It's that time of year when nature starts to wake up and welcomes Spring. This is a great time to take advantage of our beautiful weather and visit some Nature Parks around the area.

Visit www.theoutbound.com! It lists all the places around Nasville that have hiking trails, campgrounds, bike trails, scenic views and all the woodland creatures.

Take a look at our kiddos enjoying the outdoors!

Green Our Scene Challenge

 This month theme at AoMF was about Green Our Scene. We challenged the Academy’s families to build a collage using recyclable materials that represents their family. 

We had two star ⭐️ families to win the challenge. Both students are from our Preschool 3 class and they did an outstanding job!

 Congratulations to the Hudson and Gehri families for participating in the Green Our Scene Challenge!!! Prizes are 4 family tickets to circus on ice and Hop live enjoy your family day! 

 

Holiday celebrations at AOMF: Happy St. Patrick's Day

St Patrick’s Day is celebrated in Ireland and around the world every year on the 17th of March. It is a day to celebrate the St Patrick, believed to have brought Christianity to Ireland, and banished snakes from the country. People typically dress up in green and participate in parades. Here 9 fun facts for preschoolers to prepare for the holiday and how the Academy of Maryland Farms celebrated. 

9 Fun Facts About St Patrick's Day For Preschoolers

People used the color blue when celebrating St Patrick’s Day up until 1798.

Over 100 countries around the world celebrate St Patrick's Day! 

Maewyn Succat was probably the original name of St Patrick.

Wearing green will keep the Leprechauns away.

St Patrick’s Day became an official public holiday in Ireland in 1903.

St Patrick’s Day holds the Guinness world record for being the friendliest day of the year.

Female leprechauns don’t exist!

St Patrick’s Day is even celebrated on the International Space Station.

Saint Patrick is said to have been buried in Downpatrick.

Check out the celebration at the Academy of Maryland Farms!!

Little one from Infant 2 wear green for dress of day 

PreK kiddos getting ready to do a leprechaun craft 

PreK student excited about his treat bag from his party!

Preschool 3 is ready to enjoy some yummy St Patrick's day treats!

Toddler 2 enjoying the St Patrick's Day party treats.

Saying cheese to Mom and Dad because he's the luckiest baby of them all😊

Grab-n-go treat 

Toddler 2 enjoying their special treat.

Preschool 2 styling and profiling for St. Patrick's Day photobooth.

I found me gold!

Selfie King and his toddler 1 pals!

PreK Craft

Toddler 2 craft

Preschool 1 craft

Infant crafts

Preschool 3 crafts

 

Preschool 3 enjoying a craft!

Fine Motor Activity’s with PreK

Playdough is a wonderful sensory and learning experience for children.

As your child shapes the playdough into a ball or a snake, they’re thinking creatively. The squeezing, pinching and pulling movements also strengthen your child’s hand muscles and develop their fine motor skills.

And if you give your child some tools and toys to add to the playdough activity, you can really spark your child’s imagination and creativity.

Check out our PreK class at the Academy of Maryland Farms putting their skills to work! 

The Importance of Black History Month for Kids

 

Kids of all races and ethnicities, ages and backgrounds can discover something new and important in learning about Black history, from amazing achievements of Black Americans to a legacy of working toward something better. 

Here are some reasons why it’s important to learn about Black history:

• Black youth can learn about people who look like them (representation matters)0 and understand their ancestors’ accomplishments and obstacles, as well as how those translate to today.


• Since Black History Month was created to call attention to the amazing achievements of Black people, it’s a great time to expand young people’s understanding of the Black experience beyond slavery and civil rights. From inventions to industry, cuisine to pop culture. Black culture and contributions continue to have a lasting impact on our nation.


• For students learning about slavery and civil rights, this history can build their empathy and understanding as well as their sense of justice and advocacy.

Benefits of Yoga

 Yoga is not just for adults! In fact, it can give children very important life skills that can help them succeed in the world.

1. Yoga helps children manage their anxiety. The breathing exercises and relaxation techniques learned from practicing yoga can help children with stress management. Teaching children how to reduce stress in a healthy way is an important life skill that will help them as children and as adults.
2. Yoga improves children’s emotional regulation. Another benefit of yoga for children is that it helps children learn to be in the present moment while relaxing and gaining a peaceful state of mind, which ultimately improves their emotional regulation.
3. Yoga boosts children’s self-esteem. Yoga for kids can do wonders for their self-esteem. Perfecting a pose or improving their balance and flexibility can give young children a sense of personal empowerment.
4. Yoga increases children’s body awareness and mindfulness. Going through a variety of yoga poses helps children learn about their bodies and the movements they’re capable of doing.
5. Yoga enhances children’s concentration and memory. One of the top benefits of kids’ yoga is that the different types of moves requires children to focus and work on their memorization skills—both of which can translate over into their academic performance.
6. Yoga develops children’s strength and flexibility. Yoga helps strengthen children’s growing bodies and helps them improve their flexibility, which can reduce their chance of injury.
7. Yoga teaches discipline and reduces impulsivity. Yoga can reduce challenging behaviors in the classroom by providing a physical outlet for children to express themselves. It also teaches children about discipline as they work on clearing their minds and perfecting their poses.

STEAM Activity-Snow Storm in a Jar

 This week at AOMF, our friends in Preschool 3 got to do a cool STEAM activity! This activity was called Snow Storm In A Jar. 

Check out some pictures!

Do you want to know how to make a Snow Storm in a Jar too?

Materials:

1. Mason jar

2. Water

3. Baby oil

4. White paint

5. Glitter

6. Food coloring

7. Alka-seltzer tablets

Instructions:

1. Fill your jar about 1/4 with water

2. Pour about a tablespoon of white paint into jar

3. Fill the rest of the jar with baby oil

4. Add glitter and whatever food coloring you wish

5. Wait for the paint to settle at the bottom of the jar.

6. Break up the alka-seltzer tablet and drop in a piece at a time and watch the reaction!

Snow Day Activity!

 With all of the snow that we got here in Tennessee; here is an activity you can do with your kiddos to keep from going stir crazy in the snow! 

Snow Paint

Materials:

1. Kool aid packets

2. Squirt bottles

3. Water

Directions:

1. Add one flavor packet of kool aid to an empty squirt bottle, using one bottle for each color of snow paint that you want to make. 

2. Fill the bottles with warm water

3. Secure the lids and have kids shake bottles until the kool aid dissolves

4. That’s it! Now it’s time to head outside and paint some snow!

New friend, Blu!

 On Monday here at AOMF we had a special friend come and visit us, Blu! Blu is a therapy dog. Therapy dogs encourage children to be calm. A visit from a therapy dog can help children who struggle to handle their big emotions. 

Check out some photos of our friends getting to meet Blu!