Crazy for Art

I think I've gone a little crazy importing the pictures from the last two weeks!  I just find it hard not to share everything your children have done.  We had a very full two weeks of Art Camp at Maple Tree.  I have loved every single project and I gave a lot of thought when I chose the projects thinking about all the different abilities of my children.  Not every child loves art or getting messy.  I really wanted my children to have sensory experiences with their art and I think we accomplished that with great success.

From tracing around bodies and feeling tickled to experiencing the size of ones body and just how much paint it takes to paint it.  The children really loved being traced and then painting themselves.  Such a simple project really and yet so very rewarding especially when you stand back and look at everyone.

 
 We used simple materials for this project.  Recycled drafting paper, markers, and tempera paint.

 We also looked at Monet.  I've done other projects on Monet with the children and this one was different in that we used real flower for stamping our impressions.  I set up two stations for this project.  We had a table with water colours and the children were really applying the paint very quickly.  The idea was to watch the colours bleed together.  There was so much discussion about what happens when blue and yellow mix to make green and red and blue to make purple.  After the water colour was applied we move to the next painting station.

The children applied acrylic paints with flowers.  They absolutely loved pressing the flowers into the paint and then stamping their water colour painting.  the effect was really quite stunning.

 We talked about Monet and his many famous paintings and his style of painting.

 

 We also experimented with small canvases and rubber bands.  Turns out that was so much easier for the children to use than string.  We had the children wrap the canvases with rubber bands and then we stamped water colour paint on the canvases.  When the stamping was done we threw salt on the painting to see if it would create an interesting effect.



 

 Another project we did was inspired by our love of metal insets!  I pulled out all kinds of circles for tracing. Rolls of tape of varying sizes and lids from containers and of course our circle metal inset for tracing.  After all the tracing the children were invited to colour in their circles with either marker or water colour paints.  This project was so simple and so very beautiful.  Each child's creation was so very different and beautiful.

 We did a lot of outtings.  We went to water parks, play grounds and to see a puppet show.

 

 

 We made marble art with shaving cream and liquid water colour.  I really love liquid water colour.  The colour is so very intense that I've been using it when I make play dough as well. It's so much more vibrant than food colouring.

 For this project the children sprayed shaving cream into a large tray and then we used droppers to apply the liquid water colour.  Then the children mixed the colours with tooth picks and popsicle sticks.  We used special water colour paper and pressed it into the shaving cream.  You MUST use water colour paper for this project.  The water colour paper really absorbs the paint and the marbling.  When you lift off the paper you use a scraper to scrape the shaving cream away to reveal a most beautiful marble painting.

 

 We tried Bubble painting.  Using water colours again and straws and soap to create colourful bubbles.  Once the bubbles were big enough the children pressed their water colour paper on to the bubbles to collect their bubble impression.  This was fun.  It was fun to make the bubbles and then see them appear on the paper like magic!

 We made rainbow fish.  Based on the story Rainbow Fish.  I've had metallic paints for a while that I've been waiting to use.  We used celery to stamp the scales out on the fish and when the paint was dry we had the children go over the fish with orange and blue water colour paints.

 

 Our last project was painting with water balloons.  This was slippery and fun and the children really loved getting their hands messy.  Again, lots of colour choice and colour mixing for the children.  we really encouraged mixing and stamping.  The glossy yellow paper was donated a few years ago and I had been saving it for this kind of project.  We used Acrylic paints which really hold up beautifully on the glossy paper.

So, that is a wrap on art camp.  I really love doing art and I feel it is so important for children to make art.  To many early learning environments don't do enough of this.  Children need artful experiences like they need love.  Art is love.

Space The Final Frontier

Painting the Sun

 It's mind blowing how fast and busy two weeks can come and go.  It's also stunning to me just how much we managed top pack into those two weeks!  Space the Final Frontier is the start of our Summer Programming at Maple Tree.  I like to change things up a bit for the next eight weeks for my children and give them a different space and break from their regular routine and Montessori Year.  For the next eight weeks we will be doing Camp in two week blocks.  Each Camp has a different theme.  We just finished our two week Space Camp.  It was so much fun and very, very full.  I know my children went home tired every day.

 We kicked off the start of camp with these beautiful Sun Paintings.  We had the children apply paint and then we used plastic wrap on top of the sun to smoosh the paint and blend the colors.  to finish the painting the children pulled our the rays of the Sun using their fingers.  This piece of art was one of my favourites as it was simply stunning when it was finished.

A number of years ago I made a Solar System out of felt.  I bought a large piece of black Sparkly  felt and then hand stitched the rings for planet placement.  It's not perfect but it's close enough.  I actually made two of these.  One I hand painted and I didn't like and this one I hand sewed (much nicer).  I also needle felted each planet and did my best to make them all to scale.  I did a circle activity with the children and presented this work.    It then went of on the shelf as work that the children were free to take out and use.

Working with the Solar System

We also had planets and other space themed things out at our felt board.  I watched as the children came and went from this space creating their own stories and doing imaginative play.  It was sweet.

We had many Outings, this one was to Neptune's Garden!

We had a day of RED!  We went to the Red planet for our outing (Commons Play ground) and we did all things red on this day.  We made a lot of strawberry jam for the cupboards followed up by biscuit making for strawberry short cakes!

Biscuit Making

What can you do when so many strawberries come into the school.  We made strawberry short cakes twice in two weeks!

Trip to Jupiter (York Redoubt)
This was a very full day almost entirely spent out at the park.  It was one of the best days!

All work and no play isn't much fun.  I firmly believe there is a balance and an argument for both.  I set up this play space area for one and the children came and went from it  a lot in the last two weeks.  I suspended the solar system above the play table sop it would really feel like space.

We had lego come out in the afternoons to ship making.  I love lego.  It is one of the most brilliant toys out there!

 We made a solar system out of paper with a spinning sun.

 Galactic Space Dough

• large mixing bowl
• 1 cup water
• 4 cups flour
• 2 to 4 tablespoons of cooking oil (we used Canola)
• 1 1/2 cups of salt
• food coloring (I used black liquid water color.  It;s what I had on hand and it worked perfectly)
• Lots of glitter 
• This is a no cook play dough.  Just put everything into a bowl and mix it up.  I added the glitter lastly when all the dry ingredients were mixed in.  This was a huge hit!

We made Moons.  We used a mixture of shaving cream and glue with black liquid water color and let the children go crazy making crators.  The sensory experience alone on this project was so worthy it!

 The biggest project we did during this two week period was to make a solar system.  Each child made their own.  It took two weeks as there were many steps.  Each step was easy and fun to do and after a morning outing it was the perfect way to have some down time in the afternoon.  We started by having all the children make the planets.  I pulled out my big box of modelling clay and the children got to work making each planet.  We organized these all on wax paper and labelled each child work with their name to keep it all organized.

Close up of Planet Earth and Mars

To finish this project up the children painted card board with a mixture of black paint and glue to represent the milky way.  I hot glued a foam ball (the Sun) in the centre of each milky way and the children painted the Sun.  The last few days has been about the children using wooden sticks to attach their planets to the solar system.  It was a big project but we took our time and each step was another part of the project and an art experience on it's own.  

 We made crazy Crayons.  It's funny to me how long the children wanted to sit and peel paper off the old crayons.   I guess it makes sense as children like to pick things or pick at things.  We broke up what wasn't already broken and sorted by color and placed into a silicon baking cup tray that was star shaped.

 And now we have new crayons!  I sent two home with each child.  I love how they turned out.  So save your broken crayons.  You can make new ones again!  We baked ours in a 350 degree oven for 5 to 10 minutes (until they were melted).  They need to cool completely and harden up to come out of the tray or they will break.

So that's a wrap for me on Space Camp!  I'm glad it's a long weekend~I am exhausted :-)

Special Projects

Oxford Street Campus

 We do a lot of special projects at Maple Tree.  I really love doing projects and I especially love recognizing special times like Father's Day and end of the Montessori year.

This year we made BBQ Sauce for Father's Day.  It is a simple project and it came together quickly.  The children made some beautiful cards!  The card making was an excellent opportunity for a Grace and Courtesy Lesson!

Bar-B-Que Sauce Montessori Style

1/2 Cup Ketchup

2 TBS Honey

2TBS Worcestershire Sauce

1TBS Cider Vinegar

1 Dash Hot Pepper Sauce

1 tsp Garlic Powder

1/4 tsp Mustard Powder

1/4 tsp Sea Salt

1/2 tsp of our Secret Ingredient?????  Um, if you really need to know I may be  willing to share this ;-)

Place all ingredients in a pot and bring to a simmer. Cook for 10 minutes and pour into jars.  Keeps in the refrigerator for two weeks.  

Oxford Street Campus

Quinpool Campus

 Our Gift wrapping was simple and another Practical Life Lesson for the children.  Simple paper lunch Bags and Ribbon.  We used Rubbing plates to make the shirts and Bees wax crayons.  We had the card making set up at our Art Table.

I really love how these cards came out!

 Maple Tree is fourteen years old this year.  I can't imagine not marking the end of the year in a special way with my children leaving after two and three years.  I have a family leaving after seven years this year and that was super emotional and hard for me.  It's hard to say goodbye.  I get very attached to my families.  I say I am not going to but the reality is I just can't help myself.  We are all human and I wouldn't be who I am if I didn't love all my families and my children.  I love how I can go just about anywhere and bump into current students and past students.  Their excitement at seeing me on my Saturday morning farmers market outing honestly makes my day.  They are so surprised to see me!  It is the sweetest and I truly love it.  I wouldn't have it any other way.

To mark the occasion of my children leaving it seems appropriate to make something special.  This year we made globes.  They are after all children of the world.  We have helped mould children of the world.  They are compassionate, respectful and thoughtful and I am very proud of them.

This was an easy project.  I bought a lot of casting plaster (in rolls) like they use in hospitals and we made our globes.  The sensory experience was awesome.  I can tell you our children LOVED using the plaster and covering their balloon.

They dried for a day and then we got to work painting them.  I asked that the teachers guiding this lesson in art let the children paint them as they saw their world.  It really has to be as they see it and their own interpretation of their world.  We used a button and embroidery floss and hot glue to secure the thread at the top so the children could hang their world up at home.

They really turned out great and the children were so very please with their version of the world and how they see it.  This project is so excellent because it ties up all of our geography work beautifully. I can't think of a better way to end the year!

Montessori Moment

Montessori Moment

{Montessori 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.

Montessori Moment

Montessori Moment

{Montessori 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.

Clay Play

 We have been exploring clay play on the art table the last few weeks at both campuses.  I love how each child gets into the work with clay and their hands.  It becomes quiet as they explore the clay.  This sensory experience is so important.   Work is Important and Play is Important.

TEN QUOTES ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF PLAY

“Play is the work of the child.” – Maria Montessori

“Play is the highest form of research.” – Albert Einstein

“It is a happy talent to know how to play.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Play gives children a chance to practice what they are learning.” – Mr. Rogers

“The playing adult steps sideward into another reality; the playing child advances forward to new stages of mastery.” – Erik H. Erikson

“Children learn as they play. Most importantly, in play children learn how to learn.” – O. Fred Donaldson

“The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct.” – Carl Jung

“We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.” – George Bernard Shaw

“Do not keep children to their studies by compulsion but by play.” – Plato

“Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children play is serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood.” –  Fred Rogers

 For this project I got some air drying clay at DeSerres.  We will send them home as soon as they are portable.  

Montessori Moment

Montessori Moment

{Montessori 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.

Thoughts on the Week...

 This week has been a mixture of busy and wonderful.  I got the opportunity to present some Golden Bead Material by way of the Bird's Eye View work.  The two little lovelies that got this new work were super keen to soak it all up.  I really loved answering their questions and showing them how to make a hundred and a thousand.

We were gifted earlier this year with boxes of natural wooden geometric shapes.  I rarely ever say no to gifts like this.  I knew they would be wonderful additions to our shelves and that we would be able to do beautiful extensions of the sensorial work we have already presented.  This basket in particular has wooden triangles and tiny cubes (like the smallest pink tower cube).  

I just love watching this little girl with her work.  She gravitates to geometric shapes of all sizes and makes the most elaborate patterns and complex pieces of work.  She gets completely engrossed in it.  Just when I think I can't possibly sit through one more presentation of the Pink Tower, I am reminded of how important Sensorial Work is as I watch this sweet girl expand on all those early exercises with Sensorial Extensions.  Simply Amazing!

I love watching this young man explore Water Colour.  He is completely respectful of the process with this work right down to cleaning out his brush and water pots so the paints do not get muddy.  His work this week has consisted of introduction to water Colour Paint and the Secondary Colour tablets.  He is learning about mixing paint to make secondary colours and the effect the paints have on water colour paper particularly when the colours bleed together.  Such and artist!

It's no secret that I love to sew.  I present this work as soon s I can.  As soon as the child is ready.  I love the sense of Community that sewing brings to our classroom.  I love how children come and go from the sewing table and how they will stop to help a friend fix a stitch or untangle their work if they need help.  I love how supportive they are with their peers and the pride they take in their work.  I added the ribbon to this work to make the name banner and the children helped sew the buttons on.  It feels kind of bittersweet as I wrap up these projects with my children leaving me after this year.  It really is hard not to get attached.  I have a family leaving Maple Tree after seven years this year and it really is hard to think about saying goodbye.  Anyway, its been a wonderful working week and I feel lucky to have experienced it.  ~m

This Montessori Moment

This Montessori Moment

{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.

All Kinds of Instruments

In music class we have been learning about different types of instruments, what they sound like and how they produce their sounds.  We have studied the percussion family (instruments that are shaken or tapped to produce their sounds) and played many different percussion instruments - drums, tambourines, bells, shakers, maracas, triangles, and more.  We met the various wind instruments, both loud (the brass family) and softer (the woodwind family) and took our turns playing recorders, whistles, and harmonicas.  The string family was very popular, and I brought in a ukulele, violin and cello, and on one lucky day, a double bass (!)  We were able to discover that the smaller instruments will produce higher sounds, and the larger ones, lower or deeper sounds.  They put their hands on the wood and could feel the vibrations made as the cello or double bass produced the lowest notes.  I have to say, the double bass was a big hit, and I apologize in advance to those of you who may have to buy a bigger car a few years down the road, to transport your child and the bass!

The children always amaze me with their focused listening skills - as we listened to Benjamin Britten’s Young Persons Guide to the Orchestra, we picked out the sounds of the different types of instruments, and by the end they were able to distinguish between the strings, flutes, brass, and percussion.  ~Ms. Susanne

Becoming an Activist

 Today was a great day!  Today we took our Quinpool Campus Children to meet Mayor Savage at City Hall.  This trip was coordinated a couple of weeks ago when one of our children decided to write a letter to the Mayor to express his frustration about stepping in Dog Poop every time he goes to our neighbourhood playground.  The playground we take our children to is NOT a dog park specifically and is a shared park.  There is a defined children's play area, a ball park and field.  Frequently one of our children steps or falls into dog poop while running and playing in the children's play area of the park.  This one day though it was too much for my little friend who had to leave his winter boots outside our door until pick up.  After talking with his parents over dinner he decided he could write a letter.  My friend brought his letter to school and asked me if all the children could sign it and mail it off to the mayor.  I read the letter and decided we needed to take it in person.  So I called the Mayor's office and they were very happy to arrange a time with us to bring the letter in person to the Mayor.

Mayor Savage reading Finn's Letter with him

Do you know that we live in a great city?  That we have a fantastic Mayor?  I have met Mayor Savage many times at various functions in our great city and I am always amazed by his kindness and generous nature.  He never seems to be in a rush and he genuinely wants to chat with you and hear what you have to say and that's exactly what happened today.  Mayor Savage greeted all our children with a handshake and asked their names and as things go, our children also supplied names of brothers and sisters cause well, the mayor may need to know that one day right?  Then he read Finn's letter and joked with the children but also took a serious turn to talk about how frustrating it is to play in such yucky conditions and asked for some ideas on what could be done.

 After our chatted about the letter the Mayor gifted us with two beautiful books that he signed.  We received the book Up Home by Shaunty Grant and Gracie The Public Gardens Duck by author Judith Meyrick.  We look forward to reading those and we made sure to thank the mayor for the beautiful new  books.  

Just when I thought we were done the Mayor took us all in the Chambers.  The children were invited to sit in Councillors' seats and use the red buzzer button to speak.  We played a game and our friend Finn called the meeting to an end when we were done.

Our children are still talking about this trip and there was so much excitement on the way back to Maple Tree about all they saw and their conversation with the Mayor himself.  Thank you Mayor Savage!  Thank you  for making this visit so memorable and fun!

Councillor Seats in Chamber
Potential City Councillors one day!