The first session of Mornings With Mommy was held on Tuesday, September 6. In attendance were fifteen moms, one dad, and twenty-two children ranging in ages from four weeks to four years old. We explored and discovered different things that move or “go”.
There were many different stations that children could visit to learn about things that move. While many things “move” we focused specifically on transportation themes. As children were gathering before the session started, many enjoyed looking at the sensory bottles that were available. Several were “I Spy” bottles where moms could ask their children to look for a specific object in the bottle and then together they could play “I Spy With My Little Eye…” There were also various books available for children to look at or read while we waited for the rest of our class to arrive.
We started our session by singing a gathering song and a transportation song - “Wheels on the Bus”. The children had a fun time doing the actions for the the songs. We also read a silly book about some sheep and the trouble that they had with their jeep. Our class then started moving to the various stations that were set up for them to explore with their parent. The classroom was set up in such a way that children could spend as much or as little time in an area as they choose, but it was so fun to see what stations the children had their eye on as they hurried to their first station.
The art and craft areas were a hit as children had fun building a race car with their parents and exploring how wheels worked by making a creative art project as they drove matchbox cars through paint and then onto their paper - a creative mess indeed! No age was too small to enjoy the sensory area as even little five month old babies enjoyed splashing in the water that held the boats while their older brothers and sisters enjoyed flying planes through the clouds. Children also practiced their fine motor skills with various puzzles and also by linking cars together and driving them on a car mat. Many of our smaller guests made use of the infant area which had colorful toys, a large bus, and various books geared towards their age. It seemed that even older brothers and sisters enjoyed this area as they helped the younger ones play. Some children found the large motor skill area to be a lot of fun. They experimented “Moving on the Road” by skipping, jumping, galloping, running, crawling and walking slowly. By the end of our session almost all the children had helped to create a class mural wall. They were supplied with various art media and they enjoyed adding this media to the simple pre-made scene of a road, mountains and clouds. We closed our session by eating a “wheel” snack.
It was amazing to see the quality time shared between parent and child as they learned together. Many moms were also able to meet and chat with other moms that they hadn’t met before. Several visitors commented how nice it was to see all of these small children having such a wonderful time as they used their creativity to play in a way that made them learn and discover. Many of the pictures from the day show just how concentrated these little minds are on the tasks that they are working on. Our classroom was a busy hive of activity with little hands constantly moving. That is exactly what we wanted - children having so much fun playing that they don’t even realize that they are learning as they play.
A successful start to this program could not have been possible without the help from many volunteers. Many families donated items to this program, many donated their time cutting things, making snack bags and making sensory bottles. Others donated their morning to come and serve as volunteers and to meet new faces that walked through our door. Still others stayed after Bible Class on Sunday to help transform our Fellowship Hall into a classroom. Children from our school worked together to help put things away and to set up tables and chairs again so that Bible Class would be possible the following Sunday. In addition, many others offered their prayers to bless this program with new opportunities to build friendship and relationships with those in our community. We are so blessed to have the support of so many who made this first session a complete success!
You can see more photos from the day on our Flickr account. »
