Going Nuts!!!

Whenever I go for a walk or to the park, I am always amazed by the beautiful natural materials all around me. I always collect nuts, sticks, bark or seed pods that that fallen from trees around me to use in and around the classroom.

Last weekend at the local park I couldn't resist collecting gum nuts for school. I have used them in many different ways in the past and thought I would share some of my ideas.

These are different nuts but also very useful!!

Niccola

Pop Sticks and Playdough

I use pop sticks for lots of things in the classroom, but here is a quick and easy way to use them at the playdough table to help children recognise their names.

I have used two different sized pop sticks, large and small.

I wrote the children's names on the small pop sticks and they made cakes and used them as birthday candles. The children had fun finding their name, their friends names and singing happy birthday!!

I wrote a different group of children's names on the large pop sticks and encouraged them to make lolly pops, ice-creams and cakes.

Sometimes the simplest ideas are the best. 

Niccola

Garden Car Track

I posted this a while back, but as the children in my class still enjoy it as much as the day I made it, I thought I would share it again, especially for those of you going into Summer !!

I saw a similar idea once and thought it would be perfect for a little nook in our outdoor area. This little car track is perfect for your garden or playground, it is inexpensive to make and fun for all to play with.

Choose the bricks you want to use. I chose grey to resemble real roads.

Measure the middle of the bricks and mark the centre lines with a pencil.

Paint the lines on the bricks with white outdoor paint to resemble the white lines on the road.

( It would be a good idea to plan your road map before painting. I didn't do this and the lines don't flow as well as they could!!)

Sink the bricks into the sand and add pebbles, plants, cars, people, wooden blocks.....anything you can think of.

Let me know what you think.

Niccola

Feelings and Faces

We have been talking about our feelings and also looking at photos of ourselves and our facial features. We have been singing songs, making faces on the light table, enjoying stories on the theme and having lots of discussions. 

This playdough activity provided a great platform for play and language and was easy to set up.

I drew a variety of faces on cardboard and laminated them. I drew happy, sad, angry and surprised expressions on the faces of boys, girls, men and women.

I added buttons, rolling pins, garlic presses and cutting utensils.

This man didn't need a body because he was in bed!!!!

I loved the way the children related to the faces, gave the characters names and invented scenarios to reflect their expressions.

Niccola

Don't Throw Out Your Egg Cartons

I love recycling and always try to find a use for containers, lids, cardboard, paper or plastic bottles before I throw them away.

Here are some of the ways we have recycled egg cartons. Of course, before using them, you need to check if children in your care have any egg allergies in case a broken egg has leaked in the carton!!

They are perfect for paint.

For Sorting.

To store collage materials

In the sandpit

For sensory materials.

In dramatic play.

Or as little beds!!!!

Until next Tuesday

Niccola

Outdoor Weaving

Hi there,

When I started blogging three years ago, I committed to sharing a new idea every week. It hasn't been that hard because I love coming up with new activities and ideas. However, just recently I have been working on a few other things and have had a two week break from blogging!!! 

I'm back now and thought I would share a favourite idea.

I made this weaving frame last year and I thought I would share it with you as we use it all the time at school and it was super easy to make.

I bought some gutter guard, cut it into a rectangle and attached two lovely branches for the top and the base. I then hung it from some beams on the veranda- low enough so my littlies can sit and stand at both sides of the frame.

Here are some of the ways we have used it....

Woven pictures..

Alphabet cards...

Ice-cream lid numbers...

Fabric scraps....

Felt shapes...

Why don't you try and make a frame for your children? 

Niccola

The Runaway Pancake

The children in my class absolutely love the story/song 'The Runaway Pancake.' I usually draw the story as we listen to the song and this week we used it a a focus for our activities. 

Playdough... I added some pictures and cooking utensils so the children could retell the story and cook some playdough pancakes!!

Painting... We pretended that the golf balls were the pancake, rolling away.

Cooking.... we made some real pancakes to enjoy at morning tea.

We also made mud pancakes outside, rolled down the hill like pancakes and discussed the properties of different shapes.

It was a lot of fun!!

Niccola