collaborative rainbow

Last year my friend, Jen, and I had our classes work together to create a really gigantic rainbow. The littles loved the process and they were so proud of the finished result. I knew I had to try it again this year. So . . . I am slowly gathering materials. I searched through my archives and found the photos from last year's rainbow and thought I'd post them.

To begin, we drew a rainbow on bulletin board paper. Then, over several days, we let both classes color in the arches with crayons. Next, we assembled all of the collage materials we could get our hands on . . . balloons, old marker caps, milk bottle caps, shredded paper, stickers, foam shapes, scrapbook die-cuts, feathers, etc. The children sorted the materials into bins. Then we all assembled for a pasting fest. We used Yes! paste because it really holds and it doesn't take a long time to dry.

The results were great - but it was the process and the collaboration that made this project memorable. Miss you Jen :(

parts of a flower

Our science center has been all about plants and growing. This week I added a craft project to the science center as we talked about the parts of a flower.

Materials: Large white drawing paper, straws to use as stems, leaves from the scrapbook area at Michael's, yarn to use for the roots, sunflower seeds, and petals from The Dollar Tree (in the party/wedding area). I also added some little bees and butterflies that I found in my scrapbook stash.

paper sculpture

I introduced paper sculpture at the art table this week. As we were discussing sculpture and looking at books with photos of sculptures, one of the littles said, "Oh, I know! A sculpture is what I-Carly's brother made on t.v.!!!" Thankfully, I have a teen in my house and I knew what she was talking about :)

Here's what we started with: pieces of cardboard to use as a base, strips of colored paper that some of the littles had cut a few weeks ago (just for the fun of it!), small pieces of colored paper in different sizes, markers, Scotch tape, and masking tape. I showed the littles how to fold the paper accordion style and how to make a paper chain and then I just moved away. I loved what I was observing. Cooperation. Perseverance (tape is hard to deal with!). Attention to detail.

I just saw a new blog this morning (new to me that is): Laugh, Paint, Create! She writes about hanging sculptures. I think the littles will LOVE this new twist. Can't wait to introduce the idea.

garden sukkot

Last night, Leslie began building a garden sukkot in the woods near our house. Our family first became familiar with these little huts when Leslie was attending a small progressive school in Michigan. Leslie took classes with names like E I E I O (they visited a neighboring farm and cared for animals), Woods Walk (a nature walk which ended at 'the very viney tree' where they could draw and write in journals), and Swamping (just what it sounds like!). Garden Sukkot was another one of Leslie's classes. The children found sticks and twigs in the woods surrounding the school and went to work constructing a little hut complete with log seating.

Leslie may be a teenager now - but she still has a lot of that little girl in the woods left in her. She'll still catch the occasional lizard. She isn't afraid of bugs. And she is just as happy building a little fort in the woods as she was when she was 7. I love that about her. That she isn't afraid to be who she is and do the things she loves. Love. This. Girl.

watercolor free for all

There is something about painting with watercolors on a stormy day . . . So, while the wind blew and the rain tried to come in under the door (!), some of the littles visited today's creation station which was set up with liquid watercolor, trays of cake watercolor, white crayons, aluminum foil, plastic wrap, salt, and sponges for doing wet on wet.

Even though we have tried crayon resist on several occasions, it never ceases to amaze the littles when the picture they draw with the white crayon magically appears when they apply watercolor on top of it!

Almost everyone got into the fun of throwing some salt on top of finished paintings. (We used Kosher salt because it was what I had in the pantry.) This was the first time we've tried this and the results were very pretty. Several children wanted to try laying plastic wrap over their artwork. They were impatient for things to dry, though, and wanted to see the results right away!

The wet on wet paintings were amazing. The littles love this technique: simply wet the watercolor paper with a sponge and then begin painting. The paint flows differently than it does on dry paper.

I'm happy that the sun is going to shine tomorrow - but every now and then I don't really mind a rainy day.

namaste

I generally don't do television with the littles. Actually, I never do television with the littles. But today was a stormy day and we needed a bit of exercise and namaste. We invited the 3 year olds to join us and we all had a great time bending and stretching to Yoga Kids. (Hey Jen, let's invest in yoga mats when we open our school!)

happy birthday dr. seuss!!!

A box of birthday candles + a new batch of playdough = smiles all around