Music and Elving

Today, was a great day and (sigh) the last of my big commitments.  Ms. Susanne came in yesterday and today to do a lovely music presentation with the children for their parents.  I was glad to help put this together as I know it is nice to make the connections and understand where a song or phrase come from.  It really was lovely despite my worries about space and being crowded.  Thank you so much for embracing our crazy ideas and thank you for helping us with the lunch side of things.  Many parents brought sandwiches and fruit and it was most appreciated.  Thank you for making that easier for me.

On to Elving, we have been doing so much!  I just love how the wool ball ornaments came out.  I must say I was a bit worried that they were not going to harden up and turn out.  But to my surprise and patience (because it took a week for them to dry out and harden up) they turned out beautifully!  We have tired as best we could to label all of them correctly and we did not make them with everyone.  We had an afternoon that was very rainy and so I just busted out and got busy crafting!  I am sure I make the other teachers crazy when I say oh lets just make something and I make a crazy mess and then leave to pick up my kids at three!!  The idea came from the Magic Onions blog http://themagiconions.blogspot.com/.  Try as I might I am not able to find the post!!  I know it is from the Magic Onions but I just can't locate it.  Anyway the blog is lovely and they make a lot of nature inspired stuff.  The Sparkly yarn ornaments were made by soaking yarn in glue with glitter and I added a bit of shiny paint because we had some.  After the yarn is covered in glue start to wrap it around a small balloon.  The longer the piece of yarn the greater and more detailed and strong the ornament will be.  Set them aside to dry.  You will need to keep turning them over often as they are drying.  It took ours a good week to dry out and set up.

We also had the children threading beads and tiny bits of wool to make these beautys.  I love how some of the children made a pattern and really thought about how they wanted the layers to look.

 Sparkly stars also.  This one is a big hit and all the children are successful with this craft.

 I do love pinecone weaving.  We've pulled this one out again this year and it is one all the children can do.  I especially like how all the different colours make each pinecone look unique and beautiful.

 Stringing popcorn, cranberries and dried oranges.  Our Tree has never looked so beautiful!

And lastly, don't you just love coloured marsh mellows!

We will be taking extra care next week to pack up your child's handmade treasures and send them home to adorn your family tree.