A New StoryWalk

"Taan's Moons" by Alison Gear was created on Haida Gwaii,

the most western part of Canada.

The book was given to families entering kindergarten last fall.

All the pictures were created with the children in kindergarten and grade 1 

on Haida Gwaii with artist Kiki van der Heiden.

The pictures in the book were created by using a method of wet felting.

Since we were doing this in a limited time I decided

to try needle felting with the families.

I thought long about how to keep this a safe activity and found 

a multi-needle that has a safe guard.

We started by pulling the roving apart and laying it on a piece of felt.

Next the children took turns needling it.  This will be the background of our picture.

Then we went outside to read the book.

This was our evening session so we had older siblings that could help with the reading.

The book is about Taan, which in the Haida language means bear,

and how he sees a year go by.

As we read the book each child picked a colour of wool.

Back in school we started to create our picture.

First we started with brown to make Taan.

Then I asked the children what should Taan be seeing or doing

and they decided they wanted a rainbow.

They placed the wool in the order they wanted their colours 

then we took turns needling it.

One child took a strong interest in this project

and needled most of the rainbow.

Then her little sister helped add clouds.

For our first time trying needle felting I think it turned out really well.

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.