Elastic Painting

I made paintbrushes out of elastics today! Here they are . . .

It was so simple I whipped up six of them in about ten minutes (the first one took almost half of that as I figured out the best way to do it!) and the best part is that all of them together cost like a dollar to make! I used elastics from the dollar store and pencils we had in the center already. The instructions I found on line suggested using elastics that were about the same size but the bag I got had a variety and I kinnda thought it would be more interesting that way anyway. So, I just grabbed a bunch of elastics and hung them over my finger so one end of each would all be together. Then I wrapped a small elastic around that end until it was tight and jammed a pencil in there. I think I am gonna remake them with sturdy sticks instead of the pencils because I think it will look better and I am thinking at some point I am gonna need all of those pencils back!

 

Than I just put them out on the table with paint and let the kids go nuts! Here is what some of them made . . . .    

 

 

Open-Ended

 

So right now the children have a favorite toy. Although I can’t say it is that new as these toys have always been around the playground!! I am not talking about the blocks, or the cars, or the bikes. I am talking about the bowling pins!

 

That’s right bowling pins! These items are always being carried around the playground. They are turned into food, microphones, weapons, something to throw, and things which are not immediately clear to adults watching. They never seem to go out of style. We will have days when the bikes or the balls are ignored. The chalk will go weeks with no one getting it out but not an outdoor time goes by when they bowling pins are not out and about.

The best part of the bowling pin popularity is that they kids have no interest in actually bowling with them. The couple times I have tried to impose my adult sense of what things are for the children have politely watched me set them up, threw a ball in the general direction and then took off with all the pins. They have never spontaneously set the pins up for themselves. It did not take me long to forget about bowling and just stand back and marvel at how an object that in the adult world has one purpose is one of the most open-ended toys we have when in the hands of the children. I guess it goes to show that anything can be open-ended if you stand back and let it.  

Cars, Ramps, and Gravity

I have to admit that I will shamelessly raid the construction site next door (with permission) for their odds and ends. This time we got some sections of pipe to add to the pipes we already had. I was happy because the new pipes were wider than the old ones and they were different lengths. I often use the pipes we have as car ramps by setting them up against a chair outside (that is when the pipes are not taken apart and in the sandbox for the kids to build with.)

 

This time I set up the old pipes and the new pipes beside each other. The kids started by putting the cars down the ramp. Now putting a car down a pipe is not as easy as it sounds! First they needed to notice that the cars needed to be wheels down in order to really go. They noticed that some of the cars went better than other cars and they noticed that sometimes the cars got stuck in the pipe and had to be shaken out! It was all going well but soon the ones without cars started to look for other things to send down the tubes.

They tried pinecones, balls, and even a bowling pin! Some of it worked and some of it didn’t. It was also interesting to watch them notice that some things would only fit down the bigger tube and that they needed to change the angle to make everything slide down faster. They still wanted to stick to the cars by the end of the day since I think they all decided that no matter which tube they used the cars just worked better!    

Painting with Balls

 

This week we used balls and marbles to paint. I rolled out a couple pieces of paper to cover the whole table and filled a large basin with paint mixed with water. I used two different sizes of marbles and some larger plastic balls that had flashing lights in them that went off when the kids hit them on the table. The idea was to have the kids grab the balls and roll them across the table to leave tracks. As usual this is not what happened in most cases.

This is the first activity I have done that left the kids no choice but to touch the paint if they wanted to participate (stamps, cars, sponges and brushes all have some surface area that they can touch that has no paint on it) At first the kids looked at me like I was crazy when I presented them with a bucket of paint covered balls but after I started playing with them some of them inched closer to the table. I had to hand out the first couple marbles as the kids were not willing to reach into the bucket but once I got the first couple kids going I took a step back to see what the kids would do.

 

 In some cases they never got past just holding a paint covered marble and then going to wash their hands.  A couple kids just wanted to empty the marbles one at a time out of the bucket onto the table. Some kids did roll the balls across the table (as the track marks on the floor showed.) and some of the kids got really into the idea of touching the paint and just finger painted on the paper.  We even had some kids who never touched the paint or the paper but they stood close to the table and watched what was going on.

After I introduced the first couple kids to the activity I left them to it. More kids came to the table but I left it to kids already painting to show them what to do. We ended up with blue paper, blue tables, blue floors, and blue kids but it was fun.    

Open them, Shut them

This song has been around my center for years but for some reason this batch of kids can’t get enough of it. It is of course Open them, Shut them!! This song is fun to sing and if you watch the look on other adult’s faces as you sing it it is also good for a laugh! It is absolute nonsense and I have been asked many times how I remember how it goes. In my case it is pure repetition! I was taught to sing it this way but I have not been able to find it on the internet so I thought I would share it here!   

Open them, Shut them

(open and shut hands in time to this)

Open them, Shut them

Give a little clap, clap, clap

(clap hands)

Open them, Shut them

Open them, Shut them

Hide them in your lap, lap, lap

(put hands in lap) 

Creep them, Creep them

Slowly creep them

Right up to your chin, chin, chin

(slowly crawl hands from lap to chin)

Open up your little mouth . . .  but don’t let them in

(as you say don’t let them in hid hand behind your back)

Ring on the bell. Bring, bring

(pull on one ear like a bell)

Knock on the door. Knock, knock, knock

(knock on your forehead)

Peek inside. Peek-a-boo, peek-a-boo

(cover and uncover eyes)

Walk right in. wipe your feet

(walk fingers from one side of your face to over your lip and “wipe your feet” with fingers)

Would you like this chair? No thank you

(walk fingers to one cheek)

Would you like this chair? No thank you

(walk fingers to other cheek)

I would like the rocking chair. Rock, Rock, Rock, Rock

(walk fingers to under your chin and rock head back and forth)

 

Five Little Turkeys

 I have been posting lots of the puppets I have made on here so here is one more set . . . .

Yup, turkeys! I use these guys for thanksgiving and in the off season for Old Macdonald.  The kids love when the turkeys gooble gooble gooble around the circle.

One of the songs I sing is this one . . .

 Five little turkeys sitting on a gate

The first one said “Oh my, it is getting late”

The second one said “There are leaves in the air”

The third one said “But we don’t care”

The fourth one said “Let’s run and run and run”

The fifth one said “It’s Thanksgiving Fun”

Oohhhh went the wind

And out went the light

And five little turkeys ran out of site

By the way you can now buy my felt puppets on Etsy here . . . so please go check it out!!!

The Goldilocks and the Three Bears Rap

Everyone knows the story of goldilocks and the three bears. However I found this version . . .

Once upon a time in the middle of the woods there were three bears

One was a papa bear, one was a mama bear, one was a wee bear

Along came a girl with a golden girl she knocked on the door but no one was there

So she walked right in ‘cause she didn’t care

Home, home, home came the papa bear

Home, home, home came the mama bear

Home, home, home came the wee bear

“Someone’s been eating my porridge” said the papa bear “Grrrrrr” (make hands like claws)

“Someone’s been eating my porridge” said the mama bear “Ahhhhh” (throw hands in the air)

“Hey-baba-ree-bear someone has eaten my soup” said the wee “hmmmmm” (cross arms and pout)

“Someone’s been sitting in my chair” said the papa bear “Grrrrrr” (make hands like claws)

“Someone’s been sitting in my chair” said the mama bear “Ahhhhh” (throw hands in the air)

“Hey-baba-ree-bear someone has broken my seat” said the wee “hmmmmm” (cross arms and pout)

“Someone’s been sleeping in my bed” said the papa bear “Grrrrrr” (make hands like claws)

“Someone’s been sleeping in my bed” said the mama bear “Ahhhhh” (throw hands in the air)

“Hey-baba-ree-bear someone is still in my bed!!” said the wee “hmmmmm” (cross arms and pout)

Just then Goldilocks woke up “AHHHHHHHH” and she beat it out a there

“Bye, Bye, Bye” said the papa bear

“Bye, Bye, Bye” said the mama bear

“Hey-baba-ree-bear this is the end of our tail” said the wee bear “hmmmmm” (cross arms and pout)   

And so I made these puppets . . .

And turned this old staple story into an interactive circle time activity!  

Five Little Monkeys

Over the next little bit (and I am sure well into the future) I will be sharing some of the finger puppets I have made for my class over the last couple years. The first set that I ever made was these guys . . .

The monkeys are not the original. When I first tried my hand at making these I glued on the detail such as face and belly. However I learned quickly that the toddlers I was teaching at the time could get the glue off in about two minutes! So from then on I have sewed all of the details down or used marker. I have not had to replace anymore of the puppets I have made after that (However there have been some minor repairs.)

I even named my blog after these guys since I think of them as kind of a turning point in my career as an ECE. It was from here on out that I stopped looking at big companies to create what I wanted/ needed for my program. It was then that I started making what I wanted. I found that I could make things for almost nothing and since it was cheap I wasn’t as stressed about what the kids did with it. I remember (mostly internally) freaking out about some of the younger kids touching a new puzzle because I knew that there would be pieces lost, corners broken and that I would not be able to replace it. Now I just print off, colour and laminate a new one. I can customize what I want to make. For example while I have only shown the official “set” of monkeys and crocodile I actually have ten monkeys in my kit so that all the children can have one. Our version of this song can take a long time to sing.  I have found a hobby I like and the kids seem to love them.

And just in case you don’t know the song . . .

Five Little Monkeys swinging in a tree

Teasing Mr. Crocodile “You can’t catch me, can’t catch me”

When along comes Mr. Crocodile quiet as can be . . .

And  SNAP

Continue on with four, three, two , one monkeys

No more monkeys swinging in the tree

Away swims Mr. Crocodile full as can be

There are many other version of this song. Most notably one that ends with the monkeys still in the tree. However I am a circle of life kind of person and just as I don’t hide the fact that our meat comes from animals I also don’t hide the fact that carnivores eat other animals. However the choice is yours.   

Cake and Ice Cream Sensory Bin

So yesterday I changed the fall sensory bin for this one . . .

It is kind of a birthday party/ cake and ice cream kindda thing. I decided to make something like this since (as I mentioned before) the kids are wanting to turn everything into cakes. They will put almost anything into a bowl, call it a cake and sing endless renditions of “Happy Birthday to You.” So I made these out of felt . . .

White cake made of felt with pink icing . . . Yummy !!

Step one: White or Chcolote Step Two: What colour (flavour)
 would you like? Step Three: Mix and match

Chocolate felt cake

And gave them pompoms . . . as ice cream? Or decorations? Whatever they want.

Ice cream with your cake?

 In total I included . . .

-          White cake bases (x4)

-          Chocolate cake bases (x2)

-          Icing (blue, purple, red, yellow, orange) . . . these are felt disks to layer with cake

-          Pompoms

-          Sequins (decorations for cake? Sprinkles?)

-          Ice cream scoops

-          Wooden bowls

-          Plastic bowls

-          Baby food jars

-          Birthday treat bags

-          Birthday napkins   

Five Pumpkins

I made these finger puppets to go along with the five little pumpkins song. They are all made out of felt.

Five Little Pumpkins

Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate

The first one said “Oh my, it is getting late”

The second one said “There are witches in the air”

The third one said “But we don’t care”

The fourth one said “Let’s run and run and run”

The fifth one said “It’s Halloween Fun”

Oohhhh went the wind

And out went the light

And five little pumpkins rolled out of site

Science Bottles #3

Number Three:

Relaxation bottle:

This bottle is designed to help children relax. It has about 1/3 cup of corn syrup and a bunch of glitter. Please note that I didn’t measure the syrup and I suspect I actually put in more than the 1/3 cup called for in the book(please see first bottle post for book details). I just used what was left in the bottle. I used purple and silver glitter for this one. And again glue the lid on (use lots of glue as all of the kids in my class spend at least five minutes trying to pick the lid off!!) You can than twist and turn the bottle and watch the syrup run and drip around. I found it very relaxing and calming and judging by the fact that I keep finding the bottles stashed around the room I assume the kids also at least enjoy the bottles.    

(Please see Science Bottle #1 and #2 for more information)

Science in a Bottle #2

Science bottles continued . . .

Number Two:

Dirt Bottle:

This one is even simpler then the last bottle. You just add some water and some dirt (I took some from the flower pot in the playground) to the bottle and glue the lid on. The dirt will mix up and settle as the kids carry it around, shake it, and forget about it. I am going to continue this theme with a sand and a gravel bottle so the kids can watch how different materials act differently in water.

For more information please see science bottles #1

Science in a Bottle #1

I mentioned before that I have been reading Wonderful Rooms Where Children can Bloom by Jean R. Feldman PhD.  I found in this book a wonderful idea for “science in a bottle” activities. So I have decided to make a number of these (I am not sure how many, that will depend on the children’s interest and how many bottles I can amass) I will put them on here as I create them . . .

Number One:

Wave in a bottle:

This is a pretty basic one. You put about half coloured water (I went with Blue this time) and half with oil (any kind will do) in a bottle. I than hot glued the lid shut since my kids would have it open in a minute! You can wave it gently back and forth or shake the spit out of it. The kids in my class seemed to like watching me gently move it back and forth but when I handed it to them they would shake it like nothing else and then watch as the oil and water settled back into their layers. I can’t wait to make a whole collection of these!

Note: I am using the bottles from Bolthouse smoothies as they are something I like to drink but more importantly they are a good size, sturdy and they have a wide mouth that will allow me to be more varied in what I put in them. I am super particular about the bottles looking the same so I needed a kind that would work for more of them.

Duck and Goose Activities

The children in my class have become addicted to “the orange book” which is in reality Tad Hills’ Duck and Goose find a Pumpkin and they have also been enjoying a game I call “Where is the Fox?” which involves hiding a picture of a fox under pieces of coloured felt (This game was introduced to help with colour recognition) so I decided to combine the two.

For those of you who don’t know the book the duck and the goose travel around trying to find a pumpkin. My kids like it because it offers a chance to for them to answer back on each page as one character asks the other if their pumpkin is in the water or in the tree etc.  So I made this . . .

 

Each felt figure represents one of the places the character’s looked in the book so the kids can take turns hiding their pumpkin and finding it.

To continue the theme I made these . . .

 

So that we could hide our pumpkins all around the room. Before I introduce these games to my class though, I am going to introduce them to a real pumpkin. I gave them gourds to play with this week and it had been great despite the fact that many of the littler ones are having some problems saying the word gourd.      

Pumpkin Playdough

We have needed to make play dough for a couple days now (the last batch was not great since for some reason it ended up very oily so we couldn’t wait to get rid of it!) so we decided to make it a science/cooking experience for the children and get their help. To add to the playdough experience I decided to add some pumpkin spice to the recipe since it is between Thanksgiving and Halloween this week! We needed to try out a new recipe since I usually do a cooked version and I wanted to so one that the children could be present for all of the making. So I gave this recipe a try . . .

Ingredients
2 cups flour
1/2 cup salt
2 tablespoons cooking oil
2 tablespoons cream of tartar
2 cups boiling water
1 teaspoon food colouring

Mix all dry ingredients, add oil and boiling water with food colouring, mix well.

Store in an airtight container.

To add interest you can add glitter for a textural change, some aromatherapy scented oil for smell.

With some shaped cutters, rolling pin and some imagination your set for hours of fun.

It was great!!! I will defiantly be using it again! I was very happy it worked especially since 2-4 year olds are not known for their exact measuring skills! However once again the kids proved that you can’t plan for their reactions all the time! After mixing in the spice (Which I thought smelled good enough to eat) there was a chorus of “Yuck” “Disgusting” “Awful” and “Gross”!! I couldn’t believe it! Oh well you can’t win them all! I am hoping that when I put the playdough out again their opinion will change since I think (hope?) that their reaction was the fault of one of two who loudly voiced their objection right at the start and may have swayed the rest to object just to follow the crowd. We will have to see or I fear I will be making playdough again sooner that I hoped!    

   

Gravity on a rainy day!

Today we were stuck inside for the day and so I was looking around for activities for the kids to do in what would normally be our outside time. I didn’t want to make a big mess since I have cleared an empty space in our classroom for the kids to dance in one area, go through our tunnel in another area and play with a large exercise ball in another. With all the kids running around I wanted them to be able to play with some toys but I was worried about tripping hazard! So I thought I would set up the PVC pipes I use as car ramps for them to play with in a corner. One problem: I left the pipes outside and it was raining and they were now muddy and I didn’t have time to go wash them. So I went looking around the center for another option for our cars. This is what I came up with. . . .

 

Yup a long storage bin hung over a chair! It worked pretty well except for the moulding at the bottom that stopped some of the cars which annoyed the kids (I used this as a problem solving opportunity and encouraged them to figure out how to get their cars over the lip on their own. They figured out that some of the heavy cars could make it off the ramp)

And then one of the kids decided that they needed to take it up a notch (I tried to get a picture but I didn’t get the camera out in time!) and rolled the exercise ball down which he found would roll to the other end of the room . . . . much better than the couple feet the cars went!!    

File Folder Game - Veggie Sizes

For this game I wanted the kids to look at each group of items and look at their sizes (small, medium and large) so they could be sorted in the board. They can also sort them into the three different types of produce.  This is what the finished product looked like . . .

These are the templates I used . . .

File Folder Game - Who's House? - Farm

I thought I would share some file folder games I made for the fall with you.

Part One:

The children in my class have been playing with the farm animal puppets recently so I wanted to make a game with that kind of theme. This doesn’t really follow the fall theme that we have for the month (Yes the center I work at is still theme based. It is a system that I am constantly fighting with! Lucky for me I am able to make broad themes, I can justify almost anything, and my boss doesn’t care if I stray a little bit.)  but I figured if pressed I could do a fall- harvest- farm thing! Anyway . . . This game asks the kids to figure out where each animal lives on the farm. However because it is basically a farm scene and I just put it on the table and let the kids go I find them using it to act out scenes with the animals, making animal noises, and learning new words and facts. They do use it as I intended but as usual they take it further than I thought!

Here is what the finished product looked like. . .

Here are the templates I used . . .

I should note that my preferred way to make file folder games is to print out black and white images and colour them in with markers. This is just because I am picky about colouring and I find that when I print off colours the tones and shades are all different. All my pictures come from Google!