Five Little Pumpkins

      
We used potato mashers to make our pumpkins sitting on the gate.

I re-created the poem, adding pictures for key words for the children to
anticipate the words and motivate them to read along.
                 
I have to admit that I did learn something from my last art table mistake
but only slightly.

I created the painting above but I didn’t leave it on the table. 
I hung it on the wall like a decoration. 
I was much happier with the results.

This child felt free to make many, many pumpkins
 
and have them in a pumpkin patch.

 
While another made many jack o’lanterns with emotions,
         
and her mom labelled them for her.

 
Another was very methodical in her creation.
 
Adding stems and faces
       
before finishing off with the poem.

This child just wished to experiment with the potato mashers and brushes
 
that didn't mean she didn't have just as a rich and meaningful experience as the others.

                  
They were all willing to share their artwork before taking it home.

Owl Buddies

Our big buddies created some beautiful art work about owls.

Here are a few pieces.
  
That inspired a joint project with us, their little buddies.
Ms. Smith their teacher found a handprint owl idea on Pinterest and
we planned our time together around it.

We started with watching a few of our big buddies act out the story Owl Babies by Martin Waddell.

Then we painted each others hand to create our art.
 
The children, both young and old, practiced taking turns,
being gentle,
 
leading and following each other,
supporting through actions
and words.

Even though we have a brief 20 – 25 minutes together, it is full of conversation,
laughter and getting to know each other better.


Now we have a beautiful owl art gallery in the school hallway.

          
          
          

Hallowe’en Play Trays

            
Matching, counting and recognizing shapes is the focus of this play tray.
                  
 
                Three Little Witches fingerplay came to life this week.
                  
                  
With the words available the grown up could easily teach the fingerplay
to their little one. 
The finger puppets kept the children involved.
                 
              I saw this idea a couple of years ago at Saltwater-Kids.
                    
Having two puzzles on one tray was a challenge for some of the
children and grown ups.
                  
And lastly, I brought out our golf tee balance board.
Instead of marbles I used little jack o’lanterns that were once attached
to a string of lights.
 
Which way can the jack o’lanterns balance? 
Using the flat bottom or the skinny top?
              
The tricky part was not to bang the tray while balance them or they all fall off.

Lessons from Punch Art

     
Interesting how innocent our mistakes can be.

This morning at the art table I made the above punch art
and hung it on the window. 
I wrote the instructions,
"draw a picture, use the golf tees and hammer to punch holes"
and then I left the table.

I never thought everyone would draw a jack o’lantern. 
A big reminder not to make a model for children to follow. 
It can so hinder their own creativity. 

But I did observe a couple of positive things during today’s activity.

Firstly that the children love to hammer. 
 
That in their own time and way they could figure out how to use the hammer.
Which side to pound the golf tee?
  
How to use the hammer to pull the tees out of their picture?


And I also listened to the grown ups talk. 
One mentioned that this activity reminded her of a Lite Brite. 
Another asked what a Lite Brite was.
 
Luckily I have a couple in the cupboard and was able to bring it out so the
children could use them.

This began a brief conversation about texture – smooth vs rough.
 
Interesting that what started out as ‘oh no I shouldn’t have done that’,
ended up to still be a positive experience.