Play Trays

Here are some of this week's play trays.

Matching snowflakes.

 I photocopied images of snowflakes from a book on to overhead transparency film.

 They had to find the snowflakes that matched.

Magnifying glasses help with the small details.

I brought out this small light table for another sensory appeal.

Counting and matching buttons to the number on the snowman.

 The numbers are from 1 - 10.

I find that any activity that involves buttons are attractive to children,

and grown ups too.

Sun Catcher Snow Globes

Today's project.

More sun than snow outside so we created our own snow scenes on these window sun catchers.

I precut the circle frames and mac tac circles.

 The children used shaped hole punches and confetti.

Or they could cut shapes free hand.

 No glue required for this craft,

Everything sticks to the mac tac.

Even fingers.

 When finished

they're ready to hang in the window.

I love how they decorate our room from the outside.

Hot Chocolate Day - Yay!

We had a treat with our snack today - hot chocolate and homemade marshmallows.

I made the marshmallow at home because it does involve very hot syrup and takes a while in the mixer.

Warm marshmallow creme is so good.

I poured half of the marshmallow in the pan and to the rest I added colour.  We'll use the pink closer to Valentines Day.  If you want the recipe, you can find it here.

 I decorated little styrofoam cups as snowmen. Inspiration.

Cheers.

At the art table we painted with hot chocolate mixed with brown paint.

 The paper shape is a mug.

So a clever parent grab a real coffee mug to help the children and grown ups compare the shapes.

The paint really does smell like chocolate.

 We used confetti for marshmallows.

 Marshmallows sprinkled all over the table

and floor by the end of the morning.

Yummy morning.

Waterless Snowglobes

I've always wanted to make snowglobes with the children but usually cannot gather enough baby food or small jars for everyone.

I was at Michaels after Christmas and found these cute little snowmen ornaments at a great price.  

Perfect to fit in little plastic cups from the dollar store.

Yay all we needed to do was cut out a paper circle, glue and add glittery snow.

This is how we made them.

 Trace

 Cut

 Glue

 Scoop

 Glue some more

We have been using glue guns a lot lately so the parents are becoming more comfortable allowing their children to use them.

This craft was a lot of fun to make together.

And the globes were fun to shake after they were complete.

Still no snow for us here.  We may have to go on a fieldtrip up the mountain to enjoy some snow.

One Mitten

This week we read the book by Kristine O'Connell George called One Mitten

As I introduced the book I passed around a basket and asked the children to pick one mitten each.
As we read the book we copied what the little girl, in the book, could do with one mitten.

Making shadow puppets, waving and petting a cat were a few of the actions.

Then under the cat (you can see in the picture above) the little girl finds her second mitten.
I pass the basket around again and ask each child to pick a second mitten.  Most time it works that they pick the match but not always and that's okay.
We then follow the actions for two mittens.

The children really enjoyed following the book this way.
After a couple of story times I left the basket of mitts out with the book for the families to play with.

I saw mitten matching, counting, and patterning.

Rolling Pin Painting

Personally I love wooden rolling pins.

I love how they feel and move in and under my hands.

So gluing textures to them and letting the children paint was a natural idea.

We had four rolling pins with different textures attached.

 One covered with rubber bands and the other bubble wrap.

 Another with rope glued on and the last had foam snowflakes attached.

 The children handle the pins with ease.

Using their whole body to experience the pins limits.

 They combined the pins

and created new looks.

I also provided stamps with other textured designs.

Which added more colour but in finer detail.