Monday, November 5, 2012

Building Our Town


Day One

This month we will be creating an imaginary town. We began with an empty plot of grass and a group of citizens who wanted us to turn it into a town. We brainstormed about all the things a town would need. The first thing they added was a playground :)  We had great conversations about all the things we needed. The children mentioned that we would need money. When I asked "where do people get money?" The two responses were "the store" and "work." Which resulted in them adding three stores for places to work. A food store, a clothing store (for bathing suits for the pool) and a treat store. Later when we were reading a book (featured below), we realized that we needed to have a trash truck and place for it to bring the trash.  I suggested a Town Office for us to hold our meetings in. No matter how much more I questioned and encouraged them, they ran out of ideas to add to our map. 

This is my artistic talent, not that of the children. Theirs would probably put mine to shame.

We used the construction vehicles to build roads, bridges, and ramps.











DAY TWO

On day two we added a few more places to our town. We added a train station, which meant we also needed to add tracks. We added a fence around the pool and discussed who could work at the pool to keep people safe.  We added pear trees to the apple orchard. A parking lot at the top of the map for all the construction trucks to park in. 





It started in complete chaos.



Soon I realized they needed to have "foundations" to build on.













When they got tired of building a couple of the "workers" went back to the office to draw up some blueprints. We haven't used rulers much at preschool in the recent past, so this was a very fascinating activity for them.



DAY THREE

The kids suggested that we add a fire station and police station to the map. We talked about how important those are and what would have happened in the town without them. We voted to hire 6 fireman total. Three that work at night and three that work during the day. We also decided that we would start with three policemen.  


Our new green felt, which is perfect for grass to build and drive on.



We also sang:

Wheels on the Fire Truck
Wheels on the Fire Truck go round and round, round and round, round and round
Wheels on the Fire Truck go round and round all around our town.

Sirens ...wee-ooo, wee-ooo, wee-ooo
Heroes ... "Here we come! Here we come! Here we come!
Ladders... up and down
Hoses... spray, spray, spray


Twinkle Twinkle Traffic Light
Twinkle Twinkle Traffic Light
Twinkle twinkle traffic light
Shining on the corner bright
Red means STOP, Green means GO, Yellow means go reeaallly slloww.
Twinkle Twinkle Traffic Light
Shining on the corner bring.




Monday, October 29, 2012

Fall Sensory Tables

I was very fascinated over the last couple months how our sensory table kept transforming. It started with beans, lentils and dried corn. There were a couple squirrels hanging around too.  The different types of play that took place at the table included dramatic play, scooping, transferring, and amazing conversations between friends.


The original set up.



For the first time ever I made our sensory table available as part of the dramatic play area. I was very nervous about this option, but it seemed appropriate as part of our Farmer's Market.


Before long there was also a tree available on the cabinet next to the sensory table, in case the squirrels needed some time to themselves. This opened up a lot of creative play.


Eventually the Farmer's Market started to spill over into the table, too. Which was better than the table spilling over into the market.


At the end of September, our Farmer's Market was packed up and put away, but our collections from outside found their way into the table next. (Some of the leaves are artificial) There were also clothespins and dried penne pasta mixed in. The clothespins were used to hook all sorts of items together. One boy even made a scarecrow.





Then we used the collections from the table with our homemade play dough.



And finally!!! Today the table transformed completely into a spooky and
 slimy table full of Halloween!







Monday, October 22, 2012

Our Waldorf Inspired Gnomes (a side note)

Over a year and a half ago I discovered a craft project that I could not refuse on Wee Folk Art.

The website claimed:

"Once you let a gnome in your life, you'll never be without one again! Our house is crawling with gnomes. We have unassuming gnomes and rather ostentatious gnomes. We have gnomes that love to tell stories and shy ones that prefer to listen. We even harbor a couple rather naughty gnomes, but down deep, they have a heart of gold! Their personalities are as different as you'd expect in any group of friends. For that reason, we'd like to give you the opportunity to invite a few gnomes into your house."

Waldorf gnomes ran away with my heart. I toyed with the patterns a bit and it wasn't long before I was making them freehand and giving them their own unique twists and personalities.  For about six months I was making them constantly and actually set up a table at a couple craft fairs, spreading the gnome love. Although I have slowed down on creating these little friends, they have never left our preschool classroom or my home.

The preschoolers love these little gnomes as much as I do.

Our Homemade Gnome Tree House










Friday, October 19, 2012

1 Little, 2 Little, 3 Little .....

Stamping

Pumpkins and Gates

Homemade pumpkin stamp using sticky back felt and a foam block.

Apples

Art. :)


Acorns and Other Natural Materials



Pumpkin Measuring





Happy Birthday Inch By Inch!