Monday 25 May 2015

The Three Little Pigs


 
We have been reading the story The Three Little Pigs (several times) and the children have enjoyed joining in with the repetitive text. I thought I would create a play scene to encourage the children to retell the story, create their own version of the story, extend their vocabulary, explore and play!!

I photocopied and laminated the book so the children could look at the individual pictures and use the pictures to retell the story.
I painted some wood off-cuts to represent the brick house and glued sticks and straw on the other pieces of wood.
To add to the storytelling scene, we needed the three pigs and a wolf.



As we have some bales of hay in our yard, I set it up outside as well.







The wolf could actually blow down the brick house in some of our unique stories!!!
Until next time...
Niccola

Tuesday 19 May 2015

Pine Cone Mobile

My kids know that I am always admiring natural materials in parks, on the side of the road, in our garden- basically everywhere!! They are used to me stopping the car and jumping out to collect something. This was the case with these beautiful pine cones.
I had just dropped one of my kids at afternoon sport and I noticed loads of pine cones on the ground.
I have used these in the past both inside and outside the classroom, but this time I thought I would let my children paint them to hang in our new classroom.

I put out some bright coloured paint, thick brushes and glitter in shakers.








When they were dry, I tried some string around them and hung them in the classroom.
 I think they look amazing.




I love bringing natural materials inside so everyone can appreciate their beauty from a different point of view. What do you think?
Niccola


Tuesday 12 May 2015

Perfect Little Peg People

Over the years I have made a collection of peg people to use in the classroom to support various concepts and themes and so I thought I would share them with you.
The children love playing with them and they are easy to make.

Firstly, buy some wooden pegs at a discount store. Some come with bases so the pegs can stand up.


Now get creative!!

Number Elves
Children can create a magical scene with these little elves.






Alphabet People
These are a great resource for school or home.





Mermaids
An all time favourite. I have made numerous different sets!





Pirates
I couldn't have mermaids without pirates!!



Playdough People 
I put out pegs, various drawing materials and playdough. The children designed their own characters and used them in the playdough to create various play scenarios.





Fairies
We were exploring the colour red so I made some red fairies for the discovery table.



Have a go at making some peg people for your kids and let me know how you get on.
Niccola

Tuesday 5 May 2015

Mother's Day Gift


Mother's Day is fast approaching and I always have to allow plenty of time for my three year olds to make a special gift for their mum. We have been very busy for the last couple of weeks making a gift, wrapping paper and a card. 
It's often tricky coming up with an idea that young children can make for their parents.
Last year we made necklaces which were very cute. Check them out here...

This year I stumbled across a great pack of tea towels while I was doing my grocery shopping. They were in Coles and cost $3.00 for a pack of 4 tea towels. As I have twins in my class I chose two different colours- red and white.
Those of you that teach, or are a parent to three or four year olds, know that art and craft activities have to be very simple. I think this gift is perfect for this age child to make on their own.


I drew a chalk heart on the bottom of the tea towel ( dress makers chalk would be perfect but I couldn't find mine so I used chalkboard chalk)


The children stamped their pointer finger in the fabric paint and onto the chalk line.



They continued until they had stamped finger prints around the entire heart shape.

We used white fabric paint on the red tea towels and red fabric paint on the white tea towels
Once the tea towels were dry, I ironed them to set the paint.


I think the Mums will love them, don't you?
Niccola