At the Pond 2017

It's one of my favourite times of year, spring!

We spend more time outside exploring the many parks in our community.

One of my favourites is the pond.

This morning we were on the hunt for frog eggs.

We scoured the edges of the pond looking in the grasses,

scooping lots of dirt and rocks with our nets.

No luck finding frog eggs but we did find this big clump of eggs

that I believe are salamander eggs.

We had a good look then put them back in the pond.

We did find other interesting things as we searched.

This little clump of spiddle had perfectly formed water

bubbles.

We found seeds spread on the ground and guessed

it was for animals to eat.

We didn't find frog eggs but I was lucky to get a call last night

from a friend who had found some.

She shared some of her tadpoles with us.

So we prepped a new home for them.

We added plants that we pulled from the pond

and buckets of water.

Balls and Box is All you Need

I was given a bag of plastic balls for free.

I used one of our old boxes (it was our old pretend washing machine)

and cut a few new holes in it.

The basket worked great for collecting the balls

and carrying them around.

The holes on the sides allowed more than one child to play

and it challenged the children to bend, peek and stretch

to get the balls out.

The big hole on the top makes a great target for tossing the balls.

One morning I saw a family had incorporated these coloured bowls

into their play to sort the balls.

It inspired me to encourage others to try it.

This child discovered a different way to use the bowls with the balls.

He put one inside then held the bowls together and shook it.

Love how a simple toy can inspire a variety of play,

even peaceful moments.

Bring on the Rain

It has been raining a lot here and one night as I was browsing through 

Pinterest when I saw this great idea.

I taped our handy pizza box easel to the table

and set out diluted paint with eye droppers.

The images of people with umbrellas I found by searching google.

The children loved squeezing the paint and watching it run down the paper.

A couple of times I would sing 

"It's raining, it's pouring, the old man is snoring..."

Some are learning how to use an eye dropper and started 

by dragging the dropper across the paper.

We had to add paper towel at the bottom to soak up the 

extra "rain".

 

A tranquil art activity.

A New Recipe

This week we made Apple Cinnamon Quinoa Oatmeal Muffins.

You can find the recipe at Family Food on the Table.

 We started by peeling the apples.

Then we gathered the rest of the ingredients.

One cup of oatmeal,

and one cup of quinoa (already cooked).

Cinnamon, brown sugar and white sugar smell so good.

Blend them altogether.

Next we added two eggs,

and the apples.

Ready to scoop them into the greased muffin tins.

Delicious.

I think we may make them again but change the apples for carrots.

Painting with Clouds

With our easel ready in our sensory tub I added two trays,

paint brushes and squeegees.

Oh and shaving cream (aka clouds)

I thought the children would paint with the brush

and clear off the easel with the squeegee,

 but they showed me that a squeegee works as a great brush too.

By putting the easel in the tub it contains the shaving cream

even when toddlers use it.

I wonder what else I could use on this easel?

Working Together

I like when an idea I have and an interest a child has comes together.

That's what happened on Monday.

I wanted to make a little easel to put in our sensory tub.

At the same this little guy arrived at school with his measuring tape.

He was ready to measure.

As he went to play I continued to look around my storage room

for something that would work.

I found a large piece of flex board in the perfect colour.

I asked the little guy if he wanted to help me.

We measured and marked the board then cut it together.

But when we put it in the tub it was too big

(I had measured it myself the first time)

But that was okay, it meant that we had to remeasure,

mark and cut again.

 It felt so good doing this activity with someone who was so interested.

Stay tuned to tomorrow to see what we did with it.