The Circus : El Circo

Anyone remember their childhood experiences going to the circus? I just love it... I still get all excited just thinking about it. This summer is going to be the first experience for our KidDOS at the circus. We started to prepare and have fun beforehand. Here are some of our ideas, I hope you enjoy them!

Circus Lapbook

We started by decorating our circle-time table-area and created our very own "Circo", circus in Spanish. We used streamer paper and pool noodles.

KidDOS helped me by filling up the buckets to hold the noodles in place.  :)  Look what they found.

Our favorite Circus book: Say Hola to Spanish at the Circus It is kind of funny for me to read a story half way in Spanish, half way in English. I just hope our family will not be talking like this in the future.  :)  But the pictures are very cute and it was a very good way to introduce the concept of the circus.

To make it a more kinesthetic experience, we tried all kinds of circus tricks, including balancing on the tightrope.

KidDOS trying tricks demonstrated in the book

Juggling balls?  :)  A good first try, let's say.

Balancing a ball on their noses.  :)   Just the wrong way.

Our very own tightrope. More like a balance beam.
Made out of a 4x4 pole covered with a kitchen rug.  :)

Here are some other learning activities we tried.

Very cute circus from kizclub.com

Spelling words from circus lapbook

Elephant puzzle from circus lapbook

Circles shaped lion from dltk-kids.com

Dramatic play included the creating of our very own clown puppets.  The kids liked this activity the most.  :)  I have been hesitant of using glitter in the house, thinking it was going to be very messy, but it turned out to be a great activity. The key, I would say, is the baking pans that hold all the extra glitter.

Excitement before the creation of the clown puppets

Half way in the process.
Guess which one is principe's and which one is princesa's?

Playing circus together... what a fun experience!

Princesa decided to come with me to direct the show and the picture taking process.
If you could only listen to her  :) :)

What a fun week we have had.   :)  :)  We will continue playing circus until the day of the real show. And then after, I expect we will have so much more to talk about it. Learning together is awesome.

If you tried any of the activities above, which one was the favorite of your kiddos?