Painting with Clouds

With our easel ready in our sensory tub I added two trays,

paint brushes and squeegees.

Oh and shaving cream (aka clouds)

I thought the children would paint with the brush

and clear off the easel with the squeegee,

 but they showed me that a squeegee works as a great brush too.

By putting the easel in the tub it contains the shaving cream

even when toddlers use it.

I wonder what else I could use on this easel?

Working Together

I like when an idea I have and an interest a child has comes together.

That's what happened on Monday.

I wanted to make a little easel to put in our sensory tub.

At the same this little guy arrived at school with his measuring tape.

He was ready to measure.

As he went to play I continued to look around my storage room

for something that would work.

I found a large piece of flex board in the perfect colour.

I asked the little guy if he wanted to help me.

We measured and marked the board then cut it together.

But when we put it in the tub it was too big

(I had measured it myself the first time)

But that was okay, it meant that we had to remeasure,

mark and cut again.

 It felt so good doing this activity with someone who was so interested.

Stay tuned to tomorrow to see what we did with it.

Airport Play

Spring Break when families may be traveling by plane

 we set up one of our favourite dramatic plays.

Have a look at how it went (and is still going).

Our sign in question for the week "Have you been on an airplane?

Before touring the airport we set up our airplane.

So much fun.

Then we worked on our airport while we had several tours of our local airport.

We arrived just when the planes were arriving.

So we went upstairs so we could watch what happens.

We went downstairs to the ticket counter and checked our luggage.

We watched it disappear on the conveyor belt

then we followed it to see it x-rayed and where the luggage handlers

move it on to the the carts.

Finally back inside the airport we watched it arrive on the carousel.

While we were with the luggage handlers we learned how they marshal the planes

into their parking spots.

Back at school we practiced what we learned.

One last stop at the airport was to the security gate.

Some of the children experienced being scanned with the wand.

Back at school the families played using what they learned.

Checking in,

through security,

and sending their luggage through the x-ray machine.

Then realizing that we needed a luggage cart

and making it using a scooter board and pvc piping.

Becoming a luggage handler and stowing the suitcase safely on the plane.

Ready to take off.

Jello Rainbow Painting

I had some leftover jello powder so decided to use it at the art table

to make rainbows.

With the coloured powder I set out glue and paper.

I decided to use boxes to set the paper in to try to contain the powder somewhat.

Easy process; 

first squeeze the glue on to the paper,

then sprinkle on the powder,

finally add more if needed.

Oh and shake the box to move the powder around

till it sticks to the glue.

I did have glue spreaders available for a bit.

It was a busy table and we talked about what we observed

when the dry powder touches the wet glue.

The colours became brighter.

Some beautiful art was created.

I love the magic of searching in the forest for treasure,

be it geocaching or looking for Leprechaun gold.

I love the look of wonder in a child's eye when they believe that

there may be something hidden away waiting for us to find it.

Since we are a drop in program I left maps for the families to be able to guide themselves 

around the park. 

We started with some fort building.

There were a couple of focuses for this activity;

one was to give children the freedom to collect the sticks

(because we know they will)

two it gave us something to do while we waited for more families

to arrive and catch up.

Once our fort was up (I thought we may need it later if the rain started)

the children were encouraged to play with the pots and pans I brought.

It took them a few minutes to get the idea (which surprised me that this wasn't spontaneous)

then we were creating pinecone soup and birthday cupcakes.

Some parents are natural at playing and encouraging their child's imagination,

others need some modelling.

Once a group of families arrived we set off to find some Leprechaun treasure.

The children ran from sign to sign stopping at each

for the adults to catch up.

I put pictures on each and encouraged the children to try and figure

out what it meant.

Tiny gold jewels were found in the creek this morning.

We stopped at big old trees and checked for any doors.

 

Through the meadow we ran and flew till we came to this sign

and knew we were getting closer to finding a Leprechaun.

We walked slowly looking at big trees, trees covered in moss,

searching for trees with doors until...

We found it!

Then there was another sign explaining about rainbows 

and that we might find more treasure if we searched.

By now the children were self-motivated and didn't need much encouragement

to begin searching.

For what they weren't sure, till the first magic rock was found.

And then a pot was discovered in the bushes.

Good thing I brought some magic potion.

The children dropped their magic rocks into the pot

and I squirted in some potion.

So exciting to watch it bubble.

The children found sticks for stirring

and as the fizz settled we could see shiny gold pieces were left behind.

After that excitement we had a snack and a story.

"There was an Old Woman that Swallowed a Clover"

The children were soon off searching for rainbows.

At each spot they collected one ribbon till they came to another big, old tree

where they found rings.

The adults helped tie the ribbons on to their rings

and there was their rainbow.

Hope you had a magical St. Patrick's Day too.