Dinosaur block construction!

We have had the Ipad blocks for about a year now (the free packaging that sandwiches each IPad when it is bought) and they are still as popular now as they were when we first introduced them. And with relatively few casualties despite them being trodden on from time to time! We have had them out every day this week and what I love is that the play and constructions change each time they are out :-)
On the first day the dinosaurs were in a multi-storey car park...in the next session they were at a theme park and mixed the long wooden blocks in with them to make slides. There has also been a castle this week and a mountain leading up to a volcano... Fab imaginative play for next to no money (well aside from someone having bought the IPads of course, but you get what I mean!!!)
I love the precision with which the blocks have been aligned in the top picture and the dinosaurs peeking out in between in the second!

Golden Time

We have Golden Time once a week in our setting (as part of our whole school behaviour policy) - this week I offered water painting....who would have thought that a large bucket of water, paint brushes and sponges would keep a group of 4-5 year olds occupied for such a long period of time!!! We had a ball! We started off by drawing pictures but actually, what was most fun, was throwing wet sponges at the stone pillars in our outside area and watching them splatter!!!!

Wax resist whale shark pictures

We started read the book 'Surprising Sharks' this week with the children and surprising it definitely is!! Did you know sharks only kill around 6 people a year but that we kill 100 million sharks each year? Sobering thought! Anyway, we then decided to draw pictures of sharks and one of the options was to use candles to draw with to create wax resist pictures. It turned out that the candles were too hard to work with for most of the children (because you had to press so hard to make it work) but they had good fun trying and it was a great exercise for those finger muscles. In the end, we gave them silver crayons and then went over their lines with a candle before they put on the ink. I love the fact that each picture is unique, focussing on the aspects that each child saw as most prominent. Some focussed on the spots on the whale sharks whilst others thought the pointy fins were more important and naturally there was one who just enjoyed the sensation of the crayon on the paper.... :-D

I left the same materials out this afternoon with complete freedom and was really impressed with the seahorses, crabs and starfish that were presented to me at the end of the afternoon. I think it is really important to offer materials that have been used for teaching independently again later - the best experimenting and discussions always seem to occur!!

Drawing the whale shark

Using black and blue watered down inks to colour.

Et voila!

The Enormous Turnip - root vegetable printing

As part of our work on Traditional Tales, we explored the tale of The Enormous Turnip and have been looking closely at root vegetables. We put out paint in trays with root vegetables and left the children to it :-) I loved the variations in the children’s pictures and processes. Some children arranged the veg in patterns, others covered the paper entirely and two children ignored the veg and went straight in with their hands :-D good fun was had by all!!

Huff and Puff pictures - The Three Little Pigs!!!

Recently, we looked at the story of The Three Little Pigs. We had heard lots of conversations about the wolf huffing and puffing (and seen it in the children’s play) so we set up a station where the children could make their own ‘Huff and Puff’ pictures. It went down a treat and some children several up to 40 minutes dropping watered down ink onto the paper and blowing it like the wolf :-) It is so nice to see children so highly engaged and the conversations about mixing colours that took place were a treat to hear! 

Spray painting…

Great fun (and fab for strengthening hand/finger muscles :-) ) but think we will be finding paint splattered items for a long time to come lol! All but two of my children chose to come and have a go throughout the day and every picture is different. One child deliberately placed her 3 sprays (each one in a different colour) whilst another sprayed until there was not a speck of white left on the paper :-) 

LIght box fun and story telling

I really like these glass nuggets - I got them at a discount store for very little money and the children haven’t stopped playing with them! I put them out next to the light box along with a basket of people. One of my EAL speakers then called me over to tell me the story of the people playing in the swimming pool at their party - great for confidence building and language development!

Exploring Michael Rosen's We're going on a bear hunt!!

One of my favourite books is We’re going on a bear hunt by Michael Rosen.
We set up the sand to represent the scenes in the story and the children have had a ball exploring the small world setting and re-telling the story - admittedly it didn't look like this for very long but I am taking that as a sign that it was a good idea!! And on day 2, the children took the dinosaurs from an activity on the carpet and started telling the story - we’re going on a dinosaur hunt :-D

After listening to the story several times, the children were able to retell the story themselves. We laid out a selection of different materials and encouraged the children to think about the parts in the story. We then made a story map of the story We’re going on a bear hunt….all the ideas came from the children and they did all the work :-) 

I think it looks fab and we have had lots of fun playing with it - we took it outside in the end and it was lovely that so many boys were acting out the story once it was no longer indoors!

Inspiring small world play environments

We love making small world environments for the children to explore. The children love them even more, adding and changing them throughout the day (often coming up with much better ideas than us lol!)  :-D Here are a few individual ones we have made, all to fit in with our current topic, Under the sea!

Creative woodwork - using real tools :-)

Empowering children with the right knowledge to allow them to use their creativity to the max. These 3-5 year olds were shown how to use the tools correctly, given appropriate safety gear to allow them to have a go and were absolutely over the moon with their creations and the results! One girl made a house for her dolls, others made a photo frame for their favourite painting and abstract sculptures. Some just enjoyed the process of cutting and/or gluing and made nothing in particular but gained valuable skills, having fun in the process. Love it!

Painting with marbles :-)

Great, messy fun!!! Actually these worked out really well and the children had great fun chasing the marbles around the page….and on the floor…think I would do it outside next time lol!!! We had been to an art museum with the children a few months previously and had a go at using a giant frame with foam balls - that was fantastic fun but I haven’t yet managed to make a frame that big yet!

Olympic fun with The Champion Hare

The Champion Hare

Have just discovered this amazing book! It is the story of a little hare who takes part in various (olympic) races and although he tries his best, he doesn’t ever win - love the attitude though “I’ve jumped and I’ve pole vaulted, thrown things and I’ve run, I’ve never come first but I’ve still had great fun!” At the end of the story, the animals celebrate his decathlon achievements for taking part in each race and doing so well. 

If you ‘like’ them on facebook, then message them, they will send you a free Powerpoint version of the book! Seriously fab!!! And great for our upcoming Olympic theme!

Fairy Chairs

One Inch World - Fairy Chairs

These gorgeous chairs were made by One Inch World

Aren’t they fantastic? I want to have a go….next stop, forest! :-)

I put out this invitation to play this morning and the children have been actively exploring and telling stories all day with it. Lots of building has been going on, stacking the tiny bark pieces on top of the larger wooden blocks - quite a difficult feat it turns out to be!!

What are your favourite invitations to play this week?

Working with wire…

My class had been playing with shadows for some time, exploring using the overhead projector (OHP), torches in darker corners, playing in the courtyard chasing their own shadows in the sun, etc. Then one child, fascinated by silhouettes, asked me to take a photo of them in front of the OHP to see what they looked like…and a mini project had begun!

We took pictures of shadows, of both the children and their parents, then printed them out for the children to have a look at. I then introduced thin wire (of different thicknesses) and showed the children how to manipulate it. Over the course of several days, the children chose a picture and had a go at creating the silhouette out of wire. This was trickier than it seemed and took lots of perseverance but everyone got there in the end, trying out different ways to bend the wire and helping each other out if needed. Some children wanted to add the features to their wiring, so they chose materials from the invention centre to add to their work. Lovely results and lots of fun and learning in the process!!!

Mirror Exploration - using a mirror table

Using a mirror table…

I love having a mirror table in the classroom and seemingly so do my class!! The first few weeks after we got it, I was unsure how to use it to best effect so we had a brainstorming session and the children came up with some fabulous ideas. That was several years ago and now there isn’t a day that goes past when it isn’t in use….and usually the ideas are all completely different. Here a just a few:

• Lenses and mirrors on the surface for exploration of reflections, light and colour
• Use of blocks, recycled and natural materials on the surface to make patterns and pictures, often resulting in teamwork and/or high levels of concentration and involvement - in the picture with the spiral, the child was inspired by the African land snails that we had as class pets at the time
• Shaving foam (or paint, gloop or other tactile material) - lots of pre-writing skills developed, creating shapes and patterns
• Using the mirrors outside, creating lots of natural reflections and inspiration for imaginative play

Overhead projector fun!

Using an overhead projector…

These are just some of the ways that the children have come up with to use the overhead projector during their play:

• Playing with gel numbers
• Writing numbers on acetates and making up games to go with with them
• Using ribbons and scarves to dance in and out of the lights creating shadows
• Using bottles of coloured water (sealed!!) that the children had mixed in a previous activity
• Creating patterns and scenes using translucent shapes
• Exploring colour and light using translucent blocks
• Exploring shadows and silhouettes