Holiday Boughs with Puffy "Snow" Paint

We are always looking to incorporate nature or natural elements into our art or activities at the school. This week, I brought in the bottom branches that I had cut from my Christmas tree. I snipped them into small segments, tied some ribbon to the top, and had the children paint them with Shaving Cream Puffy Paint (see recipe below or click the link to find other fun activities with this recipe). They also shook on some gold glitter and Christmas sequins.

The result was a set of stunning holiday boughs. I just wish we had done these at the beginning of December!


RECIPE: Shaving Cream Puffy (Snow) Paint: 1 part white school glue, to 4 parts shaving cream. Mix well. The final product dries puffy and white!

A Forest in the Sandbox

Our creative younger pod added a festive forest to their little sandbox on their patio.

They supplied mini trees, real tree branches, pine cones, plastic forest animals and tree cookies. Tree cookies are just the chopped ends from Christmas trees...available NOW for FREE anywhere Christmas trees are sold!!

We love them so much that we ask our parents to gather the cookies when they get their trees at Christmas. My coworker does a lot of exploration with tree cookies in the project room. For more ideas, visit her blog at I Work 4 Kids!

Let's Go Outside!

There has been a misconception over the last century that learning must take place indoors. Years ago, students would diligently go to school and “learn.”

 But, they would also be able to roam free and explore their world once the school bell rang. 

They would run about, play tag, build forts, climb trees, explore streams, and use their creative ingenuity to transform natural objects into playthings.

Unfortunately, we have experienced a shift over the last few generations where parents work more hours (indoors); consequently, young students are forced to attend more formalized institutions to bide their time waiting for their parents return. 

With the best of intentions, many of these institutions have developed structured programs that offer every option from cooking and crafts to structured sports and pre-math for the preschool child. 

 Most of them will also offer a “recess” time, but this time would be limited so as not to “waste” time. With this shift, children seem to have lost their ability to play outside for hours on end as we once did. 

 According to Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods, children have become disconnected with nature. In fact, Louv went as far as coining the term “nature deficit disorder” when it comes to the youth of today. 

As we know, this over abundance of time spent indoors has, in fact, caused a disconnect with nature. This lack of time spent outside has also contributed to a host of other problems such as obesity, ADHD, physical deficits, and lack of confidence in physical abilities

I need to ask, why did the idea of learning outside become a threat to our children's development? When did studying plants and nature in their natural habitat become underscored by watching a nature program on TV or You Tube? Why is the concept of "play" better understood indoors as it is outdoors?

 To counteract these deficits and misconceptions, many programs for young children have discovered the value of the Outdoor Classroom. These programs are adding natural elements, gardens, and green spaces. They have taken the components from inside their classroom and brought them outside. Forward-thinking teachers are bringing their students outside to learn in an environment that has been designed with the development of the child in mind. 

I send out a huge congratulations to those programs who have stepped up against this absurd anti-recess revolution that seems to spreading like wildfire across our nation. I congratulate teachers and parents who have taken learning outdoors to once again connect our youth with the world in which they live!

 The Outdoor Classroom is a great place to start, but we must all take steps to get our children back OUTSIDE!

Take a hike, visit a nature center, go on a walk, splash in a stream, fish in the lake, smell the flowers, make a leaf rubbing, build a snowman, go birdwatching, dig for worms, search for bugs, go on an outdoor alphabet scavenger hunt, have a family picnic in your backyard, sit under the stars, visit a farm, go berry picking, or simply find the green area in your local park. Nothing is too small.

Let's ALL get outside and get LEARNING!

Nature Deficit? Not Here!

I've mentioned in past posts how I've been trying to add a greater emphasis on natural elements in our yard. We've added bins and buckets filled with pinecones, hay, large tree cookies, small tree cookies, shiny stones, logs, stumps and more.
Today my heart nearly skipped a joyful beat. As I was walking through the yard during nap time, a special something caught my eye. There, in the middle of the sandbox, was this ornate little sand castle. The castle was adorned with rocks, leaves, pinecones, and even one large tree cookie. The children obviously took great pride in their work because their masterpiece was surrounded by protective cones from the bike area. This little piece took concentration, effort and collaboration. It was a beautiful sight to behold!

Nature deficit disorder? Nope...not here!

NEEDED: Nature Inspired Ideas!

Do you have any wonderful nature-inspired ideas to share? Our Outdoor Classroom is always filled with so many fabulous activities. We have dramatic play, music, art, blocks, sensory bins, fine motor, sand, writing, bikes and more. But it always seems that "nature" itself gets overlooked. We garden, we play in the sand, and we've added the token box of "Nature Exploration" items (pinecones, tree cookies, etc) to the sandbox. But I want to add MORE! Any ideas? I would love to hear your thoughts.

Also, I was told by my director that we have a bundle of 8 foot willow branches for use in the Outdoor Classroom. I would love to use them, but I am stumped as to how. If you have any photos or ideas for adding willow branches to the environment, please help. THANKS!!

You can post your ideas in the comments or post to the Linky below.

Exploring Nature With Children

PVC = Science and Art!

When I was asked to take over the "patio" responsibility at our school, I had to think for a long time about what angle I was going to take with the activities. The patio is designed for the 3 - 5 year olds and is our version of "indoor/outdoor" flow for an hour during their free choice time. Though I work with the teachers on specific activities to strengthen particular skills, the rest is for me to "take it and run."

I envisioned a beautiful art area filled with ample resources such as recyclables, jars of paint, and oodles of colored paper. I thought about it, but then it occurred to me that our "Project Room" serves that exact purpose (click here to visit the I Work 4 Kids blog, written by our Project Room teacher).
Well, I could do dramatic play, puzzles, and fine motor. Nope...that is already IN the classroom! It finally struck me that large science, gross motor, messy art, water play, nature-oriented and sensory activities were just what we needed for the children who would be "naturally inclined" to choose the outdoor space for their free time activities.

This week, one of the focus activities was PVC tubes and balls. I had the children explore various sizes of PVC tubes with varying sizes of balls (golf, whiffle, and marbles). Of course, my idea was to roll the balls into the pool, but that lasted for about...oh...30 seconds!

Soon, ramps, tubes and slides were being built across the patio and balls were running wild. The tubes were hooked onto the patio fence, window sills and the 5 gallon paint bucket that I was using to store the PVC. However, the kids were focused and intention and they were creating unique and effective ramps designed to jump balls into cups, race marbles with friends, and test out force and velocity. Did I worry that my intended method wasn't in use? NOPE! The children had taken their learning much further than my idea would have allowed. And that should be a teacher's goal...to allow children to create their own thoughts, processes, and understandings.

Today, I removed several pieces of the pipe and left only a few select balls. I lined the pool with paper, squirted in ample amounts of paint, and let them discover how the paint reacted to the different balls.

One boy realized that the lighter balls would get stuck in the paint, while the heavier ones would roll through to make the longest tracks.

I didn't put too many limits on how to use the pipes or shovels (which were technically added for the purpose of scooping up balls in case the children didn't want to get their hands dirty...lol!). The shovels became "hockey" sticks for the balls and were also used to shmear the paint. One little girl even picked up a clean sheet of paper and laid it across her favorite "ball painting" to make a mirror image.

Tomorrow, we will use 3/4" PVC with marbles and paint!


The other activities I set out were: a "construction zone" with gutters, blocks, and lego vehicles;

  clay;

tree blocks with forest animals;

painting and printing on leaves from our playground;

and a sensory bin filled with beans, magnet wands and small magnetic items (click the links to see detailed posts on these activities).

If you don't have a patio, then I would highly recommend bringing any of these activities into the yard. Remember...anything you can do inside, can be done BIGGER AND BETTER outside!!!

If You Build It, They Will Come

In my last post I talked about extending activities rather than "ditching" them when children appeared uninterested in an object or activity. So today, I decided to test out the theory again. This time it was our set of "tree blocks"in which I wanted to spark some interest.

I have put these blocks in our play yard several times for the children; and for several times, they weren't interested. At all. To be honest, I was shocked. I personally love the blocks! I mean, don't the children know that natural materials are all the rage? Don't they understand that playing with natural items will help them gain the much-needed and much-talked about connection with nature that the children of today so desperately need? I guess not. Let's face it...they are in it for the fun. It is the teachers who are in it for the philosophy. That said, it is up to us to "camouflage" the philosophy with "fun".

So, it was up to our storage room I went to find something interesting to add to the tree blocks. I walked into the "science room" and stumbled upon a bin of forest animals. These could definitely add some life to the blocks! This time, I put the blocks on our patio where our "older" pod (3-5yrs) can choose to play during their free choice time. Before the children arrived in the morning, I set up the table to look like a little forest with animals peering around corners and hiding under the blocks. As the children passed by on their way to class I could already hear them chatting to their parents about the forest table.

At first, only one child went to the table. It was a start. He asked me to play, so I sat with him and we enjoyed playing with the creatures and talking about the various types of animals on display. Slowly, several others joined the fun and soon I was able to back out and watch as their play unfolded.

They worked cooperatively for more than half an hour and created some very clever structures with the blocks. They called me over to see their creations. They were positively thrilled with themselves!

During the same play period, my coworker came over and commented on how his 3 year olds were not playing with the brand-new hollow blocks we just purchased. He is an extremely insightful teacher, so quoting Kevin Costner from Field of Dreams as he walked, he went over and built a great something...and the children came.

Ahhh, success!

These structures were made by the 3's class...after the teacher left!

Finding Fall, Part 2

If you read Finding Fall Pt. 1, you'd remember that I recently went to a ranch to purchase an abundance of squash, gourds, pumpkins, and corn stalks. We displayed our horn of plenty in the lobby for several days, but today it was time to let the children play! Our fabulous group of teachers got together during nap time and we spent the afternoon transforming our Outdoor Classroom into an Autumn festival of sorts.

First, we scattered hay and set the GIANT pumpkin to perch for the season. We then set out all of the other squash, gourds and pumpkins for the children to explore. A far cry from "display only,"we encourage the children to tote, carry, push, pull and explore the bounty. Consider the items "loose parts" that can be used in every form of their play (well, as long as they are not purposefully damaging the items). We have provided wheelbarrows, pots, pans, and a wagon to encourage their interactions with the new items. They are also encouraged to use the pint-sized rakes to help rake the hay back into our planters!

In the above sensory bin, we mixed cornmeal, beans, and Fall colored rice. We added dried gourds (complete with dried seeds to rattle), some unusual pumpkins, pinecones, spoons and small cups. This is a very "natural" bin and encourages children to explore the patterns and textures that nature provides. To stimulate some scientific observations, I also plan on adding a sensory bin filled with moist dirt, dried beans and small shovels to the yard. My hope is that the beans will sprout over the course of the week and the children will be able to discover and investigate the growing seeds. I can't wait to hear them chatter about why the beans in the dirt sprouted, but the beans in the cornmeal did not. 

The dramatic play area became a Western Cowboy Cookout. We provided lanterns, western clothes, cowboy hats, cowboy books, aluminum pots and pans, play food, a picnic table, and a bale of hay on which to sit. We try to carry this theme for several weeks, so, as time goes on we will probably put in a few more items to add interest...a "campfire" with roasting sticks, a farmer's market, a tent, books about cowboys, and more. 

I do love a great dramatic play area, but I do sometimes feel that we limit the children's creativity by providing items such as realistic play food. When we give the children plastic spaghetti, it can only be spaghetti. Whereas, if we provide more natural items (pinecones, sticks, rocks, etc), the items can transform into anything the children would like them to be. So, to offer an alternative to our more "structured" dramatic play, we have a "mud-kitchen" playhouse in the sandbox where we offer the children a selection of natural and open-ended play material.

 Do you have any great Autumn ideas or photos for the Outdoor Classroom? I'd love to hear them in your comments! Feel free to link to your blog.

Finding Fall, Part 1

I live in Southern California, so Autumn comes rather slowly around here. In fact, I haven't seen one red, yellow or orange leaf as of yet. Sigh. Thankfully, the director of my school is completely smitten with the season. So, rather than waiting for Fall to find us, we headed 50 miles out to find IT!

 

I spent my childhood up north, where Fall was one of the most spectacular seasons of the year. This being my first year in California, I was beyond excited to see what the pumpkin patches in SoCal had to offer. The director and I drove out to Lombardi Ranch on a mission to find every kind of gourd, pumpkin, corn, and winter vegetable you could think of. And to say the least, it was a sight to behold!

 We filled 3 wagons with the largest, most colorful, and most unshapely types of squash we could find.

 We toted mini pumpkins, dried gourds, and Indian corn. We also purchased 7 bunches of freshly cut corn stalks, complete with several silky ears of corn and several bales of hay.

The highlight of the purchase was the two GIANT pumpkins we found. We filled the entire van before heading back to school with our treasures of Autumn.

We put our treasures on display in the lobby for a few days; but soon they will enter the yard to be truly enjoyed by the children. We will place the hay bales around the yard. Some will be spread out as ground cover for the mighty pumpkins and some will be for climbing. We will tie the corn stalks to the poles in the sandbox and around the trees to make our own cornfield. And of course, we will leave out the large gourds, pumpkins and squash for the children to tote around, sit on, and carry in the wheelbarrow. "Loose Parts" and "Nature" at their finest!

We found Fall!