Pirate Day at the Beach

Today is International Talk Like a Pirate Day
but we celebrated last Friday.
It was the best low tide day for us to be at the beach.
Four StrongStart centres from our school district
planned this event together.
Here are a few of the activities that we did.
    
I brought the helm and sail from school and hung a pirate
flag on it.
We pretended to sail out to see searching for ships.
  
Another facilitator brought a nice piece of wood that
we used for ‘walking the plank’.
  
Fake moustaches had mixed reviews but were fun.
 
Another facilitator made wonderful treasure bottles and
scattered them around the beach.
  
She filled them with sand, gold sprayed mini pasta shells
and little toys.  The children were intrigued to turn the bottles over
and over to see what was inside.

There was buried treasure.
But first we had to build the map.

The children had to find four treasure boxes hidden around
the beach.
 
Collect a coin from each box then bring them to me,
Pirate Moe,
to buy a piece of the map puzzle.

The children worked together to figure out how the pieces fit together.
 
When the puzzle was completed they had to point out the `X`
then find on the beach where the treasure was hidden.

It didn't take long before they found it under a tree root.
 
We finished off the morning with songs and stories.
     
    It was a beautiful day to be a pirate on the beach.
              
                        Ahoy thar, matey!

Pirate Play with Parents

        
                      We’ve been playing pirates.
               It’s fun when the grown ups play too.
         
                         Then we learn about things;
                                    like a compass.
                     
                    And how to put on a life jacket
                                         and
             why it’s important to wear one in a boat.
             
         We have help to get dressed in our pirate gear
                                         and
                             have fun together.
           
                          We learn how to row a boat
           
                          and songs to sing together.

 As an educator looking at this picture, I really like that mom turned her
chair so she could look face to face at her little one.  He is very interested
in what she is saying and doing.  Making it more meaningful.

All the parents in the pictures above are spending quality time with their little
ones, enhancing the play but not dominating it. They followed their child's
 interest and built on it.

This is an important part of StrongStart;
a time for parents, grandparents and others to come and play with their child
without distractions of everyday life.

Preparing to Be Pirates

International Talk Like a Pirate Day

is this week

but we prepared and celebrated it last week.

 

        

We made paper pirate hats and hooks.

We learned to fold the paper and make a crease by pushing hard on the paper.

After stapling the points to hold it together,

we used a skull and crossbones stamp

to decorate.

Then we showed them off.

The hooks were easy too.

Punch a hole in the bottom of the cup with a pencil.

Roll a pipe cleaner up in tin foil.

Push the foiled pipe cleaner through the hole and shape like

a hook.

Decorate with stickers if you want.

Aaargh!

Buddha Board

 Have you seen a Buddha Board?

It’s a board that is covered with what feels like very thin felt.

You paint with water on it.

When it dries, your picture disappears.

It is very Zen.

A friend gave me mine several years ago and I used it for awhile till it was designated to a shelf when the seasons changed.

Then this spring it was found during a housecleaning spree.

So I took it to work.

I like the environmental factor.

I also enjoy watching the children use it.

How they use their body.

How they use the whole board.

How it dries and is ready to be used by someone new.

All About Me

I’ve seen on other Early Childhood Educator’s blogs
a bulletin board
introducing themselves to their families.

What a great idea!

Especially for a StrongStart program where families

come and go all year long.

So this is my board.

I come from a very large family.

A few more members were added after this photo was taken.

It's fun to watch the families trying to figure out which one in the photo is me.

This is the family we grew into, again several are missing from the photo.

It’s very difficult to get such a large family all together at once.,

especially since we are spread across our big country of Canada.

My own family.

Still growing.

Things I like to do on my time off.

Last year one of my daughters created this book about me.

I love it.

The families have been enjoying looking through it as well.

Baking Together

We make a special snack every week but after watching the pleasure the children had making biscuits yesterday, I’m thinking of having a weekly dough making event.

Have a peek…

In the past years we have made bread, pretzels, and other dough recipes.  

It’s always the same reaction,

the children are totally involved right up to their elbows.

                      

There is so much learning happening when we bake together; 

patience, taking turns, sharing, measuring, scooping and leveling, hygiene, 

and the language that evolves is wonderful to hear.

We, the grown ups in the room, learn from the children a fresh look at the materials.  

We give words to their experience and use what we've learned the next time with bake together. 

               
                                      

Problem solving was evident too.  

When I said we needed to flatten out the dough (I had rolling pins ready off to the side) 

a couple of children started to smack the dough with their hands.  

The next thing we could hear is every child at the table doing the same thing.  

It sounded like communal drumming. 

No rolling pins were dirtied in this baking adventure.

                       

We used our drinking glasses as cutters 

and I watched children try to figure out how to get the dough out of the cup after cutting it.

A grandma leaned over and shook her grandson’s hand demonstrating how to do it.  That was all the other children needed to get the job done themselves.

Others played with the dough for sometime.
Flattening, rolling, squishing, mixing it in flour.
These simple activities remind us that we don’t need expensive toys or materials for the children to learn and discover.



Making dough is an activity that can be done by even the youngest that can sit at the table.  It won’t hurt them if they eat it and since they each have their own amount of dough, germs are not being spread.
           

We will make some kind of dough each week for the next month 

and see how it fits in to our program.  

I’ll have to alternate the day each week so all children have an opportunity to participate.