F is for Fishing-A Teach Preschool Celebration

Today's post is in celebration of Deborah Stewart and the 20,000 likes her wonderful Teach Preschool Facebook page reached the other day.  Deborah is a talented teacher and blogger and her 20,000 likes have inspired all of us other early childhood bloggers to reach for the stars.  I am proud to be a part of her network and her celebration of The ABC's of Teaching Preschool. 

F is for Fishing

My friends daughter celebrated her 5th birthday with a fishing party at Crystal Pier in San Diego.  The kids fished, chased birds (and each other), ate snacks, and enjoyed front row seats to the capture of some interesting sea creatures (although none by us!)

We could hear and feel the waves crashing below the pier.  Michael decided to take a better look.  

The owner of the bait and tackle shop on the pier helped us place the proper weights and hooks onto our poles.  He also gave us some tips for pier fishing.  The chosen bait was shrimp.  The price for hooks, bait, and weights was only $6 for 4 poles!  No charge for the 3 min. pier fishing lesson. 

Ariel had fished before with my mom but this was Michael's first time.  He liked trying it out but didn't have the patience to stay with it for long.  

 Finally Ariel caught something!  The seaweed quickly became a plaything. 

 Then one of the other kids found some loooooonnnngggg seaweed, which was a lot more fun!

The guy next to us caught a lobster!  The youngest of our group said, "look mom, a spider!"  We loved watching it crawl backwards after it was set down.  Then the fisherman returned it to the ocean.  My daughter asked him why and he said, "it was too small".  Didn't look small to me! 

  Then he caught a crab!  This he kept.

After successfully loosing all 4 hooks, it was time to venture under the pier.  Lucky for us the tide was low revealing sea creatures like sand fleas (or sand crabs)....

mussels...

 sea stars... 

and this squishy thing attached to seaweed (limpet?).  If you know what it is, please tell me!

What a wonderful adventure!  

 

Don't forget to check out the other letters of the alphabet celebrating Teach Preschool!  Just go to her site and scroll down to the link party!   

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How Painting with Crabs Became Eric Carle Inspired Art

The other night we had stuffed crabs for dinner.  Michael was fascinated with the shells and asked to keep them.  At first I said "no", but then the teacher in me poked her head out and said, "Why not?  I'm sure we can paint or something with those!"  So I washed them.  My plan was to make crab prints by painting the shells and pressing them onto paper.  We'd recently read, A House for Hermit Crab in preparation for Eric Carle's birthday, and I really wanted to do something with crabs, or ocean, or something to honor him.  Even though these crabs were NOT hermit crabs, I figured we were on the right track.  

My kids had other plans.  We started by making crab prints, but as is the nature of children, their art took another turn.  And although not what I planned, I feel the kids, especially my daughter, did manage to capture the spirit of Eric Carle through her use of color and the blending of them.

 

The kids started by painting the crab shells.

 

Then they pressed them onto the paper.  Ariel said she was creating a beach scene.

Michael quickly became bored with the crab and moved onto painting with his hands.

Ariel used a brush to work on her waves.  She added more colors and began blending them together.  "Now it's like Eric Carle," She said.

Copying his sister, Michael began blending his colors too!  

 Ariel gently sprinkled paint over her picture,

and added some handprints like her brother.

Michael and Ariel's paintings completed.  

In the end, the crabs became a work of art on their own!  

While Ariel was working on her painting she said, "Now it's like Eric Carle."  I asked her, "In what way?"  She explained, "He puts all these colors into his pictures.  When he does water, he puts purple, green, and blue, and those are the colors I put into my water.  But the thing that made it like his was me blending the colors."  So then I asked her what book inspired her to paint the picture she had.  "The Grouchy Ladybug, when he picks a fight with the whale, the colors in the waves inspired me" is what she told me.

Some of our favorite Eric Carle books:

      

An Amazing Child is hosting a celebration for Eric Carle's Birthday!  Check out other great ideas below!