Bubbles and more!

Bubbles and more!

We have been exploring ' How Things Grow' and here have a look at how to make bubbles grow..

 Step 1: trays of water 

Step 2: add detergent

Step 3: provide plastic tubes

Step 4: make it irresistible

Step 5: we added rose petals and food dye to make different coloured bubbles.

And let the blowing begin! My bubbles are bigger!

The children were engaged for hours and our pictures tell the story!

 Making it inviting !

 At group time we also looked at how else we could grow the bubbles!

Happy bubble growing!

Natural Play Materials.

                      

    A Natural Outdoor Physical Environment

We're encouraging a natural look and feel to our outdoor environment by providing lots of wood, earthy colours and natural materials wherever possible. 

                    We use our crates with wooden planks and old palettes as garden stands.     

     We use wooden off cuts, logs, rope and material to set up this open ended play experience. 

                                      
                                                                      
                                      

                                    The see-saw we created from a log, a plank and some hay. 

                            Our music wall with bamboo, wood, and chimes to create soft wooden sounds. 

Our beautiful tree house - it's growing!  

Flower Shop!

Flowers for sale!

 We set up a flower shop. We used our existing hay bales to poke the flowers in . Luckily we found a box of flowers in hard rubbish as so we had a whole lot of flowers to use . Some were large arrangements other just single stems. 

We had so much fun sorting the flowers by colour. Apparently the red ones are expensive.

There was a whole  new inventive system of pricing.

 Trays of sand also helped us arrange the flowers for sale .

Baskets and bags were needed to purchase the flowers.

Looking at a magazine with flowers arranged beautifully might lead us into providing a flower arranging experience for our children.

 And of course we needed a sign! we also found that taking the heads of the plastic flowers encouraged children to make their own arrangements by choosing what flowers they could poke onto the stems.

Happy Shopping!

Potions and More!

Potions! Potions!Potions

 We set up a potions table and it's a pity we didn't take a picture but there was so much excitement that THERE WASN'T ANY TIME!  

Materials:

we had

water , food colouring, glitter, rose petals, flour, oil and lots of pouring containers, we had glass jars (the spice jars work well.). then we stood back and watched.

 We made sure there were lots of little bottles so that everyone could have their own little potion.

We also had labels and encouraged the children to label their potions.

 Yes it's messy just how we like it!

  Our art studio has never been the same again!

 Here are some of their conversations.

"its getting very sticky from the sugar( flour)

"It's icky gooey slimy"

"You need a spoon to mix it , pour it in here. I made brown with lots of colours. I showed E how to make brown.

 I am putting lots of colours to make a black potion."

Stay tuned for more maths and science!

 We are going to try just oil and water.

Come and Play in the Hay!

Come and Play in the Hay!

Hay provides a sensory experience for children to explore openly with their peers in different ways. Place some hay bales and some loose hay and see what happens!  

Hay Bales provide some structure and a platform for jumping or walking across, while still being lightweight and movable for children to manipulate into different shapes and create their own play spaces. 

Providing rakes, shovels and buckets allows children to move the loose hay and explore it in different spaces, as well as encouraging them to tidy and look after the space. 

An environment set up from children's interest in the home corner and hay. 

Scissors and mortar and pestles were then added for children to grind and cut their own hay to include in their recipes. 

Children explored different ideas and uses for the hay, having quiet conversations and time to just sit with a friend and feel the hay between their fingers and mix it up.

 Others grabbed bundles of hay in their arms to see how much they could scoop up and hold, and then toss up into the air. 

Hay is an open ended material with many different uses to explore for everyone! 

Even our chickens enjoyed playing in the hay!

Working with IT

 

Inquiry through IT

To support our inquiry process and the use of our hundred languages, we encourage children to express their ideas in many different ways. One of these ways is though IT where they can extend on previous ideas, develop further representations or drawings by using the computer, and can research and investigate their understanding further through questioning. Children and adults can work together closely, or children can work with a peer in a paired situation Small groups are able to work together to explore wider interests such as rockets in space, where they can draw and animate images.

  

 

Some representations of space from the children.

We worked with the children on the computer, but projected it onto a larger screen so that other children could see what they were doing and have their own discussions.

 

The children explore kid pix to represent their ideas digitally for the space scene background.

They drew their own rockets, cut them out, and took pictures of them moving across space.

 

 

After we explored animation with rockets, some children wanted to create their own videos with props to tell a story. With the help of adults, the props were set up, moved and photographed to develop an animation which was shared as a movie to the rest of the children.

 

More animation ideas and pictures to come! This is a new area of exploration for us and we're continually learning and creating with the children.

 

 

 

WHY MUD! 

 

 

 

Sensory play is an important part of learning through play. Children engage with materials THROUGH USING ALL THEIR SENSES.

 MUD PLAY engages the senses as children use the mud to cook with, imagine they are in a dinosaur swamp, and also use the transformative qualities of mud( it can be made into mud balls, sludgy soup, chocolate sauce) to play with all those real life numeracy concepts like quantity, time, conservation....so lets make a list and keep it simple.

 

1.Playing in the mud makes you happier.

studies reveal that dirt/ mud contains microscopic bacteria which releases levels of serotonin helping us soothe relax and be calm

 

  2. Playing with Mud connects us to nature.

 

getting kids outside to interact with their environment creates memories that connect them to one of the most primal elements in our world.

 

 

 

 

 

3.Smarter happier children

The same release of serotonin is said to increase cognitive function.

 

 

3. Sensory play!

Sensory play and hands on play feeds children's brains.

 

5. Mud play welcomes all children of all abilities.

 

Mud is an open ended material and welcomes children of all ages and developmental abilities, from enjoying the squishing of mud through your toes to making mud bricks, it welcomes everyone.

5. Mud play stimulates creative thinking.

Playing with open ended materials like mud allows children to imagine that they are playing with chocolate , in a swamp etc and is key to develop creative thinking.

 

6.Mud as an art medium!

Keep watching this post.

 

7. Positive dispositions.

We all need some spaces to go to play on our own or with a couple of friends and our mud pit provides just that.