Our Earth Prints

Out came the paint rollers and glass sheets,

blue and green paint

and a globe.

Such a hard concept to imagine that we live on a big round ball.

What does a child think when you point to a spot on the globe 

and say "This is where we live"?

But I know this is just the beginning of understanding.

 

 The children love to use the paint rollers.

We looked at the globe and talked about how much is covered with blue water

 and looked at the smaller parts that are green for land.

And after putting the colours and lines where we wanted.

We made our print.

Smoothing the round paper on

then carefully lifting it off

to see our earth.

Our Home.

One of my favourite books to read for Earth Day is "Go To Sleep Gecko" by Margaret Read MacDonald.  It's about a gecko who can't sleep because the fireflies are keeping him awake.  But as you read the story you learn that there is a good reason why.  The story teaches us that in this world we are all connected and there are somethings you just have to put up with.

 I love the illustrations.

It's a great story to the children involved.  They love making gecko's noise and using their hands to imitate fireflies flashing on and off.   And there's always someone that giggles when we read about buffalo pooping in the road (but of course he has a good reason).

Fieldtrip

Our Valley has built a new Visitors Centre with great displays.

We went to visit and play.

I created a scavenger hunt to encourage the families to look all around.

They searched, found and counted what was on the list.

 Oysters

  are in the tank

and the mussels are hanging.

It was easier to count how many strings of mussels than 

how many mussels all together.

 

I love this orca display.  

With the metal kelp below and the acrylic water makes it appear beautifully authentic.

 Mountain biking is very popular,

 even inside with the children.

Although we couldn't ride the bikes we could still climb over the trail.

At one time, our valley was predominantly old growth forest.

But with time, community and economic growth the forest has been disappearing.

This tree display just called for the children to come inside.

They waited their turns to climb the ladder

to peek out of the two little windows.

We're fortunate to have a variety of year round activities.

Our mountain offers wonderful skiing

and the ocean boating or kayaking.

I brought a couple of stools with me so the younger 

children could reach this great interactive display.

Wherever they touched, pictures would appear

and change.

But the favourite, well at least my favourite, was

the marmot display.

 Here I am doing my best marmot impersonation.

We were able to crawl under and pop up through the hole.

 

We said hello to the marmots above ground then the children pointed out to me that there were more marmots underneath.

I have to admit that I didn't notice the little critters when I crawled in there.

Once we finished with our scavenger hunt.

We headed outside to be the first group to try the new playground.

I overheard families saying that the visitor centre is a great destination 

for rainy days.

And to show off to company.

 

Faux Stained Glass

Our art display from today's work.

The process.

 Drop paint on one sheet of waxed paper.

 Make a sandwich with the paper and paint.

Roll it out.

 Add more if you wish.

And roll some more.

 It was repeated

again

and again.

   It was a wonderfully busy table this morning.

Also quick to display because the two pieces of waxed paper stay together.