optical illusions

We are all familiar with Rubin's Vase, one of the most popular optical illusions since 1915. Today, I decided that would be my optical illusion highlight. I had each kid sit with me and let me trace their profile. I originally tried to flashlight and profile tracing against the wall EXCEPT, the children kept moving, making major impossibility to trace.
I figured my free hand could do better and each kid was traced and cut out in less than a minute.
Voila! Personalized Rubin's Vase to take home!

treasure stones

It's "Believe It or Not" week with my kiddos, so we made rocks that only LOOK real!

coffee grounds + sand + flour + water+ salt + time in the oven = treasure stones!
we put treasures inside (like pennies) and now the kids are so excited that they know a secret about a seemingly ordinary looking object.

Little Guy was so excited that he actually came back after his mom picked him up and stayed with me until the rocks were ready to come out of the oven!

treasure stones how to

spring break!

Implementing what we learned during free play

• @easel, having only the primary colors out - Picasso lesson from Mains Aux Fleurs
• "painting" (or drawing) on the playhouse ceiling- Michaelangelo lesson (Sistine Chapel)
• soap bar carvings always available during outside free play - see below post

Unifying themes in free time blocks. Asking the children questions to further understanding, (ie. "Who painted on the ceiling? What two colors make violet? Can you paint a rainbow, using only the primary colors?")

Latest inspirations from Reggio Emilia approach, with my favorite part being that the teachers actively engage in the activities alongside the children rather than standing back and observing. "The teacher needs to maintain an active, mutual participation in the activity to help ensure that the child is clearly understanding what is being 'taught'." Yay for partners in learning :)

A man paints with his brains and not with his hands. ~Michelangelo

We have been studying masterpieces in art. Michaelangelo, being our most recent subject is an inspiring one, indeed.

"Carving is easy, you just go down to the skin and stop," he has been quoted to say. Although we know that "easy" is relative, (especially coming from an artistic genius,) he has also been known to say how "genius is eternal patience."

Ah, patience...

This is where "it's the process not the end product" especially comes to mind. The children are "carving" bars of soap with "chisels." Children who are normally disinterested in art, hovered around the art table waiting for a turn. Soon the clean scent of soap filled the air and soap flakes scattered on tables. Bars of soap have been chipped away, not quite looking like... anything... but that is okay! The children loved it.

"How can I get mine to look like that?" one girl asks with frustration, as she looks at another child's carving.
"You just have to keep cutting and cutting it!" he responded.
She tried and tried, but didn't get her desired result that day. It took her more than one day to cut the soap bar the way she wanted, but it gave some perspective on how marvelous Michaelangelo's David really is.

Our children, already familiar with the David and Goliath story were fascinated by this statue. I played it safe and chose to display a photo showing from the waist up (see photo above) but it was inevitable... photos of the full David, in all his glory circulated around.

Giggles, snickers and pointing remind me that kids will always be kids :)

Roy G Biv

I'm back to using this blog :0)

Spring is rainbow season, with children constantly singing about the colors. Rainbow colors permeate their way into children's drawings where houses, flowers, food radiate with the rainbows bright and happy pattern.

"Red orange yellow... green blue purple!"
The happiest scheme of colors I can imagine.

Spring is here............ <3

The simple rainbow pattern above makes for a wonderful take home craft. I found it on a wonderful blog but will have to go back on old RSS posts to properly link and credit the author.
Preschoolers enjoy arranging the colors in order and by size as red is the longest and purple is the shortest. Simplicity. Mess free. Which is not always what we have in mind for preschoolers but in this case, it was just the thing.
The concepts: longest to shortest in order. colors of the rainbow
The result: beautiful rainbows to take home :)