Grandparents Day

Yesterday was Grandparents Day at our school.  I have to be honest, as much as I know the kids love to have their grandparents visit, I dread Grandparents Day.  There is always one child who doesn't have a special visitor and there are SO many people in my room (a good problem to have!).    It is only an hour, and I can make most things work for an hour.

This year, Grandparents Day fell at the end of the week I taught the 5 senses.  It was already a busy week with a field trip and I was out a day with professional development.  I decided to do some 5 senses activities with the grandparents.  My student teacher and I set up centers around the room for students and grandparents to visit.  Each center had direction cards at it, and when grandparents entered, they were given a "menu" of the activities available.  I had explained all the activities to students before the grandparents arrived.

I had one little guy without a grandparent, so my student teacher was his special friend for the day.

For the sense of touch, we made slime.  Glue, Borax and water went into this recipe. This table is right by the sink, so it was the perfect table for this activity.

There were 2 activities for the sense of taste. The first was BeanBoozled jelly beans to taste.  With these jelly beans, you never know if you will get a "yum" or a "yuck" flavor. I knew the kids would love this, and even if the grandparents didn't want to taste, they would love watching the kids try it.  

The second taste activity was to try sweet, salty, sour and bitter foods.  There were marshmallows, pretzels, lemon slices and dark chocolate M&Ms available.  Kiddos were to talk to their grandparents about which taste each food had.

The sense of smell also had 2 activities.  The first activity was to use Mr. Sketch markers to make a picture for your grandparent, and the second was to match animal noses to the correct animal.  I made the matching game using google images.  

The activity for listening was to shake plastic Easter eggs and listen to what was inside.  You then matched the eggs to the correct picture.  An answer key was provided on the back of the directions.

Combining sight and hearing, Todd Parr books were available in the classroom library for grandparents to read their grandchildren.  Many of his books are able families, so it fit well in our day.  The kids were so excited to share Todd Parr books with their grandparents.

The sense of sight station was 5x7 picture printed on the school printer and laminated.  We then cut them into different shapes like puzzles and numbered the back of each picture for easy sorting if they got mixed up (each picture had its own number).  I didn't get a picture of these because the kids were on the carpet and these were in a pile out of the way.

Last, but not least, my student teacher helped the kids paint a backdrop for pictures with grandparents.

Overall, it was a great afternoon.  It was crowded and warm in the room, but it was filled with love.  The kids had a great time, their behavior was AMAZING and the time flew by.  I would definitely do most of these activities again next year.  The slime was a hit with the kids, but not as much with the adults.

I'd love to know if your school celebrates grandparents day and what you do (or would do) to celebrate.