Building Boats at the Creek

Today all our district’s StrongStart centres spent the morning outside. 
Our centre went to a creek to build boats.
           
We started by sharing a book showing a variety of boats. 
Giving them ideas and names for the many different kinds they could make.
               

We collected sticks and bark along the path but I also brought supplies from school.
      
                 
     
          
            
 
                               
 
               
         
                       
After spending more than hour building and launching the boats we headed to the beach for a picnic.
    
                     
We enjoyed another book about boats then explored the beach.
                  
                
We have many beautiful classrooms for us to play and learn right in our backyard.

Buddy Games

This week we went outside with our big buddies.  We have two playgrounds at our school so split the group in half and set up a game at each playground.
          
At the front playground we played “Find Me”.  The buddies had a small snapshot picture clue of part of the play structure. 
 
By looking at the snapshot they had to search the playground to find it.
 
          Then they could open their folder and see if they were right.

After they finished playing the game they could go and play on the equipment.

           
At the back playground we hid plastic ABC letters so the buddies had to find
them together.

They had to climb through, up and down the equipment to find all the letters.
       
                
Then take them over to the pavement where the alphabet was written.  Together they matched the letters.  Then ran back to find another one.

  
Together the children learned more about each other.  They took risks and showed each other what they are capable of doing.
        
                  
They showed interest by being there in the moment and being aware of each other.  They showed trust, like when the little buddy raised her hands to her big buddy to be picked up.
                    
               Most importantly – they enjoyed each others company.

Emergency Vehicle–Ambulance

Another exciting morning when an ambulance came to visit.
Jason, the paramedic, brought in his Jump Pack to show us some equipment.
  
We learned that there are two sizes of blood pressure cuffs; one that was too big was for the grown-ups, the other was the perfect size for children.
  
We saw a tool he uses to see how fast a person’s heart is beating.  It clips on your thumb but doesn’t hurt.
  
        
Then it was time to checkout the ambulance.  There is a lot of equipment in that small space.  Jason asked if anyone has had an ambulance visit their house.  There were a few stories but mostly from the grown ups.

We made comparisons between all the vehicles we have seen so far.  The ambulance, police car and tow truck all have flashing lights.  The drivers part,
in all three, had lots of switches and buttons.
            
       But the most fun was pushing the button to turn on the siren.