Imagine

 We have been talking about our feelings in the preschool.  After reading a number of books about feelings and having a great class discussion the children were invited to draw their feelings.  This activity allowed us to have extended conversations about our feelings. The children had a lot to say. One conversation led us to talk about bravery. " What does brave mean?" " It means you're a superhero and you can fly!" said one child, while another said, " It means you don't feel scared." The class agreed that we all have a lot of different feelings, some good and some bad. We also realized feelings come and feelings go.  We wrote what the children said on the back of their drawings and laminated them. They are sweet "feelings" flashcards inspired by the author Todd Parr.

We have been talking about our names. Why do we have a name? How do we get our name? Do we have only one name? How many names do you have? We then had a discussion about the letters in our names. How many letters do you have in your name? We had each child pick out the letters in their name and stamp them into a flattened piece of clay. We talked about the order of the letters and the direction the letters go. The clay was a great medium for this activity because it was easy to correct our mistakes. We extended this activity by supplying ink and paper. We are using our stamped names for our helper mobile. In case you are new to our class, the helper mobile is how we know who the helpers are for the week. The helper or "line leader" is a coveted position. Ask your child what a line leader does.

 We asked the question, "What is your favorite body part and why?" after reading the book "I Like Me" by Nancy Carlson.  This question lead to a discussion about our bodies and the various things that our bodies can do.  We got some great insight from the class. Their answers were photographed and then hand drawn.  

Usually when we work with clay in the preschool we give the children individual pieces of clay. To give the children a new experience we decided to put the entire block of clay on a table in our studio. The children pounded on it, dug their fingers into it, and used craft sticks to stab and cut it. Some children made little things and some made big things. We introduced a spray bottle with water and they discovered that it made the clay slippery and were delighted to discover that the water made the clay slide across the table. We made a big clay mountain and a giant mess and a great time was had by all.

Once upon a time the children in the land of Imagine thought making castles out of sand would be a lovely way to pass a summers morn. In preparation for this activity we started looking at pictures of castles and attempted to draw their likeness.    After a few children seemed frustrated by this task yet still very interested we started a conversation about shapes and found shapes in the photos of the castles. We set out tools for tracing simple shapes. While castle drawing was taking place, castle building/contructing was a popular activity in our block area. When we went outside the children were ready to work with the sand. We asked questions like, "How can we get our structures to stay?","What happens if the sand is too wet or too dry?" The children worked together and created a beautiful castle.

We set up an activity that encouraged the children to construct their own catapult. We supplied craft sticks, cardboard, bottlecaps, clothespins and tape. The children were given a pre-made catapult and were asked if they thought they could build their own. After a discussion about how the example was made they set out to create their own. With different levels of assistance every child was able to assemble a working catapult. The interesting occurrence was that they figured out on their own that there were different ways to build them. One catapult you pull the end of the stick back to "launch" the aluminum foil ball into the air, another way required the child to bang the end with their fist. It all depended on the way the craft stick was mounted on the clothes pin. When construction was finished they decorated them or just set off into the red room to give them a try.

After reading a book at story time about emotions we decided it was a great time to revisit portraits.  Using Sharpies we first drew our portrait and described some of our emotions/feelings.  We used the colors we mixed last week to extend this project. We discussed how color can provoke certain feelings.   Some children were very thorough with their paintings while others used very minimal color. They are a great addition to our portrait wall series. Look for all our beautiful portraits hanging in the preschool kitchen.