Chemistry

* Queasy mom's and dad's look away!*

We love to experiment at our little school and play around with different mediums. What started as drill painting quickly became an experiment with paint. One of my most fondest memories as a child was going in the cupboards in the bathroom and taking the different shampoos, baby powders, and toothpaste, or whatever new 'ingredients' were hiding in my little supply cupboard. *disclaimer* there were never any hazardous materials used... (I don't want to make my parents appear to be unfit parents, in fact they really were and still are awesome parents!) So today when the experiment started up, the memories came flooding back! 

This whole experience reminded me as well as the tall paintings a fantastic blog had mentioned a while back.

On our art shelf are some squeeze bottles to allow the children to choose their own paint colours as well as prepare their own art. This has enabled the 'less that enthusiastic about art' inner artist spring to the surface. 

This experience, was fascinating to watch, as the child discovered the smoothness of the paint, as well as the new colours he was making. 

The other wonderful thing about keeping the paint in the squirt bottles, is that when the process was over, we just scooped it all back into the bottle and we have a new colour to choose from!

 I should also mention that the soundtrack of all this exploration was 'Beethoven Lives Upstairs' (a favourite in  our group) and this sensory, chemistry experience was to the beat of some classics. The picture above does it no justice, but those hands were conducting to Beethoven's 5th! It was beautiful!

Our clean up became a secondary discovery. We have some plastic paper... i'm not certain of the source or the purpose, but those papers have been used for so many things. Today it was a scraper and as we were scraping a design appeared on the table. That was almost as exciting as the whole 'chemistry' experiment.

Green Thumbing it!!

As previously mentioned in an earlier post I have been contemplating our back yard. Our two trees in the middle of the yard are just calling for attention, and since a little 'creature' took up residence in our tree, we thought that would be a wise place to start. So we've been digging around the tree. At the moment the children have been using the dump trucks and shovels and basically just poking and prodding, but there is a goal in mind. We are hoping to get a little garden in there just to 'pretty things up!' so we got out the shovels and buckets and started tearing up the grass. I LOVE that the children have been so actively involved in the process, I hope the zeal in ALL of us is still there as we go along.

I haven't got pictures of us working hard at it all, you know, cause we were working hard... no time to stop and take pictures! But you'll see the process of getting it going.

The crazy part of this old house is that there are treasures all around the place here. The house itself is 60 years old, and over the years as people have moved in and out they have left bits and bobs behind.... you should see all the great stuff I found while getting the basement ready for the centre! Anyhow, I found a WHEELBARROW of all things down by the chicken house last week and practically squealed. It's a rusty old thing that WILL need to be replaced pretty soon, but for now it suits our needs perfectly.

We all worked up our appetites by loading it full of all the grass chunks and dumping them in what has inspired me to be a great spot for a compost! I love seeing the love and attention put into this project. 

I have been asking the children what colour plants should end up in the garden, so that is the next step! We've been researching favourite colours and plants of fairies, since we've decided that perhaps our resident fairy is too busy to get going on the garden. It's definitely turning into a fun project.

Drills and Waterfalls

*edit* a little something I was working on yesterday!
I posted a little prematurely yesterday, because after all my deliberating about the outside, who knew that the outside was going to take over our inside?!?! Well after an explosion of creativity our centre was overrun by waterfalls! What a wonderful memory. I was so thankful to capture some of the fun on film.
The inspiration came from the crazy rain we had falling yesterday, when one of the children said it looked like a waterfall, and boy did it ever!

After a moment of planning and thinking, the blueprints got drawn up.

Now came the moment of some less than favourable results. Paper was not a good material for a waterfall, but that blue tube came in handy. 

The tube became two tubes to make the experience even grander, but needed to be fastened somehow... duct tape became a good solution.

NOW, HOW IS THE WATER GOING TO GET IN THE TUBES?

We looked high and low for a solution. The solution became a great success!

Our Silver Watering Can!

We did discover that one problem was that  in order to empty the watering can you had to reach REALLY high, so the problem was solved by placing the system on the floor.

This project continued for hours, and started up again today. One thing about waterfalls though, is that they splash a bit, so one must always be mindful of safety, and make sure to clean up any spills!

The children arrived this morning to discover that there was a drill on our paint easel, but what was it for? 

After some examination it was discovered that there were some paint brushes on the end. The children were eager to get going, and so was I, but in my excitement, I neglected to notice if the drill was charged! Haha! Ooops!

Once the drill was charged up, the fun began! We enjoyed the designs it made on our paper and listening to the sound of this usually 'adult' tool. It was so much fun that we need to put more of these drills on the shopping list! 

The drills themselves were very low voltage, so they were seemingly harmless. They probably would end up working well on our tinkering table!

The drill even comes equip with a built in flashlight. At least we can do art on days that the power goes out!:)

Inspiration!

Rain is part of our daily curriculum. It's something that no matter what, we have to learn to not only tolerate it, but embrace it. As I'm writing this it seems that a MONSOON has overtaken our outside. It's nice to look out at on a day like this, but we have also learned to make the best of it.

I have only recently taken to reading other amazing blogs to reap from others, wisdom and experience but also to take in some inspiring ideas. Of course when one looks at the photo of our playspace outside it seems that it has a long way to go, and it does! When you look at this space it has so much potential, and sometimes I use the weather as a bit of an excuse. With it being so poorly outside, not to mention biting cold with all that wetness, it seems the only thing appealing is to either take shelter under a tree, or embrace it and dig in the mud! Many of our little folks have chosen the latter, but there must be more to do! My brain is scattered with a million ideas, 

and each one exciting in my mind. It's been a long road getting to where we are today, and granted I have only lived in this lovely home for four months, and much of that time has been busy creating the 'bones' of the space. So here's to planning on getting going on my many thoughts and endeavours. 

I have enjoyed reading the likes of http://progressiveearlychildhoodeducation.blogspot.com/ and http://teachertomsblog.blogspot.com/ and countless others! These blogs have provided some inspiration as well as motivation to enrich the children's lives with some unique and creative wanderings. The first blog is creative as far as ideas and thoughts, but one can't help but remember that Australia weather is a FAR different extreme than here, so some ideas will be reserved for those fun summer days... what a summer it will be! As far as inspiration from someone who embraces the wet like we do, the latter blog has been my go to for motivation on those days that I think, I just can't be creative today. So thanks Teacher Tom for that, from both the children and myself. I love that you and I get to experience the same weather extremes, with you being so close by, it makes me feel less like a looney for taking the children out on days like this. It really is so much fun when you play like the rain comes around once a year! 
So any outdoor inspiration? Send them my way, i'd love to hear it!

Laser Beams and Dragon Dances

I was hoping to post the pictures from Friday, but my weekend got away from me. So here they are today!

It seems our backyard has become a bit of a bird sanctuary, so why not have a 'Bird Watching Window', plus who can resist a pair of binoculars. The super fun part of it all is that we discovered the binoculars came with some funny bird whistles, we're a little leery of trying them out, while outside, lest we attract some extreme birds, but we're working our way up to it!

In the afternoon we decided to 'secure' the daycare by putting up some laser beams. Consider yourself warned!

But.... for today, we'll wish you all Gung Hei Fat Choi, as we welcome the year of the dragon. So today saw us doing a little dragon dance and sharing some red envelopes.

After all that rain on the weekend, you'd think there would be a GIANT mud puddle to jump in, but we'll settle for what we can!

Speaking of outside, we noticed SOMEONE has taken up residency in our tree. Stay tuned....

It has happened!

On Monday of this week I had the most anticipated inspection of my life... my final inspection! Upon entering the facility she was up front in telling me that this was her first visit and does not generally issue approvals right away, and it usually takes a second visit. But, thankfully, after 45minutes I was fully licensed. I was so grateful to her, that I burst into tears! Poor woman, didn't know how happy she made me.
So now I am open for business and happy to be! So bring on the children.
I have been in operation now for less than a week, and so far so good! Haha, i'm sure there will be ups and downs as we go along, but for the time being, I am grateful for what I have. I have a million ideas in my head, and I hope that not a single one gets wasted. These children are in for an amazing journey, and I can't wait to see where it all takes me!