Golf Tee Art

Oh we've found a keeper for our art shelf.

Golf tee window art.

Children love to hammer.

So I put them at the art table.

With golf tees.

We used foam garden kneeling pads, that I found at the dollar store,

to protect the table and dampen the sound.

 Chalk was available if they wished to draw a design first

or after they hammered.

 They all used the hammers

but some moved on to try just pushing the tee in with their hands.

I admired the focus,

 the enjoyment,

 and creativity.

Look at this whole family having fun at the art table.

Here are a few of our new window art pieces.

Beautiful!

Button Box

Do you have a button box at home or at your school?  

We have several.

I found this book The Button Box at our local library.

It proved to be great to go on one our play trays with a box of buttons.

 The children found various ways to play with it.

Matching buttons to the pictures.

 Checking out each page to see what attracts them.

 Making a spiral of buttons.

Or just running their fingers through the buttons.

Many of the grown ups reminisced about their mother's or grandmother's button box.

It was a wonderful opportunity for adult and child to do
together.

Fine Motor Play Tray

I've seen this fine motor idea on a few blogs and loved the simplicity of it.

 The children have been enjoying it too.

They were very focused when poking a pipe cleaner through a hole.

Sometimes trying to poke it through and out the other side.

It was easier to poke both ends on the outside.

As this little one did.

 When she finished I heard her and her mom talk about what it looked like.

Is it a mask?  A hat?

The possibilities are endless.

I added this spool and look what happened.

 It was a bit easier for them to hold.

Is this me?

"Bee" Day

Today our school held it's annual Spelling Bee and to get into the spirit 

we all dressed in yellow and black.

At StrongStart I decided we would make bee headbands to wear.

It proved to be very popular.

 Simple strips of paper, using bingo daubbers to decorate and 

pipe cleaner/pom pom for the antennaes was all it took.

Mirrors were provided to see our 'bee'utiful wear.

At the snack table we enjoyed many foods that started with 'b'.

We also made banana smoothies.

After preparing the smoothies we all had a glass full.

I spotted a few milk mustaches.

Mitten Game

I saw this fun felt board idea at http://www.sotomorrowblog.com/2012/01/flannel-friday-snowball-snowball.html  and immediately made it.  I made a mitten from every felt colour that I had, there is no limit.

The poem:

Snowball, snowball

cold and round

Behind which mitten

can you be found?

 We've played this game at every story time.

 It has been wonderful for practicing taking turns and colours.

The game is left out and available for the children to play.

Balloon Painting

The children showed me today how much fun and delightful

playing with a water balloon in paint can be.

 

 

 It started like I thought it would, 

gently holding on to the balloon

and painting.

 But as the morning progressed and different children approached

the table, especially younger children,

 it became more of a fingerpainting activity.

The lightly inflated balloons are easy to grip

and bounce nicely too.

Look at the girl at the top of the picture,

the glee on her face when her fingers get covered with paint.

 A few did begin to add details,

 and label their artwork.

He is pointing out the snowman's cheeks, here and here

and here.

Another snowman on his way home.

Evan's Dinosaur.

Tonight it is snowing - yay