Scarecrows

This post started a few weeks ago when I brought in our scarecrow child.
He was created several years ago and each year he gets a new head.

I set him in the hallway to welcome the families
and the rest of the school as they arrived or passed by.
 
There was an immediate attraction. 
Some had to check out his shoes, no they are not attached. 
Others wanted to swap hats. 

One morning we attempted to make scarecrow hats at the art table.

I learned quickly that children do not enjoy having
large pieces of paper covering their heads. 
It’s noisy and it covers their face, not a pleasant experience for them. 
So no luck making hats.
Till a parent (I learn so much from them)
suggested that we use something else to mold the hats, like a bowl.
I found a few different sized bowls.
Success.
 
Some hats were flippy floppy and that led to singing Dingle Dangle Scarecrow.

The next day I added a collection of floppy hats to use when we sang the song.

And it was a nice lead in to the story “The Old Woman Who Wasn’t Afraid of Anything”.

And finally a fellow StrongStart facilitator from another school district shared this game idea. 

Scarecrow, scarecrow, I beg your pardon
But who is hiding the pumpkin in your garden.

Thank you Linda, it's been great sharing ideas with you.

Pom Pom Sensory

For the past couple of weeks the children have been exploring
pom poms with scoops and tongs.

The table is a Little Tike’s Sand and Water table
that I found at a kid’s consignment store. 
I’ve yet to use it for that purpose.

Notice the holes in the white lid, I’ve learned tonight
that there should be gears and gadgets to attach but
didn’t come with my table.

The children discovered a use for them – stuff the pom poms in to holes.

But not all pom poms would fit.

“Why do you think some fit and some don’t?” I asked.
The first answer was '”they’re too big” but as we experimented
we noticed that some big ones could be squeezed in the little holes
while others just couldn’t.

“What do you think is different from this large pom pom and this large one?”

As he continued to try the different pom poms,
he began to notice that some big ones were soft and could be squished. 
The pom poms that were big that wouldn’t fit felt harder.

 
Then yesterday I noticed this little guy pushing the pom poms
in a hole in the middle of the table. 
They would disappear.

“Oh, Oh”  I said “where do they go?” 
The tone of surprise in my voice got him interested.

He soon discovered they were on the floor under the table.
It took him a few more tries to make the connection of them
going through the hole and coming out underneath.

By the big pile on the floor, I discovered that he, obviously, wasn’t the first to do this.