it must be time for him/her to give it up? Is this the
right time? How do you do it? Families ask the question at nursery
school often. Here is a clever solution, if you are ready!
Make an arrangement with the mom of a new baby: a friend, a relative,
a play group mom, a mom with an infant in tow at nursery school. Have
your child gather all the binkies or pacifiers that you have, you know the ones!
They are everywhere, in your purse, in the car, in the cabinet and
under the furniture. Your little one knows where they are as well,
since he/she has them hidden!
After your gathering period, let your child decide how to wrap, bag or
box these prized possessions. Make a big deal out of packaging them up
nicely to give to the new baby! On the given day, let your child hand
over the package. This gives the child power in the situation and
leaves the responsibility for giving them up in the child’s hands. If
your first attempt fails because there was one pacifier or binky left behind
that your child finds. Repeat the process! Cross your fingers that
binkies or pacifiers are a distant memory as you face new parenting challenges.
Remember that your child’s nursery school educator is a wealth of
information and resources he/she is willing to share.
Winter Project for birds
During this season of doing too much, “The Night Tree” by Eve Bunting is a lovely story about slowing down for a minute and enjoying a simple holiday tradition. The story begins when a family bundles into a truck and drives to the quiet of the woods to decorate “their” tree for the forest animals. They put up strings of popcorn; they hang fruits and millet balls. After enjoying hot chocolate and singing, they leave the tree behind for the forest animals until next year.
In our Falmouth, MA nursery school we use this quiet story to help calm the craziness of the holiday season. After reading the story several times, our students love this idea and we then pick out the best tree for decorating on the play ground.
We make low cost treats to hang on the tree. Nursery school aged children can string cheerios on pipe cleaners or spread peanut butter with plastic knives on bagels, toast or apples rings and dip them in birdseed. Use cream cheese if you have peanut allergies in your home/class. We are lucky enough to have the local bagel shop or supermarket donate day old bread products to use.
Our nursery school students are awed when they see the birds (crows in our case) and squirrels foraging around their tree eating the offerings.
Enjoy this project!
