Category: Art Activity (Page 2 of 2)

Today we will be singing:

Wheels on the Bus

Banana’s Unite!

Five Little Pumpkins

Click HERE to sing-a-long.

I love seeing photos of your children singing along too.  Thank you for all those who send me updates and photos of your children.

Have a great week everyone!

Hello Everyone!

I hope you are all doing well and had a beautiful summer with your family and friends.   It is hard to believe we are half way through September already.  For many of us, this means more changes and getting used to new routines and schedules.  It is hard!  But let’s do this together.  I am still here and will do my best to support you as best as I can.  I will continue to post here with Sing-a-Long videos and activities that you can do at home with your children.

As many of you know already, StrongStart will remain closed for now.  Please check back here, on the blog, or on the Burnaby School Board District website for updates:   https://burnabyschools.ca/strongstart/

Also, our playground has been closed due to the construction of the new Childcare centre and YMCA Out of School Care.  It is so exciting to see the progress of the building and to have both these services on site for our community.  This will be so beneficial to so many families for sure!

Please stay connected either by phone, email or here, on the blog.

Take care and stay safe!

Ms. Elizabeth

Information Children is still providing services for families (see below for their Fall workshops).  You can also check them out here:

http://www.informationchildren.com

On my walks around my neighbourhood and garden, I am inspired by all the beautiful colours that surrounds me.

These are just a few items I found in my garden.

What can I do with these?  Look at all the bright colours and all the different shades of greens.

I chose a few of the items and placed them between two pieces of paper.  I used a rock to rub and hammer on top of the paper.

I took the top piece of paper off to see what I would find.  I love the bright green and orange pigments left behind.  I even used the rock directly on top of the flowers and greenery to get more intense colours.

Try making some rubbings/prints using the leaves.  I placed a piece of paper over the leaves (back of the leaves facing up to take advantage of the veins) and then used the flat side of a pencil, crayon or chalk to gently rub on the paper, over where the leaves were.  It’s like magic watching the image of a leaf appear before your eyes.

What other things could you find to make prints or rubbings:  wooden fence, sidewalk, bark of a tree, coins?

Have fun exploring what surrounds you and see what magic appears for you.

Making your own Ice Exploration activity.  All you need is a rubber container, some of your child’s toys (avoid using “delicate” items) and water.  Fill a container with water and the toys.  Do not overfill with too much water.  Leave at least 2 inches from the top, giving enough space for the water to expand when it freezes.

How are we going rescue these creatures out of the frozen ice?  We used paintbrushes, toothbrush, salt, tweezers, eye droppers with warm water and our hands to get them out.  It was a lot of team work and patience.  It was hard work.  The children (in the above photos) spent over a half hour working together to get them out.

Some questions to ask your child during the activity:

I wonder how are we going to get these out?

How did they get stuck in there?

What is happening to the ice?

What happens if we add warm water or salt to it?

Can you see more with a magnify glass, look closely into the ice, “What do you see?”

How does the ice feel?

Asking open ended questions invites children to use their own imagination.  There are no rights or wrongs.  Let them explore freely with all of their senses, touch, taste, smell, sight and hearing. (with supervision of course!)

Together with your child, have fun exploring and experimenting with ice!

Last week we read the story, “Not a Stick” and sang a song using sticks.  (blog post, “Surprise Storytime!)

Were you able to find some sticks around your neighbourhood or yard?  It has been windy the last few days and I was able to collect quite a few.

Here are a few ideas of what you can do with sticks.

Can you use them to make a home for some animals, bugs or people?

Maybe you can try decorating a stick with paint, crayons or felts!

Add some ribbons and string to make a magic stick for dancing.

What can your stick become?  Place it on a piece of paper and use it to draw a picture using the stick.  My stick became the body of a butterfly!

Look at the sticks that you have collected.  What shape is the stick, is it long, short, bumpy?

What colour is the bark?  What tree did it come from?  Can we build something using the sticks?

I wonder what YOU can create with sticks?