Bird Art

Every now and then we try to have an art project that spans several days.  We think it gives the children an opportunity for delayed gratification and for a chance to change their plan or enhance their plan as they go.

One day the children used a koosh ball roller to paint on a paper plate.  The koosh ball gives a great texture to the paint and it looks a little like feathers.  The paper plates were super goopy so we let them dry for the week.  When they returned on Monday, we had dishes with google eyes, buttons, feathers, construction paper triangles and a few other doo dads - plus some glue.  We told the Bunnies they could use the materials to make a bird.  Below is one example.

At our school we value process art meaning that the process or journey of creating is superior to the final product.  Notice above that the owl has one feather, one beak and about 4 eyes.  We can't be bothered with silly details like how many eyes a bird should have! :)  I guarantee the Bunnies have more fun and feel more pride in themselves if they do it their way!

Birds Part 2

Children's literature is heavily peppered with birds.  Probably everyone is familiar with these books:
 
 Love these!

We read these in our room, but we also spent time with Owl Babies.  It's a sweet book about three baby owls who aren't sure if their mommy is coming back.



We had a bag of props to go along with the story.  On Monday Mrs. O'Connor read the story and used the props, then prompted the Bunnies to retell the story and the props helped jog their memories.  On Tuesday the props and the book were in a basket in the book area of the room. 

All morning scenes like the one above played out again and again.  The children role played and practiced the language and dialogue they heard in the book. Yay!

At our "Office" table, there were pictures of birds in a basket.  Most of the pictures were from old calendars, nature magazines, or Christmas cards.  Joseph used the materials available to him and his wonderful imagination and made something fantastic.
He used scissors to snip around the edges of his paper. 
He used the stapler in the corners.
He used a glue stick to attach bird pictures.
He wrote the first letter of his name on a leaf and glued it on, too.
And, he even used some tape on the back side.

No where in our lesson plans did this appear as an art or literacy activity.  This was completely child-directed and independent.  We could have never planned for something this wonderful.  It was spontaneous and told us so much about Joseph and his skills.  When we give children time and materials, they create amazing things!

Birds

One fun aspect of learning about creation is learning things about birds.  You might not think there's really all that much to gain with a rather narrow topic.  It's really not easy to observe birds because they don't let you get up close to them.  They all basically do the same things and they all pretty much look alike.  All of that is true, BUT we can still use one topic and cover many many different necessary skills.

Let's start with math and science.  These two areas of learning often go hand in hand.

We had several fun activities including this wooden bird patterning game called "Happy Birds".  There is a perch with room for 4 birds and a tray with parts and pieces of birds in different colors.  The Bunnies can make their own birds or they can choose to create birds identical to the ones on the pattern cards.  This is great for visual discrimination skills (translation: can they look at a 2D picture and replicate it in 3D?)

We had a simple peg board with pictures of birds and little tags with the same pictures of birds all jumbled in a dish.  The Bunnies sorted and categorized the birds by attributes and put them in their proper places on the peg board.  Everyone who tried this game liked it!

Sorting, categorizing and patterning are all preschool math and science skills learned through play.

Stay tuned for birds in literacy and art...

Everything Old is New Again

Remember record players?

We have several at school, and we use them for spin art.  The children put a paper plate on the turn table, turn the record player on, and hold markers so that the tips make circles as the plate spins.  The Bunnies love this and we always have a long line waiting for a turn.

Perhaps you've wondered how we introduce new and exciting experiences like this without the kids getting frustrated or intimidated (or the reciprocal: super worked up!) by the excitement and number of steps involved.   Well, we began by choosing the location wisely.  We put the cool new thing in a place where it can be heavily supervised by a teacher (in this case, the art table).  An important step is to demonstrate it ourselves.  Mrs. O'Connor demonstrated how to do it to the first few kids who were standing nearby.  Then one by one the children got verbal and visual instructions.  As each child tried it out, several others were gathered around so they benefited from the instructions, too.  As more and more children took turns, they began to learn from each other rather than from the teacher, which is exactly what we want to see happen!  Once everyone has had a turn, the exciting thing can move to a place with a little less supervision giving an opportunity for a little more independence for the children.  Independence is one of the very best self-esteem boosters!

Ocean Animals

Most children already have a fascination with ocean life and fish so it was easy to get them excited about extending their learning.

The puzzle below has ocean animals with a little magnet on each and a fishing pole with a little magnet at the end of the line.  The children used the fishing pole to solve and "unsolve" the puzzle many times.  It was super for visual spatial development and aim.

The Bunnies created their own oceans by mixing colors of paint to become the background of their own ocean art and they added sand and shells.  They also used fish stamps and ink pads to create interesting work in the office center.

Stamping looks like art, but it is really literacy.  Being able to organize items on a page is a very early literacy skill.

Everything we provide for the children to do has a specific purpose and value for development, but is looks and feels like play.  Children learn best through play!

Fun and Games

We are beginning to teach the Bunnies how to play games.  It's a process, and we are at the beginning.

We put out a simple little, preschool game called Go Fishing.  The fish are face down in the ocean and there are 4 different colored boats and one fishing pole.  The children must take turns with the pole to catch a fish, turn it over and match the color of the fish to the same color boat.  When all boats are full, the game is over.  No winner, no loser - just turn-taking and filling boats.

What we are really going for here is the pattern of thought "I have a turn, now you have a turn" repeatedly.  This is the first and most important skill of playing games.  Once we have that well under way, we can introduce the many other skills of game playing.