Environmental Print Alphabet Book

My son has been expressing an interest in alphabet letters lately so I thought it might be fun to create an environmental print alphabet book to keep near the kitchen. Anytime we have labels from our favourite products, I encourage him and his sister to glue them in the alphabet book (which is simply a notebook I purchased at the dollarstore and wrote each letter of the alphabet on a separate page). Not only is Caleb learning his alphabet letters in a fun way, he is also reading the names of his favourite foods and familiar products, encouraging him as an independent reader and building his confidence. 

Our goal is to fill the book as quickly as we can - the kids have been scanning products in the cupboard anticipating what page they will go on in the book once we are done with the food packaging.

This book is kept on our kitchen counter so that we can add to it as needed. I think it would also be a great activity to keep at a snack centre in a classroom so the children could add labels from their lunches to the book whenever possible!

Fairy Playscape

I've been trying to get rid of a lot of our overly commercial toys the last several months. We have a plastic dollhouse that the kids haven't been very interested in. 

I have been thinking of a way to update it because I like how open and empty the dollhouse is. There is a lot of potential for creative play because there isn't much prescribed within the body of the house. After some thought I turned the house into a fairy house using natural materials like shells, rocks, and moss.

It took a very long time to hot glue the materials on the dollhouse, but the result was worth it! My daughter was thrilled when she saw it!

I was eager to capitalize on this interest, so I added a few props to enhance the play (fake grass, fabric flowers, large shells) and turned our sensory table into a fairy playscape.

The result? Hours of imaginative play! I'm eager to take this house outdoors into the garden when the flowers bloom and see how the play evolves as more natural elements from the yard and garden can be incorporated into the house.

My daughter decided to add a 'pool' for the fairies which was a shallow plastic bowl filled with water. It was interesting to add the water element to the playscape and created a whole new layer of exploration. The water drew her little brother in too!

Nothing like a dip in the pool to relax after a hard afternoon of imaginative play! My next goal is to encourage my daughter to design and create her own fairies using our art materials.

Foot Painting

It was a beautiful sunny day around here - the perfect weather for doing some very messy painting outside! We had a large piece of cardboard that I was eager to recycle and it was an ideal canvas for outdoor painting. With the gentle breeze blowing outside I knew the cardboard wouldn't lift off the ground or require paper weights to hold it down like traditional painting paper would.

I set out four trays of paint that were large enough for the kids to dip their feet into - one on each side of the canvas. The kids were invited to step into the paint and cover the area with their feet!

What a fun experience! Because we did this outside there was no fear of getting paint on anything and although the kids slipped a few times and fell into the paint, it was washable so I didn't need to worry about their clothing becoming stained.

 
They were able to observe the colours mixing as they walked, jumped, and danced all over the canvas!

 
Clean up was easy! I just gave them the hose and they sprayed their legs off. Then I had them take a quick shower to get the remaining paint off their legs and arms.



What a stunning piece of giant artwork!

Outdoor Chalkboard

In our continued quest to engage the children in exciting activities outside, my husband made an 'outdoor chalk board' for them using a piece of pressured treated plywood painted with black matte outdoor latex paint. After three coats of paint it was good to go!

The kids were so, so excited to have such a large space for drawing and writing. They used a 24 pack of large sidewalk chalk on the board. 

Their enthusiasm was contagious as they drew pictures and wrote words.

    

As they worked they discussed what they were doing, leading to some rich oral language opportunities.

Clean up was simple! A quick spray of the hose cleaned our board right off. A spray bottle with water and a rag would do the job as well. (Wouldn't this be a great outdoor piece at recess time in the school yard?) I can't wait to see what they create tomorrow!

Outdoor Easel

In my quest to enrich our outdoor space, my husband attached a large piece of clear acrylic to our outdoor climber. The acrylic is large enough to fit two children and our hope installing it under the climber is that the children will be inspired to engage in outdoor literacy and art activities.

The clear nature of the acrylic itself is inviting because it allows the light to shine through and provides an interesting background for drawing, painting, and writing that differs from the traditional indoor painting easel. 

The first activity we invited the children to do was draw on the acrylic with Crayola 'window writers' (markers, crayons) that act like dry erase materials and are easily cleaned off a clear surface.

There was much excitement to do this and they worked together to explore the materials. The acrylic is attached just underneath the climber in a space that often isn't used - I'm hopeful that it might act as a prop to encourage further play here...

Erasing was easy...just a few swipes of a dry cloth!



I'm envisioning the amazing possibilities with this new play feature - it will be easy to affix a piece of paper to the acrylic to encourage more drawing, writing, and even painting outdoors!

First Marks: Overcoming our fear of messiness

Our nine month old baby noticed a bit of food drop on his tray when I was feeding him the other day. Instinctively he reached out to grab at it and was amazed when he wasn't able to hold the mush but instead succeeded in smearing the food on his tray. This important discovery was the first in his lifetime of writing - the observation that his actions could leave a mark on something. He was eager to continue dabbing at the food.

I was also eager to encourage him in this inquiry - what would happen when he was provided a large drop of smashed carrots?  After I spooned them onto the tray he looked at me with surprise and tentatively reached out to touch them.

It didn't take long for the grabs to become swipes as both of his hands explored.

Much to his delight I added another scoop of food - peas - and he was able to explore two different colours of edible 'finger paint'.

His first instinct is to put anything in his mouth, but I noticed with this experience that he was more interested in exploring the food on his tray. He ran his fingers and hands over and over through the food and was very interested in watching what happened. I modelled some swirls for him using my fingers to draw in the food first and then swirling together with him hand-over-hand.

His first writing experience was a success and I know how meaningful providing early literacy experiences like this are for babies. I'm hoping to do this again soon!

Often people are uneasy with a little mess in their lives. As a kindergarten teacher I have heard time and time again a fear expressed by adults over kids becoming too messy if they play with paint, clay, and mud. However embedded deep within these messy experiences (other than the pure joy of being messy) is an understanding of how the world around us works and a desire to continue to master these experiences in a quest for knowledge.

If you don't believe me, just ask Quinn!

Colour Chip Rings

We used some simple materials to make colour chip rings - an assortment of paint chips, a whole puncher, and some shower curtain rings.

We explored one colour at a time. I spread each paint chip on the table and invited the kids to sequence them from darkest to lightest.

 

Once ordered we secured the sequence by punching a hole in the chips and putting them on a ring.

These colour collections can now be used to match and compare colours. In this picture we are finding the shade of blue that best matched Caleb's shirt.

  

Here Cadence is finding the shade of green that matches our center piece.

These rings would be great tools for an outdoor spring scavenger hunt, similar to when we matched colours in nature.

Sand Play Dough and Shells

I hope wherever you are there has been sunshine and warmth. Unfortunately Southern Ontario still looks a lot like winter. While dreaming of the summer I decided to create some sand play dough for a little beachy fun with the kids. We just added a cup of play sand to our normal play dough recipe. 

I presented the activity to the children using a wooden sorting tray filled with interesting shells.

Using only play dough rollers, the dough and the shells, the children were invited to explore and create whatever they liked. 

At first they were interested in the patterns the shells made when pressed into the dough. After exploring the materials for a while they began imagining a bit deeper about the meanings behind their creations.

"Here's our family Momma! Here's you, Daddy, me..." Caleb points to each shell and names us off one by one!

"I made little holes in the sand where the moles are hiding!" Cadence laughs as she recalls the story I told her earlier about the creatures who are eating the seeds under our bird feeder outside.

"Just a pretty design Momma. I like the little shells going around and around."

"Like the teeth of a monster!" Monsters have been a bit hit in our house recently for some reason!