Play Trays

These were last week`s trays.

 Alphabet puzzle

The C, G,O and Q have a pretty similar space to fill.

Floam - works the fine motor muscles.

Squishing, patting, and rolling.

  Vehicles.

I took pictures of them and made pattern strips.

Great matching.

And traveling through floam.

 A can full of monkeys.

They were connected from toe to head.

Or from wherever they would hang.

Neighbourhood Parks

Today we went for a walk in a local park.
It was the first time for some families to discover this park.
We are so lucky that our community has many green spaces.
We'll be discovering at least one a month till the end of the school year.

Our weather fluctuates everyday, warm, cold, dry, wet.  Ugh, hard to know how to dress.
The rain was sprinkling a little, but off we went.

Of course the slugs love the moist weather.  This little girl loves slugs.

As we walked I asked the children to find a stick, which was easy since we had a lot of wind storms this year.  There are many sticks laying on the ground.

 Arriving in the meadow, we set up our painting station.

I brought our little portable paint pots (daily pill boxes).

 So much fun to do art outside, out of our comfort zone, for some.

After finish painting they chose ribbons to tie on to the end of the stick.

Each child made their own `tickle`stick.  Just like the one I use in gym time to finish our yoga stretching.

 They had to stop a few times,

to show off their tickle sticks.

We headed back on the trail, through the woods, and the children noticed this tree fort.

Oh some would have loved to climb up there.

Our Earth Prints

Out came the paint rollers and glass sheets,

blue and green paint

and a globe.

Such a hard concept to imagine that we live on a big round ball.

What does a child think when you point to a spot on the globe 

and say "This is where we live"?

But I know this is just the beginning of understanding.

 

 The children love to use the paint rollers.

We looked at the globe and talked about how much is covered with blue water

 and looked at the smaller parts that are green for land.

And after putting the colours and lines where we wanted.

We made our print.

Smoothing the round paper on

then carefully lifting it off

to see our earth.

Our Home.

One of my favourite books to read for Earth Day is "Go To Sleep Gecko" by Margaret Read MacDonald.  It's about a gecko who can't sleep because the fireflies are keeping him awake.  But as you read the story you learn that there is a good reason why.  The story teaches us that in this world we are all connected and there are somethings you just have to put up with.

 I love the illustrations.

It's a great story to the children involved.  They love making gecko's noise and using their hands to imitate fireflies flashing on and off.   And there's always someone that giggles when we read about buffalo pooping in the road (but of course he has a good reason).

Fieldtrip

Our Valley has built a new Visitors Centre with great displays.

We went to visit and play.

I created a scavenger hunt to encourage the families to look all around.

They searched, found and counted what was on the list.

 Oysters

  are in the tank

and the mussels are hanging.

It was easier to count how many strings of mussels than 

how many mussels all together.

 

I love this orca display.  

With the metal kelp below and the acrylic water makes it appear beautifully authentic.

 Mountain biking is very popular,

 even inside with the children.

Although we couldn't ride the bikes we could still climb over the trail.

At one time, our valley was predominantly old growth forest.

But with time, community and economic growth the forest has been disappearing.

This tree display just called for the children to come inside.

They waited their turns to climb the ladder

to peek out of the two little windows.

We're fortunate to have a variety of year round activities.

Our mountain offers wonderful skiing

and the ocean boating or kayaking.

I brought a couple of stools with me so the younger 

children could reach this great interactive display.

Wherever they touched, pictures would appear

and change.

But the favourite, well at least my favourite, was

the marmot display.

 Here I am doing my best marmot impersonation.

We were able to crawl under and pop up through the hole.

 

We said hello to the marmots above ground then the children pointed out to me that there were more marmots underneath.

I have to admit that I didn't notice the little critters when I crawled in there.

Once we finished with our scavenger hunt.

We headed outside to be the first group to try the new playground.

I overheard families saying that the visitor centre is a great destination 

for rainy days.

And to show off to company.