Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Building Together

I bought a small table that needed to be assembled so I asked one
of our grandparents if he would do it for me.
          feb 26 029
It didn’t take long for the children to join in the building.
 feb 26 033 feb 26 034
Discovering each part and tool.  Wondering how does it fit together?
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Having the opportunity to figure it out themselves.
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Using their strength as well as their problem solving skills.
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Watching as each piece fit together matching the plans that were provided.
feb 26 045 feb 26 047
Taking turns, working on precision and accuracy, and learning about new tools.  I need to find more projects like this.

Monday, July 22, 2013

June’s Play Trays

           june 10 008
  june 11 036 june 11 049
Sea shell matching.  I took photos of each shell and taped
them to the tray.  As the children pull a shell out of the
sandbox they match it to the picture.  I also included a
guide to the names of the shells.
         june 11 012
 june 11 061 june 12 079
Grace, my practicum student, made this tray of an octopus with
dotted legs.  She added flat bottom marbles to count and place
on each dot.
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 june 13 059 june 10 016
A game in which as the fish turn they open and close their mouths. 
The children try to catch them with a fishing rod. 
Not as easy as it looks.
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 june 17 010 june 17 011
I painted the underside of shells to play a colour matching game. 
 june 17 007 june 17 014
                         june 19 026
Sea creatures to sort in different ways; colour, type, etc.
 june 18 005 june 18 036
Grace made a discovery bottle.  She used blue aquarium rocks to
partly fill the bottle then added fish, shells, glass beads to roll and
find.  Before putting each item in the bottle she took a picture and
made a guide to help the children find them all.
 june 18 087 june 18 128 
A fish, sea shell, octopus and jelly fish bath tub mat turned upside
down to place marbles on each suction cup.

Friday, July 19, 2013

Wet Felting

                july 15 003
This year I learned a new technique for wet felting using a ziplock bag.
           march 5 008
You need wool roving, ziplock bag (we used a large bag), dish soap and water. 
Gently pull the roving apart in small pieces and layer it in your ziplock bag. 
Do several layers changing the direction you lay the roving for each layer. 
This will be the background of your piece.
           march 5 047
Next I had the children choose the colour of roving they each wanted to
use and had them pull a piece apart and place it on the background
colour. 
march 5 054 march 5 055
In the pictures above I had them dip their piece of roving in water first,
I won’t do that again as it proved to be unnecessary.
                 march 5 056
Once all the pieces are in the bag, spray it all with water and squirt some
dish soap in the bag.  Seal it and then let the children rub and rub and rub.
march 5 057 march 6 020
Flip it over and keep on rubbing.  Pass it around and let everyone have a turn.
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As you rub, the agitation, the soap and water helps the wool felt together.  Be
sure you rub the edges too otherwise you’ll be able to pull it apart when you
take it out.
       july 15 001
As an adult it took me about 15 minutes of constant rubbing to finish the
felting project.  So it may take all day with children helping depending on
their interest. 
To test if it is finished, open the bag and gently tug on the wool.  If it
doesn’t pull apart then it is done but if it does then close bag again and
keep rubbing.
When you think it is finished take it out of the bag and gently rinse it
under running water then lay flat to dry.
     may 28 011
This is the only photo I have of the the big group project
(framed on the wall in the top left corner of photo).

Thursday, July 18, 2013

May’s Play Trays

May 14 003 May 14 004
Shaped erasers and a wooden house tray for filling.
 may 16 009 may 16 010
Embroidery hoops made into button and snap frames.
At a thrift store I bought a child’s buttoned shirt and a
baby’s sleeper with snaps then I stretched them with the
hoop.  If I was to make it again I would find a shirt with
much bigger buttons.
  may 17 011 
Clothespins on a string.  Under the string are numbers, 1-6,
and on the clothespins are dots to match.
 may 21 013 may 21 014
 may 22 004 may 21 012
The Very Hungry Caterpillar came to life by using a
large cleaner pipe cleaner, with a red pom pom head
attached, eating it’s way through wooden fruit (napkin
holders purchased at a thrift store).
may 30 003may 27 023
Wind up bugs for racing as well as learning how-to
wind up a toy.
               may 30 002
 may 27 024may 28 026 
Butterfly trays and felt butterflies for sorting.
          may 30 004
 may 28 016 may 28 017
Hair rollers for pulling apart and fitting inside each other.
For talking about size and colours.
 may 30 001 may 28 025
An old wooden game, pony beads and tweezers for matching,
and for pincher grip practice.