Double Fun Friday!

We got to do both the Art Studio and the Grassy Playground on the same day!

ART STUDIO
The art studio was full of activity, but the groups were so engaged you could hear a pin drop. Here's what we did:

• Paint Rollers and Brushes on long sticks for a tall cardboard building.
• Sensory bins full of coffee grounds, sifters, containers, and funnels.
• Starch Packing "peanut" constructions with water blotters.
• Tiny, brightly colored sticks to collage on dark blue cardstock.
• Interlocking fish building shapes.
• Painting Easel with pastel and metallic colors.
• Crayon drawing on large paper mounted on upended table.
• Drawing/cutting/writing table with pre-assembled books for "story pictures".

Alternating groups between the art room on the lower level and grassy playground made for easy transistions and the perfect balance between calm and active play.

SENSORY SCIENCE
In our sensory bin we had water with marbles and 4 polar bears. Oh, did I mention that the water was frozen solid? We used cups of warm water and pipettes to "bore" holes through the ice and liberate the polar bears and marbles from their cryogenic state. This was a lesson in persistence as much as sensory comparisons of hot/cold and melting. The muscle groups used to operate the pipettes are the same used for writing.

STRAWS AND STARS
This is one of my favorite toys - so simple, yet infinite in possibilities. The scale of building with these invites collaboration. Fine motor control is essential not only for placing the pieces together, but also exerting just the right amount of pressure to connect them without collapsing the surrounding structure. This was our first exposure to this one and the students wanted assurance that it would not be their last. I can't wait to see what they build with them next.

TODAY'S STORY
Five Little Monkeys Wash The Car, by Eileen Christelow. We all know about the five little monkeys jumping on the bed. In this story, Mama Monkey is frustrated with a temperamental car and decides to sell it. Before doing so, she employs her brood to wash and paint the old beater. A family of crocodiles buy the (now psychedelic) heap, un fazed by it's inability to start or move under its own power. They push it home and use it as their new napping dorm.