:(

Unfortunately I will be taking a hiatus from blogging until I get the internet connected up in my new house. I will try and write blogs at home and then hopefully post them from work.
Hopefully.
Until then,
BYEEEEE :)

Indoor Gross Motor - Hopscotch

Hopscotch saved me from going insane today.

How do you wear out 3 year olds just before bed when its to wet/cold/windy to go outside?

Hopscotch.

They were so determined to hop. some could manage the hop-jump-hop-jump-hop-jump-turn around combination, while others couldnt quite co ordinate it and just managed one hop while some just jumped.

10 stars for effort.

We will definitely be adding this to the program!

Matching Cards

Today my room leader introduced a set of 'matching cards' to the program.

Alot of the children are starting to show an interest in developing their writing and reading skills.

We thought this was a good way for the visual learners to become familiar with letters and numbers.

We made a set of letters too, and the plan is that we will only put out the first letter from each child's name. This way, the letters have purpose and meaning and familiarity. 

It is also a good activity for children who arent quite at the stage where they want to learn to write their name/read their own books because they can match the letters by site.

These cards are so open ended. Here are some ideas of how you could use them

• Ask children to find you a set of matching numbers
• Hold up a card and ask children to find the one that matches
• Get children to line them all up in order (backwards or forwards)
• Ask children to group together the even and odd numbers (for the older ones)
• Encourage the children to make bigger numbers and tell you what they are (for the older ones)
• Ask children to find their age in number. And then ask them to find the number they will turn next year.
• Get children to group together numbers with similiar features. i.e, numbers with holes 6 8 0, numbers with no straight lines 6 8 3 etc etc
• Point to a number and ask children to name it
• Turn them all upside down and the children can use their memory to pick up two matching ones

Using up the black paint.

Every room in every childcare centre/kinder/family daycare has that one bottle of black paint that is still nearly full to the top. It could be hiding at the back of the cupboard. It might be on the top shelf you can't reach. It may be in the store room tucked up the back. Yesterday, I took one brave step for early childhood educators and unleashed the black paint from the cupboard.

Tips for using black paint

• Isolate it. Use JUST black, or let the children add black after the other colours of paint have dried. Or before the fact. This prevents the black blending with other colours and turning out a mushy browny colour (unless of course, this is your aim)
• Use it liberally. If you're going to unleash the power of black paint, do it in full force. This is especially important if you dont often allow children to use black paint
• USE SMOCKS, think of the parents complaints if their childs green jumper goes home black.

We did a few paintings on small card

 And then we started to paint the whole peices of card in thick black paint

Inside I was thinking NOOOO, YOURE WASTING MY CARDBOARD AND BLACK PAINT! DONT PAINT THEM ALL BLACK, YOUR PARENTS WILL FROWN AT ME WHEN I SHOW THEM!

But luckily, my inner ECE thought, its about the process not the product.

But the children suprised me.

Apparently, I was worrying for nothing.

Duh, Justine. theyre night skies.

What a silly grown-up I am.

I suggested we should add some stars to our night sky

So we added some glitter for the stars.

And Voila! Night skies.

I hole punched them all in the top and threaded fishing line through and plan to hang them tomorrow.

Squishy Squashy Goo

GOO, GLORIOUS GOO!

A few days ago, I made up a whole heap of cel-mix and made it quite runny.

I placed it in all sort of jars and pots and bowls and also in some squeezy bottles

I added some green food dye and blue glitter to half, and left the other half plain so the children could see how the green goo made the plain goo go green too (try saying that ten times really fast!)

I placed some table covers over the tables ( a VERY VERY VERRYYY sensible thing to do) so when we were done I could just bundle up the table cover and put it straight to the laundry basket.

And we pretty much just let the children go loose. I grabbed some little bowls and pots from the home corner, and some wooden spoons and other utensils from the playdough tool box and added them to the table, which provided the children who didnt want to touch the goo with their hands the opportunity to participate too.

We did this as our 'group time' activity to give the children a chance to try something new in a group environment

The only sound in the whole room was the squelching of glue and the occasional laugh.

The children were pretty in awe of this goo. I dont think they realised it was the same stuff they hate getting on their hands when we do pasting (we often use cel-mix as glue) Its amazing the difference green food dye makes!

The children mostly used the goo on their own, I think this was because they have never had the opportunity to take part in an experience like this, and because it was the first time we had done it.

This was definitely a hit with the children, and it is such a wonderful sensory experience.

Even as an adult, I find it so satisfying to stick my hands in a bucket of goo and give it a squish. It feels satisfying! 

The good thing about this goo is that it will be good for 2-3 days before it starts to go lumpy in which case you can always add water, as long as the goo hasnt gotten to dirty. I only plan to keep it until tomorrow afternoon because I dont want the children passing around colds by wiping their nose on the back of the hand and then putting it into the goo, but if you were doing it at home, you could use it for 4-5 days as long as you kept on adding a bit of water when it starts to get lumpy!

Fundraising: Cadbury Chocolates

Currently at my centre we are doing some fundraising so that we can create an early childhood education library for parents to borrow books from, so that parents have the chance to increase and expand their knowledge about children's development and the way children learn.

We are doing this by fundraising through Cadbury. We get 40 cents from every chocolate bar sold, and each chocolate bar is $1. They come in boxes of 50, so for every 50 bars sold, we get $20 direct profit.

Its one of the most successful fundraisers we have done in the past, and one that the parents normally dont mind helping out with it because the chocolate bars sell themselves.

Toddlers: Daily Care

I was just browsing the Raising Children website, and found this article about toddler daily care. It has a good video at the bottom of the page about toilet training that has Australian mums talking about toilet training.

Definitely a good page to look at for early childhood educators just to ground us and remind us of what realistic expectations are when it comes to toddlers. It's very easy when you are surrounded by children at all different stages and all different ages, to get caught up in comparing children to other children. Well at least that what happens to me.


The Raising Children website is an Australian website funded and put together by Department of Housing, Families, Community Services and Indigenous Afffairs. I discovered it when studying last year. Its useful not just for children but ECE's too.

:)

Sorry about the lack of posts recently, I have been extremely busy! I have recently had some bad news at home and have been working more. Which = less time to blog.
BUT I WILL BE BACK SOON!
Thats a promise.

Scienceworks

Today, we headed off to Scienceworks.

For those people who arent from around the Melbourne area, I will tell you a little bit about Scienceworks. It is located in Spotswood, Melbourne and it is just a short distance from the western side of the Westgate Bridge. It is run by Melbourne Museum, and is essentially, an interactive museum for children, and is run much like a Museum. Everything there is designed for children. It is also attached to the Melbourne Planetarium. I went there as a child many times and I remember begging Mum and Dad to take me there every school holidays from when I was about 5 until when I was about 11 (I was way to cool for Scienceworks in Grade 6) It is much like a Museum in the sense that it has permanent exhibits, as well as travelling exhibits and special events on occasionally. Most of Scienceworks is interactive and child sized, and they run a special program designed for school children aged 4-16 but adult groups and older teenagers are allowed to visit too.

Within Scienceworks, we visited Nitty Gritty Super City, which is designed for preschool children through to grade three children (3-9 year olds)

We got to do many things including the chance to use a digger to dig up coloured balls

We got to read out the weather and see ourselves on camera whilst doing so

We made pretend coffees with a machine that made noises just like a real coffee machine

We served in the cafe

And we also looked at the spectacular leggo version of Melbourne

And we worked on a construction site, where we participated in all aspects of the construction. doing some hoisting to get the blocks up to the construction site

And we used the conveyor belt to get the blocks up to the construction site too, by twisting a wheel.


Then we headed to the planetarium to watch a short movie on the roof called "Tycho to the Moon"

Then we headed to the Explorasaurus exhibition

And then we hopped back on the bus and slept all the way home!

This was my first excursion while working in childcare, so I cant really say whether it was the best one yet, but I would definitely reccomend it. The people who run Scienceworks are friendly and willing to help, the planetarium staff not so much, but overall it was a constructive and positive outing!
We definitely could have spent at least 6-8 hours there to have a good go at everything and see it all. But alas, children have to sleep and early childhood educators have to have their lunch breaks!
8 out of 10!

Painting The Weather

Yesterday, we started to paint a storm.

We have these long, long rolls of butchers paper in our store room. And as it was raining, we decided to paint a storm onto the paper. I stuck down butchers paper with masking tape along the length of the table, put out some grey, light blue and dark blue paint, and let the kids take the lead from there. 

The first storm they painted was a big success, it even got the boys engaged in painting.

Unfortunately when we hung outside to dry on your clothes line (it was a bit big for the drying rack) it was windy outside and got all tangled and stuck to itself when we werent watching. We tried to save it but it ended up getting a big rip in it.

But we did make some another two (which I havent had a chance to take photos of yet) which we have decided we are going to stick to the roof, so we can look up at it during rest time.

We added this to our planning, and as the next fortnight progresses, we are going to add some hail, rain and lightening. 

I will definitely add pictures of this storm we are creating in a later post

Drawing.

On Friday, we busted out the textas. Normally the question "Can we use the textas?" is followed by a sharp intake of breath and a pained face. We have limitied textas and previously when we have let the kids use the them, they have done one of the following:

1. Leave the lids off 
2. Bash the inky bit of the texta so hard onto the paper it snaps or never works again
3. Scribble all over the table when theyre not focusing
4. Put them in their mouth
5. Draw on each other

So I was pretty reluctant.

But then I remembered how much I loved drawing with textas when I was a young-en. So I was brave and said yes. 

Before we sat down and started drawing, before I even got the textas down from the shelf, I told the kids this: We dont have many textas, so they're very special. We only use them when we are going to draw special things, and we have to take it turns to use them.

It was my turn first. My theory was that if I went first and modeled how to use the textas appropriately, and defined what a 'special drawing' was and what my expectations were, the children would be able to then use the textas appropriately and perhaps draw something they would be proud to hang up on the wall or take home.

Let me also add that usually our children just scribble on the paper, then leave it on the table and deny that it was them that drew it.

Unfortunately I dont have a picture of what I drew but I do have some pictures of what some of the children drew.

We got the lovely drawing. And then my colleague jumped in and had a turn as you can see in the corner and below.

And then other children had a go

We encouraged the children to talk about what they were going to draw before they drew it, and to keep up a running commentary of what they were drawing as they did it.

I feel that this experience was WAYYYYY more productive and meaningful then our previous attempts at texta drawings. 

And I had fun too :D

Waterplay in Winter

The very thought of water play in winter makes our adult brains scream NOOO, NOOOOOOOO, its too cold! The very thought of water play in winter makes our childcare brains scream NOOOOOOO, the kids will get wet and their clothes will get wet! The very thought of water play to child in winter is the same as what it is in summer.

I bravely let out children participate in mud pie making today. My colleagues looked at me as if I was crazy. The children looked at me as if I was the best person in the whole wide world!

The trick is to incorporate it. I did this in the form of mud pie making.

I set up this little table

A tray of sand, a pot of mint leaves from our slightly over-grown vegetable garden, and a little pot of dirt. 

I knew this would eventually end up in making mud pies. Or in this case 'mud salads,' apparently....

Once the children had been involved in making these 'mud salads' for a while, I offered them water. Of course they jumped up and down at this opportunity. I did explain to them though that we would only get one watering can of water so we needed to use it wisely.

So we still got to use water, we just incorporated it. The children didnt get wet or muddy or dirty (much to my colleagues delight) and we still achieved water play in winter.




Update: 18/06/2011

Floor Puzzles.

I have one child in my room who is a puzzle pro. He can complete puzzles in about half the time the other children can, and without any help or guidance. When we realised this, we pulled out our big floor puzzles for him to do. He now pulls them out whenever he feels like doing them, and all on his own too! He likes to help the other children do them too, and they come to him to ask for help when they get stuck on a piece.

This is his current favourite floor puzzle.

We have several others. They are all Australian animals. They are made of thick wood and are great quality. They withstand the wear and tear of 3-5 year olds on a daily basis.

Group puzzles like this are great for children who dont quite have the fine motor ability to do smaller fiddly puzzles, and it is also easy to do as a small group activity.

Squishy Sacks pt.2

Today I added two more 'squishy sacks' to our little collection. 

This was the succesful one. It has beads and water inside.

 I filled the snaplock bag up about a third of the way up with water, then added a handful of beads.

The children really enjoyed this bag and used it in a few different ways.

They used their hands to push on the water and make waves inside the bag and watched the beads spin and bob in the water. They also had fun trying to push the beds around in the water.

The other bag I added, was a bit of a dud. I didnt do my research. I thought adding oil to a bag and then filling it up with water would be a great science experiment for the kids, and I was feeling so chuffed that I would be able to give a whole science lesson when the children asked "Why wont the oil mix with the water?" But it didnt work quite the way I planned. I used Extra Virgin Olive Oil when I should have used baby oil to get the effect I wanted. The olive oil just broke up into tiny tiny little balls and the kids didnt even notice it.

But it was all made up for when the squishy sack with the beads was a hit! :)

Squishy Sacks

Ah, good old snap lock bags. Use #2189: Holding cel-mix and colour for a non-messy sensory experience. Perfect for children who dont like getting there hands dirty.

I filled up some large snap lock bags with cel-mix, and let the children choose what we put inside. We ended up with glitter, blue food dye, green food dye, purple paint and orange paint.

The children mixed the colours into the cel-mix.

 (sorry about the blurry photo)

They used their fingers and hands to spread, smoosh, poke and squish the colour through the cel-mix

Upon asking the children what we should call this activity, it was announced that they would be called Squishy Sacks.

These 'Squishy Sacks' have provided the perfect opportunity for the children who dont like getting their hands dirty, to still participate in a squishy ooey gooey smooshy sensory activity.
We now have them laid out on one of our bigger tables with chairs in front of them and at the moment, its our most popular table!
A success.

Superhero Play

On Friday, I had a parent approach me to ask for advice about her son and his seeming ‘obsession’ with Spiderman. She explained to me that she is worried Spiderman is effecting her sons play, turning it aggressive at home as well as spending to much time being Spiderman during solo play at home.
Superhero play can be tricky. In childcare, it is hard to establish boundaries and limits when it comes to superhero play. My attitude towards superhero play used to be laid back, just let them do it. But after noticing a continuing pattern of injuries and tears during superhero play among a group of boys, as well as listening to a parents concerns I began to look into it further.
Being a member of generation Y, I turned to google. It turned up some interesting points of view.
The National Childcare Accreditation Council has an interesting article which you can find here. It basically outlines what superhero play is, why children do it, and ways to support and extend upon superhero play, as well as how it relates to QIAS principles. It is essentially, a pro-superhero-play article.
The Media Awareness Network ( a Canadian website) also has an article outlining ways we can support and guide superhero play. You can read it here.
Great Schools (an American website) has this to say about superhero play. It points out the fact that children have been imitating larger then life characters since the days before television. It outlines ways to support positive superhero play, how we can recognise the ‘red flags,’ and how it can support learning.
After reading these articles, my view of superhero play changed. I felt silly that I had been so quick to condemn superhero play in my mind. It can be such a good opportunity for learning. But still, at the same time the overly aggresive behaviour has to stop.
On Tuesday when I go back to work, I plan on showing my room leader these articles and enforcing the following with the kids:

• A time and place where they are allowed to play spiderman/batman/buzz lightyear/darth vader etc
• Group discussions about superheroes in general and what qualities they have and why the children like them.
• Draw up a list with the children about who each child’s favourite superhero is

I am hoping that these things will help them feel like their superhero interests have been acknowledged and are valued. And then maybe things will calm down a bit.
Wish me luck!

Parquetry Blocks

Recently the children have been getting bored of our regular puzzles so we added parquetry blocks to give the children a chance to challenge themselves.
The parquetry block set we have has coloured blocks in the shapes of triangles, squares and diamonds, as well as large cardboard squares with the patterns printed on. Some of the boards have the shapes filled in with colour, and some have white shapes. I love this because it gives the chance to either make it less complex by not having to match the colour to the shape on the board, or to make it more complex by having to think about which shape and colour will fit.
The puzzle table is usually our solo-play area but with the parquetry blocks added it became an area for group work as the parquetry blocks provided a challenge and the children worked together to complete the puzzles. Some of the puzzles were easier than others, and they worked together to complete the more intricate, complex puzzles.
Parquetry blocks get their name from the art of parquet, being the geometric mosaic of wood pieces for a decorative effect, usually used in flooring or veneer patterns on furniture.