note: this activity was done during a week long camp
called “way back when…” for 4 & 5 year olds at our local museum.

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during our week of exploring life way back when, we ate snack on bandanas and called them our “picnic cloths.”

the first day children chose a bandana and we wrote their names on them.

there was a place in our “classroom” to hang them when they weren’t in use.

our snacks for the week were related to our themes:

on transportation day we ate wagon wheels and horse food (honeycomb cereal and carrots)

on homes day we ate big and small logs (pretzels).

on clothing day we ate washtubs and fabric squares (individual applesauces and saltines).

there was also quite bit of creativity expressed during our relaxed snack times:

it sure was funny to go home and tell families we ate logs, wagon wheels, horse food, wash tubs and fabric squares. hee hee hee.

it was wonderful to be graced with beautiful weather for outdoor picnics 3 days of the week…but our inside picnic worked just fine.

i love
when ordinary items
are used for play…
here we are embracing
the last days at home
before school starts…

we were imagining how eliza might make her “e” some day…

compost soup…mmmmmm…to sally at least…

newspaper soaked in water and rolled to a ball…

i was simply taking a picture of the “wedding” that was happening and then helped clarify that if someone wanted her name to be sally it could be even though that is the name of another someone’s (ah-hem) dog.

i didn’t realize i captured this on the photo (and the dozen others taken around this one).

i am fascinated looking at each child.  it seems as though everyone is aware of the conflict and reacting in their own way.

we work every day to find ways to work together.  lately one class is working to include anyone who wants to join in already established play.  the latest “rule” is that everyone has to have a role and they have to be pleased with it (within reason…if this isn’t able to be figured out, we teachers move in to facilitate a bit).  just today i watched a little girl with puzzled expression grumble to no one in particular, “yeah, but if i tell him to do that, he won’t be happy.”  somehow it all worked out.

and s is for shaving cream. : )

our mirrors came in handy for a multi-age kids club meeting (the first ever). the activity was shaving cream and water play. honestly, shaving cream play always makes me nervous…the eye stinging possibility.

there was one moment. luckily he is 10, can stay calm with his eyes closed and can even laugh when i said i would take a picture of him.

the mirrors not only provided a place to see our silly selves all shaving creamed up, but a finger painting surface and most exciting, an instant fun house. because these are shatterproof acrylic, they are bendable (yes, one mirror did crack, but one out of 6 isn’t bad…and then we knew how far they could be bent):

this is the outside of our original and now returning preschool.

and ahhhhh, this big boy was a preschooler of mine way back in the early days.

note: this activity was done during a week long camp
called “way back when…” for 4 & 5 year olds at our local museum.

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

i know i’ve seen this recipe for a long time…just never made it.

but i am teaching a week long camp at the museum based on pioneer days and i wanted a “baking” looking color to go with our enamel dishes. usually i do a plain play doh with a bit of cinnamon.

this year i also made a batch of chocolate play dough…the first batch not working (way too crumbly…not sure what happened). very quickly the chocolate and cinnamon/vanilla batches are blended.

chocolate play dough:

combine (i do all the mixing in my kitchen aid):

1.5 cups flour

.5 cup cocoa

3 tsp cream of tartar

boil:

2 cups water

1 cup salt

2 tbs oil

mix it all together (at this point i had to add quite a bit of extra flour…not sure how much)

first posted in 2008.  now is a good time to start drinking and start collecting little things for some new alphabet i spy bottles!

:: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::

my kids were glad to help drink 26 bottles of gatorade and vitamin water so i could have wider-mouth bottles.

the preschoolers help me fill bottles with rice and then i hide something inside correlated to a letter.  i tape the lid on with colored duct tape and write the letter on the lid.

so far there is one little apple hidden in the A bottle

a plastic baby, a bird and a button hidden in the B bottle

plastic cows hidden in the C bottle

dice hidden in the D bottle

an egg and an elephant hidden in the E bottle

i’m thinking feathers in the F bottle, blades of grass in the G bottle, horses in the H bottle, ivy in the I bottle, jacks in the J bottle…on and on.

a little guy told me today that the A bottle was his favorite thing at preschool. wow.

i did this for micah’s birthday once with a dinosaur theme.  at preschool we use this for any letter of the alphabet since we can hide anything in the ice (except maybe u or x things…ideas, anyone?)!  appleseeds, counter bears, coins, dinosaurs, elephants, fake flower petals, green things, horses, jewels, keys, lace, money, nuts, o ring shapes, paper clips, quills, red things, snakes, turtles, valentines (plastic hearts), white things, yellow things, zoo animals.

but i like to use it during i week since that’s kind of a tricky letter to find things for.

ahead of time the teacher fills containers of any kind with water, then drops in some objects that won’t break when hit, then freezes.

preschoolers are offered tools for excavating the treasures…wooden blocks work the best in my experience.

take this as an opportunity to discuss the wonder that our eyes will blink or squint to protect themselves.  encourage this against the flying ice. : )

and if it is warm outside, take it all out!  when i week falls in a cooler month, we wear our mittens and break the ice chunks on art trays.