Lantern Festival

          
We are so lucky to have a neighbouring community
that brings in this Taiwanese Lantern Festival.  We
visited this morning and spent time exploring the
many colours, shapes and lights displayed in these
wonderful lanterns.
 
We used our Nature bags but we called them Busy Bags today. 
They included the clipboard with plain paper and crayons for
drawing, a paper with a circle and square on it to count how
many of those shapes we could find and some magic paper.
 
As soon as we entered we saw lots and lots of circles. 
There were so many that we estimated instead of counting.
 
It’s great that the lanterns are set on the floor so the children
can get up close to really check them over.
 
Several lanterns were interactive.  This snake has a hole in it’s mouth. 
When you drop a ball in, the body lights up.
 
     A ring toss in the dark looks lovely all lit up.
      
Maybe the fairies will visit to check out the toad stools.
 
  Some lanterns were low and spread out on the floor
        while another was hanging from the ceiling.
 
           Look at all the triangles we saw in this lantern.
    
              Shhhh, it`s a sleeping tiger.
 
The children used their magic paper to help them remember
the wonderful colours they saw in the lanterns.
      
Back at school while emptying some of the bags I found
some tally sheets.  Interesting how each child did it differently.
Some attempted printing numbers, others made tally marks
and someone added a triangle that they saw.
        
       Love this sketch that I found in one of the bags.

Welcome to Our Week of Seuss

      
          I love celebrating the work of Dr Seuss. 
    His creative characters and wonderful rhyme help
   expand our imaginations to think ‘outside of the box’.
      
       He incorporates so many concepts in his books;
       colours, opposites, patterns, numbers and more.

  Today we started with my favourite Seuss inspired book
         “Put Me in the Zoo” by Robert Lopshire.
       
   I was always drawn to the spots – lots and lots of spots.
          
           A ceramic teapot worked great to add
                a dot on a spot on the pot.
 
      Using coloured stickers worked our knowledge
                of colours and our finger muscles.

And finding a new book for some.

      

Play Trays

        
          An old thread spool holder and beads.
  
        


   
   Feeling eggs that come with their own stands
             and a book on emotions.
 
    


  
         Clothespins to clip as you count the hearts.


 
                  Ice cube tray game for two.
      

Dental Visit

   
Two to three times a year the community dental hygienist
visits StrongStart.  This time before she arrived I set up
a mini dramatic play dental area.
 
Some of the props and posters I’ve had since college,
others I found at the dollar store and some like the plaster teeth
came from a kit I bought from Little Treasures.
 
Brenda, our hygienist, is very good at helping children become
comfortable before looking at their teeth.  She brings her own props,
like the dinosaur with the big teeth and big toothbrush.
 
She allows them to explore the props, to take the lead.
   
She doesn’t rush but uses the dinosaur to demonstrate what she
is going to do before trying it with the child.

Brenda checked about 25 children on this visit and she never
rushed talking with the parents, grandparents and caregivers
about the care of the children’s teeth. 
She talked about healthy snacks; if eating sticky dried fruit
to provide sliced apples or carrots to help clean the teeth.
To provide water instead of juice when thirsty.
    
For each child she had a bag with a toothbrush, mirror
and flossing sticks to take home.

              She makes us smile!
        Thanks Brenda for visiting.