A Rubber Ramp

Our school district resource centre has purchased several new ramp kits. 
I’ve reserved one a month for the next few months. 
        
The first kit we borrowed is a rubber ramp.  The children and parents love it.  It looks like recycled materials which is pleasing for parents and I believe is giving a few the idea to try to make their own.
               
This kit has a really long rubber piece that stretches across our room. 
Because it’s so long we needed to curve it back on itself.
              
The first day the adults started by stretching the rubber out and adding some of the tunnels/supports.  But the children soon took over and tested and changed the design.
      
     Each day after the children tried variations of hills and tunnels. 

This is a very active activity with the children running back and forth to get
their ball and let it go again.
       
                  
This ramp kit has been so exciting to have in our program.  It encourages the children to think of design, hills, slopes, tunnels, and speed of the ball.

          Everyone who tried it was very excited to watch the ball go.
                     
The only thing I wished is that the rubber ramp came in two pieces that weren’t so long.  We took it into the gym one day and was able to stretch right out.  Other than that it is a wonderful piece of equipment for all ages.

Our district purchased it from Kodo, a website worth looking at for other inspirations.

Reindeer Toast

           
This week’s Make-a-snack was Reindeer Toast. I prepared the toast this time since each child would just use a quarter of one piece.
              
      
             
We learned the word 'antler' when we added the pretzels.  And we talked about the raisin eyes and that it was difficult to see them on the toast so some children chose to use Cheerios instead.
             
The cherry nose prompted many children and their parents to call the toast Rudolph and talk about that story.
      
                                     Our photo recipe.

Frosted Window Art

                
It snowed a bit last week which was exciting but it didn’t last long.  I saw this art idea at Kinder Kraze and thought it would help make our room a little more like winter.
           
The table was set up for a couple of days so we could create lots of windows
to decorate our windows.
   
        A snowflake shaped hole punch was used to make the snowflakes.
       
It’s very simple to make, spread glue on to waxed paper, place tissue paper and snowflakes on top then spread more glue over everything.  I diluted the glue with water so the waxed paper wouldn’t curl when it dries.
  

Our decorated windows…
          
                         from the inside,
          
                                                    and the outside.

What Happened to Fairy Lane?

The past few weeks we have focused on creating fairies and building homes for them.  This came about because Fairy Lane has been removed by our city’s park department.  There was a complaint and the city didn't know why it was there so they collected all the doors and houses.
                   
It was devastating for many of us so we began to investigate the forest by our school as a possible new location. This time we want to use as many natural materials to build the homes so we collected sticks and more in the forest by our school. 
     
    
The first week the art area was really busy with each family making a house to take home.  These homes are for their own gardens.
             
       
                              They are amazing creations.

 
The second week was for making fairies.  Old fashioned clothespins were used
                for the bodies and all the materials on our shelves.
          

		Our Fairies VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

It has been an amazing two weeks of creating and learning more about fairies
and what their homes could look like.

It has also been a month of talking with our City’s park manager about Fairy Lane.  Why it was started and what it means to the many families that visit.  They have agreed that it can be rebuilt with a few guidelines.  Hopefully in the next few months we will continue to create more homes to place in Fairy Lane.