Star Light, Star Bright

While we were studying outer space I introduced the
overhead projector for the first time this school year.
            
A family lent me the blue mesh to hang over the area
and I used a frame from a pop up house to hold it away
                   from the wall.

The frame is just the right size for the children to go inside and open
              enough for a grown up to be involved.


A few things we used were constellation pictures and mesh stars.
     
Then I added coloured plexi-glass stars, coloured circles and
                   stir sticks with see through tops.


These two boys discovered that they could turn off the projection on
             the wall by lifting and closing the top flap.
 
They experimented with it and was able to move the light from the floor
                    and up the wall and back to off.
        
            And there was also interest in the mesh.

Wrap a Star

                 
A simple craft that the children enjoyed doing was to wrap yarn around a cardboard star shaped cutout.

I liked how he used the whole art space to make his star.  He wrapped and wrapped.  His goal was to cover every bit of the cardboard.
 
Then he took it to the main table and found the pipe cleaners, adding an extra touch.
        
   His mom was inspired to make a family star.

A couple of more wrapped stars then the children became busy
at the art easel and decided to paint the stars.

Then used them to decorate our branch that stands between the two easels. 
An early touch of Christmas.

Backlog Of Play Trays

It’s been a while since I posted about our play trays so here is a bunch
that we have been playing with this past month.
    
Straw stars that I photocopied for matching.
    
For some families these stars brought back memories from
their childhood.

    
Old fashioned clothespins decorated as toy soldiers,
they were able to straddle them on the wire basket by colour.

 
Gingerbread house toy for sorting shapes and matching to the correct hole.

     
A magnet was added to the bottom of the car then a magnet wand
is placed underneath the box. 
I saw this idea on someone’s blog but can’t find the link,
if it’s yours please let me know.
 
We discovered that the box was a bit too small so…
 
we created a bigger one.

 
Star shape ice cube tray, gold stars and little tongs.

    
Boxes to stack on top of each other or inside one another.
 
With a little surprise in the smallest tin.

  
I saw this idea of matching an object to it’s shape on several blogs like,
De Tout Et De Rien and Irresistible Ideas for Play Based Learning.
 
This would work with many, many things.  I’ll be using it again.

   
Clipping coloured clothespins to the same coloured light bulb.
     
The cards I printed from Childcareland.com several years ago.

 
Santa suit pieces to match together.
    
But then I noticed one of the children using our coloured clothespin
to dress so I pulled out these old fashion clothespins to use. 
I even saw a mother use them as a finger puppet to entertain her toddler.  

    
And finally, a star sorting activity.
     

A Few More Star Activities

Wrapping Paper – cardboard stars were taped to the table
and newsprint placed on top.

Pastel chalk for rubbing.
 

Star Wands – sticks, paper and ribbons.

 
 

Star Shaped Cheese Crackers
 
 

For the recipe head over to Inspiration Laboratories.
The only change I made was to substitute garlic powder for the onion powder
because I didn’t have any.

They are delicious.