st-Art-ing the Life Cycle

Here are a few art activities we did while waiting for our caterpillars.

Using styrofoam sheets I carved a leaf pattern,

the children used it to make prints.

The child above asked for coloured paint after making her leaf.

She added a caterpillar.

Which was an awesome idea and other children copied her idea.

Next we did the same process and made flower prints.

Then another day we used straws to make flowers.

 And finally on the day our larvae arrived we made little caterpillars to add to our

bulletin board.

 We often put out pipe cleaners and beads because the children

love stringing them together.

I love watching them increase their fine motor and eye-hcontrol.

When they finished making their caterpillars we glued them onto the bulletin board.

Waiting for Butterflies

It's that time of year, one of my favourites, when new life appears in our room.

We've already experienced tadpoles to frogs,

which happened a lot quicker this year then in the past.

And now our butterfly larvae are in transit.

One thing that has always bothered me about our learning of

the butterfly life cycle is that we never

see the egg form.

So this year I made pretend eggs by gluing tiny pom poms

on to fake leaves.

As we waited I encouraged the children to imagine

what colour the caterpillars might be.

I wish they were all these wonderful colours.  

Our Latest Sensory Bin

I'm fascinated with how many materials that can be found around the house

and used for children

to play their favourite activity - putting things in and taking them out.

Using our clear sensory table I attached pvc tubes to the outside with tape.

Covered the bottom of the table with lots of pom poms

and placed a basket underneath.

The children were instantly drawn to it.

Dropping the pom poms down the tubes

not showing interest in where they were going.

At first!

A Little ABC Fun

We've been having fun with our Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Tree.

Reading the book, matching the letters 

and making them climb the tree.

 The tree is a great size for the little ones to discover;

looking up, reaching up and then standing up.

Oh and the guessing games have been fun.

Our Chicken Play

For the past couple of weeks the children have been playing in our 

chicken coop.

To see the beginning of this project visit Chicken Coop Research.

The day after we painted the coop we added nesting boxes.

Shoe boxes that the children brought in.

We filled them with chicken, duck and rooster stuffies.

There were a few baby chicks too.

Then we added eggs, lots of eggs.

A few baskets were needed for collecting the eggs.

And a bale of hay finished off the feeling of being in a barn.

As the children collected the eggs I thought of a way to extend the play

and interest toddlers in the play.

I brought out the silo we had use for a farm play last year.

The tube was used for feeding the animals

but today it became an egg production tube.

So much fun to send the eggs through the tube

and collect them on the other side.

And repeat, again and again and again.

One day I noticed that someone had taken the coloured rice from the sensory table

and dumped it on the bale of hay.

A mom told me that her little one wanted to feed the chickens.

So I brought out some bird seed and let them take care of that chore.

Next week our real chickens eggs arrive.