Are You Rolling Your Eyes?!

We worked on this art process today with bouncy ball eyes!  The kids dipped the eyeballs in paint and put them in the box on their papers.  Then they tipped the box back and forth, rolling the eyes around... and it was SO funny!

This isn't a new way to paint, but it is FUN every time!

Fun with Fall Work Time Plans

During October, we've worked with learning to name forest animals and various ways that they are getting ready for winter.  This Alone Table plan was a super way to help us remember which animals live in our local forests and develop understanding of size as well!  The Russian Doll style of toy challenged the school friends to put the animals in size order to correctly nest them.

We also mixed yellow with red paint to make orange.  Even basic art experiences like this are amazing to young children, which supports the idea that art does not need to be complicated to be educational and fun!

This day the children decided to stack the log blocks as high as they could go before they toppled!  Ms. Harmony supported this play by describing the blocks that they were choosing to use: large or small, heavy or light, flat or round, etc. as the children experimented with the best way to build.  At key opportunities, she would ask questions like, "So when we put the heavier blocks on top, the tower fell.  What should we change?" or "What happens if you turn this Y-shaped log upside down?"  The children did the work, did the thinking, and worked through the trial and error experience.  Not only did they develop greater understanding for gravity, balance, and weight, but also they were challenged to sustain attention and tolerate frustration as they practiced the scientific process of identifying a problem, having an idea to solve it, testing it, and reflecting on the results.

Did you know that some of the animals are better climbers than others?  After building the tower, the soft toy animals like Fox, Deer, Bear, Raccoon, and Mountain Lion pretended to climb the tower that the children made.  Ms. Harmony voiced Deer and asked the children to help her solve the problem of reaching the top since Deer wasn't great at climbing trees.  Deer is good at running and jumping.  The school friends built stairs for Deer so she could play too, although it's fun to pretend that Deer can fly too.  ;)

Happy Halloween is in the Explore Table!  We've stacked pumpkins, made skeleton stories, studied the movements of slinkies, filled cauldrons with beans and eyeballs, and SO MUCH MORE.  This is such a fun way to talk about the things we see at Halloween time.  :)

All in all, the children have certainly been BUSY!  It's so fun to build on THEIR ideas and see them learn through play.

Spooky Sensory Bottles

We've currently have three sensory bottles to play with and these are so cool!

This one has purple bands, a bit of orange glitter, plastic bugs, clear glue and water.  Just shake it up and watch the bugs "fly" around dodging the bands.

Next, the green bottle works best if you roll it, rather than shake it.  Instead of glue, it's made with water and oil. Most of the green glitter conglomerates with the oil.  The googly eyes float, so they are inevitably carried by the oil as well which always moves to the top of the bottle.  When the bottle is rolled around, the oil moves like a slimy monster!  And the eyes are ALWAYS watching you!  Boo!

This last bottle is just plain pretty.  :)  Made with equal parts of clear glue and water, the red and gold glitter swirl slowly after being shaken.  The fall colored gems will gently descend when the bottle is at rest.  All in all, it's completely mesmerizing.

Sensory bottles are amazing because they are so unique.  Depending on what you put in them, the results can be so different.  If you haven't tried these yet for your kids or students, don't be afraid to start!  It's almost impossible to go wrong.  :)

Teeny Halloweenie Art

Play-doh monsters are the bomb!  We made these cute little guys with googly eyes, fuzzy sticks, and clay.  The children get to form the body and accessorize with eyes and fuzzy sticks however s/he wants to.  You can't go wrong!  The monsters always turn out so cute!  We will dry ours, but you don't have to.

We decorated our small class pumpkin today by pouring cups of paint over the pumpkin.  The dripping and splatter effect was really unique, and fairly mess free!  Very little paint got on small hands or even the table because we used cups for the paint and a covered cookie sheet under the pumpkin.

Observe and Report- Fall Leaves

The leaves are changing before our eyes!  We collected some leaves from a few different species to examine in Small Group.  First we used magnifying glasses to study the leaves from White Oak, Redbud, and Tulip Magnolia trees.  We looked at the veins, the emerging colors and spots, and edge serration.  We talked about our observations, generating words like: bumpy, green and brown, crunchy, orange and brown, fan-shaped, etc.

Then we used glue to adhere the leaves on a large sheet of paper to make a Leaf Poster.  To finish this activity, Ms. Harmony wrote the child's words on the paper near the leaves that they described.  Modeling writing allows the children to learn that spoken ideas can be recorded with letters in writing.  See it, think it, say it, and then write it!  This is a great way to actively practice memorization.

Fun Fall Must-Haves for the Block Area

Keep the Block Area fresh by changing out the accessories periodically!  Here's what we've added recently:

• Real logs or branches
• Silk leaves

• Pinecones
• Wicker plates

• Forest animals
• Rocks 

Finding Fall?

The forest animals are going to start getting ready for winter soon!  One of the best ways to spot forest animals is by going camping.  We made a cool tent in the Book Area, stocked up on flashlights, and made animal dens.  So cool!

We hid animals around the room and used binoculars or flashlights to find them.  Bears make sure to eat lots of food during the summer and fall to prepare for winter.

Deer are busy eating too.  Food is hard to find in the winter.

Friend "Sandwich" asked, "Which pinecone is the spikiest?"  Great question!  He and Toddler "Koala" tested them out and then used them to make some animal dens.

Flashlights are also great for helping you find your belly button... in case yours is missing.  ;)

Ca-Razy Eyes for Halloween!

Whatcha lookin' at?  Hah!  These silly Halloween glasses have been a hit this week, and we thought you'd get a kick out of seeing the friends in funny frames too.  Enjoy!  :)

The Apple Game! (Gross Motor Skills and Sorting)

We LOVE the Apple Game at Harmony's House!  We mix up our "apples" in a basket, then say, "On your marks, get set, GO!" at which point all the balls ("apples") get dumped!

Then quick as a wink, we all run to pick up the balls and toss them into either the red tub or the blue tub (I wish I had a green one!) according to color.  All around, you hear, "Red!  Green!  Red!" as the children name the colors that they find.  Occasionally you hear, "Oops!  Wrong one!"  Then we fish out the "apple" that doesn't match and toss it in the correct tub.

By far, this is the MOST fun way we have practiced sorting by color and even the toddlers love it and can accurately sort by colors.  Yay by for apples!