Spirals

            
Since we have snails in our little garden I decided to set up this provocation
                                    focusing on spirals.
          
The trays are covered with sand and there are small containers holding different
                          loose materials beside each of them.
                      
                I also printed various images of spirals that I Googled.

I discovered that the sand just scattered everywhere so I made a change for day
                                                  two.
     
          
I drew spirals on paper and laminated them.  The children then placed the items; toothpicks, shells, flat marbles and coloured stones, around, on or within the lines.

The second week I changed it again, taking away the silver trays and replacing them
                                            with turntables.
              
      A mixture of markers and coloured pencils were offered with paper.
  
Drawing on the paper while spinning the turntable was a challenge for some of the
                              children and their grown up helped.
    
This also allowed them to experiment with the drawing tools, like using two at a
                                                      time.
 
The pictures above shows two children, different ages, able to spin and draw at the same time.  What skill do they have or have learned that allows them to do this when others can’t?

             
                         
                                Having fun and being creative!

Snail Garden 2015

One of my favourite projects to do with the children, at this time of year, is to
                                       make a snail garden.

This year we planted it in our see-through sensory table.  I brought a piece of sod
                     from home and we filled in the rest with soil
and grass seed.

We used wheat grass seed because it grows fast and thick.
     
Every day we watered it and in less than a week our grass had grown and I
                         invited families to bring some snails in.
    
We had three; two bigger snails and one very tiny snail that we haven’t seen since
                                          the day it moved in.

                    
  
Everyday we water the garden to keep it moist for the snails.  The grass continues to grow so every once in awhile we cut it.  Making sure the snails are out of the way
                                                first.
                
With the grass growing tall above the soil we could see the roots growing long
                 underneath the soil.  We also noticed a few bugs too.
                     
We keep window screening on top of the garden when we are not observing the snails.
 
                
But we take it off frequently to see what the snails are doing, what they feel like,
        how far they will go and talk about the different parts of the snail.
        
         A table is set up beside the garden with information about snails.

Frog Release

Nearing the end of the school year and time to let all our live creatures free.
This week we took our frogs and tadpoles back to the pond.

It was exciting to take the frogs out of the container and try to hold them.
They were hoppy to be out, literally.  We found it difficult to find the frogs
in the grass they were camouflaged so well.
          
The tadpoles took a little coaxing to come out of the tub and surprisingly they didn’t swim away.  We were able to watch them and noticed tiny fish swim up around them.
 
                         Up close and watching where we step.

Froggy Faces and Blowing

                        
       We had a lot of fun this morning making these froggy faces.
 
At the art table the families found paper shapes, green colouring tools and party blowers.  Buttons and glue gun were off to the side.
 
                         
They coloured, added buttons for eyes and punched a hole to add the party blower for the frog’s tongue.
   
Then at a separate table they could try to blow little balls around some lily pads.
                 
   
It was so much fun to watch them first try to blow through the blower and second to try to aim and hit the balls.
                 
Perseverance was the word that came to mind as I watched some children try and try.  They just didn’t give up.  Sometimes they blew until the blower fell apart.
                  
Then there was the competitive children or the dad that was encouraging them to be.  Either way it was a lot of fun.