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.

After the children had fun threading the beachy drift wood, we asked them if they would like to use the wood to make some sculptures using the hot glue gun.

While these children had never handled a hot glue gun before and were a little concerned as to whether five year old children were in fact “allowed to handle such things” …

it didn’t take too long before they were hooked!

We have become proud advocates of putting all sorts of tools into the hands of children.

Suddenly this activity went from being about creating something with a hot glue gun …

to a lesson in empowering five year olds …

to celebrate their confidence …

trust themselves and believe in their capabilities!

When our friend Tige had finished playing he ran straight up to his Dad and said …

“Look what I was allowed to do Dad! I used a glue gun all by myself with no one else touching it. They just watched me and didn’t even help!”

Talk about engaging boys!

Last week our children had such a marvellous time creating their large group  ‘irresistible clock sculptures’ …

that we fired up the glue guns again and gave them the chance to use up the left over bits and pieces from the clocks …

along with some old wooden blocks we recently replaced …

to create mini sculptures to take home with them.

Unlike the nature sculptures they created last term …

these sculptures were more …

industrial!

As the children have had quite a lot of experience handling the hot glue guns …

we don’t feel the need to be hovering over them all the time.

For this reason …

and the fact that the children will occasionally touch or be touched by the hot glue …

we keep a bowl of water close at hand. Mostly however the children only use it to paddle around in as we have experienced very few burns … if you could even call them burns!

We’re really proud of the fact the children have become very confident …

and capable …

in the use of this …

ever popular …

and creative tool.

It has really opened up a hole new learning experience for them!

We like to have a lot of imaginative play set ups on the go at one time at kinder.

Earlier this year we made a little family of bead people using our trusty old hot glue gun and a permanent black marker and they turned out really well.

Most importantly the children have been having a great time playing with them.

Here we teamed them with some other small wooden dolls, a miniature china tea set, some stick fences we also made as well as other natural materials and the cutest little artificial plants.

Simple, inexpensive and totally irresistible!!

This little tree house was one of those projects that just kind of happen!  Catherine from Gingham Cherry noticed it in a recent post and was interested to know what it was so we thought we’d share it with everybody.

It came about after Donna found some interestingly shaped logs in a wood pile, and to her they simply screamed … tree house!

With a saw she found in the shed, Donna took the logs and jammed them into a vice, sawed off the ends to make them even, cut another log into slabs for the top levels, sliced up a thickish branch to make the steps and then attached it all together … with the hot glue gun of course!

The children love the tree house and play with it all the time. It is constantly used in all sorts of imaginative play settings along with …

pebbles, sand, tanbark …

mud and water  …

and has survived two pre-kinder and two kinder groups for over two year now!…We love our trusty glue gun!

No pattern, no rules, no cost, just wood, a saw and a hot glue gun.

We like to be creative and make our own props when ever we can like these little felt owls perched in the tree house, just making things up as we go along!

We made little fences to be used by the children in imaginative play. We picked up the pop sticks from Reverse Art Truck and using our trusty hot glue gun, put them together.

The beauty of a hot glue gun is, the glue dries almost instantly.

In order to create strength we ran a pop sick either side of the pickets.

To add interest we positioned the pickets at different heights and angles.

By leaving the pickets longer at the bottom they will stand up easier in sand, tanbark, playdough, etc.,

Here’s a selection of Christmas decorations the children have had a ball making this past week.

These cute little Christmas trees …

… and stars …

… were put together using our trusty hot glue gun and the children used glittery pipe cleaners to add colour and sparkle.

Once again the children created their own very unique designs …

… and using all those lovely glittery pipe cleaners had some children creating wonderful pipe cleaner stars.

We so love it when one idea spontaneously leads onto another!

These terrific trees are made by folding a piece of paper in half then cutting in on the diagonal  to make a triangle …

… some children cut out shapes on the fold.

… and along the edges …

… and when opened up, they look like Christmas trees.

Decorated with glitter and sequins they look terrific.

All different – all beautiful!

As you would know by now we always get so excited when the children come up with great ideas of their own and it happened again today when one boy turned his Christmas trees into …

… a Christmas crown!

Don’t you just love it?!

These great little decorations are simply old Christmas cards cut up into strips and glued onto sticks.

Whether or not the strips are reassembled in the right order isn’t important.

They all looked unique and amazing. Christmas and creativity …

… so cool!

And our Christmas hangers are looking particularly spectacular now!!

HO!…HO!…HO!