Rain, Rain won't go away!

The day began with a steady rain that turned into a downpour like The Outdoor Preschool has never seen! We began by playing with balls and stiltsin the wet and toy cars got pushed around the puddles -until it started to pour. Then we moved into the shelter for circle time (Teacher Jen read a cool book about a storm tossed dinghy. While she read we got to make wind and thunder sounds.) Some birds came into our rain shelter to hide from the rain with us. The rain didn't let up so we ended up having snack right there and reading more cool books.

Pooh Sticks!

Really full stream!

After our snackand the rain letting up a bit, everyone was ready to head out and try out a new game. The game is called "The X game". One group is to go ahead on the trail and leave X markings on for the other group to follow. The yellow group got to go first. The kids made X's out of sticks all along the trail. We made it all the way to the bridge where we decided it was the perfect place to play "Pooh sticks". Pretty soon the blue group caught up with us by following our X's. We showed them how the stream was rushing so fast that you had to run really fast from one side to the other in order to see your Pooh stick pass by. We spent quite a lot of time looking for the right sticks to throw into the full stream.

On our hike back, the blue group showed us where they had found a new stream running right down the path. There was lots of good splashing to be had there and we had to be careful to not walk where the water was over our boots! We talked about how the water was cutting into the soil and washing it away and that the park workers will have to put in new rocks after the rain is over.

We were so glad to see Nicholas back at school today. It was heartwarming to hear the kids great Nicholas with hugs and "I missed you!" when he returned to TOP after a long absence. This group is so able to have fun in any weather. In spite of everyone being very wet at the end of the day, there were still lots of smiles and laughs at lunch time. We are all looking forward to playing the X Game again!