Thursday 15 December 2016

DIY Paper Plate Wreaths


It's the most wonderful time of the year and the Munchkins have been in to decorating our classrooms for the holiday season. One group made these paper plate wreaths and inspired other groups to do it as well. It's easy, simple materials, and open ended for the children to create a unique piece that's their own! 

You can use whatever decorations you would like to make your wreath but we made the actual wreath from paper plates we had lying around. From there, paint, glue, scissors, pieces of ever greens and any other decorations are all you need! 



First step we painted the plates and let them dry. Then we cut and glued pieces of evergreen to it. Some children didn't want any so they went straight to decorating! 





Once the children were satisfied with their decorations we set them to dry overnight.


The 4 year old group hung theirs on the tree branch from the cieling to display them and even used the center cut outs to make ornaments for their christmas tree! Not only does this allow children to be creative but they also get to practice using scissors and glue! 


The after school group has been extremely into anything "crafty" so I think we'll try to make some this afternoon! 


- Leslie MacNeil 








Thursday 8 December 2016

Build It Up!

Over the summer months our resident Munchkins have experienced a great deal of new development. We have watched as a new subdivision has emerged; from the clearing of the land, the process of the new  road, and construction of houses going up.

We were also excited to watch the new Munchkins Clubhouse being built, From The Ground Up!

All that observing has inspired our Little Munchkins to build everyday with anything they can get their hands on.




They have learned about construction equipment, tools and even added words like hydraulics and pistons  to their vocabulary! Some of the phrases we have heard recently have been:

"We need a good base."
"I'm gunna need a ladder for this."
"This part is the hydraulics."
"It has pistons."


Part of our job as early childhood educators is understanding the children's interests and to extend their learning through play. We've continued to add different supplies to our block corner and outdoor classroom (such as signs, traffic cones, pipes, etc) to help promote their building. 



We can also set up different invitations amongst our classroom to support their interests. Different size lego at quiet time,  magnetic blocks on the light table and adding sensory materials with building blocks help to keep the fun going. We've also built a giant snowman with the all the snow we got from the past snow storms!  



We're excited to see what else the children will build and we can't help but smile when we see the creations becoming more complex over time. 

What types of materials do you think we should add next?!