Friday, June 30, 2017

Final Fairy Lane Visit

This is it, my final post as a StrongStart facilitator.
It is my pleasure to share our last visit to Fairy Lane as my final post.
As we waited for all the families to arrive we painted a large branch.
We left the branch to dry while we went for a walk in the Lane.
We had some new clay doors to add and we were hoping to see 
a glimpse of a fairy.
Seeing this butterfly from a distant looked like a fairy.
Still so many houses to see in Fairy Lane.
It warms my heart that families still visit 
and bring more doors and houses 
for the fairies.

Our main purpose for this visit was to have a tea party.
The fairies had invited us for tea and we were not disappointed.
As we walked down the trail we found stumps covered
with clothes and laden with cups, tea pots and cookie tins.
There was even a little set for the fairies.

But before we had tea I suggested we visit the rest of the Lane
and find spots for our new doors.
Once we had placed them all we went back for our tea and cookies.
The children took turns pouring their tea
and sharing the cookies.
The cups and tea pots are the perfect size for independence.
It was delicious.
Thank you Fairies for a wonderful time.

Now time to leave a present for them.
We went back and collected our painted branch.
Then looked for the best place to hang it.
I wonder if any fairies will land on it.

Thank you for following along with me.
I've been a facilitator for the past ten years and have been
blogging for seven of them.
I strongly recommend all of you to share your ideas
either in a blog or on Instagram.
It has been an amazing reflection tool and has opened up the world.

May your summer be relaxing and re-energizing.
Take a moment to appreciate the work you do with children,
either as a parent or educator.
You have a very important job so have fun with it.

Maureen











Thursday, June 29, 2017

Campfire Allure

For the last week of school we changed our camping area
to use a different tent
and added a water play area.
The fire pit is so fascinating to the children.
And the adults.
When they were not enjoying the fire they went rowing in the boat.


Wednesday, June 28, 2017

A Different Easel

I switched our easels from painting to sensory boards and because of
that I created a new easel from a large cardboard box.
Day 1 the children used foam paint rollers that were cut in 
different textures.
This easel encouraged the children to use their whole body.
Stretching really high and bending low.
Day 2 I put out feather dusters.
They were harder to paint with as they were very floppy.
And they don't hold as much paint as the rollers did.
One unique action they did offer was a splatter.
Which kept me busy wiping it up off the floor.
Day 3 and we used foam brushes.
By this day the children were having lots of fun mixing the colours
and moving the paint trays around the box.
If we were not going into summer holiday we would of thought
of an idea of what to use the box for next.

Tuesday, June 27, 2017

Hot Rock Art

Just a few days of school left and I'm trying to use materials
that are already in the classroom.
So I pulled out our warming tray, rocks and crayons.
The children put mittens on to prevent any surprises with the warmth off the tray.
Since the rocks are already warm the crayon begins to melt right away.
Is this art or is this science?
A bit of both and a whole lot of fun.