Thursday, October 31, 2013

Halloween Gym Fun

Many, many families came in to play today but I managed to take a few pictures. 
        Here are some Hallowe’en activities I set up in the gym.
               oct 31 045
               Witch hats on pylons to use as ring toss targets.

 oct 31 046 oct 31 047
        I brought in an old jack o’lantern candy bucket to use as a
                           target for a bean bag toss.

           oct 31 048
                               Paper bats on clothespins
                   to transfer from one bucket to another.

oct 31 020 (2)  Hope you had a safe and happy Hallowe’en.

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

October Play Trays

oct 4 026  oct 9 017
Sorting by shape or colour.  Matching shapes.  Pattern building.
oct 4 027 oct 7 002
Eye to hand coordination by threading beads on pipe cleaners.
oct 21 010 oct 21 035
     Sorting by colour and shapes.  Strengthening pincher grip.
             oct 21 007
 oct 23 025 oct 23 026
Recognizing numbers, counting dots and sticks.  Matching amount to number.
            oct 28 001
 oct 28 004 oct 28 006 oct 29 004
Working fine motor and eye to hand coordination by pushing picks into hard foam.
            oct 28 002
   oct 29 005 oct 30 040
                   Homemade stick puzzles. 
oct 24 076 oct 28 012
     Old McDonald treat toys to talk about costumes.
         oct 18 001
 oct 17 006 oct 18 018
Wood cookie with holes drilled randomly.  Golf tees to push in and remove.

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

What’s Under the Log?

Our weekly walk in the forest was inspired by a book I found at the library.
            oct 29 038
After reading the book together we picked up our nature bags and headed
       into the forest to find a log that we could turn.
oct 29 016 oct 29 019
The first log we rolled didn’t have any bugs that we could see (the log
                looked like it had been moved recently).
          oct 29 022
      We did see a little mushroom and documented it.

        oct 29 023
      On to the next log we spotted fungus and a bug. 
oct 29 027 oct 29 040
              A wood bug just like we saw in the book.
     oct 29 028 oct 29 030
         oct 29 031 
  Using our magnifying glasses gave us a chance to get a better look. 
       The wood bug has a lot of legs but didn’t move very fast.

We turned a few rocks…
oct 29 035 oct 29 034
        oct 29 029
and found spiders.  A big spider and medium spider and little spider.

Monday, October 28, 2013

Scratch Pumpkin Decorating

                oct 28 021
We’re using a new technique for decorating a pumpkin this year. 
Scratch pumpkin art is an idea I found from Sow Sprout Play.
        oct 24 077
            Start by painting a pumpkin black. 
      It took a couple of coats to completely cover.
oct 28 013 oct 28 014
   Today we used toothpicks to scratch, maybe tomorrow
       we’ll try a new tool, like a toothbrush or a fork.
oct 28 015 oct 28 016
      The great part of this decorating is that we’ll paint it
            and start all over again tomorrow.


Sunday, October 27, 2013

A Photo Story of a First Experience

    oct 24 002 oct 24 003
                  oct 24 004
     oct 24 006 oct 24 007
 oct 24 008 oct 24 009
     oct 24 010 oct 24 011
     oct 24 012 oct 24 013
                             oct 24 015
  oct 24 017 oct 24 018
    oct 24 019 oct 24 020