May was all about families! We wanted to celebrate that each child has a very special family and they come in all shapes and sizes: some families are large, some families are small, some families read books, and some play ball.
We started out with a book about Mothers since it was right before Mother’s Day and a perfect opportunity to make a special gift for our moms. We chose the classic book “Are You My Mother?” for this weeks reading. Our craft was a “flower pot” from Kimboomu! filled with flowers for our mothers. First we traced and cut out cardboard flower pots. Next, each of the children traced their hands on green paper and cut them out. We glued the palm of the hand onto the backside of the flower pot so that only the fingers were sticking out, creating stems for our flowers. We then used crumpled pieces of tissue paper to create flowers on the tips of each of the fingers. Last, we cut a piece of ribbon, placed a tag on it with the name of the child and tied a bow on the front of the flower pot. Even though some of the mothers ended up finishing up their child’s craft, I think they really enjoyed these special little gifts with the hand print of their child.
The second week was dedicated to our fathers, even though it was no where near Father’s Day. We used the adorable book “Daddy Kisses” about all the different ways that daddy animals kiss their young. Some of the mommies and daddies in the playgroup even acted it out with their own children. Even though most of our dads probably don’t wear suits and ties very often, we made a card that looked like the jacket, shirt and tie of a suit. First, we traced and cut out material in the shape of a tie. Next, we glued the tie lengthwise in the middle of a white A5 sized piece of paper. We then cut from the top of the paper down to the top of the tie and folded the new corners over to form triangles (like a collar on a shirt). The kids then picked a piece of construction paper (blue, black, green), laid it landscape wise, and glued the “collared shirt” paper into the middle. Next, we folded the sides of the colored paper over and around the white paper like a jacket, folded the edges down like a lapel, and finally glued on two buttons on the bottom of the colored paper. I know it all sounds a bit confusing but maybe the picture on this website will make some sense of it.
In the third week it was time to delve into the complex topic of siblings, as
much as you can with preschoolers anyway. 🙂 We read the book “Sister For Sale” where a little boy comes to the conclusion that even though his sister drives him absolutely crazy sometimes, God loves her so he can love her too. Hopefully the kids caught the message of the book and not just the beginning, I wouldn’t want to give them any ideas.
Since some of the kids in the group don’t have any siblings, we gave them the chance to create their own playmates in the form of wooden spoon puppets. We bought some packages of cheap 
wooden spoons, drew on faces, glued on yarn for hair, and created clothes out of scraps of material. We had “siblings” in all colors, shapes, and sizes and hopefully the kids continued to play with them long after that week.
The next week, we honored the grandparents. Coincidentally, we even had
some grandparents in the playgroup that week! The book “The Good Old Days” tells about two kittens that spend a week with grandma and grandpa. We connected it with a fingerplay about grandma and grandpa’s glasses which gave me the idea for the craft this week. We made silly “glasses” out of egg cartons, pipe cleaners, and giant googly eyes. We all had a good laugh when both the kids and the adults tried their glasses on.
For the fifth and last week of this month, we read a book called “Puppy Twins.” Joel is really becoming a great story teller and most of the kids were very keen to find out more about the adventures of Topsy and Flopsy. The craft we finished out the month with was a heart shaped picture frame (made of heavy paper) with a white piece of paper for the kids to draw their family, or stickers to spell out their family members names. If they wanted to, they could also just decorate it and take it home to put in a ‘real’ picture of their family.
Now, a new month begins. In June we will be having fun with different sports.
Please come play with us!
English Play Group 
