June’s Play Trays

          
 
Sea shell matching.  I took photos of each shell and taped
them to the tray.  As the children pull a shell out of the
sandbox they match it to the picture.  I also included a
guide to the names of the shells.
        
 
Grace, my practicum student, made this tray of an octopus with
dotted legs.  She added flat bottom marbles to count and place
on each dot.
            
 
A game in which as the fish turn they open and close their mouths. 
The children try to catch them with a fishing rod. 
Not as easy as it looks.
            
 
I painted the underside of shells to play a colour matching game. 
 
                        
Sea creatures to sort in different ways; colour, type, etc.
 
Grace made a discovery bottle.  She used blue aquarium rocks to
partly fill the bottle then added fish, shells, glass beads to roll and
find.  Before putting each item in the bottle she took a picture and
made a guide to help the children find them all.
   
A fish, sea shell, octopus and jelly fish bath tub mat turned upside
down to place marbles on each suction cup.

Wet Felting

               
This year I learned a new technique for wet felting using a ziplock bag.
          
You need wool roving, ziplock bag (we used a large bag), dish soap and water. 
Gently pull the roving apart in small pieces and layer it in your ziplock bag. 
Do several layers changing the direction you lay the roving for each layer. 
This will be the background of your piece.
          
Next I had the children choose the colour of roving they each wanted to
use and had them pull a piece apart and place it on the background
colour. 
 
In the pictures above I had them dip their piece of roving in water first,
I won’t do that again as it proved to be unnecessary.
                
Once all the pieces are in the bag, spray it all with water and squirt some
dish soap in the bag.  Seal it and then let the children rub and rub and rub.

Flip it over and keep on rubbing.  Pass it around and let everyone have a turn.
 
As you rub, the agitation, the soap and water helps the wool felt together.  Be
sure you rub the edges too otherwise you’ll be able to pull it apart when you
take it out.
      
As an adult it took me about 15 minutes of constant rubbing to finish the
felting project.  So it may take all day with children helping depending on
their interest. 
To test if it is finished, open the bag and gently tug on the wool.  If it
doesn’t pull apart then it is done but if it does then close bag again and
keep rubbing.
When you think it is finished take it out of the bag and gently rinse it
under running water then lay flat to dry.
    
This is the only photo I have of the the big group project
(framed on the wall in the top left corner of photo).

May’s Play Trays

Shaped erasers and a wooden house tray for filling.
 
Embroidery hoops made into button and snap frames.
At a thrift store I bought a child’s buttoned shirt and a
baby’s sleeper with snaps then I stretched them with the
hoop.  If I was to make it again I would find a shirt with
much bigger buttons.
   
Clothespins on a string.  Under the string are numbers, 1-6,
and on the clothespins are dots to match.
 
  
The Very Hungry Caterpillar came to life by using a
large cleaner pipe cleaner, with a red pom pom head
attached, eating it’s way through wooden fruit (napkin
holders purchased at a thrift store).

Wind up bugs for racing as well as learning how-to
wind up a toy.
              
  
Butterfly trays and felt butterflies for sorting.
         
 
Hair rollers for pulling apart and fitting inside each other.
For talking about size and colours.
  
An old wooden game, pony beads and tweezers for matching,
and for pincher grip practice.

A Used Book Swap

It’s summer holidays here and the centre has been closed for a couple of weeks now.  But before we closed a parent suggested we start a group email list for anyone interested in getting together during the summer break.  I included myself on that list, knowing that I would be around for part of the time. 
Families have been getting together at the beach and the park, staying in touch and getting to know each other better.

Today I invited the families to participate in a used book swap at a park.  I brought a box of books I’ve been collecting from thrift stores and library book sales.  The families brought a book, added it to the collection and then chose a new one.
       
We made our own books using a single piece of paper and no staples.
 
Here’s a good tutorial of how to fold the book.
 
We spent sometime on the playground then shared some songs and stories.

This activity worked to encourage the children's interest in books and stories.
          
I'm sure there will more get togethers this summer.