Math and Art with Milk Jug Lids

Parents have been saving milk jugs lids for me for over a year.

I wanted some more so I made a trip to the bottle depot centre where I 

could take as many as I wanted.

After they were all washed I set some out on a table with pans for sorting.

We spent over a week sorting the colours.

I kept refilling the tray in the middle of the table.

Some children loved this activity.

They would pick a lid then run around the table to find the colour match.

We finally got them all sorted.  It took a week because there were

days that the pans were dumped back onto the centre tray.

The trays were moved to the art table for the following week.

Don't they look beautiful.

The first couple of days the children weren't quite sure what to do

so I put the coloured markers on the table.

That helped

but it really took just one enthusiastic child and parent to inspire others.

I encouraged them to use other materials from the art shelves.

Wonderful images were created.

As well as toys were created like this bi-plane.

We still have a lot of lids left.

What to do next?

Magnetic Sand

One of our families was walking on a local beach when they found

black sand.

The dad realized that it was magnetite and would work 

with magnets.

So he brought me a coffee can full.

When we used magnet wands the magnetite covered them.

It is quite heavy when it is wet.

It is so cool.

The children enjoyed lifting the magnetite on the wands then brushing (pushing) it off.

It feels silky smooth.

I put dry magnetite between two clear, plastic plates and

sealed it shut.

It sat on two blocks so the children could slip the magnet wand

underneath.

It reminded me of the Wooly Willy Magnetic toys when I was young.

Monday at the Pond

This week's visit to the Pond had us searching for bugs.

I started with a book.

Some Bugs by Angela DiTerlizzi and Brendan Wenzel is full of descriptive words

and helped us think about where we might find bugs.

The families were enthusiastic to look all over.

They looked through the grasses, lifting rocks and

under logs.  As well as in the water and trees.

They found worms, spiders, slugs and lots of roly poly wood bugs.

We also saw a white moth and a few other flying insects

but they were too quick to catch on film.

One parent spotted this wood bug that had shed it's outer skeleton.

Carpet Toys

Trying different toys for carpet play.

CD Scratch Art

When you were a child did you ever make scratch art using crayons?

I remember spending so much time colouring a sheet of paper 

with so many colours then covering it all in black.

It took a lot of crayons but when it was done it was so exciting to see the 

colours show through when you scratched images in the black.

This CD scratch art is the same concept but a lot less work.

I found the idea at wimp.com

First you paint old cds with black paint.  The website said

to use acrylic but I used tempera.

Then let the children use toothpicks or skewers to

scratch the paint off.

As they scratch and move the cd, the light will shine on it and they may

see a variety of colours shine through.