Velcro Block Building

Over the Christmas break I was surfing the many wonderful blogs that are full of ideas and found this one , Chasing Cheerios that had made Velcro Blocks. I thought this idea was amazing and so simple to make. Plus I had some old wooden blocks that would be great for this project.
I purchased self adhesive velcro and stuck them on the sides of the blocks.

What I love about this activity is it is great for toddlers. The towers they build stay together instead of toppling over.

This child called his sculpture "The Tower of Power".

A mom and her son were visiting the program one morning shortly after the Christmas break was over and she saw the velcro blocks and thought they were a great idea (she has a family home day care and was thinking of copying the idea. I love how that happens). But she thought it would be great for kids to use something to saw the blocks apart. Well I happen to have several toy saws and we put her idea to the test.
We found that the saws I had had blades that were too thick to fit through but we searched through the tools and found this level that was thin enough to work. We also learned that tongue depressors worked well too.

If all else fails, pry the blocks apart.

Snow, Snow, No Snow

Oh how I'm waiting for it to snow outside. But in the meantime we've had fun with snow activities indoors.We built a snow scene today. One thing that I've noticed is that children like to play with miniatures. I've been stocking up as I Thrift store shop.

First I put a sheet of sytrofoam in a cardboard box tray. Added a dome shaped styrofoam on top at one end of the box, then covered it all with white cotton batting. It looked like a snow hill.

Available to add were mini styrfoam balls, people, animals, sleds and trees (really tree ornaments).
The play began as soon as the first child arrived. Oh there were also little troll dolls (the ones with lots of hair) and little rabbits that had skiis on their feet.

I enjoyed listening to the stories that were being created as they played.

At the craft table we made snowstorms using white paint,. bubble wrap and sparkles.


Still waiting for it to snow outside, the forecast is for late tomorrow. I hope so!

Sign of the Week - Bed

This week's sign is "bed".

How to sign?
Put both hands together.
Place on side of head and rest your head on your hands.

Here's a fingerplay we'll be learning this week.

Bedtime

Time for bed, time for bed
Fluff up the pillow,
Lay down your head.
Pull up the blanket,
Tuck it in tight.
Close your eyes
And sleep all night.

Story - The Mitten

This week we've learned the story "The Mitten".
We've read it, we acted it out and we used stuffies to retell the story.
We read other versions of the same story, one was called "The Old Man's Mitten"
Here is my version.

Mitten Prints

Mittens has been the focus for us this week.

Today we did another form of print making.

Mittens that were cut from felt, lace, bubble wrap or non-slip shelf liner were stuck to the table.
The children could use paint rollers to cover their mittens,

or they could use a paint brush to make patterns on the mittens.

Lay paper on top of the mittens and and smooth it down with your hands.

Ready, set, peek at your art work.

Here are some results.
Non-slip shelf liner,bubble wrap,

felt mittens with a snowflake sticky attached,lacesnowflakes.
We don't mind getting dirty.

I had set out this craft on a disposable tablecloth that had been used many times.
So clean up was a snap.
Wrap it all up and out it went.

Sparkly Snowflakes

I'm still wishing for snow. Big, dry snowflakes would be wonderful to see falling from the sky. But it's not happening, only rain here. So we have to make our own snowflakes.
Materials provided are sparkly pipecleaners, q-tips, string, glue and samples of snow flakes and how snowflakes form.

It was interesting to watch the progression from piling the pipecleaners in a jumble to learning how to criss-cross them.
We also realized we could make them 3D like snowballs versus being flat snowflakes.

We weren't limited to only snowflakes. The opportunity to squeeze out glue is too much to resist for some children. Here's wishing for snow.

Painted Mitten Snack

Today we got to paint our food before eating it.

It's easy to do.

1. Cut your bread. We used a mitten cookie cutter.














2. Use milk mixed with food colouring and paint the bread.



















3. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.















4. Put it in the toaster oven.









5. Eat and enjoy.