Play Dough Equipment on a Budget

Ok, so I just posted about dough which made me think of what I had purchased previously for the dough table ... I checked my archives and yes, I do have the photos! These materials lasted a long time and they weren't the tacky coloured plastic you normally buy from the toy catalogues. These were real products and the kids used them with great enthusiasm! So, here they are:

I also bought some ginger bread cut outs - male and female from another discount store, as well as a set of crayfish (I once had a child who loved crabs and sea creatures, so he was happy to have that set at the table!)

Rolling pins which can roll, but also be used to make circular shapes in the dough ...

Wooden spoons of so many different sizes.

There are just so many things you could use at the discount store ... seriously ... think outside the box of the toy store catalogues and see what is out there for often a great deal less. Also, see what families might donate or use containers from homes! Yoghurt tubs, fruit cups, dumpling trays ... there are so many "throw aways" that we can use to jazz up the dough experience with the children! 

Play Dough Rainbow Style!

So, two things are happening here ... one is I wanted some colourful playdough to photograph to use in my portfolio formats and I am looking after my neice next week after day care so I thought why not make some dough that won't go to waste! So I've made the dough using essentially the cream of tartar recipe on the back of the container. Instead of cooking it in a saucepan, I just use freshly boiled water and mix it with a woden spoon, then with my hands wearing gloves (helps with the heat!). It turns out pretty much the same. I've been making it this way for 8 years now. If you need to refresh it, just add a little boiling water and it comes good again. 

The materials I used - just inexpensive no-name stuff where I could

The finished product!

So after I was finished with the dough, I cut it into wedges ... 8 to be exact.

Then I added drops of food colouring to each section and mixed them individually.

This is blue + red + yellow to make dark green ...

I wore gloves because ... well, you can see what the gloves look like, I really didnt want my fingers to be the same!

So we have red, orange, yellow, light green, aqua, dark green, blue, purple, and plain ...

So, here is the dough in a dumpling tray that I'm re-using before I recycle it. I love using small containers from the kitchen at the playdough table. The kids always seem to cut up dough, make cookies, form balls or snakes etc. and this gives them a means of storing or displaying their efforts.

Actually, this reminds me of all the awesome things I once bought to use at the dough table ... I found them all at a discount store ... I'll have to hunt around and see if I have the photos ... That can be another post!

I love making. I love creating. I love colour.

T.ink

Where T.ink is At!

butterflies make me think of change and transformation ...

Now, where I’m at ...

I have resigned from my position as a teacher and now that I have some time on my hands I am really pondering where I wanted to go with the EYLF and my documentation practice. I have also been creating some resources in order to make this possible. I have been using my resource collection, borrowing a friends, purchasing inexpensive items and the like in order to make this idea of mine a possibility. This is what is going to take some time.

When I return to work, I will be doing casual teaching in a variety of settings and services.

This choice resulted from a number of different motivations. One of which was unpredictable travel towards the city. I want a better work/life balance and I can’t achieve that if I am sitting in a car for 3 hours a day. This took away precious time which could have been spent enjoying life or even simply taking care of my home and garden and pets.

I have also been at the service for a few years and it just felt it was time to move on. Sure, I could have stayed and explored some curriculum ideas I had in the works, but, really ... my heart wasn’t in it any longer. I want to explore my own ideas and OWN them as my own. They come from my brain, my thinking, my education (which I paid for!), my background and life experience as well as my own time spent at courses I chose or from reading books I purchased.

So I took a leap of faith and assumed that there would be a safety net at the bottom! Thankfully, it was a wise leap of faith and I've flown instead of fallen!

When you aren’t meant to be following a certain path it is difficult. There are just too many challenges and roadblocks along the way. When you stop fighting it, and you give up and decide to go off the path that you were familiar with, well, sometimes things just fall into place ... you find a gentler path. You see some beauty along the way. You find sustenance to nourish your body, your heart and your spirit. You start to realise that the path you thought was the =sensible= one was in fact the wrong one for you ... And now that you have finally made the choice, you have found the right place and the right time.

So gradually, this blog will evolve and my work will evolve and my ideas will come together in my reflective journal.

Thank you for your patience, understanding, and for reading what I just plonked onto the net over a year ago. It is much appreciated.

T.ink

Ideas I've Been Playing with ...

This is what I've been playing with ...

Rainbow Table Skittles! I drank A LOT of soda water (being a perfectionista, the bottles had to match and be the same brand.) Water was filled to the line at the bottom, soap added along with food colouring. Tops were glued with my handy hot-glue-gun. I've used dogs tennis balls because they were colourful and cheap at the dollar store!

I love how the sun just shines through them! This experiences is great for wet weather - just make sure you don't have anything breakable behind the table (like a window) as some children can throw alot better than we think they might be able to! I had plans to put coloured labels on the bottles with numbers on them so the kids could keep score by counting the numbers and having the word of the colour for literacy, but I like being able to see the bubbles! So I have held off for now...

If you were to make these with the children as an experience you are doing more than  just filling bottles with water, soap and food colouring (use the small bottles that can be found in the baking section of the supermarket). By involving the children you are facilitating so much learning!

You and the children are exploring:
* numeracy: count the bottles , the other materials etc. i.e. how many colours do we need to choose?
* numeracy: counting out the numbers of drops that are needed
* problem solving: who decides which colours? who has a turn? (one can hold the bottle, another can do the colour drops, everyone can count!) 1:1 correspondence - how many colours for how many bottles?
* literacy - reading the directions on the chart at the back
* literacy: extending children's vocabulary - labelling other colours such as aqua and orchid
* fine-motor: getting those drops into the tiny hole of the soda water bottles!
* gross-motor: playing the game when its done!
* social-skills: taking turns, having 3 balls means three throws for each person - fair, and easily accounted for (i.e. no sneaky "I'll just throw one more because there are 5 balls in the basket!), cheering on your peers as they succeed or encouraging them to try again.

So there you have it!

 

Handy little tote from Kmart in a shopping bag! Everything fits in perfectly which means you can grab it and use it easily!

More to come later! Lots of edititing and reflecting to do!

T.ink

Updated Content Coming Soon!

The good news is that I will be more actively working on this blog, and adding more and more to it in the next coming months. I have made some decisions around employment which means I can more actively pursue these ideas and maintain ownership of them.

The way my brain and creativity work is though a balancing act of reflection and distance with active engagement. I am however pleased with the results! So, shortly there will be updates.

I am busily taking photos and putting images together for the formats that I was planning on using in 2012! I am also working through meanings in my head and documenting them.

I am also hoping to put together mock-portfolios for a 0-2 year old and a 2-3 year old. So situation permitting, I’ll be able to put those together.

I am excited about freedom and creativity!

Updates soon!!!

XoXo

About Teacher’s Ink.

I am an Early Childhood Teacher who also has a TAFE College (Technical and Further Education) Diploma in child care and education. I have been working in formal children’s services for 12 years. I have been caring for children since I was 12 when I began babysitting regularly for the neighbourhood infants! Times have changed a great deal since then, and I’m not sure how many people would hire 12 year olds to care for 9 month olds these days. But that, nonetheless is my start in caring for children. I began work as a nanny when I left high school, and those children are now adults and the same age as some of my dearest friends! Funny how these things work!

I just continued on this path of caring for children. My interest grew and grew as did my desire to further my education. At this point in time, I’m more interested in learning through collaboration, specialist courses on subjects of my interest, and research and reading.

My work experience:

· as a short term contract assistant in a family run private long day care centre (it was feral)

· an assistant coordinator of a before and after school care (BASC) program and vacation care programs

· acting coordinator of BASC

· as a casual team leader for long day care centres through multiple agencies,

· as a team leader in a nursery with 15 children aged 6weeks to 2 years,

· as a team leader in toddler room with ratios both 1:8 (16 children) and 1:6 (12 children)

· as team leader in a 30 place preschool room with children aged 2-5s

Introduction to Teacher's Ink Portfolios

This is not a “How To” publication. This is more of a “How I Did It” publication... I’m hoping to be an encouragement to other practitioners so that they feel inspired to share their practices with others. It is so important that we network and learn from each other.  This publication has evolved from my role as mentor and leader. I have been mentoring a series of my work colleagues who hold both diplomas and certificates in child care and education. I have also been supporting past colleagues who have since moved on to other places of employment but who maintain friendships with me. You can’t help but talk about your profession and career can you?

I have asked my fellow professionals if they have had any success searching on the internet and they’ve said no.  I have searched on the internet under many topics and still come up with sparse results on portfolios. As I am writing this, I have been unable to source a great deal that is relevant to the early childhood context in Australia.

Sure, there are plenty of books, publications, chapters in books etc. and there is even less content that is detailed and accessible on the internet. The more I look, the more I see very culturally exclusive or image heavy flashy websites and books that make amazing promises about their special curriculum product or assessment tool which is the only one that will truly prepare your children for school and for life. Get lost. There is no “one” way of doing anything.

I don’t have all the answers and I shouldn’t. I only have some of the answers that are right for me at this point in time, and they might be right for you too. If not, take them and improve upon them or change them and do something different that works for you in your context. I am simply sharing my style, experience, and philosophy of the portfolio.  The more I engage with my current work colleagues and friends, the more I see a need for something. Now my style of “something” won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, and that is perfectly ok. If I can reach some of the many educators out there, I will be happy. If someone looks at my efforts and thinks they are capable of different or more or better and they are the motivated to then share their brilliance, then I’m a happy educator.