Can you feel it?

The squelch and the swirl 

 

Today we had a fantastically, messy sensory play time at The Studio.

Firstly there was sticky, blue play dough with tubs of flour ; then we had some shaving cream smeared all over the windows ; along side this we had small little trays with 'just flour' in them for tiny finger play; water with bubbles and straws and damp sand. all this was topped with some seed and rice pouring.

 Flour and Dough wonder!!

 This is Nursery School Paint. It is delightful paint to use with small kiddies. Bright colours and non-toxic  produce wonderful paintings.

Painting at an easel is fun and allows the child the opportunity to engage with his painting at his own pace. he can go towards it and leave it when he has had enough. The process of spreading two or three colours of paint onto the page is a wonderful exploring. This little man has even begun to feel the thick, goop of paint. 

We had a glories time together. The children had fun with the milk bottle scoops and newspaper balls; bean bags and some singing too.

We ended our time together with Eric Carle's great book " Brown Bear what do you see?"

If you are happy and you know it....

 I like to think that Kids@The Studio offers a morning of stimulation and good ideas for moms and their little ones but mostly a place to chat and have a good time.

 Today it started to rain as everyone was arriving. Keeping 7 little ones busy and dry on a rainy day is quite a thing:)

 Hats , hats and more hats. This little man is holding part of a milk bottle. The ither part to this is a newspaper ball used for catching and throwing.

 A few weeks ago we did box stacking and this has remained a firm favourite.

 Time to cook. We made pizza today with the moms and grannies and helpers all getting stuck in. Yum!!

 Printing is a fun painting activity . it is a real skill to push the printing object down and then pick it up and a real temptation to paint with it instead:) This little man painted his face too.

 This little man was a real little chef. His mom cooks with him a lot and so he could help grate some cheese.

 For the sensory tray ( in the rainy , damp outside area) we have jelly of all sorts of colours. Yum!

 Play dough birthday cake is always a hit. Play dough is a wonderful and relaxing thing for children to roll and pat and squish. A simple recipe is as follows......

Play dough recipe that works

2 cups flour

1 cup salt

2 cups water

food colouring

2 table spoons for cooking oil.

4 teaspoon cream of tartar

cook over a low heat until all the dough sticks together in a ball in the middle of the pot. Take it out ( be careful. It is hot). Roll it and knead it until it is wonderful and elastic. Keep in a sealed container in the fridge.

 Here are the children's finished pizzas. All ready to be eaten and enjoyed. The pizza recipe is one I took of the internet and I made the dough in my bread maker. The recipe is really simple and we use tomato paste and then cheddar cheese for the topping. A firm fav with my own children and we often make these at parties.

Pizza Dough Recipe - for a bread maker

1 1/2 cups water

2 teaspoons sugar

1 1/4 salt

2 table spoons olive oil

3 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsps yeast

 We also made some giant body shape pictures. These are really wonderful.

I have an architect friend who keeps me all her old plans which are on large paper. Thanks Georgie!!

'I am tired now and really want to go home but I will sit and relax with my pizza.'

Boxes Galore

 I love cardboard of any kind and especially the kind that has been fashioned into a box. A box to put things into or stand on top of. A box to climb into or to fill with sand or other finds. A box that is so tiny and another that is bigger than I am. I love boxes!!!

 I like to  use waste in this group and in fact in most of the things I do with kids. I like to make things from waste and let children experience the fun we can have from making something from nothing.

 Here are the creepy crawly fantasy logs. The bugs get to crawl on the tree and down onto the tree stumps.

 This week I put some boxes into the sand play area .

 Water play included the sea creature theme and some nets for fishing them out :)

 Water in a bucket and an old paint brush  will provide a lot of fun for little people.

 The blue monkey and some bean bags make for a fun toss and aim game. Look mom I can throw.

The scribble stage is so clearly shown in this chalk art of this little 2 year old:)

Kids@The Studio have fun

 Today was week 2 of Kids @ The Studio and we had a lot of garden fun.  Here are the boxes I introduced in a together 'ring' time last week and I was interested to see what the children did with them in the garden.

 Here is the block table for today - built by my very handy hubby!! :)

 We pour and stir and drink real tea:)

 This is puzzle time

 mmm - tea is yummy!!

 Here is what two delightful little chaps got up to with the boxes. What a win!! So get collecting and make your own empty box towers at home.

 Sandpit fun.

 I have lots of different things in the garden for the children to play with. Hobby horses, sandpit play, water play, blocks and boxes, bikes and books. The children spend a very busy morning playing and learning as they play.

Rosie's Walk - by Pat Hutchins

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93g0zVaUlOc

Rosie the Hen went for a walk..... around the pond.... past the mill.... over the haycock.... through the fence... and got back in time for dinner.

 http://babyccinoblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/rosies-walk-cover.jpg


Today we heard this story. Check out the YouTube link and your local library for a fabulous read

From small beginnings

 This is a tree stump which serves as a great , little home for all sorts of fantasy play creatures. Here is the green and yellow frog and he has many other little friends that tag along with him.

 Boxes, boxes and more boxes. I love empty box play for children. There are some many things one can do with an empty box. These I taped shut and some I painted which is not necessary. We used the boxes to build a tall tower and then to knock it down. Most of the things we do as a group I will set up as a free play game, outside or on the mat.  It will be interesting to observe what the children do with the boxes on their own!!

 These were some of the free painting that happened on Tuesday. Notice the scribble stage.

Child develpoment and art

  The Studio

Child development in the area of art

Part 1

(Taken from Art 4-11 – art in the early years of schooling by Suffolk County Council)

A baby is designed to explore and discover the world around.  As the baby develops, his body develops and strengthens. Being able to move; reach and grasp are all important. As the child moves he learns. A vital part of the learning that takes place at this stage is on a sensory level. In other words, how things feel. Smooth, spiky, hard and soft are all new and exciting messages for the brain to interpret and so the child learns.

Making some kind of mark is part of this process. All children around the world experience the same stages of development in art. The Scribble Stage is this part of childhood development where the child begins to use his ability to make a mark and begins to enjoy making it.  As the child begins to develop more and more control in his arm and hand muscles, he is then able to make some really interesting marks which are characteristic of this stage of development. Marks might include vertical, horizontal, diagonal, circular, wavy and curving marks.

During this stage of development, it would be appropriate to give the child lots of opportunities to draw using a variety of media – paint with big, fat paintbrushes, big crayons, fat chalks and even clay and dough all offer the young child an opportunity to explore what comes naturally at this stage.

It is very exciting to watch and see the child develop. The more they play with art the more they will grow and enjoy it.

Hot tips

• Display some of the work in your home (if you throw work away please don’t let your child see) There are some fun ways to store art and display art.
• Write the child’s name from left to write in the left hand corner – Reading skill
• Resist the temptation to draw for your child – I can not emphasize this enough.
• Ask questions about the art
• Build confidence by using helpful, honest language when commenting. Eg. I like the colours you chose ; You filled the page really well  ( see Emotional Intelligence)
• Avoid comparisons with other children
• Resist the temptation to name the picture ( the next step is the naming stage and then you can have a great deal of fun)
• Remember that the process of drawing and creating is far more important than the end product and that much learning has taken place in the process part of the work. The product often says very little about the process.
• There are no mistakes at this stage

Enjoy the process with your little one!!