Black Cats and Broomsticks: The Halloween Hoopla is In Full Swing!

Halloween parade hoopla is in full swing at the preschool. The children are biting at the bit to change into their costumes, grab their treat bags and go candy-crazy next week. The major conversations of the week include what the children are going to be for Halloween and rumbly, bumbly pumpkins.

To get into the fall/Halloween spirit, the children made their very own scarecrow named Charlie. This activity not only helped increase the childrens' fine and gross motor skills, but allowed them to speak and listen to fall-related vocabulary, (harvest, fields, etc.), and also learn about the historical uses and significance of scarecrows for the production of food products (social studies/history).

To top off the spine-tingling excitement, the children will be traipsing down the streets next week in their Halloween finery. I myself will don a spook-tacular witch costume with some totally bewitching  high-heeled boots!

I can't wait to behold the joy of Halloween in my preschoolers faces! There is nothing more touching then seeing their happiness and hearing the high-pitched gleeful laughter of these small cutie pies.

What a Zoo!: Visit to the Brookfield Zoo

Prepared with a Macy's Zoo pass in hand, I headed to the Brookfield Zoo looking for a safari adventure and ended up with a lackluster, non-existent animal fiasco.

Seeing that it was such a perfect, blustery and warm autumn day with temperatures nearing 80 degrees, I was shocked to notice that most of the exhibits were animal-free. One lonely lion, a lazy hippo and a proud peacock strutting in a dusty, shrub-laden pen were about the extent of my zoo mission.

The high points of the day were viewing slithering snakes, comical meerkats and cherubic sleeping cheetah cubs tucked away in a stony enclosure.