EXPLORING SUMMER

February 26, 2016March 1, 2016 Samactivity, loose parts, play, play provocations, playschool, sensory activity, summer themeLeave a comment

This week we had fun doing and discussing all things summer…While we still have warm summer mornings there is plenty of time for getting messy outdoors! Discussion ranged from camping to insects to keeping cool and what to wear to our favourite places, picnics and the beach amongst many other things…

Around the class we had summer play provocations which the children had great fun playing with…

Outdoors there was plenty of time to cook with sand and water in the outdoor kitchen…

We constructed a ball slide where the children had a great time collecting all the balls and seeing how fast they could roll them down the slide…

Plenty of free art out to explore and loose parts to create with…

We played with coloured ice balls in water and then for an added sensory element added some shaving foam the next day…The children loved how the colours melted into the foam and swirled around…

Of course summer crafts to take home and remind us of our fun week…

PET LOVE

February 19, 2016 Samactivity, counting, emergent reading, felt board, pets, play, play provocations, playschoolLeave a comment

We’ve had great fun this week talking about pets and how much they mean to us… Chat and discussion about how to look after pets, what we love about pets and what we think having a pet is all about… The children have especially loved dramatic play this week – school has been bustling with the sounds and scampering of every pet under the sun!

A discussion table, felt fish pets and lots of small world and sensory play…

Colour sorting, shape matching and emergent reading…

Of course plenty of open art…

Pet craft activities…

And a class full of gorgeous puppies…

pet puppies

RED & OTHER COLOURS

February 12, 2016 Samactivity, art, play, play provocations, playschoolLeave a comment

This week we’ve been getting excited about red…and other colours! Suiting our valentine moods the children have had fun discussing and playing around with colour…

Of course we had to make a rainbow… Endless fun and possibilities…

Some lighting ambience and a little magic…

Lots of different colour free art & activities…

Sensory tubs…

Water play with red water babies…

Experimenting with puffy red cloud dust…The pictures speak for themselves – we had to do this many times over!

And lots of valentine art for mom and dad!

SUMMER FUN!

November 5, 2015 Samcamping theme, outdoors, play provocations, playschool, summer, summer themeLeave a comment

I love Summer! The children definitely feel more free as they run around barefoot exploring in the garden…

We’ve had a lot of discussion around camping this week so we built our own campsite at school… Using what we had in school we managed to create a campfire with fish, picnic basket and river with stepping stones…

And of course campfire and watermelon art to go with our camping!

UNDER THE SEA 02

October 31, 2015October 31, 2015 Samearly childhood development, play provocations, sea art, sorting activities, under the sea theme, water playLeave a comment

I love under the sea week! There is so much to discuss and lovely activities to get the children fired up about taking care of the ocean…

We had ocean themed play provocations around the class with plenty of books and shells to handle and study…

Sorting and fine motor activity…

Of course plenty of water play and fishing…

Lots of fun art processes and creations!

Fun in the sea and sun!

DINOSAURS 02

September 10, 2015September 10, 2015 Samactivities, art, dinosaur theme, play provocations, playschool, small worldLeave a comment

It’s that time of the year again – all our paleontologists are in full swing! We spent the week exploring plenty of small world play, digging for fossils, baking, volcano experiments and plenty of fun art…

Interest corner with plenty of books…

A dinosaur cave…

Digging for fossils…

Fun dinosaur baking…

A volcano experiment…

And plenty of fun messy art!

SAFARI

August 28, 2015August 28, 2015 Samactivities, art, play provocations, playschool, safari themeLeave a comment

We’ve had fun on Safari this week! The children have had a great time learning about different animals, their food, sounds and families!

Enjoying the Safari play provocations and activities…

And of course lots of fun messy art!

SHOPPING FUN!

August 11, 2015August 11, 2015 Samcounting, play provocations, shopping theme, sortingLeave a comment

This week we are exploring shopping at school. We made a little shop in the corner of our class and the children have shopped till they dropped! Great fun fitting all their items into baskets and weighing and paying! A little corner cafe also provided a quiet spot to relax and watch all the happenings in the shop!

Great excitement taking turns to be shop keeper!

And lots of counting and sorting activities…

FARM PLAY PROVOCATION

August 6, 2015August 6, 2015 Samart, farm theme, handmade wooden toys, loose parts, play provocations, wooden fencesLeave a comment

We’ve been having fun on the farm this week! Apart from all the animals the children loved learning about windmills, tractors and where our food comes from!

An interest corner with pictures, books and a pond of little ducklings!

Wooden animals, fences and blocks to create the perfect farm!

And of course lots of fun art…

INSECTS & SPIDERS

August 4, 2015 Samart, insects and spiders, light table, ohp, play provocationsLeave a comment

More wintry weather and great fun to create our own insect and spider play provocations indoors! Always a hit with the children and plenty to talk, sing, play and create about!

We’ve been chatting about life cycles and I love these safariology life cycle sets – the children are fascinated by them and love to handle and play with them. Some simple hand painted lady birds to sort and count and loads of books to keep us busy!