The Monsters are here

 We've been making monsters from paper plates with lots of marsh mellow teeth.

 We have also been making tiny finger puppets to go with our small theatres that the children are making.  The theatres will double for shadow puppets also I hope!

Oh, the Drama...

 We are now into our third session of summer and the start of Theatre and Puppets!  We've taken some time to switch things up and add some new things like puppets, and Theatre spaces.  We will be doing more adding as the week progresses.  There are lots of things to make and stories to tell and games to play.

We will be watching lot s of shows and we may even venture out to see a show in the park!

For now though, we are playing post office and making our own puppets with all kings of materials!  My mind is working over time on all the great things that we can make and do.  I especially love the extension with language and making up a play to present.

Owl Puppets

Sunny Days and Sidewalk Paint

 This afternoon before Ms. Susanne came for music we set up some sidewalk painting.  It is super easy and non toxic.  We used cornstarch, water and food colouring and set it up in muffin tins.  We let the children go crazy with it.

Cornstarch Paint
2 Tbs cornstarch
2Tbs water
3 to 6 drops of food colouring
Mix it up and paint!

The rain will take it away and your ready go go for the next sunny day!

This Moment

A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. 

Making Music

 We are in a new Summer Camp Session this week.  The theme this time is Music.  I am feeling very lucky to have have a membership to the NSCECE Resource Centre!  It's no secret that we have put our Montessori Materials away and packed up the classroom.  Thank goodness the Resource Centre has an amazing lending library of materials and fun things.

Last Friday, after we packed up our Camping stuff I raced off to collect all things Musical from the resource Centre Lending Library.  I was able to take out a lovely box of things from Africa.  There were instruments, tiny objects to hold and touch and a lovely collection of fabrics to play dress up in.

Set of Hand Bells

Fabric for dressing up in

Table of Instruments 

I also had the pleasure of reading a beautiful story called, Bringing The Rain to Kapiti Plain.  The story came with beautifully done pieces that were used on our story board.  I also used the drum to enhance the experience especially when the rain finally came to Kapiti.  The children really enjoyed this story.

One of the many art activities this week was making pan flutes from drinking straws.  I might try and find bigger straws for the next time.  Slurpie straws which are bigger may make a bigger sound.  The project was easy and the children enjoyed using a lot of tape!

Adventure Day

 Today was a great day.  Even though it was super hot it was extraordinary.  Today, was the last day of our summer session  on Camping and we ended it with a trip to Frog Pond with the children.

All week we had been telling the children we were planning something special.  The trip to Frog Pond was magical.  Each and every child was completely blissed out walking on the trail and talking about the squirrels, butterflies or dragon flies we were lucky enough to see.  It was a beautiful experience and even though it was hot we were completely in shade and there was a lovely warm breeze.  It was the perfect choice today.

 I asked parents for egg cartons this week so I could make these really cool collection boxes.  I found the idea on pinterest and made up labels for the collection boxes.  The children knew that the label was the guide for the scavenger hunt and I didn't have to say where things went.  They just instinctively knew.  The inside of the carton was perfect for all the tiny little objects.  When we couldn't find something we just adjusted our expectations and picked something different from our environment.

 It was the best hour and a half of my day today.  Such excitement, discovery and wonder about it all.

 When we came back to the school we made some smores this afternoon and finished off the nature looms we have been making all week.  Remember when I asked for branches?

 I really loved this project and although it was a lot to prep.  The children really got into the spirit of weaving some lovely things we have been collecting for a long time.  There were leaves, seedpods, pinecones and bark.  I love where art can take you and how we used what we could find for this project.  I hope you love them too!  The looms were made with a lot of love.  ~Michelle

So Much Making...

Loom Making

This is another look at our activities this for this week.  I think I am making the teachers just a tiny bit crazy with all the freaking "Making".  This week so far we have made 22 nature looms, lots of art from the free art shelf, strawberry jam and we tried not so successfully to make ice cream in a ziploc bag today.  The looms are for our big outing tomorrow.  I will say this...it's very cool what we are doing with them.

Tomorrow we are off to Point Pleasant Park to fill our looms and do a scavenger hunt.  More about that tomorrow though.

This week I asked parents for egg cartons and tree branches.

The weeks for Camping have gone super fast and they are so action packed that I can't get everything done that I had planned.  The day seems to go so fast.  Needless to say we are all tired come Friday but it's a good tired.

hand Print Campfire pics with roasted marsh mellows

 I Loooove how these pictures turned out!  Thechildren were really into making them.

Strawberry Jam making

Ice Cream in a ziploc bag sort of!  I think it would have worked out better if I had not been trying to make Ice cream for 22 children.  Here is the link on how to make Ice Cream.  Fight the urge to make more.  Follow the directions exactly!  

Picture making from the art shelf

A Camping we will go...

Our Circle Time Campfire

 The school year has ended and we are full on into our Summer Program .  The Summer program is new to me this year as I have never offered it before or worked a summer in a number of years.  I am having a blast!  I thought I would feel exhausted but sometimes a change is just as good as a break.  Our Montessori Classroom has been put away and we are full on with lots of art, adventure and free play!

I took this opportunity  to set up our gigantic tent for pretend play but also it is our place to gather for stories and songs.  The tent is a big hit.  We have also enjoyed a lovely camp fire and some pretty cool art activities.

We made some large trees.  I have a client who asked me in March if I wanted a bunch of sono tubes and I said yes not knowing how I would use them at the time.  They sure came in handy when we built our forest.  We have since painted out tree tops green and built many more trees.  It is definitely feeling like we are on an adventure.  What else can I use those sono tubes for?  I wonder...

Ferry Trip to Dartmouth

Speaking of adventures...we hopped on the bus and went down to the waterfront to catch the ferry over to Alderney Landing.  It never ceases to amaze me just how excited children get, to go on a bus and a ferry.  We are so lucky to live in such a great town and have access to good public transit.

Duck, Duck, Goose

Once we got to our destination, we stopped for a snack and a game of duck, duck, goose and freeze tag.

Stain glass Butterflies

We also made some beautiful stain glass butterflies.  Not sue I would do those again.  it was a ton of prep on my end (well actually Ms. Ann's end)! Thanks Ann for all that cutting last week.

Camping Lanterns

We also made some lanterns.  We used large mason jars and we glued tissue paper all over and lit them up with tea lights for our rainy afternoon movie of Mary Poppins!  We encouraged the children to bring their sleeping bags.  Ahhhhhhh I just love cozy rainy afternoons with a good movie and popcorn next to the campfire.   ~michelle