Building a City

Team work and lots of physical activity were the forces driving this lesson. Taking all they know about the tools the children went to work coloring on the light table, painting and stacking boxes to create a city of their own. Some were so proud of their buildings they built separate ones to keep intact and other ones to knock down! What a way to start rainy Monday morning, makes me wish I was a kid again!

Your senses!

This week we approached the children with the 5 senses. They were able to walk through some silky fabric and feathers, make gooey dough, add scent to their paint and play music with handmade instruments...what they saw was colors and fun all week long!

Planting

Spring is here despite the weather and we wanted the children to know it. This week we decided to bring them closer to the season and the earth. We provided organic dirt, shovels, pansies and cups that they could decorate. Each child went home with a flower in their self decorated pot.

We also setup the water table with rocks, foam cut lily pads and fake plants so the children could arrange a pond.

Invisible, Transparent, and Disappearing

Some things are not as they seem. This week Lauren decided to have the children experiment with invisible painting on our light tables with lemon juice and a brush. Afterward we ironed the secret message/design and it was revealed.

We also had them use white crayons to draw and then handed them squirt bottles full of watercolor to once again reveal their design.

Finger painting on wax paper was also provided and created a beautiful stained glass effect.

It's Gravity Week!

Oh the things we can drop! There's nothing like getting really messy and learning while your at it. This week the children experience gravity as it slides down a ramp, sprinkles out of water color filled balloons and travels through tubes at our water table.

Eric Carle Week

We decided to celebrate the work of Eric Carle since his books and stories have visited just about all our children's lives. We provided sponges for painting and many children decided to use their hands.

We also had them collage the different animals and objects that appear in the stories with pre-cut, pre-painted paper. At the clay table they made food and pretended to serve it to one another. We had the projector showing images of the many animals that appear in all the books.

We even had some children decide to make their own stories with family members in their drawings.

Van Gogh

This week the children were able to venture into the world of Vincent Van Gogh. Textured lines, fast movement and many colors.

We showed them images and provided many different paint brushes for a variety of strokes at the painting station. Then we explained to them that lines and textures can also be made in 3d form so the clay station became another canvas. In addition we had the children arrange different shapes of shinny paper in the water...an activity they love doing!

Revisting Color

We are surrounded by color everyday and children who visit us know about it. This lesson was about recreating color. We used powdered paint, melted crayons, regular crayons, colored paper and more. We hid colored objects in the sand table and had the children dig and sort them out.

Mobiles and the artist Emery Blagdon

Children love colorful and natural objects. This lesson was about making mobiles with various materials, all selected and designed by the little Magical Minds that visit our studio. Emery Blagdon was the inspiration behind this project and we had a slide show of his work playing in the background.