We have always tried to included a lot of different sensory experiences in our children’s every day play …

Sometimes in a sensory tub.

Sometimes on the table with the edge around it …

and sometimes just where ever it is!

While visiting Highvale Preschool we saw that the children had created a very interesting sensory tub experience.

They had coloured some rice using black edicol dye and added magnetic and non magnetic items to the tub. How gorgeous does it look?!

Speaking of gorgeous sensory tubs, check out this beauty over at Teach Preschool, where Deborah is preparing to open up her brand new preschool!!

Here are  links to other sensory tub ideas you should check out …

::: Green Slime – Casa Maria’s Creative Learning Zone

::: Making a Rice Pit – Childhood 101

::: Christmas Sensory Tub - Counting Coconuts

::: Garden in a Box – Pink and Green Mama

::: New Year Sensory Tub – Inspiration Surround Creativity Abounds

::: Sensory Tub Ideas List – Our World Classroom

Sherry is now able to have the joy of being able to do parent (or in her case, grandparent) duty at her grandchildren’s kindergartens – how lovely being on the other side of things! Anyway when she was at Lower Plenty Preschool recently having fun with the children, she noticed they were making their own lanterns which their teacher, Maureen, said were going to be used for their annual “Lantern Walk”, in celebration of the Winter Solstice.

We had already been to the Collingwood Children’s Farm to celebrate this so knew a bit about it. The children loved the fire twirlers!

Look at the wonderful bonfire they lit. It was really hot!

The kinder celebration is a night time, family thing where they go on a specific walk along the bike path which meanders alongside the Plenty River, holding their lanterns aloft – sounds like fun!

The children started off by decorating a piece of firm white paper with edicol dye, very reminiscent of the lanterns at Holy Trinity.

When it dried they formed it into a cylinder, then traced around the bottom onto card to make a firm base. It was cut out and inserted into the cylinder. Next they added a wire handle, and last they popped a tea candle into their completed lantern. Beautiful!

When the night came a large group of families met at the local football club and consumed huge amounts of pizza!

After a few songs from the children, all the precious lanterns were gathered up and lit…

then off everyone went into the darkness, lanterns lighting the way.

Candles placed on a bed of sand  in cut off milk cartons had been placed along the very dark and winding track to guide us all.

It is very exciting meeting up with your kinder friends at night time and doubly exciting to go out walking in the dark with only candles and the odd torch to light the way. We even saw a poor old possum staring down at us with wide eyes from a gum tree.

Everyone was beautifully behaved and we didn’t lose anyone in the dark, so all round a fabulous night celebration of the Winter Solstice.

We have posted before on salad spinner art using paint …

but last week over at Highvale Preschool, the children in Narelle and Pam’s group where creating their salad spinner art using coloured water and pipettes.

They picked up a couple of salad spinners for just $5 from Ikea!

Pippets are so great for fine motor muscle development. It can be quite a challenge to squeeze and release while managing to suck up the liquid at the same time.

The children were already noticing the colour mixing taking place even before they gave it a spin.

Not only a great activity for those hand and finger muscles …

this one gives the whole arm a good work out!

We love the children’s wide eyed reaction when they take off the lid.

Another great colour mixing opportunity to add to ‘the list’!

We found a great idea on another blog  … sorry just can’t remember which one! … and thought we’d give it a try.

It involves glue, salt, card and coloured water!

The children’s first job (after writing their names - many still need reminding of this even after two years of reminding!) was to draw a pattern on card with a glue stick – such fun when you can’t really see it!

Next salt needed to be carefully placed over the glue …

with the excess shaken off.

Now the pattern was starting to appear!

Last job (the children are relishing these activities with various stages in them now) was to carefully drop coloured water onto the salt and let it be absorbed.

Just enough meant the paint followed the salt trail and da dah, the pattern was fully disclosed …

Too much paint meant it was lots of fun squeezing those eye droppers, but don’t worry about the salt pattern!

So saying that, even these ones retained a lovely texture and interesting look.

We saw lots of very interesting patterns …

colours …

and textures emerge …

in this lovely activity!

P.S. November 22nd 2010

Thanks to Tracy we now know where we first found this great activity. Please be sure to pop over and visit … http://jojoebi.blogspot.com/2010/02/salt-painting.html … Thank you!

Last week the children made goop and had a ball with it. Their interest didn’t really wane. It was dried out the next day but they found it was fun adding more water and bringing it back to life. Nevertheless, we thought we’d jazz it up a bit with some food dye.

At first the children kept all the colours separate…

But that didn’t last long as it was much more fun to dip into each others’ tubs and mix it all up.

Not only did it end up covering all surfaces, it quickly became a cack green. Luckily it all either washes off really easily or sweeps up when left to dry.

Out of interest, not all children think goup is gorgeous.

Our friend Jesse was very quick to the goop table this morning before we added the colour.

BUT he was not at all impressed when he dived his hands into the mix …

“Ummmm, ohhhh, Sheeerrrrry, Donnnaaaaa! Oh nooo  It’s feel, oh noooo!”

When Sherry asked Jesse what he thought it would feel like when he put his hands into the goop …

he looked up at her with big wide eyes and replied, “Ohhhh like ohhhh, a t-shirt?”

Hmm, wonder if goop would work in plastic bags as successfully as our finger paint did a little while ago?

Donna found a great activity on a blog she regularly checks out, welcome to our wonderland, and discovered how to make homemade water colour paints. Everything you need is found right in your kitchen – equal quantities of vinegar, corn flour and bi-carb soda. We provided food colouring as well as graters and chalk for a different sort of colouring ingredient.

We like to make all our activities look irresistible. Here some strips of coloured paper under a clear plastic sheet makes all the difference!

See what we mean? Here’s the same set up without the irresistible touch. BORING!

We made a recipe sheet for the children to follow with clear and simple instructions.

First of all they put 1 tablespoon of vinegar into a baby food jar.

Then added food colouring or ….

… grated chalk to make the powdered colouring.

Then they added 1 tablespoon of corn flour …

and gave it a good mix.

Lastly in went 1 tablespoon of bi-carb soda.

Some mixes frothed up like crazy and overflowed the containers!

They spooned their mixtures into bottle tops and egg cartons. We decided to let it all sit overnight to be used the next day. You can use it straight away if you choose.

Making our own concoctions is such fun!

It got everywhere, as usual!!!

What gorgeous colours they produced!!

The next day we got to use our home made paints.

It was a really interesting texture.

The children really enjoyed using something they had made themselves.

This was a terrific creative activity incorporating literacy, maths, science and lots  and lots of fun, and  WE SO LOVE IT when that happens!

All throughout the year we compile a portfolio for each child. We call them “Memory Books“. They consist of our observations, parent’s contributions, children’s art work and stories, photos of them in action and the different incursions and excursions we do together.

At the end of the year they are given to the families as a very special present from their kindergarten children.

They are completed now and the children have had their final look through them…

… decorated the covers using posca pens and wrapped them up.

For their wrapping paper, we placed a mixture of bright edicol-coloured water by the easel and big sheets of paper.

The variety of beautiful paintings …

… with their incredible colours …

… took our breath away!!

Spectacular!

We didn’t worry about naming them as the children understood that we would be sharing the paper around, so they simply choose a sheet they liked when the time came to wrap.

::: make it irresistible :::

We love to have our easels set up outside and we find that the children love it too. In fact we’ve noticed that many more children are drawn to the painting experience when the easels are outside.

Using edicol-coloured water like we did here, can create a real mess under the easel (then again can’t all paint!)…

… so we have a large piece on lino on the ground …

… so we can easily mop up any spills.

Of course this would be a great advantage on the floor inside as well!

A simple and delightfully smelling sensory activity is shaving cream. Sometimes we just pop it onto the work space straight out of the can.

Other times we (or the children) choose to add some ‘colour’ to the activity, we add sprinkles of edicol dye (not too much as it stains the children’s hands) which the children then mix in to make it look different and beautiful.

It is also a simple and fun colour mixing activity.

Shaving cream has a beautiful texture which enables the children to do some creative drawing.

And as shaving cream is simply soap in a can a bucket of water and a towel kept beside the table makes for a quick had wash when the children have finished. Sure beats a shaving cream trail being plopped along the floor all the way to the bathroom.