June Treasure Basket - Dress Up

This month's treasure basket I decided to bring some dress up clothes and accessories.

She had fun pulling each item out of the bag and trying some on.

Like butterfly wings,

a puppy dog cape,

 a tutu,

glasses (because she has been quite interested in mine),

 construction worker equipment

(like dad might use at his work)

and a little red riding hood cape (because we have been reading that story).

There is more in the basket but she didn't show interest in playing with it.

She was most interested in the doctor's bag and taking out all the equipment inside.

In the two weeks since bringing this basket she hasn't shown much interested, other than the medical bag, but it is now available for her to discover as her interest grows.

Dental Visit

We had a dental hygienist visit scheduled for last week so we did a bit of playing with teeth before she arrived.
                
I found this toy (I think it is for PlayDoh) of a mouth with holes for teeth.  It came with a few dental tools too.
        
The children really enjoyed filling the holes and closing the mouth to make teeth.
   
Some of the children have already visited a dentist which was evident when watching them use the tools.
   

When the hygienist arrived there were lots of families waiting to chat with her.

She set up her equipment at a table right beside where we had our dental play situated.  She easily introduced herself to each child and had them feeling comfortable before asking them to move to her table.
    
She used a stuffed toy with big teeth and encouraged the children to look in it’s mouth and then brush their teeth.  Then she asked to do the same in the child’s mouth.  It was a smooth transition from the toy to the child.  Also letting the child hold something in their hand I believe offered them some security.
               
The hygienist spent part of her time with the parent.  Answering their questions, giving advice and helping them feel comfortable.  She worked a long morning and saw everyone that wanted a visit.
                    
She made quite the impact on at least one child.  That night a parent sent me the above photo explaining that her child was busy all afternoon checking the mouths of every doll and stuffed animal in their home. Maybe he has a future in dentistry.

Emergency Vehicle–Ambulance

Another exciting morning when an ambulance came to visit.
Jason, the paramedic, brought in his Jump Pack to show us some equipment.
  
We learned that there are two sizes of blood pressure cuffs; one that was too big was for the grown-ups, the other was the perfect size for children.
  
We saw a tool he uses to see how fast a person’s heart is beating.  It clips on your thumb but doesn’t hurt.
  
        
Then it was time to checkout the ambulance.  There is a lot of equipment in that small space.  Jason asked if anyone has had an ambulance visit their house.  There were a few stories but mostly from the grown ups.

We made comparisons between all the vehicles we have seen so far.  The ambulance, police car and tow truck all have flashing lights.  The drivers part,
in all three, had lots of switches and buttons.
            
       But the most fun was pushing the button to turn on the siren.

Emergency Vehicles Visit

            
After making our fruit box vehicles we were fortunate to have a couple
             of visits from people that work in our community.
          
    The first was the RCMP.  They brought two cars for us to investigate.

       
We looked over the outside of the vehicle and under the hood (learned the word ‘engine’) then opened the doors.  We noticed a lot of lights on the police cars.
                    
        
Then we climbed inside and saw their computer and radio and imagined what it would be like to drive it.  We also sat in the back, which was a bit squished, and wondered who sits there and looks through the glass to the officers in the front.


          
               Then today a tow truck came to the school.
             
    This is a family run company with husband and wife as drivers. 
              They came to share their vehicle and job with us.
 
It was raining pretty hard so not many children came outside.  That is until
        they peeked out the window and saw my car being winched up.
  
The children were offered the chance to use the levers to lift my car up and down. 
Hmmm, a question for the children will be "how can we add levers to our fruit box tow truck?"
           
The driver showed us the hook that they would use to turn a car over if it
        had flipped.  We saw the winch working at the other end.

     But oh, oh, I locked my keys in the car!  How do they open the door?
  
It took him about a minute to open the door using special tools.  We got to
           play with the blow up tool (sorry I didn’t get the proper name).
                         
We noticed these small wheels in the back of the truck.  What are they for?

                          
Within minutes Damien had them off and under my car ready to lift it totally off the ground.  They are used if a vehicle has all wheel transmission or if the back wheels are damaged and can’t turn.
                  
           It was an awesome way to learn more about emergency vehicles. 
I love our community that when asked they will share their time and jobs with
                                              us.