Starry Night #1

This week, at the art table, we're focusing on Vincent Van Gogh's Starry Night and creating our own through a variety of mediums.

I read a book today called "Vincent's Colours".  It has images of Van Gogh's paintings and a simple sentence that he wrote for each.

The first page gives a brief description of who Van Gogh was, where he was from and that he loved colours.

His paintings show us his choice in colours and gave me an opportunity to talk with the children and families that, for example, the sky doesn't have to be blue.

Or ask why the ground might be yellow.  One child answered because the sun.

Our first method of creating our Starry Nights was with eye droppers and water colours.

                                     

 

More Rabbit Play

This morning we went on a rabbit hunt.  There are lots of rabbits living around our
                           school but they are not always easy to find.

   We spotted one rabbit across the field so decided to walk the perimeter of the
             school yard to look for others and hopefully not scare the first one.

We saw a variety of tracks, like this dog print, but no bunny tracks.

What we did find from rabbits was lots of droppings.  As we followed the fence we followed the poop too.

The bunny we saw across the field heard us coming and squeezed under the fence.

There is a big bin in our yard that sits on wooden pallets.

We've seen bunnies come from under it before but not today.

Back in school the children discovered the renovation to our rabbit warren.  

Tunnels were added over the weekend.

 

In one end, straight through to come out the other side.

Lots of rabbits were crawling through our warren this morning.

New Cardboard Toy

Gingerbread Bird Feeder

During after Christmas sales I picked up a cheap gingerbread house making kit with the idea to decorate it for the birds.  I've been pinning ideas from a variety of sites like this one and this one.

 

Yesterday I assembled the gingerbread house using the frosting included.  This morning it was solid and ready to be decorated.  I had planned on using popcorn and pretzels for decorations but after a bit of research learned that they are not healthy for birds.  So our decorations consisted of two kinds of pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds and oats.  Lard was spread on the house first to hold the seeds in place.

                   When it was ready we headed to the marsh to feed the birds.

                                         And they were hungry.

        We carried the bird seed house down the path, leaving seeds as we went.

                         Refilling some of the feeders that others had left.

                              Until we found a spot and left it behind.
                          We wonder what other animals might enjoy it.

 
As we spotted birds some of the children drew pictures.

                                 Others continued to feed the birds.
Standing patiently and quietly, hoping that one would land on their hand to eat.

 
It was exciting watching the birds fly from branch to branch. Showing their nerves as they came close then quickly flying away.

Mini Cherry Pies

     We started the new year off focusing on the book "The Three Little Kittens".

      The children have listened to the story and played with the characters.

                       This morning we made mini cherry pies for snack.

We used bread for the crust, rolled it flat, pressed it in the tin (discovered that using the end of the rolling pin works well to push the crust in the pan) then filled it with cherry pie filling.

Ten minutes in the oven and they're ready to eat.  No we didn't wear mittens to eat.