What’s on Our Art shelves?

After posting about our Art Area Makeover there were comments wanting to know what kind of things we have on our shelves.
Here are a list of photos.



 

 
 

We’ve also had items from nature that were in season.

That’s Mine - story

       
I found this book at a used book sale and liked the simplicity of it and that it could be made in to an oral story.  The story is about a rabbit who sees an apple in a tree and wants it but can’t reach it.  A crow flies along to help but decides to keep it for himself.  He drops it as he flies away, the rabbit chases him.  It lands beside a hedgehog and he claims it as his.  They argue waking a bear who eventually helps them figure out how to share it.
   
I decided to use props to tell the story but had to make a few substitutions.  My story is told with a pear (a Melissa and Doug toy) and a wolf instead of hedgehog.

The children liked this story and were able to predict what was going to happen.

Celery Experiments

Have you tried to regrow celery? 

We did!  

Two Fridays ago, after cutting the stalks off a bunch of celery, we placed the bottom part in a bowl of water.  The following Monday there were leaves growing from the middle.

           

Wanting to extend our experimenting, we wondered if we added colour to the water would it be soaked up into the leaves. 

                              

We’ve done this experiment using carnation flowers before.

                  

We watched as the red dye mixed in the water and talked about our hypothesis.

                       

Will we begin to see red colour (highlights) in the leaves or the stalk ends?

  

One week later and no sign of red in the leaves or stalk.  

 But the leaves are still growing taller.  

 Next step?  

Try the same experiment with a single celery stalk.

You Don’t Have to Build It for Them to Play

Yesterday I posted about beginning our outer space play using small
toys and that our next step is to build a rocket ship dramatic play. 
I’ve been waiting for a large fridge box to use to make the rocket but
it hasn’t arrived yet. 
This morning some of the children arrived saying they were excited
to play in the rocket ship.  Their caregiver had warned them that it
might not be ready yet, which was true. 
The children hovered around the area where the rocket will be, our
slide will be the frame of the rocket and we’ll wrap the cardboard
box around it.
             
I found a large piece of fabric and draped it over the slide.  Immediately they dove inside, up the slide and in from behind.  I thought, why wait to bring out the pieces that we’ve been collecting? 
 
So I carried out a large box full of loose parts that may be used on our rocket.  The boys began to explore the materials.

They began to create different scenarios.
   
Working together to figure out how to make the props work in their play.

Figuring out how to work with disruptions.  A much younger child became interested in the hose.  The boys stopped their play and watched her.  Her mother encouraged her to move around to climb the slide.  Play began again.

       Cooperative.  Imaginative.  Role playing.  Learning.
   
Today I learned that I don’t need to have everything set up for the children to play.  They reminded me, again, that much more learning can happen with loose parts then with a finished product.  We’ll still build a rocket ship but the children have had time to play with the parts and may have a better understanding of how they might use those parts in the construction of our rocket ship.

Blast Off!

We’ve finished our planning for outer space and now it is time to play.
            
We’ve started small and slow with two 'small world' play areas. 
    This is the first one they see as they walk in the room.

          
The second one is in the far corner of the room that will eventually
                   turn into outer space. 

                                                                                          
I was very lucky to find these space shuttles, astronauts and lunar
         mobiles at a thrift store just last week.


                     
Starting slow allows the children to explore the rockets and add to
the ideas of what our big cardboard rocket should look like when
                            we build it.

    
What parts does it have?  Fuselage, windows, wings and …..
stay tune, we will begin building our play rocket very soon.

Did you notice, in the pictures, that only boys are playing with these toys.  There were a few girls but I didn’t capture good pictures of them.  I plan on asking the girls their thoughts, feelings and ideas of what we could add to this play.

Art Area Makeover

Last June I was introduced to a new resource book.
            
Cathy Weisman Topal and Lella Gandini’s book is about encouraging creativity through discovery, collecting, sorting and experimenting with recyclable stuff.  Our families participated by collecting items from nature, around their home and their recycling bins.  They brought in empty clear plastic salad containers for the display bins.
            
This past September I attached the above note to lunch size paper bags to encourage more families to contribute to our art shelves.
          
Next I rearranged the shelves and added a second table to the art area. 

             
The main table is for exploration, using any materials off the three shelves.  I discovered that it took a lot of encouraging from me before the families started accessing the shelves. 

The main table has containers that house scissors, glue sticks, markers, hole punches, and pencil crayons.
     
This table is busy everyday.  Now that materials are easily accessible the children are constantly exploring, manipulating and creating.  Especially the scissors, snipping and cutting is a favourite.
            
This new table is inspiring the children and adults to use materials with no set outcome.  Seeing objects in new ways, for new purposes.
           
Sorting, attaching (tape and glue guns are available on one of the shelves) and readjusting.
                    
                
The families are past their shyness with using the materials off all the shelves and daily I’m impressed with the art and structures that are being created.
   
There is a second table in the art area that I set up with a daily art or craft activity.  Interestingly it is not as busy.  I'm considering removing it.