Night Elf Play

          
You’ve seen our Pegkin tree house and all the peg people that are playing there but I’ve yet to share our night time elf play that is just off to the left side of
                  the tree house in the above picture.
   
I painted the inside of box green on the bottom and blue on the top.  Then poked
                    mini lights through the top and back.
 
Furnished it with small wooden chairs, backgammon pieces, wooden spools, jewels
                                         and trees.
            
                                And of course the elves.
     
              This weekend I found glass trees and a picket fence.

     The children do play with it but not as much as the tree house.
       
                                  It is always busy.

Christmas Collages

At the art table this morning we made collages.  That was a new word for the children and a great way to talk about different symbols of the season.
         
Each container had garland, tinsel, pom poms, bows, felt pieces, ribbons, musical notes, and cut-outs from old Christmas cards.  The instructions were to add pieces that remind each person of Christmas.

      For some it was Santa Claus, candy canes and stockings.
     
                 For others it was the birth of Jesus.

      
         And others spent the time practicing a new skill.
            
            
What I enjoyed about this activity was that it provided another opportunity to talk with families about their traditions at this time of year.

Tinsel Decorating

              This week our sensory tub is full of tinsel garlands and
                          small wooden tree decorations.
             
    But it didn’t stay in the tub. The children were inspired to decorate.
  
       The children began decorating the house area with the garland. 
                     Through the chairs and into the sink.
 
         Over and around the table.  And even to the gingerbread play house.

I wonder how many of the children helped decorate at home. 
They seemed to have some experience. 
They definitely had the interest.

Pegkin Project Week #2

This past week we met 8 new Pegkins and introduced a new tree house.
                      
Pegkin #6 Addi - she likes the colour pink and to play with Adeline's toys.  We missed meeting her last week because of a snow storm.
                     
Pegkin #8 Softness - she's very soft and dressed in Christmas colours.  She has glittery wings so she can fly.
                    
Pegkin #9 Feather Deather - she lives in Featherland.  She has feathers and can fly to the moon. Feather Deather has a dog and likes to play fetch.
                    
Pegkin #10 Jingle Bells - but we call her Jingles for short.  She likes to dance and sing Jingle Bells so we sang the song for her.
                    
Pegkin #11 Jesse - she looks just like her creator. She likes rainbows and Christmas.
    
Pegkin #12 Delfie – he is wearing his button blanket and cedar hat.  He loves to drum and dance.
              
Pegkin #13 Ella – is all the way from Mexico. She loves to play soccer and do homework. Her favourite food is pineapple and she loves to drink milk and apple juice best.  She loves the colours pink, purple, blue and anything that sparkles and glitters.
                 
Pegkin #14 Prince George - the King of the Sea. He lives in a house made of seaweed and he keeps a lookout for sharks and humans.  He was created by a child that is now in Kindergarten.  His family likes to collect treasures from the ocean so that is why he is made with sea glass and shells.

Our new tree house.

I’ve been inspired by several different ideas on wonderful blogs and have wanted one for my program for years.  My very handy and willing husband helped me create this tree house. 
  
I finally had the wood needed, thanks to families donating it, and explained to my husband what my vision was and he started building.
            
The families love it.  There is constant activity around both tree houses.  Through exploring and inventing they have been imagining different scenarios with the Pegkins.
           
 
                           But more on that in another post.

Paint IN an Ornament

        
I’ve been saving up clear plastic ornaments for a couple of years now to have enough to use one day at StrongStart.  The best time to buy these, at an affordable price, is just after Christmas.  Finally this year we could use them.
     
       We used eye droppers to insert the paint into the ball. 
        
    It allowed the child to control how much went in at a time.
                
After putting the paint in we encouraged the children to roll the ball to make the paint move.  The tricky part was getting the paint to a good consistency without being too runny.
       
After rolling the ball they could check to see where they wanted more paint and with a little help of holding the ball on the side they soon learned how to manipulate where the paint would land.
         
When satisfied their grown up capped the ball and it was ready to be hung.
 
I can imagine the variety of things we could use to fill these balls;
evergreens, crayons, pictures…

What would you fill it with?

Gingerbread Playhouse

This month we built a play house.

           
     We spent a morning painting it brown like gingerbread.
 
                 And the roof white like snowy frosting.
 
As soon as it was put together the children were in it, then out again.
                
The next day we painted candy stripes for decorations and used
               our sticky lights around the edges.

The next day we added cupcake liners to the roof that looked like
                                 candy decorations.
              
Toddler aged children are enjoying this play house the most. 
              Probably because of the size. 
       It’s a narrow box so not much room inside.


At the art table we have a hole punch shaped like a snowflake. 
It’s a fairly easy punch for the children to use and they use it a lot.
 
     So we made lots of snowflakes to hang from the eaves and
                          on the side of the house.
        
Our gingerbread playhouse is a welcoming sight in the middle of our room.
                          “Come in and play!”