Planting Shamrocks

Last week I planted some clover seeds, first time ever, hoping that they will grow before St. Patrick’s Day.
           
                 Amazingly in just three days they sprouted.
              
This week I set up a planting centre so the children could plant their own container of clover.
            
  
     They prepared their cup by printing their name then filling it with soil.
 
         Sprinkle on the seeds, then watering.  A friend watches patiently.
               
The she takes her turn to plant a cup of clover.  There is a calmness in planting.
  
Surprisingly within two days the seeds began to sprout.  It didn’t seem to matter if the seeds were put under the soil or on top.  They are both showing signs of growth.
              
                           Each day more children plant a cup. 
                   We will have lots of clover for St. Patrick’s Day.

Painting Daffodils

         
This table was waiting for the families to arrive yesterday and by the end of the morning it looked almost the same.  Only two people attempted to draw the flowers.  I’m concluding that pencil crayons weren’t of interest to the children.
                          
This morning I decided to add paints. Using a pill box, that has four compartments, I filled three of them with yellow, green and brown paint.  The interest was almost instant.
      
It was interesting to watch the children paint, to see what they noticed.  Which colour did they start with?  What lines and shapes did they make? Did they use big, loose strokes or small and controlled?
                     
            I listened as parents encouraged and commented on what they saw.
     
With a little encouragement some of the grown ups were happy to share the experience and paint too.
                       
Spring flowers are displayed around our room, brightening it a bit during these foggy days we’ve been having.

Jack and the Beanstalk Sensory Tub

                    
Our tub was filled with a homemade beanstalk, book, beans, gold pebbles, rocks, a cow, a hen, mother doll and a little boy doll.  Oh and our castle was in the bin since I couldn’t figure out how to safely attach it to the top of the beanstalk.
                 
This tub gave the children another opportunity to learn the story of Jack and the Beanstalk and play with the characters and props.
                 
                       
Although the main interest was the beans.  Filling the cups and pouring them out.
              
   Having the book in the table offered families a chance to read it together.

Bean Stalk

                          
   
The beans that we planted back in February were growing so fast that I decided to transplant them into larger pots and see if they would continue to grow.  There are peas in one pot and beans in the other.
                            

During this time I had introduced the story of Jack and the Beanstalk and to bring that story to life we built a beanstalk in our room.  Fortunately one of the parents that was present that morning was willing to climb the ladder and attach some strings to the wall so we could hang a cloud that the children were painting at the art table.
                           
        I added cotton batting to the cardboard to make it look fluffy.
                          
                The next day the castle was done and ready to add.
               
The beans growth has slowed down since they have been transplanted but they are still growing.  I wonder if we’ll get any beans.  I hope they’ll survive till after our Spring Break then we’ll put them out in the school’s green house.

Fairy Doors Found in a new Forest

The weather is beautiful here and I’ve been out walking searching for fairy doors.  When I presented about Making Fairy Lane this past January, several of the participants mentioned that there are now fairy doors in another woods here in the Valley.

I’ve looked once before, where I thought they might be, but only found two.  Well today I walked farther and found them. 
       
     
    
It is such a delight to walk around a tree and see a spot of colour.  Each is unique and lovely to look at.  I wonder who put them there and what inspired them to do so?

I’m still working with our City’s Park Department in re-establishing Fairy Lane.  We are getting closer.  The city is creating two signs to go at either end of the Lane that will list guidelines for adding doors and a bit of explanation of why Fairy Lane exists.

If you want to know where these doors can be found just send me an email.

Planting Spuds 2015

We’re leading up to our Spring Break which is our signal to start planting our potatoes.
                
      We started by looking at a potato that I just bought at the store.
 
Then we checked out our seed potatoes.  Most of them had more than one sprout so if they did we picked off the biggest sprout before planting it.  This will help the seed produce more potatoes.
                
       
Then it was time to prepare the soil.  We added a scoop of plant food into the soil.  The children dug right in to mix the food throughout the soil.
  
    We planted five seed potatoes in each tub and watered them really well.
                      
              We finished the morning tasting cooked potatoes.
         
I wonder how long it will take before we see a sprout peek through the soil.

Shiny Little Rainbows

               We did an experiment to create rainbows this week. 
                You will need nail polish, water and black paper.
  
Let a single drip of nail polish fall into a container of clear water.  Quickly place a piece of black paper on top.  Lift the paper and turn it over to see what happened.
                     
                                         A rainbow!
You may have a problem if you take too long to put the paper on the nail polish.
            
    If you wait too long the nail polish will form a skin on the water. 
                        Don’t worry because you can still use it. 
    
                          Slip the paper under the skin and lift it up.
    
             
        We only used black paper but after seeing this child’s rainbow,
which he made on paper painted green, we should have tried a variety of colours.
                 
          To check out where I found this idea visit The Science Kiddo.