Rice and Funnels

I follow a blog called Sand and Water Tables written by Tom Bedard.  I’ve been following for sometime amazed by the structures he creates in and around their sensory table.  Our table isn’t as big but I knew I could do something similar so this past week was my first attempt.  It’s a small step but after watching the children responding to the equipment I'm  motivated to do more.
          
I added a wire frame between the tub and orange shelf allowing me to tie the tubes in a high position.
   
Funnels were added to the top of the tubes and it was ready for the children to scoop rice into them.
     
A challenge was pouring rice into the funnels, as they flopped side ways, without the rice spilling all over the shelf and the floor.  A bonus was that this encouraged some of the parents to play in the bin.
              
For others they figured out to use both hands, one to hold the funnel and the other to scoop and pour.  Then one brilliant parent suggested we tie the funnels together - tada - they stay upright on their own.
        
This was a popular tub for young and old, boys and girls.  The children began to add other items like; tin cans, plastic containers, cups and spoons from the shelves around the bin.
                    
             The broom was kept handy for frequent clean ups.
                 Thanks Tom for being an amazing inspiration.

Pancake for One

   
I modified a pancake recipe so each child could mix and cook their own pancake.

Here’s the recipe:

   2 tablespoons flour                     1/4 teaspoon baking powder

   1/2 teaspoon sugar                          3 tablespoons milk

     1 tablespoon egg                                 1/4 teaspoon oil
               
Measure and mix the ingredients in a container that you can close. 
          Then shake, shake, shake to thoroughly mix.

       
                  Pour in pan. Cook.  Flip.  Eat.

A Visit to the Museum

       
We live in an area that is home to many fossils.  In our local river the bones from an Elasmosaurus were discovered.  The model of those bones and many other fossils are housed at our local museum.
                      
                               
While visiting the museum we did a scavenger hunt.  The children each had a photo booklet of items to find in the museum.  They pretended to be palaeontologists using homemade magnifying glasses to help search. The parents commented that they appreciated how the booklets gave their children more focus on each of the items.
                           
There was one photo in their booklets that didn’t have a name.  Their challenge was to figure out what it was called.  Most guessed ‘octopus’ which was really close.  It’s called a Dumbo Octopus because of the big ‘ears’ that are coming out of the top of it’s body.
                 
         My favourite activity was measuring the dinosaur footprint.
       
We all took our boots off and placed on them on the three-toed footprint.  It took 12 of our boots to fill the print.

Dino Footprints

    
This morning we finished our focus on dinosaurs by playing in mud (shaving cream and brown paint).  The above child, M, was the first to dip and move the dinosaurs through the goo.  As her mom sat beside her chatting with a friend, M chatted away to herself.
 
         “Time for your bath.  You fell in, I’ll rescue you.”
       
As others began to join in the play I started to see dinosaur footprints
     across the table and it reminded me of a book,
              
“I’m Big!” by Kate and Jim McMullan is about a long neck that slept in and
                      has to search for his pack.
    
One point in the story he finds all kinds of dinosaur footprints and is able to
            follow the prints that look like his own to find his pack.

The book encouraged us to compare our dinosaur footprints.  How are they the
              same and different?  Are there any that match?
  
            Our morning of explorations was very enjoyable.

Dinosaur in the Snow

                 Buddy time last week took us outside.

Each big and little buddy partner had a nature bag containing a piece of yarn.  The plan was to walk in the woods finding 5 things the same length as their string but we had had a lot of snow the past few days and the path into the woods wasn’t passable.
       
Instead we walked along the fence and found sticks, old leaves and some rocks
                            and pine cones.
 
They collected their items in their bag then we made our way up to a sunny
                     spot in the school yard.
          
We had a little fun with shadows.  Shaping our buddies to look like dinosaurs. 
        Can you see the tyrannosaurus in the above photo?
       
When everyone gathered in our sunny spot I explained that we would use our materials to build a dinosaur skeleton in the snow.  The children began to empty their bags.  The first item was a big rock so we used it as the jaw.
                    
Continuing to build the skeleton and naming the parts; tail, back bone, claws led to our finished dinosaur.  The snow worked great as a back drop to the darker materials.  It helped us see our dinosaur clearly.

What Colour Were the Dinosaurs?

We have read many books about dinosaurs in the last several weeks but the topic of what colour they were only appeared in a few books.
     
This one “Uneversaurus” by Aidan Potts encourages the reader to question what dinosaurs looked like, from skeleton to skin colour and covering.
      
   But it was the inside cover that inspired our art project today.

      
The families approached the art table wondering what colour were
                           the dinosaurs and why? 


Using pencil crayons and paint chips they created their own dinosaurs.

                        A rainbowsaurus.

               A long neck blue with purple belly.
  
       
                  T Rex with an erupting volcano.
     
       Walking in the woods one morning I found this. 
                   Could it be dinosaur skin?