As the last few days before holidays have been steadily getting colder we have spent time exploring all things cold and Wintery! It has also provided some fun art opportunities that the children have had great fun making!
Practicing motor skills with other children and having interested adults participate are great learning opportunities for children. Patient husband made a set of simple obstacle materials for the children to use for their movement. They were easy to make and provide the children with a great opportunity to explore and discuss all the different things they can do with them. Even though the children figured out the original movements intended for them they even invented a few of their own creative uses and had a great time experimenting and eventually making their own obstacle courses.
Items we used: piece of wood cut into various sizes; drill and screws; sander.
Once the various pieces of wood were cut to size we just drilled all the bits together and sanded. We made 2 x balance beams and 2 x hoop holders. They are sturdy and provide a great platform for the children to create their own creative obstacle courses!
FREE MOVEMENT RESOURCES:
free movement card resources 01
free movement card resources 02
free movement card resources 03
My middle son has a great collection of marbles that I sometimes use in activities – depending on the ages attending! I got together a collection of plastic tubs, bottles, spoons, containers, baskets, ice trays – you name it – and left everything out for the children to explore. I don’t have to tell you how much they enjoyed it – they spent absolutely ages sorting through the marbles! Filling, counting, pouring, rolling…After a while they started noticing all the different sizes, colours and patterns and this sparked off a whole new train of conversation and delight…
The pictures say it all – great for fine motor, manipulation, numeracy etc.
Below are a few Easter resources you are welcome to use. If you are interested in any other resources I may have available you are welcome to email me at: smallschoollove@gmail.com
easter resource free download colouring01 easter resources free download colouring02 easter resources free download colouring03 easter resources free download colouring04 easter resource free download emergent numeracy01 easter resource free download emergent numeracy02 easter resource free download emergent reading01 easter resource free download emergent reading02 easter resource free download emergent reading03 easter resource free download emergent reading04 easter resource free download emergent reading05 easter resources free download silhouette match black easter resources free download silhouette match colour
This week we’ve had a great time with our Easter theme! Beside the usual easter hunt and bunny excitement we had fun exploring texture, colour, music and plenty of movement…
The children had great fun with the easter templates on our felt board – there were bunnies, chicks, mother hen and plenty of easter eggs! As an easter provocation there was an easter landscape filled with basket nests and wooden eggs, scarves, “hidey” holes for eggs, easter bunny, spring animals and assorted loose parts. They spent hours hiding the eggs, sorting them, counting them and re-arranging the items creating their own space.
On the shelves there were plenty of little baskets with lids and wooden eggs and pebble owls to sort, count and explore. I made some felt “eggs” to manipulate the scarves inside – great for fine motor co-ordination. On the tables plenty of sorting trays and plastic eggs to fill with an assortment of different textured pom-poms.
Great bustle and creativity for all before the holidays filled with plenty of open-ended art opportunities, play and general easter excitement!
Every one loves giant ice balls right?! I make ice balls a few times a year and adapt it to suit the theme or whatever is trending at play school! The children love water whatever the weather and this is a nice extra dimension that really gets the conversation flowing…
Items you need: balloons; food colouring; syringe; water; patience
For this batch our theme for the week had been colours. We had been having a stretch of particularly hot weather so the giant ice balls suited the occasion perfectly! The initial reaction had been delight coupled with a lot of shrieking and shivering – they were freezing! As the children got braver they held them, rolled them and passed them around – all the while chatting and expressing their findings. They loved holding them and studying the beautiful bubble designs.
As the ice balls started melting the colours started to mix and this provided a further opportunity to discuss the different colours and what was happening. For other themes I have frozen plastic insects, dinosaur fossils, glitter, beads etc. This is an activity that needs to be closely supervised.
sharing ideas on early childhood play provocations and learning environments
sharing ideas on early childhood play provocations and learning environments
sharing ideas on early childhood play provocations and learning environments
sharing ideas on early childhood play provocations and learning environments
sharing ideas on early childhood play provocations and learning environments
Ideas and Reflections from a Project Based Preschool
Inquiry-based Learning / Outdoor Learning / All Things Play
Documenting life without school and free childhood.
sharing ideas on early childhood play provocations and learning environments
sharing ideas on early childhood play provocations and learning environments
sharing ideas on early childhood play provocations and learning environments
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