Another Pom Pom Play

   
These round bowl type toys are for stacking and the holes in the middle
make it easy for the little ones to pick up. 

But I wondered, couldn’t we use them for another use?  Say for
identifying and sorting colours?
      
I painted little paper plates to match each bowl and placed them out
with a basket of pom poms. 
      
The age that was most interested in this new play toy was under 2s. 

Was it the colours that attracted them? 
Or that they enjoy hiding items out of sight and playing a peek-a-boo game? 

I saw the children experimenting by pushing the pom poms through the holes,
even larger pom poms which they had to give a whack to make them fit.  

I challenge you to look around your room and find different ways to use
some of the toys.  Let me know what you found.

Flower Watercolours

Over the summer I spent sometime browsing the net and finding
great ideas to try at the art table.  You can check out my Art Pinterest
board to see what ideas caught my attention.

One idea was from Learn~Play~Imagine.  She made watercolour
paint from flowers.  I’ve dyed eggs using different vegetables and
liked the idea of trying flowers.
         
I’m not much of a flower gardener and have only weeded my flower
beds once this summer so I asked families to bring flowers in for this
art activity.
 
We started by picking the blossoms off the stems and putting them
into ziplock bags.
      
They really enjoyed that step, I think having the opportunity to pull
flowers apart when they are usually told to be gentle was liberating.

     
A bonus while picking apart the blossoms was finding this little slug. 
He eventually escaped, I hope it's okay.

    
Back to the baggies, we added hot water to the bag and squeezed the air
out before sealing.  The children used rollers or their hands to squish
and squeeze the colour out of the blossoms.
 
We had some success.  If I had read her blog again last night I would have
learned that if we had left the flowers to soak for a period of time our
success may have been greater.

The flower that did create the best paint was a purple Dahlia.

              
Regardless of the colour (or lack of it) we created, the families enjoyed
the whole process.

     
   We’ve talked about trying it again with vegetables.

The Day I Went to Sea

During the month of September there are fun days that are celebrated
internationally.  One of them is Talk Like a Pirate Day on September 19th. 
It’s one of my favourites.

All the StrongStart centres in the district will be taking part
and we have the perfect setting living by the ocean.

Old shipwrecks maybe from pirates?

We have started getting ready for the day by learning a new song, 
"The Day I Went to Sea".

Here are the words for the song...

When I was one I stuck out me thumb
the day I went to sea
I jumped aboard a pirate ship
and the captain said to me.

"Aargh, we go this way and that way
forward and backward
and all around the sea."

When I was two I tapped my shoe
the day I went to sea
I jumped aboard a pirate ship
and the captain said to me.

"Aargh, we go this way and that way
forward and backward
and all around the sea."

When I was three I slapped my knee
 the day I went to sea
I jumped aboard a pirate ship
and the captain said to me.

"Aargh, we go this way and that way
forward and backward
and all around the sea."

When I was four I shut the door
the day I went to sea
I jumped aboard a pirate ship
and the captain said to me.

"Aargh, we go this way and that way
forward and backward
and all around the sea."

When I was five I took a dive (in the water)
the day I went to sea
I jumped aboard a pirate ship
and the captain said to me.

"Aargh, we go this way and that way
forward and backward
and all around the sea."

First Day Back to StrongStart

Coming back to school is so exciting. 
Seeing old friends, meeting new ones. 
Seeing what’s different, what has changed and what looks familiar. 

Here is a glimpse of our first day.
            
Collaborative art piece for our sign in this week.
             
A new toddler block exploration area, just the right height.

Feeding and taking care of the babies.
 
Cars, planes and ramps played in a variety of ways.
        
Checking out our new fuzzy caterpillar.

Campsite dramatic play.  Roasting marshmallows and keeping the fire under control.
       
A new climbing space for the pre-walkers.
 
Play dough, puzzles and self invented games.
      
Lots of art both at the easels and the ‘make-it’ table.
      
And story time. 

Building Together

I bought a small table that needed to be assembled so I asked one
of our grandparents if he would do it for me.
         
It didn’t take long for the children to join in the building.
 
Discovering each part and tool.  Wondering how does it fit together?

Having the opportunity to figure it out themselves.

Using their strength as well as their problem solving skills.
      
Watching as each piece fit together matching the plans that were provided.
 
Taking turns, working on precision and accuracy, and learning about new tools.  I need to find more projects like this.

June’s Play Trays

          
 
Sea shell matching.  I took photos of each shell and taped
them to the tray.  As the children pull a shell out of the
sandbox they match it to the picture.  I also included a
guide to the names of the shells.
        
 
Grace, my practicum student, made this tray of an octopus with
dotted legs.  She added flat bottom marbles to count and place
on each dot.
            
 
A game in which as the fish turn they open and close their mouths. 
The children try to catch them with a fishing rod. 
Not as easy as it looks.
            
 
I painted the underside of shells to play a colour matching game. 
 
                        
Sea creatures to sort in different ways; colour, type, etc.
 
Grace made a discovery bottle.  She used blue aquarium rocks to
partly fill the bottle then added fish, shells, glass beads to roll and
find.  Before putting each item in the bottle she took a picture and
made a guide to help the children find them all.
   
A fish, sea shell, octopus and jelly fish bath tub mat turned upside
down to place marbles on each suction cup.