Paper Dolls = Home Made Felt Board Resource

I was playing online with Google looking for some inspiration for discovery bottles (there wasn’t a huge amount that really caught my eye ( I think I’ll have to create a post on that myself!) ... and I accidentally found this blog post on her "Shiny Happy Paper People":

http://countingcoconuts.blogspot.com.au/2010/07/shiny-happy-paper-people.html

 

I was really inspired by this blogger and she’s very kindly given me permission to do this post about her dolls! The ones that I have made are quite large! They are going to be good for the toddlers and preschoolers together ... If I make them again, I’ll make them smaller, and I’ll also explore other patterns! These are things that an educator could easily make for their own teaching bag!

Since I had brought some scrap booking paper to work for another project – this is something we were able to do immediately! It’s been evolving over a few weeks – and the ones displayed in this blog are the ones that I’ve made ... the kid’s ones were awesome and I wish I could show them! Some children took them home, some let me keep them for our own collection.

 We are using them as resources that we’ve made ourselves – which ties in with being creative, inventive, following the children’s interest (in collage and making things!), supports the children as capable and resourceful, used budget friendly materials (recycled donated cardboard + donated scrapbook paper).

The children can use them in block play or on the bulletin board where they will stick with some hook-Velcro ... It’s just a resource that we’ve done ourselves – that represent us or people we know or care about – and is something that will give us an opportunity to play! The children could even use them to create stories of their own which we could write down and document with photographs! The children might want to make some other items to help provision the play? Who knows where the children will want to take it ... it might just stay where it is!

 

 

Meanwhile we had an unimpressed observer ... Look at that face! He turned out to be so gorgeous for a "throw away" kitten ... how could you throw something so beautiful and gorgeous away? I'll never understand...

(c) Teacher's Ink. 2012 All Rights Reserved

Sustainable Recycled Repurposed Home Corner Resources

We all know the buzz buzz buzz about being sustainable and environmental in the EYLF and the NQS ... Well, I know I've mentioned this before, but I thought I would do a whole post on it! I've been slowly saving up some more cans ... and I have a few more that are still at work!

1) Collect your cans! Try and have a variety, that is colourful, has a balance of image and text.

2)  Wash your cans out... be careful as most of the lift top lids leave a sharp edge.

3) Have your "smooth edge" can opener ready - remove the inner lip of the can and discard.

4) Run your finger carefully along the inner edge and make sure its smooth - again, be careful!

5) Re-attach your label if you removed it from can (I did this as I didnt eat all that food in one go - and I used pet food tins which I use daily as the base). You can do this with sticky tape. Just make sure it lines up evenly.

6) Cut a piece of clear contact adhesive slightly longer than your can so that it sits on the bottom of the can and over laps the top.

7) Remove the cover of the contact adhesive and carefully smooth over the label of the can.

8) When the can is fully covered, make a few small cuts at the top over lapping adhesive cover and then fold them into the can and smooth them out. This gives extra protection from the rim (which should be smooth anyway!). If you are particular about the safety of these cans, use some silver duct/gaffa tape to line the top of the can.

9) Ta! Da! You now have some unique, made by yourself, economical, resourceful, creative, recycled resources that can be used to support children's creative and imaginative play!

10) Sit back and watch the magic ...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(c) Teacher's Ink. 2012 All Rights Reserved

My Trusty Side Kick @ Photo Shoot

I've been meaning to do a few posts for a while ... and I finally got stuck into house work today and as a result, since the coffee table was clear - I took advantage of it!  I was  helped by my trusty side-kick Cody-Cat. As I am biased and think he's particularly gorgeous, I thought I would post him as well! I made a makeshift backdrop using an old fabric cover I made YEARS ago ... and the next thing I knew, it was being attacked ... It kept me distracted for a little while, and it also meant I couldnt adjust the 'screen' much at all ...

 

So ... Now I'll get to work!

Spring Cleanin' Time!

My Side Kicks: Cat perched on paper towels = very helpful

(and  yes, that's a dog at door sniffing bum of other dog)

That's how we roll in this house ...

My pantry has been annoying me for some time now. Today, rather than simply putting things away, I pulled out a folding table, and took it all out! I grouped and sorted things into piles and then reorganised them and put them away. I then did the small cupboard next to the sink, then decluttered the spice rack and the bench top. I feel a strong sense of achievement today. A long weekend Sunday well spent. Yay me.

Next stop on this Spring extravaganza is my home office. I’m not happy with it. I have too many bookcases which worked well in my apartment – because I had a super wide entry hallway which could accommodate them. I don’t have that in this house. And with built in wardrobes in two rooms AND an antique wardrobe in the third ... where is all this stuff to go?!?!

I have a lot of books I haven’t read, and lets face it, probably will never read. I’m a library girl – you borrow them, if you get around to reading them? Great. If not, return. So, I will sort through them, and gather a pile to donate (hopefully a large pile!). And the magazines as well – I want to sort through the images I want to keep, and the rest can be used for art experiences!

They really do teach you to hoard when you’re studying to be a teacher/educator.

Well, no more.

I’d rather have room in my life for more life! (And Universe, I don’t literally mean more lives as in animals, I have enough of those thank you very much!)

Over & Out Brussel Sprout

T.ink

© Teacher’s Ink. 2012. All Rights Researved.

These Were My Preschool Weakness

When I was in preschool ... I stole some bears. I loved that they were bears in different sizes and you could use them to play families. I loved that they were rainbow colours. My mother made me return them. I remember thinking I'd take them back anyway ... I don't know if I was defiant and stole them again, or I just had grand plans that I never followed through with ...

Either way, I loved me some rainbow bears.

Ah, the memories of my own early childhood.

T.ink.

(c) Teacher’s Ink. 2012 All Rights Reserved

More "Natures" in our Garden

I was on my way out the door when I noticed something that someone had said. He’d said to leave it. “It” turned out to be a very young fledgling Noisy Miner bird. It’s a native bird of Australia. They hang out in mobs and screech at most other things: birds, people, cats ... just about everything.

 

So, I dropped my things, collected the tiny little fledgling and then tapped on the window of the staff room and proudly displayed my new little friend asking my colleague to go and get my other colleague.

While Colleague 1 was off getting Colleague 2 for me I wandered around outside and showed the parents that I had their baby safely (well, not sure if they’d agree about the safety element) – they were doing flybys ... It was then that I heard another baby chirp coming from the shrubs inside our gates ... There was another baby. So I gathered up the sibling and had two birds ... What’s that saying again about two birds in the hand?!?

 

So, when Colleague 2 arrived, I passed over the bubbas ... we decided to make them a temporary little nest should they want it and put it near the large pile of branches and plant prunings. We were going to bag them up – but thankfully we didn’t! We can use them to make a safer habitat for the babies should they choose to stay there.

 

There are feral cats about, but we also have to give the family a chance to raise their own young and to keep them within their community. Much like we do with children.

My colleague does wild-life caring so she’s going to keep an eye out on our little friends. It’s best that they stay with their family if they can – you can’t keep fledglings in a nest if they don’t want to! They want to learn to fly and climb and be independent ... just like all babies!

I will be able to put this into a little story to share with the children ... unfortunately we couldn’t share the babies with the children because we wanted to maintain the family connection with their bubs and not freak everybird out so much! If only Miss Five were here today to see the other “natures” that we found! I will certainly tell her all about it next week.

They came from across the road from a VERY tall Jacaranda tree:

 

Some of our children have noticed the nest in the tree across the street ... We don't have sight of it from the part of the centre the children are in, but we sometimes look from the front administration rooms ...

 

Hopefully this will have a happy outcome with their family for the little bubs!

 

© Teacher’s Ink. 2012 All Rights Reserved

The Caterpillar and The Spider

Today my gardening colleague and I took a few of our 'left over' children into our car-parking area (its fully gated and locked with only our two cars - don't panic!).
 
We were pruning our Geraniums and our African Daisy and our Hibiscus and whatever else we happened to have ...
 

We found a teeny tiny caterpillar!

 

 

And we also found a St. Andrew's Cross Spider but the photo wasnt the best and then my colleague accidentally pruned where the web was! We will go back and look to see if she builds again.

 

My student said to me "We found two natures" ... and we did ... the caterpillar and the spider.

 

I love, LOVE, gardening with children. I love helping to connect them with nature and life. And this afternoon was truly special. Watching Miss Five and her sister Miss Two using scissors to prune - snip at leaves in helping us ... discovering little creatures, admiring the flowers, learning about their names Echivera, African Daisy, Geranium etc ...

 

 
I loved watching Miss Two concentrate so much on snipping the leaves. While it wasn't the best outcome for the hibiscus - I was pruning it anyway! - she concentrated so hard! She was so proud of herself as she asked me to look at her work! She was developing her fine motor skills, her concentration, her hand eye coordination ... she was learning to care for plants and "give them a haircut" so that they will grow stronger, greener, healthier ...
 

 

I loved watching Miss Five pick flowers for Miss Apprehensive who didn't want to garden, but loved sitting on the safe sidelines where she could collect and guard the flower collection. She could pick the African Daisies off the plants we'd pulled up ... Miss Five was supporting Miss Apprehensive's choice to sit to the side. Miss Five was showing she has strong empathy for her younger peers, a skill she's developed as a big sister and a member of a strong cultural family.

 

 

Where to next? Well, I'm thinking we'll bring a few out in small groups to do some observational drawings of the plants we have. I'm also pondering letting them use our camera to take some photos. As we only have one camera for now - we have to guard it well!
 
We don't have many plants in our playground - but we do have a garden area which we have started working on. We are adding organic matter to the soil to prepare it for planting - its just too dry and won't hold moisture. We've got grand plans!
 
We are going to use some of the Geranium cuttings to grow new plants which the children can take home themselves and care for should they choose. This way we can share with the children how we can grow some plants from cuttings, some from leaves, some from seeds etc.
 
I'm going to strongly encourage the staff to take the children to our garden area more often ... It's been sadly neglected and once our line is fixed, we can hang out our laundry, start our compost, develop more garden beds etc ...
 
All on our journey to being more sustainable! I would love to see this be a daily occurrence!
 

 
This my friends is the EYLF in action ... it's relationships, it's community, it's purposeful activity, its learning through doing, spontaneous actions, caring for nature, plants, animals, creatures ... its part of being a team with adults and children ...

I had such a good afternoon. I just feel at peace with myself and the world, and I wonder if the children are at home feeling the same glow? They certainly seemed to have a glow about them as we worked.
 

© Teacher’s Ink. 2012  All Rights Reserved