Mouse Paint

Our focus book for the week is Mouse Paint 

by Emily Stoll Walsh.

My friend, Janis, made the felt story for me.

I added these three cans.  They are see through so I 

slipped pieces of coloured construction paper inside.

The children explored the story as it was read,

 or told to them.

Sometimes they made up their own story.

It's a great story for learning about colours.

With lots of opportunities to match and sort the colours.

And learn about mixing colours to make new.

Rainbow Bars

This week we made Rainbow Bars for snack.

I found the recipe at Bloom Designs.

 The recipe is just like rice krispie squares except you use Fruit Loops.

 There were several challenges for the children while making this recipe.

The first was NOT to eat the marshmallows.

 Second to be careful when stirring, being sure not to touch the hot pan.

 This is our science lesson for the morning; how a solid changes when heat 

is introduced.

 The third challenge was to get their hands slimy with the butter

 and spread it around in the pan.

 The final challenge was again not eating it as the sticky cereal

was being pressed into the pan.

 Finally, everyone got a piece

and gave it a thumbs up.

They all completed the challenges with enthusiasm and success.

SAR Buffalo Part 2

 The next day the children arrived to see the Buffalo had been

painted.  It turned out more orange than yellow but they didn't mind.

 The word RESCUE was printed on both sides and

we added maple leaf stickers that the pilots had given us.

 Then we had to figure out how to add the propellers to the wings.

 We encouraged the children to get involved but their interest laid in flying the plane.

 So two more dads designed and put together the propellers.

 Then one of their sons became interested and helped

attach the propeller to the wing.

 Yay, we have two working propellers on our Buffalo.

I've been spotted!

Do I need to be rescued?

Goodbye Passenger Plane Hello SAR Part 1

We were very lucky this week to have a tour to the air base to see the 

Search and Rescue aircraft.

 We went to tour the Cormorant helicopter

 and the Buffalo airplane.

Four pilots toured us through both and answered all our questions.

I gave the children a little booklet to record what they saw.

We saw how they turn the plane and helicopters, the bubble (observation) windows,

the seat, the wings, and the propellers. 

Back at school I took down our passenger airplane,

I didn't want to cut into that cardboard,

found another box

and started to build the Buffalo.

The box isn't pretty but we like to reuse as often as possible.

Inside is a raised platform which the children had to walk across to get to 

the pilot's seat.

I didn't get a picture of it but there is a ramp at the end of the platform.

That was a challenge for us, during our tour, to climb up the big ramp 

to get inside the plane.

Observation windows are located on both sides of our plane

just like the Buffalo.

As the children played the talk of 'where are the wings?' occurred.

Luckily one of the fathers works at the base and is very

familiar with planes.

I was struggling how we would attach the wings to the sides of the plane,

and still give the children space to play around it.

Then our 'technician' reminded me that the wings on a Buffalo

go across the top of the plane.

Which was brilliant because they will also help to stabilize the box.

As the dad worked on the wings, the children grabbed our basket of tools

and got to work.

Love this picture of how the girl inside is watching her dad work

and the boy outside is keeping an eye on what is happening.

By the end of the morning we finished work of putting the tail wing on

 and propeller placed at the nose.

Stay tuned.

Airplane Side Play

 Last week I taped outlines of planes to our carpeted area.

 

The stick shifts attracted the babies and toddlers.

A parent modeled playing on the plane which encouraged her little one to join in.

While another figured it out and played along with me.