tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46599108881131163132024-03-13T12:09:05.630-07:00Pastures NewSwiftlymorganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13768091550063977210noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4659910888113116313.post-55945516675096625982017-05-21T12:40:00.000-07:002017-05-21T12:42:01.885-07:00Paint in the Mud KitchenNow the weather is finally improving, we are spending even more time outside in our fabulous garden. Feeling that the play in our mud kitchen was getting very low level, I decided to jazz it up a bit.<br />
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Our mud kitchen just happens to be very close to our painting area so it only took a couple of log cookies painted for the children to be hooked and a whole new aspect opened up for our mud cookies.<br />
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Combined with the chalk dust created by our grater and with garden flowers, easily accessed from the grass, delectable treats were soon cooking.<br />
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And soon we had a production line going.<br />
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Our children know that the paint has to stay within the painting area as I didn't want the whole garden changing colour but they were happy to ferry logs and stones over there for transforming.<br />
<br />Swiftlymorganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13768091550063977210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4659910888113116313.post-78223792406773151222017-05-21T12:25:00.004-07:002017-05-21T12:25:45.854-07:00Mud Kitchen... cheese graters and chalkI have been thinking of ways to freshen up our much loved and well used mud kitchen area.<br />
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I recently watched a child attempt to grate a pebble on our old cheese grater and it got me thinking of something that would work. The solution that I reached was coloured outdoor chalk.<br />
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This works brilliantly and virtually the whole class has, in turn, watched in fascination as the previously familiar chalk is transformed into dust, and every child has begged for a turn. Very good practice for taking turns and sharing, great fine motor practice, lots of knowledge and understanding, looking at changes, and using tools comes into Media and Materials.<br />
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The resulting dust is perfect for dusting 'cakes', colouring potions, making soups and a multitude of other recipes.<br />
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Obviously, we have talked about safety, sharp edges and grated knuckles, but we as a school are very into risk management rather than risk aversion and so far all of the children have survived. <br />
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I do intend to introduce a pestle and mortar sometime soon and I have an idea that chalk may well be a very good candidate for that too.<br />
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Anyway, why not try it and if you have any other ideas for things that might grate well, please tell me in the comments. :-)<br />
<br />Swiftlymorganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13768091550063977210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4659910888113116313.post-44687060662901416062014-09-21T12:29:00.000-07:002014-09-21T12:30:15.764-07:00A Fairy CornerFor the last year we have had an old dolls house in a quiet corner of our garden. We used to put furniture and fairies out daily but lack of interest meant that we quietly stopped setting it up every day so it got even less attention and sat, sad and neglected.<br />
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It was on my list for the summer hols and amazingly I actually got round to having a think about how to draw the children in and get the dolls house working for us.<br />
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Standing back and looking at it objectively I could see several problems with it as it stood. Firstly it was in a dark, drab little corner and I think most of the children just didn't see it. Secondly the ground was rough and quite spiky, certainly too uncomfortable to sit on to play. Thirdly it wasn't well enough kitted out to spark any initial inspiration to play.<br />
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My first job was to cut back some of the overhanging branches and open the area out, creating a more welcoming area. Secondly I raised the dolls house onto a platform of rocks making it more accessible. Thirdly, I outlined an area around with rocks and filled this area with gravel from elsewhere in the garden. This immediately brightened the corner up and looked much more inviting. I added some slate and cobbles for a bit of variety.<br />
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Then for the fun bit, I added lots of bits and bobs for open ended play. Most of these bits I picked up at car boots but some, like the fairies and trolls I bought off Ebay.<br />
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a little tea set on a flat rock for frog to give tea parties</div>
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An old bird feeder from my mum makes a perfect summer house for our fairies... watch out for that big spider!</div>
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An inviting area to play fairies.</div>
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Trolls can be captured in an old tea light holder</div>
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A new sign just in case anyone is in any doubt..</div>
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And the fairies soon moved in. :-)</div>
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At the minute the children love the bits and bobs but they do have a tendency to carry them around the garden and scatter them. I intend to add a couple of large logs, with cushions, for seats in front of the house to see if that anchors them. </div>
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Do you have any more ideas or inspiration to improve my fairy corner?</div>
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Swiftlymorganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13768091550063977210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4659910888113116313.post-34205421254130632822014-09-07T07:04:00.001-07:002014-09-07T07:32:28.992-07:00Painting SpaceThe painting wall... a place to explore paint and focus on process, not product... i.e. to paint without worrying about producing a picture, but rather to experiment with paint on different surfaces and using different tools just for the sake of it, to mix colours and other materials to see what happens.<br />
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I'm lucky to have a friend who is a picture framer by trade and he gave me lots of picture mounts in lots of different sizes and shapes. I put some of these to good use by stapling them onto the shed wall to offer a more interesting and welcoming surface and encourage experimentation.</div>
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The paint pots are held in the plastic clips used for holding drain pipes against the wall, which perfectly fit cups for the paint and are easily screwed into the wood of the shed. No more spilled paint.</div>
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The children know that they are allowed to paint anything in this area, gravel, leaves, rocks, even the roof of the shed if they can reach it, but they also know not to paint anywhere else. They have tested these boundaries by moving around the shed to other sides and to other parts of the garden but now they know, they are happy to keep to their side of the bargain.</div>
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We don't worry about keeping the colours pure, we even top up colours with other colours and somehow we don't seem to end up with everything a muddy brown. The paint soon dries and the next layers goes on fresh and bright.</div>
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If it rains and the paint pots fill with water they use that to get different effects. One little boy even worked out that he could use the paint as glue and stuck leaves on the wall... child led learning at it's best.</div>
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I'd love to hear your comments on how else you think I could improve this area or anything else I could offer or just your experiences of similar experiences. :-)</div>
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<br />Swiftlymorganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13768091550063977210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4659910888113116313.post-88349179197738598622014-09-05T09:27:00.000-07:002014-09-07T07:34:48.014-07:00Let there be (more) music...part 2My last post was all about my new musical pipes (sounds like a medical condition- maybe I can get some cream for it!)<br />
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I was so pleased with them and with renewed vigour I set about bringing the rest of the area upto scratch. Firstly the original pots and pans for bashing. They were still in great shape but the pole they where hanging from was hanging by a thread and no longer fit for purpose. Luckily I had a couple more stands and with a bit of laminate flooring, some spray paint (from Wilkos) a hook (Poundland) and a pack of wooden spoons (Poundland) I soon had a new instrument. I drilled some holes along the bottom of the cross plank for easier hanging and I even wrote a few musical words along the top for a literacy rich environment (words like 'pop' 'bang' 'jingle' ... you get the picture)<br />
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While I was looking for wood for the above projects I moved along length of corregated piping out of the way.. then inspiration struck... surely this was a new instrument. I threaded it onto a bit of wire and created a hook at the top for hanging, added a handful of gravel for additional sounds and hey presto...</div>
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I had intended to spray it in two colours but I liked the black showing through. This is played by either hitting it, shaking it or running a stick over the textured surface.<br />
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What I really wanted was a drum set. I had seen some beauties on Pinterest made of big logs constructed to look like real drum kits, but lacking the materials or skills to create one of these I cast around for alternatives..<br />
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An old Wii drum set sadly cluttering up my back bedroom. (I had previously tried to give this away but no one wants them anymore) The top two drums unscrew so I was able to change one for foil trays squashed flat. I found an old saucepan lid that fitted perfectly over one of the drums for a different sound and on another I added a flat wicker basket (unfortunately after I took this shot). I'll keep looking for different things to add for variety but this has been a big hit already.<br />
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To finish this project I tarted up the little milk shakers that the children made last year by treating them to a coat of spray paint and some insulating tape. We'll be making some more of these soon. And made a new sign by using emulsion paint of a big rock.<br />
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The old chimes are still hanging from last year, the original drums of stumps and buckets still work and I just need to find some chime bars from an old xylophone and/or hand bells.<br />
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I love the new area and more importantly, so do the children.<br />
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If you have any ideas that I can add I'd love to hear them :-)<br />
<br />Swiftlymorganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13768091550063977210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4659910888113116313.post-25632101941207304652014-09-05T08:56:00.000-07:002014-09-07T07:34:01.831-07:00Let there be music...part 1Over the summer holidays I had plans to revitalise several areas in our school garden. Actually I have grand plans but given that the school budget has to fund the whole school and not just my areas I have to restrain my inner Alan Titchmarsh designer instincts and find craftier (cheaper) ways to satisfy my creative bent.<br />
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This post is all about the new music area which originally was created with the children and consisted mainly of buckets, little plastic milk bottles and pots and pans. They loved it but the weather and time had done it's stuff and it was looking less like a music area and more like a fly tipping site.<br />
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I had been pinning for a while and had a few ideas of things that I wanted to offer in this area, but the thing I craved the most was some musical pipes. My original vision was of a frame attached to trees with the pipes attached vertically but this plan was scuppered right at the start when I realised that the trees I had available in the area were no way strong enough or suitable. Thankfully I found some short posts with feet attached and then some old laminate flooring planks which were easily attached to make a perfect stand. I bought some drainpipe and the little plastic fixings which were soon attached. I cut the pipe into three different lengths to give me different tones when played.<br />
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To pretty it all up I spray painted the tops and added some insulation tape bands. These don't do anything but they do look more eye catching a professional.<br />
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I found some old flip flops and removed the bits that hold them onto your feet. They were easily decorated using sharpies. I punched holes in one end and threaded string through. A hook on the stand to hang them from and Bingo, job done.<br />
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You'll see from the picture that I also added a couple of long pipes that were lying around the garden. Ideally I'd have cut curves in the top of the stand to make them more secure but I didn't have the tools to do that and as mine are in gravel they don't move much anyway. And in addition, it means that we can still move the bigger pipes to use for posting cars and balls down.<br />
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This instrument is played by bashing the top of the pipes with the flat side of the flip flop and the differing lengths make a range of satisfying notes.<br />
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That was stage one of the new music area, tune in to part two to see what I made next.....<br />
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<br />Swiftlymorganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13768091550063977210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4659910888113116313.post-17133334045362425842014-06-25T12:05:00.000-07:002014-09-07T07:35:31.971-07:00Making Bike Play More Exciting...I've recently been looking some of my local nurseries and playgroups as I carried out visits to the new children that will be starting in my class in September. I'm always on the look out for inspiration, new takes on old activities, alternative uses for things, extensions for old favourites and boy have I found one.<br />
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One Playgroup had the most fantastic ramp which had children swarming over it with all manner of bikes and sit on toys. The ladies there told me thatthe son of a neighbour used to use their area (with permission) for skateboarding and he'd left his ramps and moved onto new hobbies. So they requisitioned them for the children and I was instantly jealous.<br />
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As soon as I was able I had a look at our stockpile of potentially useful items and spotted a pile of pallets and several large tyres..... hm.... a little while later....Hey Presto...<br />
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The children were fascinated and after a little talk about safety precautions, staying straight, keeping your back wheels away from the edge, being aware of splinters, taking turns etc they can't get enough of it.<br />
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Already children are building up the strength to be able to cycle up the ramp, warning each other if they get too close to the edge, helping each other up to the top and taking turns. They are experimenting with different bikes and working out that they need a good long fun up to stand a chance of getting to the top. Learning at its best. :-)<br />
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Swiftlymorganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13768091550063977210noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4659910888113116313.post-35984689154774815142014-06-18T11:58:00.001-07:002014-09-07T07:36:21.506-07:00Sandy Gloop<h3>
We've recently been playing with Soapy Sand (see my previous post) and while the children are loving it I couldn't help but wonder..... what would happen if......I mixed in cornflour?</h3>
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I started with a few good handfuls of cornflour and then added soapy sand, handful at a time, mixing well each time until I had a consistency I was happy with. The children were fascinated with the process, making comments and poking it with curious fingers.<br />
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The resulting gloop behaves almost exactly like cornflour and water but the soapy sand has the advantage of really bulking it all out so that we ended up with a whole trayful of gloop that allowed at least four children to play quite happily at a time without complaints that anyone was hogging it.<br />
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It does dry out over time but it's easy to top it up with a bit of water and my children were fascinated by the changes and I was able to feed in lots of vocabulary (solid, aqueous, liquid, runny, hard)<br />
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They loved that they could mould it in their hands but that it turned to liquid as soon as they stopped moving it, and then it ran between their fingers and off their hands.<br />
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And I found it all quite therapeutic too and my hands are lovely and soft... instant exfoliating treatment:-)<br />
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<br />Swiftlymorganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13768091550063977210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4659910888113116313.post-6154174143697764752014-06-18T11:37:00.000-07:002014-09-07T07:36:40.040-07:00An old favourite... soapy sand.<h3>
<b><span style="font-weight: normal;">Soapy Sand</span></b></h3>
We've recently had a big tray of sand in our classroom and the children have had the usual fun with it but it must be said that it was losing it's attraction, becoming a little passe. So I cast my mind back to my playgroup days for inspiration and remembered a little activity that used to be mentioned in the foundation stage guidance... Soapy Sand. We used to use it in a shallow builder's tray as a mark making activity as well as a sensory one.<br />
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This is really easy to make and only needs two ingredients plus water and the result is a frothy delight!<br />
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Ingredients:<br />
Play sand<br />
Washing up liquid (I used Fairy Liquid)<br />
Water.<br />
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The method couldn't be simpler, squirt some washing up liquid over the sand (you don't need huge amounts, especially if you use a good quality washing up liquid like Fairy), begin to mix and agitate, adding a little water and mixing until the sand becomes light and frothy. You can experiment with different amounts of water, the more water you add the lighter the result will be. You can even get the children to mix it for you, it's that easy to make.<br />
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Sadly I don't have any photos of me making this, only these of it being played with but it's simple enough to make anyway. <br />
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I can't explain how different to normal sand this is, you have to try it to see. My children have had a wonderful time playing with this this week, hope yours do too.<br />
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<br />Swiftlymorganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13768091550063977210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4659910888113116313.post-61217111429144674582013-10-08T11:13:00.000-07:002013-10-08T11:16:21.575-07:00<h2>
Phonics Ball Game </h2>
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Now I've been working as a TA for a whole year, I have a few more tricks under my belt not to mention that I'm starting to build up a bank of activities that I can call on when the need arises. I wanted to share this one with you because, as simple as it seems, the children absolutely love it.<br />
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When I was looking for a way to jazz up the way I teach phonics I remembered a toy that my daughter had for her first birthday. As luck would have it, I managed to find said toy in the attic and dust it down. Sadly most of the original balls were missing and my experiments with ping pong balls failed due to the fact they they were just too small and light and floated out in droves rather than one at a time. I considered cat balls but luckily, 99p stores came up trumps with packs of coloured balls that fitted perfectly. <br />
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A permanent marker to write on the sounds and voila, an exciting variation on teaching phonics...<br />
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I have loads of sets of balls with different sounds, tricky/sight words but you could even use them to teach number bonds or add/multiply numbers.<br />
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Sometimes I use it with individual children, on other occasions I make a game out of it where children take turns to release a ball. If they can read it, they can keep it, otherwise it gets put back in.<br />
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You could even add a bonus ball which gives a treat if they get it. Good for teachers (and TAs) and parents who get sent home sounds to learn with their children. Loads of fun, loads of potential learning.<br />
<br />Swiftlymorganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13768091550063977210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4659910888113116313.post-35803905065791948772012-12-14T10:39:00.001-08:002012-12-14T10:42:43.401-08:00Magical Reindeer Food Shakers<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today we have been thinking about ways to make sure Santa visits our houses on Christmas Eve. So to help we have been using McDonalds lidded containers which make the perfect shakers for scattering reindeer food outside our doors.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We started with the tubs and their lids...(we just asked at McDonalds who were happy to donate them to us)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And cut some coloured paper to fit. we decorated ours with pens but you can use anything to decorate them with.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We added a little poem too...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We stuck the paper on to the cup..</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then we added magical reindeer food, we used oats and glitter...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And put the lid on. Top tip... make sure that it's on properly, they can be tricky.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The little spout bit just flips back and hey presto, you have a ready made sprinkler!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Perfect.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our children were really pleased and excited with their magic reindeer food sprinklers and have taken them home to keep safe til Christmas Eve.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Merry Christmas everyone. x</span><br />
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Swiftlymorganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13768091550063977210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4659910888113116313.post-65447567643278337622012-11-09T12:23:00.003-08:002012-11-09T12:23:51.312-08:00Moon GloopFollowing on from our Space centre we have been making moon pictures with what I like to call moon gloop.<br />
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This is basically flour and water but we added silver paint and glue so that we could stick pasta shapes into it for added effect and then we sprinkled it with glitter. (We tried adding glitter to the actual mixture but it just disappears)<br />
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It's a lovely tactile, gloopy mixture and we used glue spreaders to paste it into our paper. The glitter adds to the effect. I must say that our pictures look much nicer in real life, the photos don't do them justice. The texture of the gloop lends itself to the effect of the moon's surface.<br />
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Just to recap, here's what we used.<br />
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Mix flour, water and pva glue to make a quite stiff mixture.<br />
Add paint if required.<br />
Use glue spreaders to apply to preprinted circles.<br />
Push in pasta or anything else you might want to use. <br />
Sprinkle with silver glitter, we used a plastic spoon rather than the dispenser so that it would last for more than the first child.<br />
Allow to dry.<br />
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We are going to cut ours out and put them on the wall as part of our space display, just not sure how long they'll take to dry!<br />
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Swiftlymorganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13768091550063977210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4659910888113116313.post-62917784054755004572012-11-03T02:37:00.000-07:002012-11-05T11:12:05.995-08:00Space PodOur children have been playing Star Wars a lot lately so we have been busy dismantling our Fairy Castle Role Play this week and putting up a very shiny Space Centre.<br />
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We used lots of Christmas wrapping paper and foil blankets (the kind given out to marathon runners or put in emergency boxes).<br />
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For the control console we used coloured counters (tiddlywinks) and bottle tops glued onto black card.<br />
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Google Images kindly provided a countdown timer and a pressure dial which were mounted onto black card and we also printed out labels for countdown, high pressure and danger.<br />
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Finally we glued a big yellow lid (from a sweetener jar) onto black card and labelled it 'Booster' in a suitably digital font.<br />
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Add labels, warnings, a space log, astronaught outfits if you have them and led fairy lights to finish it off.<br />
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We also added a couple of Phonics phones ( http://www.classroomdiy.com/2012/05/diy-phonics-phones.html ) an old laptop and the top of a tardis just for the flashing light.<br />
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Can't wait to see the children's faces on monday morning.<br />
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<i>Update: This was a huge hit with the children, prompting lots of new vocabulary, cooperation, imagination and much much more. </i><br />
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<br />Swiftlymorganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13768091550063977210noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4659910888113116313.post-73904125319112384082011-09-06T11:01:00.000-07:002012-11-03T02:13:16.755-07:00Welcome<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Hello and welcome to my new Blog. For the last eleven years I have worked with preschool children but now I have just started working as a Teaching Assistant at a small village Primary School in the East Midlands, in Reception/year 1 class and this is hopefully a way for me to record my journey.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I am new to blogging so bear with me, any advice will be welcomed, but I've enjoyed reading all the wonderful blogs out there and now I hope to share with you our good practice, ideas, activities and ethos.</span><br />
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Watch this space.Swiftlymorganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13768091550063977210noreply@blogger.com0