Tray Plays from January

A whole month has gone by and I haven’t posted any of our Play Trays. 
Here’s a blitz.
  
Match the coloured hat to the snowman with the same coloured scarf.
 
Build a snowman with foam circles, hats, and scarves.
Xs & Os game.
 
Using tweezers to pick up pom poms and drop them into a container.
 
Button search.  Find the buttons that are parts for a snowman.
 
Nesting dolls that are unfinished.
 
Cats and dogs and a balance scale.
 
Big fuzzy pipe cleaners and a strainer.
 
Hammer and golf tees in styrofoam.

Wee Folks Woods–the beginning

We have been busy with our big buddies planning
a second Fairy Lane.  This one will be called Wee Folks Woods
because there could be many different creatures living there.
It’s going to be situated in the woods behind our school
so we can make frequent visits.

 
         Two weeks ago we met to plan our doors.
 
The door planning session also include talking of who the door would be for.
There were fairies, trolls, gnomes, witches, flying pigs, ogres and more mentioned.
  
Today was clay day.  Our big buddies used the drawings to prepare
the shape of the doors before we arrived.
 
Working together to finish the designs with details of stones, wood,
doorknobs, bricks, hinges and windows.
We learned the proper technique to attach bits of clay to the main door.
 
    

 
By the end of our session the doors are ready to sit at room temperature
before they are fired in the kiln.
 
 
  

Drawing Silhouettes

 
Today’s art was an attempt to draw the children’s silhouettes. 
But the children weren’t interested in just sitting. 


So a quick change up and the children were drawing
animal silhouettes on paper on the wall.
 
It took a few tries for them to figure how to position their
bodies to draw while seeing the image.  I was impressed that
they didn’t give up.

  
It took a few tries to follow the edge of the silhouette rather than the
shape as a whole.  They could recognize their animal when done.

 
Finally, one child showed interest to have his own silhouette drawn.
 
I like how his aunt finished off his details, right down to the picture
on his t-shirt.

 
Interest wasn’t always art based.

What Makes A Shadow

              
Groundhog Day, it’s not a holiday but it’s one of
those occasions to have fun with. 
It gives us an opportunity to talk about weather
and hibernation. 
But I like to focus on shadows at this time.
        
This morning when the children arrived and found their
picture to sign in they found this question;
“Can you see your shadow?”
  
Well of course they couldn’t because we were indoors. 
And knowing that our weather here, through the winter,
is often overcast and rainy I set up our own sun inside.

The children enjoyed turning the light on and off
figuring out how the switch and the light are
connected. 
Something we may focus on at another time. 
 
When the light was on we asked the question
and most older children could find their shadow
on the floor quite quickly. 

For some of the younger children we had to show them. 
It was often easier to make a hand shadow puppet to
demonstrate how the light created the shadow.
 
This little guy is figuring it out for himself.