Creatures Habitat: December 2011

Monday, December 19, 2011

Open House: January 4

Please join us on Wednesday, January 4th, 9am to 11am. Come see what we are all about. We'd love to see you there! For more info, please contact Emily Hurd at emily_hurd@yahoo.com

Fun Times at Creatures Playschool

The sensory box continues to captivate. The kids are always finding new ways to engage with it. Lately, they have been exploring ways to block the tubes.

The sand castings these kids are painting were so much fun to make! Using plaster requires such quick, precise work that I was unable to get pictures of the actual making.

Making Paper

1.Dip the deckle and frame into the slurry and let most of the water run into the tub.

2.Take off the frame and flip the deckle onto a drying sheet (wool):

3.Press sponge against the deckle to lift out any excess water.

4. Lift off deckle:

5.Put another drying sheet over the paper:

6.Roll the brayer over the paper to dry it out even more.

And there you have it! (Too bad I didn't get a picture of it!)

Bursts of Energy: Playing in the Cold

The cold weather has brought with it great bursts of energy! Play must go on, even on cold and rainy days!

After running around for a long while, the kids decided to build something. I pulled the tools out, they gathered wood scraps, and we began building:

We created a shelter by putting a tarp around the teepee. The kids were telling a story, using clothespins as characters:

Order and Organization

I love seeing children order things on their own without adult prompting. Learning and fun is plenty messy around here, and it is also orderly and clean...sometimes :)

Folding sheets of wool from a papermaking project that were hung to dry on the teepee.

There is such an immense amount of pride that comes with learning to do things for oneself. I love this aspect of the Montessori method- "Help me to help myself."