Placement - Planned Experiences Part 8

Hi there!

Still trying to capitilise on all the rich experiences I had on placement, today's post is about how to make and use puffy paint! Again with the letter P theme, my AT's idea was to create the paint and set them up on our art and craft table.

The recipe for creating the paint is super simple, with things you can readily find in your kitchen or supermarket.

Puffy Paint

1 cup flour

1 cup salt 

3 cups water  

Paint

Mix all the ingredients together until they form a batter-like consistency. Depending on how many colours of paint you would like to make, separate into your chosen containers that the children will use to paint with (see note). Add a small squirt of paint to each mixture and mix until you see the desired colour appear and then you're ready to go!

I used zip lock bags with a smal hole cut out from a corner for the children to paint with. While there was no problems using these, they were very flimsy and some children had difficulty using the bags to 'pipe' the paint. I would suggest using old sauce bottle or buying a new set as they are easier to hold and could have plenty of other uses in the classroom, not just for this activity. 

The other thing I noticed when I tested it at home was that normal paper would get soggy under the batter and would rip, tear or start to break down. For this reason, at the kinder, we used A3 canvas paper that had been halved for the children to paint with. Stiff cardboard or poster paper can substitute if you don't have or can't find this. 

Once I had set up the activity after afternoon tea, the children were very eager to see what was happening. My AT and I had to show a few children how to hold and press the bag, but they were very eager to get painting...

Now the magic happens! After the children had completed their painting, we set them on the drying rack. During their outside play time, I went into the staff room and put the painting in the microwave for 30-60 seconds depending on how much paint was on the paper. The flour and salt cook leaving the paint raised and very bumpy. 

The children loved the change and how different it felt. Some even compared the picture to the paints by feeling one and then the other. This was a really fun and engaging activity and could be used with younger or older children. Give it a try in your classroom and let me know how it goes!

Miss Tracy xx

Placement - Creating Environments Part 5

Hello!

Keeping with the children's interest in the home corner, imaginary play and the letter of the week theme, I began to look for some environment ideas during my full control week. After perusing Pinterest, I came up with the idea of creating a felt board pizza!

After a trip to my local Spotlight, a large chain craft store, where I purchased an A4 multi-coloured felt set, an A3 piece of stiff brown felt, I returned home and looked at what exactly goes into a pizza.

I found this pin, which also has some great ideas for other felt board designs, and decided to include the following toppings:

• cheese
• ham
• pepperoni
• mushroom
• capsicum
• chicken 
• olives 

It was painstakingly difficult to cut out some of the shapes on the felt and because I traced the shapes on the felt with permanent marker you can see the outline where my cutting was a little off but the end result was pretty good...

I thought the pizza box would add a nice touch so imagine the face of our local pizza hut guy when I asked if I could have a clean empty box alongside my thin and crispy super supreme! I added picture and word labels to the toppings box and besides the large mirror sign and sectioned container of toppings, I also added a small notepad and pen so the children could 'take orders'. During their play, one child suggested we add in a phone so people could call and tell us while another suggested we get a car so we could deliver!

From the pictures and observations, it looks like they had a lot of fun...

This set up encouraged the children to talk about what they wanted to have on their pizza, to consider others as they completed order and encouraged them to use letters and words to symbolise any orders on the note pad. They became very adept at sectioning and sorting the ingredients during pack up time and were quick to tell each other how to take care of their new toy.

It was so cheap and easy to make, minor my small embarrassment at Pizza Hut, and the quality of play that occurred as a result was amazing!

Felt and felt boards is definitely something I want to further play around with and experiment with in the future so stay tuned for any new developments!

Miss Tracy xx

Placement - Planned Experiences Part 1

Dinosaur Fossils 

The children in the kindergarten room absolutely love dinosaurs at the moment! We were lucky enough to have an incursion from Dinosaur Diggers (will hear more in a future post!) which has only served to increase their interest and so my associate teacher included the following environment to the room. By adding the sifter and the plastic fossils, the children are now able to dig for their own fossil but I thought we could peak their interest just a little bit further.

I read this post while perusing Pinterest and thought it would be perfect to implement in the afternoon. The children love to bake cakes and cupcakes so experiencing these concepts with the idea of dinosaur fossils worked really well. I followed the recipe for the salt dough featured on RainyDayMum:

Salt Dough

1/2 Cup of Salt

1/2 Cup of water

1 Cup all purpose (plain Flour)

Mix the above ingredients together and knead to a smooth dough and leave in a cool place for around 15 minutes. This will make it easier to roll and create a good imprint in the dough. To cure and harden the dough, bake for one hour at 100 degrees Celsius.

Following us making the dough together, we rolled the dough and pressed our fossils imprints in. After labeling and wrapping the dough, I took it home to bake. It turned out great; the brown colour and grainy texture has them looking like real fossils, straight out of the ground!

I haven't decided yet whether we should paint them due to the unique texture and colour but following the return to their creators, we will see what they want to do. 

This was such a fun experience which had so many different forms of learning and play happening that I hope you choose to share this with the children in your care.

Miss Tracy xx

SNEAK PEEK: Planned Experiences and Creating Environments

Just a little taste of what's to come, prepare for some great ideas, recipes and tutorials!

                    

Miss Tracy xx