Star Light, Star Bright

While we were studying outer space I introduced the
overhead projector for the first time this school year.
            
A family lent me the blue mesh to hang over the area
and I used a frame from a pop up house to hold it away
                   from the wall.

The frame is just the right size for the children to go inside and open
              enough for a grown up to be involved.


A few things we used were constellation pictures and mesh stars.
     
Then I added coloured plexi-glass stars, coloured circles and
                   stir sticks with see through tops.


These two boys discovered that they could turn off the projection on
             the wall by lifting and closing the top flap.
 
They experimented with it and was able to move the light from the floor
                    and up the wall and back to off.
        
            And there was also interest in the mesh.

Aliens Love Underpants

                          
This is such a fun and silly book.  Aliens don’t come down to earth to see us.  No they come to see our underpants.  There were giggles from young and old when I read this story.
                 
“Their spaceship’s radar bleeps and blinks the moment that it sees, a washing line of underpants all flapping in the breeze.”  With that line in mind I set up an invite for the children to design a pair of underpants and add to our clothesline.
           
                        
   The children became interested after we read the book a couple of times.
      
        I wonder if they were designed after their own underpants?
            
        And like the aliens some wanted to take some home.

I just learned that there are more book in this series by Claire Freedman and Ben Cort.  I can't wait to read "Pirates Love Underpants".

Wrap a Star

                 
A simple craft that the children enjoyed doing was to wrap yarn around a cardboard star shaped cutout.

I liked how he used the whole art space to make his star.  He wrapped and wrapped.  His goal was to cover every bit of the cardboard.
 
Then he took it to the main table and found the pipe cleaners, adding an extra touch.
        
   His mom was inspired to make a family star.

A couple of more wrapped stars then the children became busy
at the art easel and decided to paint the stars.

Then used them to decorate our branch that stands between the two easels. 
An early touch of Christmas.

Spread, Sprinkle and Spritz

      
  Our art project this morning included a bit of science.
   
      We created galaxies full of sparkling stars.

  
I mixed paint and glue together for the children to spread on the paper.  Then they sprinkled baking soda on top, using lots.  They spritzed vinegar all over and watched to see what happened.

           
Today was the busiest our art table has been in a long time.  That tells me that the children are interested in exploratory art activities and I'll try to provide more of them.

 
     Lots of effort was put in to using the spritz bottles.


Another sign that this activity was popular?  Most of the art work went home instead of staying on the drying rack.

Man in the Moon Snack

We have been singing an old Scottish folk song called Aiken Drum.
So this week we used moon biscuits to make our own Aiken Drum
                           to eat.
  
The moon biscuits are cheese scones.  I found the recipe at bbc Good Food.

        
Food choices for the facial features were raisins, cheerios and mixed
vegetable (peas, corn, carrots and green beans).  The vegetables were
not the top choice to add to their man in the moon though.

We sang the song as the children built their Aiken Drum.
“There was a man that lived in the moon, in the moon, in the moon.
There was a man that lived in the moon and his name was Aiken Drum."
      
"His eyes were made of cheerios, cheerios, cheerios.  His eyes were
made of cheerios and his name was Aiken Drum."

"There was a man that lived in the moon and his name was Aiken Drum."

Scan the qr code to hear me singing the song.  If you don't have a smart phone or ipad you can copy this address and paste it into the search window at the top of your screen.
http://www.recordmp3.org/gmAs9.mp3

Rocketship Blastoff

We finally got a BIG box to finish our rocketship.
              
We wrapped the box around the slide then started adding features
                  from recycled pieces.

               Windows and control switch board.
  
                       We played for a bit.
  
       Then made costume pieces; booster packs and helmets.
                           Then played some more.

                     Next came lights
    
   and hanging planets to help us pretend that we are flying in space.


     Today we added arms for collecting rock samples
 
                          and continued playing.