Fly Swatter Painting...Super-sized!

I have often professed my love of the dollar stores for finding some great art materials-cheap! That's where I picked up a bunch of these HUGE plastic fly swatters.  They are light weight and flexible making for a wonderful gross motor painting tool for young children. It really encourages children to use their whole bodies as they reach and stretch and slap the easel with the large "brush".

Confetti Playdough

We made this colorful play dough in our class using our regular flour based play dough recipe and then blending it with bits of bleeding tissue paper for a fun, tactile, sensory and scientific center.

First make the play dough and do not add color.  Our recipe is:

Mix together:
3 cups flour
1 1/2 cups salt
3 Tablespoons Cream of tartar
3 cups water
3 T oil

Heat in a non stick skillet until mixture resembles scrambled eggs.  Then turn on to surface and knead until it becomes play dough consistency.

We made four batches over two days because young children need a LOT of play dough!!!

On the third day, we set out the off-white colored balls of play dough with scraps of bleeding tissue paper.

The children stuck the bits of tissue into the play dough and worked them in to the dough.  It was interesting to watch the various strategies of the students as they added the paper.  Some poked each bit in, others layered several pieces in a lump.

As the process continued the dough became filled with confetti. As the dough was continually kneading and handled it became a range of the colors of the tissue; blues, pinks, purples.

On the fifth day, we added rolling pins to flatten the dough and get even more bits into the inside.

The children really enjoyed the activity and often compared and contrasted different ball of dough to see how they were similar and different and to which ones they wanted to add more color.  We all greatly enjoyed this new twist on play dough, and what better way to celebrate the beginning of the year than with confetti!

First Days

We start our school year off with staggered entry having half the class come the first day, half the class come the second day and then the entire group comes together for the third. 

 This way we can connect with the children in smaller groups and focus even more of our attention on them as they learn the layout and routines of a new classroom.  

Before school begins we have a meeting with the parents to go over the duties of working in the classroom.

We cover positive ways to give directions, ways to say Yes! more than No, how to help foster conflict resolution, and so on, down to the nitty gritty of making snack.

 So our parent helpers are prepped and ready.

The first few days we are always paying close attention to the flow of the room and how the children are accessing the materials.  How is our layout working?

 Do they have enough room to move, to sit, to build. Can they reach everything?  Since we are constantly changing our room arrangements, there are always settings to test.

   
We are also learning their personalities.  How are they getting along with each other?

Who gravitates to whom?  Who needs more help entering play?

We are having conversations, we are listening and we are watching their play.

What are their interests... what will be good provications for this particular group....where will our play take us?