Paper Sculptures

Today my new practicum student, Grace, reminded
me of something important.  Don't underestimate a
child's ability.

 
Grace planned a Paper Sculpture art activity yesterday.
To myself I thought it may be a bit too challenging.
    
The range of children that attend our program is newborn
to 5 years and the average age, on most days, is about 3. 
    
I’ve seen paper sculpture on other blogs but thought
that it may be too difficult for the average aged child
that attends the program.
 
       
 
But after watching the children create and looking at the photos
that Grace took I realized that I underestimated the children’s
ability.
As they figured out how to fold and glue the paper to the board
I listened to them create stories to go with their sculptures.
  
When I asked this child to tell me about his sculpture he
said, “It’s a jumper.  You just press it down, let it go and
then you go pssssh!”  Mom, beside him, was drawing tires
on his styrofoam peanut car.
 
  
Others created loop-de-loops, butterflies and
3D pieces to hang on the wall.

Blossoms in a Tub

Out on my morning walk I passed a tree covered in pink blossoms. 
Under it the grass was also coated with beautiful, soft blossoms. 
I couldn’t resist and filled a bag and took them to work.
  
 
There were joyous moments watching the youngest members
of our StrongStart community explore the petals.
 
         
As each child explored the petals there was a sense of peace. 
Watching them touch, smell, squish, drop, and share were very
special moments.

Beach Art

Sometimes there are issues that mean it’s best not to be at school. 
This morning there was a big event using our parking lot which meant
there would be no parking for our families so we spent the morning
at the beach.
 
We spent some time creating Beach Art. 
I started it by drawing a mermaid in the sand.
 
As the families arrived they helped finish the mermaid.
 
And dress her.

But then they began their own pieces of art.
 
A sail boat riding on the waves
 
became a pirate ship by the end of the morning.
 
A very bright sunshine.
 
A crab with really long legs,
 
Simple designs in the sand and
 
sand castles.

 
“Mermaid Dreams” by Mark Sperring was great to read after finishing
our mermaid.  She had shells and green hair just like our mermaid.
 

We were happy to leave our art behind for others to discover
as they walk the beach.
     
We’ll be visiting a different beach next Tuesday because our
school will be busy as a voting station for the election. 
           I think we'll go crabbing.

Bus Town

Many of the families have expressed that their children are interested
in going for a bus ride so the past couple of weeks we have been talking
and playing with buses.  
  
We’ve talked about different kinds of buses and surveyed the children
to see what bus they would like to ride on. 
 
Then they drew a picture of themselves and added it to the choice of buses.
 
We've read books about buses and using toys we practiced waiting for
and riding on the bus.

       
             Today we started to build Bus Town.
 
Using a variety of collage materials they built buildings and
trees to add to Bus Town.
 
    
By the end of the morning our town was taking shape.
 
With a couple of houses, a farm, a hospital, tree and a bus.