Irresistible Ideas for play based learning

Each year we like to do a group project of some kind so that all children can leave a mark on the kinder for others to enjoy. We have done mosaics, weaving, spirals with treasures, pavers, sewing, and so on.

This year, with the phase two of our Hush Garden revamp coming along so beautifully, we decided some artful ‘totem poles’ would be a wonderful addition to the area.

We had three gorgeous pieces of wood which for the past three or four years we have used to hang our hats and coats on, which we knew would be ideal for the project.

They are old and dry and earthy – just perfect for the look we envisaged.

We thought we would invite the children to paint them and then we’d place them in the Hush Garden as art created by the children of 2010 … and so the fun began!

Red Group children selected  to use paints in earthy tones, including red, brown, orange, yellow and pink.

We used regular paint

which we knew we’d have to varnish as we didn’t want it to wash off in the rain, or fade away in the sun.

The children had a ball and the teamwork they shared was wonderful.

Blue Group children selected very different colours like purple, royal blue, fluorescent yellow, lime green, orange and white.

Children just LOVE to do real work!

We are teamwork champions these days!

Even our pre-kinder children, with their selection of pastel coloured paints …

really got involved and showed incredible cooperation.

They took such pride and ownership in the job they were doing and so they should because the finished poles look absolutely spectacular!

Once they were varnished and following much discussion about where they should go (and we mean much discussion!) a decision was finally made so Donna dug three holes …

and then everybody helped to plant the poles…

and now they stand sentry by the exit gate …

in the corner of our Hush Garden. A lovely reminder to us all that we share this space together with our friends from Red, Blue, Green and Purple Groups.

SPEC-TAC-U-LAR!

We decided a number of years ago that it would be nice to have the children create group projects we could display for everybody to enjoy.

Once, after we had read the delightful story of elmer by David McKee the children began creating beautiful patchwork pictures by cutting up squares of brightly coloured paper and pasting them to pictures they had drawn themselves.  This gave us the idea of having the children create a group mosaic picture for display, so we introduce them to the basics of mosaic art.

We have lots of bits and pieces in tubs we have collected over the years so the children set out to gather up objects to use for our project. Sorting through everything was great for their fine motor skills as they found items like corks, bottle tops, tiles and glass stones as well as some very tiny beads, buttons and sequins.

We had two pieces of ‘mdf’ given to us by one of our crafty mums which was perfect for the project. We used PVA glue to stick the decorations onto the timber as it is strong and dries colourless.  Some children preferred to use a small brush or cotton bud for the glue while others enjoyed the sensation of using their fingers, and what fun they had in peeling the dried glue off their hands and fingers afterwards.

We explained to the children the idea was to position the objects close to each other, covering as much of the board as they could and boy they did a fantastic job!

Every body got involved and the result was absolutely beautiful. The children really enjoyed being part of a team and took great pride in what they had achieved together as a group. The mosaics are now on permanent display in our room.

Following the success of our mosaic project we invited to children to create a series of mosaic pavers.

You can see how we used the pavers in our ‘make it irresistible – with a hush garden‘ post on January 11th.

The children really enjoy participating in group projects. Recently we were given a large box which we thought would make an ideal weaving loom, one big enough for several children to share at the same time.

We placed small cuts along the sides of the box and threaded it up with some shoe lacing we found in the tubs at the invention table.

We gathered together assorted recycled materials, and collected some interesting sticks which had fallen from the willow tree in our playground.

A terrific fine motor and cognitive activity, the children had to concentrate very hard on weaving the items under and over the strings in order for them not to fall out.

We could hear some of the children chanting …under, over, under, over, under, over!

The beauty of an activity like this is, once it has been completed or the children loose interest, you can undo the weaving, recycle the items for use in other activities, and recycle the box or store it to use for a weaving project another day.