Kindergarten Party

As part of our school's trivia night, parents are able to buy slots to grade-level parties (adult parties are offered too).  These parties are coordinated and hosted by parent volunteers who have children in that grade.  As things are gearing up for trivia night, the committee sends out pleas for parties via notes home, e-mails, etc.  This year, Kindergarten kept popping up as a grade that didn't have a party yet.  Guilt got the best of me and I texted a friend who has a daughter in Merrill's class and asked her if she would be interested in hosting a party with me.  As soon as I hit 'send' I secretly hoped she would say 'no'.  But, she's a good person and accepted the challenge.  I have been nervous about this event ever since.  Trivia night came and went back in January and slots to our party were sold.  After talking to our girls, we settled on a nature-science party at Powder Valley and we scheduled it for yesterday so we could tie it into Earth Day.  That gave us plenty of time to put it off ;).  We got together a few weeks ago and came up with our plan (we were expecting 15 kids total) and then met again on Friday to pull everything together, make our materials, etc.  Yesterday was the day.  We were both a little nervous, as we both like the planning stage but neither of us particularly likes the 'leading 15 Kindergarteners stage' even though she is a teacher (currently at home with her children) and I have worked extensively with children ...  But, I think we pulled it off :).  We ended up with 9 kids there as some didn't show up for unknown reasons.  This ended up being a blessing.  We were split equally between boys and girls and they all had LOTS of energy.  One kind dad stuck around, which was also a blessing.  That extra set of eyes and hands was very much appreciated!

We filled two hours with craft projects using recycled materials, nature related experiments, a hike to search for nature, snack, and a story.  No one whined or cried, we didn't lose anyone, no one got hurt, there were lots of smiles and laughs, as well as fierce concentration while we were doing some of the activities ... I'm calling it a successful afternoon!  I'm not sure this has convinced me to host another party again next year, but we'll see ;).

painting cardboard shapes for a later project

Millie got to come as a helper :)

learning about clouds and rain 

making rain -- it took 100 plus drops of colored water to make the 'rain'.  I was amazed at how focused and patient they all were -- no one gave up!

... and then they started making 'tornados' :)

on a short nature hike

missing one little guy who didn't want to be in the picture

reading a book about taking care of the earth -- and eating trail mix (I think that was key...)

Making art by pounding flower petals

cardboard sculpture made with our painted cardboard pieces

finished petal art