We had some friends over today to help us celebrate and do some special crafts. We had a lot of fun and even got to play outside in the beautiful sunshine!!!
Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!
Cheese!!! Don't I look grand with my hat on??
This is how I made it!!!
We had the easel set up with green, blue & yellow paint... the murals came out wonderful. Does anyone have any suggestions on what to do with all the easel paintings?? I allow them to paint until they don't want to paint anymore, sometimes that means 2 pieces of paper or 15 pieces... some I keep, others I send home, and still others I throw out. I was thinking of using it for wrapping paper for our Mother's Day and Father's Day gifts... now finding a place to store it :)
I put out 3 shades of green paint and some small heart shaped boxes. I showed the kids how, if they connected the hearts they would look like a Shamrock. 
Some got it... other's just liked the stamping with the hearts.... Process over Product right :)
We had Green Eggs again today... I thought it doesn't have to be just for Dr. Seuss' Birthday right!!! What would be more fitting then green eggs and toast for breakfast on St. Patrick's Day. The kids really enjoyed "painting" their toast. I got the idea from Teaching 2 and 3 Year Olds. But, note to self... use a toaster oven not a toaster to toast the bread. The side painted with the milk didn't toast as quick as the opposite side... so our first attempts were a little soggy. On our second attempt I just toasted the bread and then let the kids paint the toasted bread. It was a little messier, but it was fun.
I love these mystery type works. I hid gold coins in the Easter grass and the kids had to find a coin and put it on the numbers/space. The coins had numbers on them for the older kids to match, but the younger kids just put them on a circle.
Here the kids have to put the correct number of shamrocks into the hats. The little ones just put them in and take them out, which is a great fine motor activity for them.
In the Sensory Table I put some magnetic wands, magnetic chips, gold coins & shamrocks (not magnetic) and cups to place the items in. They enjoyed figuring out which ones would stick to their wands and then sorting them into the cups. Others just loved the feel of waving the wand, getting the chips and then taking their hand and pushing them all off the wand. One little girl did this over and over and over again. She enjoyed it very much.Below are the pictures from our Lion and Lamb Theme!! I keep forgetting to post the finished product and the kids keep asking why they haven't seen THEIR work on the blog. So here they are...
What a busy week...
I send every single piece of artwork home. No matter what it is. However, I only send it home once a month. Some of it we hang in our stairwell (our playroom is downstairs) which we call our Art Gallery. Some of it gets hung around the playroom. And some of it just gets put in a box that I sort out at the end of the month, along with everything that has been displayed. It gets puts into a grocery bag, which I tie shut so that they aren't spreading everything all over my kitchen at pickup time and the car on the way home. I feel that it's the kids' creation, and therefore it is not my decision to make as to what is done with it. Now, with that said, there is one exception to the rule. I do occassionally throw out a piece of paper that a 2-year-old has turned into a big puddle of glue. You know...the ones that probably won't dry in the next three days! I have taught the parents well though, I think. I make sure they understand that envelope of clippings is more important than whatever teacher-led project may or may not be in that bag.
ReplyDeleteMy kiddos have TONS of art work also. With quality we are required to have 2 pieces up per child and it be changed monthly. So... I have a stack that I keep and some I send home. I keep the very best for the portfolio that the parents receive at the end of the year. Sometimes their art work is LARGE. One afternoon after all the kids left I was cleaning off the 3 D shelf to make room for new stuff. There was a HUGE project several of the kids worked on. I didnt really even know how to decide who to send it with -so.. I decided to discreetly discard it . As I turned the corner a mom was backing up the drive way.. she said her daughter saw me come out with it and was like NOOOOOOOOOOOO.... :) Mom grudgingly took it on her car and asked me next time to make sure she had cleared the drive way.:)
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