Cups and Beads

I was given these coloured plastic cups so I put them on a table 

curious what, if anything, the children would do with them.

It didn't take long before they were being pulled apart 

then restacked.

Then I notice this family had added a container of wooden

beads that were handy on the shelf beside them.

The child matched one bead into each cup.

Soon others were using the beads with the cups too.

 I love getting ideas from the families that attend

so at the end of the morning I left the beads out with the cups.

 I was able to observe children stretch the play

and find a way to make it a fun learning experience for themselves.

I couldn't have planned these activities as well as the children

created them.

Did you notice that all the children were toddlers?

Our Caterpillars our Here

Our caterpillars finally arrived and to keep little fingers busy 

(and not shake the live caterpillars)

I added toy caterpillars in the leaves for them to find.

I posted this photo for the parents to learn the different parts

and share that information with their children.

At the art table we made stick caterpillars.

First they need a stick and then a pipe cleaner.

The challenge is to twist the pipe cleaner around the stick.

We used the glue gun to fasten one end then the other

after twisting.

A pom pom for the head,

and googly eyes,

maybe a bead for a nose

and an acorn cap for a hat.

Two cute caterpillars ready to crawl home.

Tide Pool Investigation

Oh it was a blustery day to go to the beach.

But we were on a mission to answer this question.

 Last Friday I set up an ocean sensory table with just water and rocks.

I wanted to learn what the children know about tide pools.

And that is what brought us to the beach today.

It was very windy and even though the tide was going out 

the tidal pools were still covered.

We wondered if we would find anything.

So we searched under a lot of rocks,

and in little puddles of water.

 And we finally found some crabs.

This was a good size crab and he was ready to protect himself.

Even after we let him go.

Other treasures we found were...

A larger crab shell and one leg,

shells,

limpets,

an exoskeleton,

tiny periwinkles,

live clams that spit at us,

a hermit crab hiding in his house, 

and a crab with eggs.

What started as a cold adventure with little hope of finding anything

ended with lots of ideas to add to our tidal pool 

back at school.

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.