Who would have thought the plain old humble brown paper bag could look this good?

Scrunched and twisted it has been used here to create the most wonderful tree and vine effect …

which enhances this African Safari play space so beautifully.

Now get to it and collect up those old lunch and shopping bags and put them to some good fun creative use … irresistible indeed!

This post has been added to Tinkerlabs Creative Challenge 8: Paper Bags {+Pinterest Contest!  Be sure to head on over and see how others are getting creative with the humble paper bag!

We have just had heaps of fun bringing in one New Year and now we have another excuse to celebrate with Chinese New Year!

We were looking at a cooking magazine trying to get some inspiration for food and realised that it is the Year of the Dragon which of course sparked the children off with the idea of creating their own dragons! We pulled out the construction basket and bits and pieces we had around the place and let them go to it.

We loved the cardboard cylinder with the egg carton spikes down its back. Look out for the flames!

The use of a fan folded body, paper plate tail and cylinder head was also really effective. They taped skewers on both end to make a moving puppet.

When we ran out of cylinders, one enterprising person rolled some firm paper to make an interesting head. With the addition of some sticky foam circles, it looks pretty fearsome!

As we still had heaps of sticky foam pieces the children thought outside the square and created …

quite a …

different looking dragon.

The left over foam shapes didn’t go to waste as there was a big storage box just crying out to be decorated.

Even the littlies could join in happily here.

Happy Chinese New Year!!

When we visited Kurburoo Kindergarten, Ellie V Pullen Preschool and Kallista Kindergartens this year, we noticed that they had their inside sand play in old drawers.

'Kallista'

'Kurboroo'

'Ellie V.'

What a great idea! The perfect size for moving around and fitting into corners or on tables.

We decided to have a go with our children as we coincidently had a few spare drawers we found under the house (as you do!).

Because the weather was so amazing we took our drawers outside. We set them up near the small sandpit so the children could add as much or as little sand as they wanted.

They gathered up a pile of props – pine cones, bark, logs and rocks from the open shelving …

 as well as an assortment of characters and vehicles.

It wasn’t long before they raided the garden for flowers, leaves …

and large rocks.

What we really loved about the drawers was …

they are so much deeper than the regular trays we’ve been using …

as well as much larger.

Finding a couple of old drawers meant we could provide the smallest of our children with their own play area …

alongside the bigger children.

This not only meant the bigger children’s imaginative play was free to take off without the smaller children ‘crashing the party’ …

but the smallest of our friends got to enjoy the wonderful sensory experience of the cool damp sand simply because it was so irresistible to play with …

without an abundance of props!

We have seen beautifully made cupcakes at various kinders over the year such as these at Syndal Preschool …

and these from Highvale Preschool.

When the children were out in the yard having fun in their mudpie cafe, we thought they might like to have a go at making some of their own simple ones to add to the fare.

We saw something similar on a blog a while ago, but can’t remember where, so many apologies if this is your idea! We got out patty pans, small and big pom poms and the glue gun.

Our children are pretty confident with the hot glue gun now so we were able to step back and let them go for it …

with us still keeping a careful eye on things.

They began by glueing big pom poms into the patty pans …

and adding a small one on top.

Of course just as we adults were thinking they resembled mini Christmas cupcakes …

they made the ‘cakes’ their own!

Then turned patty pan over and glued the ‘cake’ onto the bottom …

made cup cake sandwiches …

and even made cup cake ‘clam shells’!

After the children had made a few, they asked for the box of beads as they wanted to add to the decorations.

Sometimes the pom poms were totally discarded!

We loved the results of all their hard work …

 and so did they.

We have been running workshops on miniature playscapes for over a year now and we never fail to be thrilled at the wonderful and individual creations that our participants come up with.

We  started off doing these workshops with small groups of people but have been able to adapt them to the larger groups that conferences require.

Our latest one was in Canberra with the early years educators there.

We try to give everyone an idea of the various types of scenarios they can set up…

a few props they can make to add to their miniature scenes …

give them a base to work from …

then let them go to it …

choosing from a wide variety of natural and recycled goodies.

These sessions are always relaxing but busy …

with a happy hub bub emerging …

as people get to creating their own little worlds…

for their children to enjoy.

They are all different …

and all irresistible!

You can view more photosfrom our miniature playscape workshops …

here … here … here … and even here!

Our kind friend, Helen Ozdilek from chickaboo8 sent us a couple of dinosaur/lizard tails and a mermaid/fish tail.

She has progressed from making these now and is concentrating on making teepees, so it was lovely of her to do that for us.

The children LOVED them …

immediately popped them on and started playing with them.

As we never seem to have enough of whatever is the most sought after item, we decided to keep everyone happy we should be able to instantly put together some no sew tails, along the same vein as our capes and wings.

So we hunted out some fairly firm tights skulking around in the back of the drawer and cut off the legs, found some elastic big enough to go around a child’s waist with a little bit extra for the knots and a bag of recycled paper dots (like as if someone has gone crazy with the hole punch!). You could use any sort of stuffing of course, we just happened to have this.

The children helped us fill the stockings with the paper using a cone we quickly knocked up.

Then we tied the top of the stocking tight …

and added the loop of elastic.

Instant tail!

Now everyone was happy!

Celebrating our Australian animals is always a great lead into celebrating other things Aussie.

Ellie V Pullin had a visit from Wild Action a little while back and we noticed that it was reflected in other parts of their play.

Animals in the sand …

a matching game …

with an Aboriginal theme.

Jigsaw puzzles…

photos on display …

and drawings.

Wild Action is a wonderful incursion which always gives the children a wonderful basis to extend their thinking, learning and creativity.

This post has been added to the “World Animal Day 2011 – Bloghop” over at Angelique Felix.com. Please be sure to pop on over and see other “Children & Animals at Play”.

One of the boys recently moved to a new house and to make the transition a little easier and fun …

his mum bought a couple of these gorgeous fairy doors, from a company Imagination Doors, and placed them on the walls in strategic parts of the house.

When we got together he mentioned that he would like to make a fairy garden for the fairies who visited his house. We immediately imagined the type of fairy garden that Ruth Bode’s children at Croydon West Primary School had created but he and his friend had different ideas.

The children found a spot in the garden they thought was suitable …

set up some ‘fairy doors’, (which were timber floor vents we picked up from Resource Rescue) …

then chose some props they wanted to use – free choice, as it was their creation. Out came the blocks, wishing stones, tree cookies, rocks and tea set we were anticipating.

Then out came Superman, soldiers, the bug collection, skeletons and cages!

Together as a team, the children set up the blanket …

hung cages and lanterns in the tree …

and sorted the rocks, tree cookies and stones.

Then what wonderful cooperative play kept on happening.

Their story was all about some bad guys (the skeletons, army men and bugs) …

being trapped in a cage …

and Superman rescuing them.

There was so much talking and sorting out of the game rules. They decided that Superman was actually a burglar. When we mentioned that it was lucky there are no burglars around here the reply was …

“Well, no – we are just using our imaginations!” Pretty cool from a three year old!

The classic fairy garden didn’t eventuate, but what did happen was exactly what the children wanted, directing their own play for an extended period of time.

We caught up with Michelle and Janine, the lovely ladies from Homemade Rainbows, over the holidays.

They put together the most delightful imaginative play sets with the philosophy of recycling and repurposing. We accepted a friendly challenge from the girls to make an imaginative play set up as cheaply as we could, and gave ourselves a day to do it! We didn’t discuss any ideas with each other, but headed out to op shops, discount ($2 shops) stores and Resource Rescue separately to see what we would both come up with.

We got together the next day with our booty and combined them. Incredibly we kept and used everything we had collected except for one thing! Once we saw the knights Donna had found and the dragon, treasure chest and brassware Sherry had found we knew we were both on the same page!!!.

We were really happy with what we came up with but we are in awe of those girls who make these on a regular basis, because it took us most of the day to gather our bits and pieces …

decide what we wanted to do with them …

make some additional props using the drill and glue gun …

and finally feel satisfied with what we had accomplished.

We collapsed in a heap with a cuppa (and a lamington) after that, and we don’t have any littlies under foot as they do!

::: Picture by – Homemade Rainbows ©

We handed over our creation to Michelle and Janine who auction it off on their Homemade Rainbows facebook page.

The highest bidders were our lovely friends Narelle and Pam from Highvale Preschool who bid a very generous $125.00 for the set, with all proceeds being donated to the Nicholas Timms Foundation. Narelle and Pam THANK YOU! We hope you and your children gain much pleasure playing with it.

::: Picture by – Homemade Rainbows ©

Today the girls will release their latest catalogue on their brand new website! Please pop on over and check our their shop at http://www.homemaderainbows.com.au/ The new catatlogue will go on sale from 7.00am Monday 25th, Melbourne time.

::: Picture by – Homemade Rainbows ©

Congratulations girls … The new catalogue looks irresistible indeed!!

As we mentioned in our post on Monday, when we featured Tinternvale Primary School on our Education Directory …

the children in the Prep grades have been learning about the life cycle of moths and butterflies.

Around the rooms they have several small baskets …

each containing two chrysalises which the children are learning about as they wait for the butterflies to emerge.

The staff obtained the chrysalis through butterflyadventures.com.au and the butterflies they are growing are of the Monarch variety.

Earlier that week the children had read Eric Carle’s story of “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” …

and while the staff were unaware that it was Mr. Carle’s birthday this Friday …

they had also brought out a felt story board of “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” for the children to explore as an extension to the story.

The story board provides the children with a great opportunity for story recall …

as well as sequencing …

and imaginative exploration.

Not to mention the great discussion being created like … “How much food did our caterpillars have to eat?”

This delightful play was such a lovely extension to the children’s metamorphosis journey!

For a wonderful interactive song we taught our children on metamorphosis please visit our link.

This post has been linked to the Eric Carle birthday celebrations taking place over at An Amazing Child.

Be sure to pop on over and see how others are celebrating this great man!