Fairy Tea Party

Today is International Fairy Tea Party day so I invited families to join me at
                              Fairy Lane to celebrate.
         
This was also our day to celebrate the re-opening of Fairy Lane.  It was our first
official visit since the city put up the signs supporting this adventure.
        
We dressed for the occasion and I brought along a few extra sets of wings.

         
We started with a fairy hunt.  Some of our flower fairies were hidden and the children needed to find them and then stamp their booklet.
                      
     
       It took a little back tracking to find all six fairies but we did it together.

                     
      
                                     Then it was time for tea. 
                I offered the first pour then the children helped themselves.
                           
            
    
                  A tea party was a lovely way to end our school year.
                                Happy summer to all our families.

Snail Slime Painting

As we watched our snails move around their garden we noticed shiny spots on
                    the screening that covers the garden.
            
        It gave me the idea to try to replicate it at the art table.
                        
I made our own snails out of shell snails (I think they are used for escargot)
                  with pieces of sponge hot glued into them.
            
Pieces of window screening was taped to cardstock, so it wouldn’t slip around
           and to catch the slime as it oozes through the screening.
             
       Then they slid the snail across the screen leaving a trail of colour.
                
Sometimes more than one snail would leave their mark on the screen and
                               the colours would blend.
                  
The size of the snails were perfect for gripping which made it easier for the
                                   younger children to use.
            
You are probably wondering what we used for the slime - clear corn syrup with
                                      food colouring mixed in.

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.