Gingerbread Felt Man

I just love finding a great piece at the Dollar store.

Here is a felt gingerbread man with felt pieces to decorate.

It would have cost me much more to buy the felt and make this myself.

All I added was magnet strips to the back of the body so it could hang on the fridge instead of using a felt board.  

I'm always looking for things to use in the kitchen to keep her busy while I'm making dinner or cleaning up.

Here are a few of our ginger people:

She had to give the crying ginger kid a hug.

And of course we had to try moustaches on ourselves.

Curler Can

Here's another simple toy to make that your child will LOVE!

All you need is an old coffee can with the lid.

I used the larger size can so I can make several holes.

You will need hair curlers, I find the bristly ones work best as they give an added traction and a neat sound when pushed into the hole.

And this time I also used playing cards to challenge our Little One.

I have made this before at StrongStart using fat, medium and skinny curlers.

First, take the lid off the can and trace around the curler.  

Then cut out the hole.

Do that as many times as you like.

I made two holes.

Next do the same for the playing card.

It will look like a long slit.  After she tried it once I made the slit a bit longer.

I loved watching her try putting the card in the round hole then trying the slit after realizing it wouldn't fit in the circle shape.

Her favourite part of this activity is taking the lid off and on.

 A very simple homemade toy that offers opportunity for trial and error, shape recognition, eye to hand coordination, fine motor and solving a problem.

Make it for your little one!

Pumpkin Faces

I had a lot of pumpkin shapes left over from our Comparing Sizes with our big buddies.

So this week I set up an invitation to paint pumpkin faces.

The jack o'lanterns on the table were prompts to think

will my pumpkin be happy, sad, scary or?

While most of the children loved the painting,

 the toddlers wanted 

to explore the jack o'lanterns up close.

The first few faces that were painted were taped to our big

pumpkin in the middle of the table.

They started conversations about pumpkins at home,

where they got their pumpkins and if they have carved it yet.

Fifty Shades of Hallowe’en

No this post isn’t about a certain book but on the many emotions that children
can go through during this spooky season.
                
It is also about our role of helping children express their emotions. 
To give them the language to let us know when something is too scary
or that they are happy doing an activity.
  
This post will show you some of the activities that are available for children
to explore emotions at my StrongStart centre.

The above two pictures show our sign in question from last week. 
Identifying what an emotion looks like on a face. 
Small mirrors were available for children to look at themselves and
to practice happy, sad, mad, etc.
        
This week’s question is more specific to their costume. 
Will it look scary, silly, funny or happy? 
Some don’t know the answer to this,
maybe they haven’t worn it yet and seen people’s reactions.

 
Another activity to focus on facial expressions was this large
‘pin the face on the pumpkin’. 
The pumpkin is laminated, the same with all the shapes for the
eyes, mouth and nose.
Rolled tape on the back of the face pieces make it easy to put on and
take off over and over.
 
Right beside the pumpkin is a plain sheet of orange paper and a basket of dark markers. 
The child can draw a jack o’lantern with whichever expression they decide.

  
The next activity uses fake pumpkins and scary facial pieces. 
                     
The children loved it and none were even slightly intimidated with the looks.

 
We’ve had a lot of fun exploring different eye glasses and how they changed our looks.
 
Parents were wonderful trying the glasses with their children. 
For some children it gave them the courage to try the glasses on too.
 
Mirrors are important to have available so children can see their own reflection. 
To see themselves with the glasses on and know that they are still the same being.

                
Lastly, we have shared many songs and stories that can evoke emotions.
The above is the story “The Great Big Pumpkin” and it has characters that we don’t see everyday; like a ghost, witch, mummy and vampire.  I notice that some children react when I change my voice to match a character.  They show apprehension, nervousness and may move closer to their grown up.

A song that we like to sing (because there's a screaming part) is called
"Sometimes I Walk in the Dark"

Sometimes I like to walk in the dark
I like to shout and scream
I sneak behind someone I know
And 'boo' it's Hallowe'en!

Although now all the children like the screaming part and after hearing it
once they are ready to cover their ears when we scream.