Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Fairy Doors


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In a community close to us, fairy doors have been found on one
of the mountain biking trails. 
                                        Very exciting!
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             The doors are about 3-6 inches tall. 
They are placed on the side of stumps, on short side trails off the main.

They inspired us to make fairies at school then take them out to look at the doors.
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We used little, old fashioned clothespins with seeds and cones I
found on my morning walk. 
We also used yarn, moss and old silk flowers.
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We used the glue gun to put them together.
They were ready to check out the doors.

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It was a bit of a hike in to the start of the trail. 
Up some steep hills and around narrow trails.
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Our fairies checked out the doors to see if they wanted to move in.
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The trail led us to a bench with a view of the leaning tree.
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Since it’s a mountain bike trail there were a few jumps, like the Drop of Doom.
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It was a little steep so we opted to walk around.

I so like this walk, that I took my own family up there this past weekend.
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 I'm sure that if he had a bike, he would have rode over the Drop of Doom.

My favourite door was this little red one with a lion’s head knocker.
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               And I loved the handpainted signs.
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Stay tuned for more of how else we’ve been playing with fairies.

Saturday, October 6, 2012

Story - Turkey Lake

A chalk talk.
Sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t.
 I think if I had added "And it makes this sound, Gobble, Gobble" they would have guessed it.

Friday, October 5, 2012

Thursday, October 4, 2012

Wednesday’s Walk in the Woods

This week while we walked in the woods we hunted for leaves.
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I had previously took a walk through the woods collecting leaves.
Took them home, pressed them before laminating them on to cards.
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The children were very intent on finding their leaf.
Once they found a leaf they’d place it on the card to see if it matched.
We looked for comparisons and talked about the shapes, size and colour.
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Sometimes we’d find a leaf that had the same shape but it still looked different.  The colour had changed or it was curled or was missing a few pieces. 
Was it still the same kind of leaf?
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We ended at the big rock. 
They love to climb and slide on it as much as they like to play at the playground.

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Turkey Time for Snack


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  We made turkeys at the snack table this morning.
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      The materials were arranged in a sectional tray.
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    And a ‘recipe’ was created for them to follow.
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The most interesting thing that happened with this snack this morning was that the children thought the bread was chocolate or cake or brownies.  I heard it several times.
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They were very eager to give it a try. 
Some changed their minds when their parents told them it wasn’t something sweet.
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But by the end of the morning most had given the pumpernickel bread a try.
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                               And gobbled it up!

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Play Trays This Week


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                  Orange sand on a tray encouraging to practice print.
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Practicing print starts with making marks. 
We saw lots of different marks; straight lines – short and long,
curved like a smile, dots and circles were a few.
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Excitement when the marks becomes something recognizable to the child.
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The sand also encouraged scooping and sifting through the fingers.
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                   Felt fall pieces to sort by shape or colour.
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Sorting tray with acrylic acorns, mini tongs, baskets and squirrels.
                   What fun we saw happen with these props.
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                        Helping the squirrel dive in to eat the acorns.
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Sorting the acorns or once discovering the sorting tray turns, giving it a great spin.
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Milk cap drop box.  I saw this idea over at We Can Do All Things.
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The children loved it and the box was easy to move around to meet any sized child.
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Parents liked the simple materials and felt they could make it at home.
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The children enjoyed emptying the box to start over as much as they enjoyed slipping the caps into the box.