Goodbye Passenger Plane Hello SAR Part 1

We were very lucky this week to have a tour to the air base to see the 

Search and Rescue aircraft.

 We went to tour the Cormorant helicopter

 and the Buffalo airplane.

Four pilots toured us through both and answered all our questions.

I gave the children a little booklet to record what they saw.

We saw how they turn the plane and helicopters, the bubble (observation) windows,

the seat, the wings, and the propellers. 

Back at school I took down our passenger airplane,

I didn't want to cut into that cardboard,

found another box

and started to build the Buffalo.

The box isn't pretty but we like to reuse as often as possible.

Inside is a raised platform which the children had to walk across to get to 

the pilot's seat.

I didn't get a picture of it but there is a ramp at the end of the platform.

That was a challenge for us, during our tour, to climb up the big ramp 

to get inside the plane.

Observation windows are located on both sides of our plane

just like the Buffalo.

As the children played the talk of 'where are the wings?' occurred.

Luckily one of the fathers works at the base and is very

familiar with planes.

I was struggling how we would attach the wings to the sides of the plane,

and still give the children space to play around it.

Then our 'technician' reminded me that the wings on a Buffalo

go across the top of the plane.

Which was brilliant because they will also help to stabilize the box.

As the dad worked on the wings, the children grabbed our basket of tools

and got to work.

Love this picture of how the girl inside is watching her dad work

and the boy outside is keeping an eye on what is happening.

By the end of the morning we finished work of putting the tail wing on

 and propeller placed at the nose.

Stay tuned.

Airplane Side Play

 Last week I taped outlines of planes to our carpeted area.

 

The stick shifts attracted the babies and toddlers.

A parent modeled playing on the plane which encouraged her little one to join in.

While another figured it out and played along with me.

Banana Cookies

I found this simple recipe at Craftulate and decided to make it with the children

last week.

 

First thing was to mash the bananas.

Instead of using a masher the children peeled the bananas and put them

into ziplock bags.

Then pounded, squished and mashed them smooth.

 Next we measured in the oatmeal

 and the applesauce.

 We stirred in the milk and raisins.

Then scooped the dough into little muffin tins to bake.

They are surprisingly good.

Even without added butter, sugar or fat.

I think some cinnamon or nutmeg would be a nice addition.

But they are so simple that several families took the recipe home.

Playing with Colours

 We've been exploring colours.

 I set up non-messy colour mixing in ziplock bags.

 I added bubble wrap in a couple of them to add texture.

They mixed as well as trying to pop the bubbles.

As they smooshed they noticed that the colours were mixing together.

 

They began to use the coloured shapes to look at the colours.

Did they find some that matched?

The end of our play.

Well mixed, well done.

Loose Parts to Airplanes

Yes another post about airplanes.

This time the children used the materials in our art area

to make their own little plane.

I was given a bunch of empty toothpaste boxes.

Perfect size for a hand held plane.

They used a wide variety of materials,

some of the containers hadn't been off the shelf in a long time.

We used rubber bands, tape and glue to piece it all together.

 

 

Most of the planes went home.

Some flew over to our model airport.