The things we learn through play

Over the last few weeks I have been noticing a few additional bumps and bruises creeping up. Now that we are approaching the warmer weather, we do not have quite as much padding on our bodies, so the scrapes are a little more apparent. The children are quite comfortable with getting the odd scrape and bruise and after a moment or two of tears, they are usually off running and laughing again. I have been observing quite a bit of empathy being exhibited amoungst the children, and they are only too eager to run to the freezer for an ice pack for their friends. The children have also been right there as I apply a band-aid or two, or hovering (usually in the light) as I search for a splinter with the tweezers. As a direct result of this interest in helping each other, and the innate desire to stick band aids all over ourselves the children were very excited to discover a corner set up for just that purpose. With a few extra little bits it's become quite a popular area! 

We had this machine laying around, not sure what it's really for, but it looks very medical-like. The children have been using it for a wide variety of things everything from stethoscopes to telephones. It has two instruments attached by wires, it's pretty neat!

After most of the bandaids had been massacred and stuck all over each other's bodies, the children were looking for a patient. All the children were eager to be the doctor, so who better to be the guinea pig than me? I gave the camera to one of the doctors who enjoyed taking pictures of me being 'doted' on! 

I'm being X-Ray'd, of course! Then my diagnoses was that my body just was old, that's all, and I was left with a prescription to take two smarties. I felt very well taken care of, and would recommend this hospital to anyone.... seriously, anyone else?!?! My eyebrows are barely there after a few bandaids were applied and ripped off. But really, they were gentle;)

After being doted on, I was left there abandoned as the children moved on to something else. I'm sure another day someone else will take the bait and sit in as the patient. If not, there are always those little dolls. 

What's Inside

What's better than two broken tape decks?....

Discovering what's inside two broken tape decks!!

And discovering the speakers are magnetic!

The remains of what happens to two broken tape decks when you hand a group of 2, 3, and 4 year olds screwdrivers!

Dino Dig

About three years ago I had a the 'brilliant' idea of putting a bunch of plastic dinosaurs in plaster. Little did I know that over three years it became part of my mission to release them. I could easily do it myself, but I thought i'd give the children a chance. There were some brief successes over the years where the children managed to free one of the little guys, but for the most part there they sat, encased in plaster. 

Much of the lack of success has been due to the lack of me of thinking like a child, and involving the children in the problem solving process. It was this time, that I asked the children what we needed to release these dinosaurs. The children recalled what they had seen in one of our books.... shovels, hammers, brushes, water, etc. Of course, why not use the real thing?!?!?

We've been completely engrossed in the wonders that are dinosaurs, and it was a great opportunity to practice our paleontology skills. So when the children arrived this week, the sensory table was set up like this.  

The children recovered the tools mentioned above. And rather that digging in head first into the project, they carefully used their paleontology knowledge to recover the 'plastered dinos' I'm not kidding, they drove ME crazy with their patience to detail in retrieving the dinosaurs, brushing each little granule of sand until the dinosaur was nearly lifting itself out of the sand!

This is what the children carefully brushed the sand away from. Then immediately set to work on extracting the dinos from their plaster prison!

Our tinkering tools were carefully laid out (by the children) and ready for extracting. You can also see that some plastic blueberries were also set out on the table as a tool that could be used. Not sure what for, perhaps in case the paleontologist became hungry during the dig. A picture further down the page you can also see the a tiny toaster was deemed a useful tool. Of course, it was! 

Of course some children just enjoyed moving the sand around. The softness of the recovery as opposed to the loudness of the extracting was a bit more soothing.

Then came the giant spike nails. Again, these items we are retrieved by the children when I gave them full reign of my 'actual' tool shelf. I'm pretty sure the enormity of the nails was appeal in itself, but they were very practical too!

I got very excited when I saw that the dinos had left and imprint on the plaster. The children were impressed, but I did get the impression that they were trying to humour me, as the thrill of hammering was more satisfying

Back at work, it took a lot of skill to keep the plaster still, as well as hold the nail and hammer all at the same time. These children made it seem like it was the easiest thing in the world!

I would say it was a successful dino dig, would you?

Of course, who could forget, that after being encased in plaster for three years, the dinos were in dire need of a bath, so that's right where they headed!

Delicious smells!!!

Have you ever tried this? 

It was a welcome invitation for the children to explore their senses. On the table the children discovered a variety of grinders and kitchen utensils. On the other table there were a few others, I just neglected to get a photo. They also found a variety of delicious smelling herbs: mint, rosemary, basil, oregano, and cilantro. The children were intrigued, but set to work right away testing out the various gadgets to assist them in making our room smell, well.... delicious!

There was a grinder that was meant for meat grinding. This took a bit of co-ordination, but the results were interesting. This is our first time anyhow, after a bit of practice, we'll get it and we'll be milling like experts!

The herbs with an actual herb grinder!

We added our herb bits to our white playdough, and some children opted to use the herbs whole. The designs were extraordinary!

And those cars just like to get in on everything we do!

Looking and smelling yummy. Something that was unexpected was that it felt neat too. Some of the children opted to leave some herbs whole... like the rosemary, so as the children were squishing it, there were little hard bits too. 

More of the creations

Smelling it was the fun part!

Our pasta maker was a big hit!

It also made spaghetti.

The playdough in the meat mincer.

The results from the meat mincer

It kind of reminded us of shredded cheese for a pizza... hmmm!

Of course everyone helped each other. After a while some children decided to move on, leaving access to a LARGE amount of the playdough, our pasta roller is good, but this blob took a LONG time to roll through!

Our room has never smelled yummier!!!

It's a Jungle out there

We've added a little greenery in our centre, and it reminds us of the jungle. If you look closely, you can spot a rare sight... a striped youngster who uses his talented grasp to build his other jungle friends a little step ladder.

That talented striped youngster constructed this amazing tower. Shortly after this it suffered it's demise, after it's creator sat right on top of it, amid so much laughter!

We're pretty excited about the doll house redecorating. No more plain white, and after some co-operative efforts this was the outcome. I especially love the animal print throw rugs!

It was a little chilly out today, so we broke out the hot chocolate maker, and enjoyed some tasty treats. 

Of course, who could resist a little class?

Only one of the teacup suffered a fall, and subsequently a trip to the trash can. But we're practicing being careful and using two hands. The concentration it took to carry these teacups to the sink was amazing to watch. And yes, some tongues were sticking out to add to that concentration!