What the??

Sometimes I simply love putting something new in the classroom with out explanation, and have the tots figure out what to do with that object!
I have had this "Bilibo" for a few years and it always confounds the tots. It's a rocker - chair - bowl, whatever the tots can imagine. It also comes in a small hand held version for what ever you wish it to be!

At first the tots just stood around the Bilibo - not sure what to make of it.

Then one brave tot took a seat!

The rockin' and rollin' began!

This became a fun experience to repeat again and again!

Yup it's a keeper!

This is a great toy for gross motor movement.

 It takes a lot of muscle coordination to get this thing going in a fluid manner.

It's durable - hard plastic, that can be used indoors or outdoors - a plus!

Holograms

Today we explored insects via holograms!

I have a 3-D Mirascope which reflects images in the form of a hologram.

I purchased it at a local hobby shop. Approx. $8

A small object - like this plastic lady bug are placed in the centre of the concave mirror.

The cover is put on - which is a convex mirror with a hole in it.

The image is reflected out the hole in the form of a hologram.

It's really cool!

Magnetic to Sensory

We are moving from Magnetic March into Sensory Spring!

So we did these creatives to overlap the two:

We used a steel ball to drag around on an egg shaped piece

of cardstock, with a magnet wand underneath.

It was taped onto a tin cookie sheet

I had to hold up the tins for stability.

 

We added another colour and another ball.

The result was successful!

Then we glued alphabet letters, which we dyed previously,

onto and egg shaped piece of cardstock.

The texture was effective.

It looked very pretty!

Nice eh!

Only one garage sale today!

I am a bit sad - only one garage sale today - but a good find!

Melissa & Doug - Brand new - all pieces - $3

They retail for $19 - $24

Shakers

My tots LOVE shakers - musical shakers.

When the tunes go on, they love to shake it to the beat. The problem is the shakers belong to our music teacher, who only comes once a week for 1/2 hour, and they don't always get to use the shakers. So I decided to make some of my own, for use any time we feel the urge! The shakers I am talking about are egg shaped and small enough for the tots to hold comfortably in their hand.

When I saw these eggs in the dollar store for Easter time - I knew they had to be our new shakers. They don't look like the typical Easter eggs that are sweet and flowery. I thought they would make music time more fun!

I simply filled them with a bit of rice and glued them shut

with a thick tacky glue! Ready for shaking!



Summer Bulletin Board!

Yup - here I go again pushing the seasons!

Well the real reason I do this is to open discussion about the seasons - which comes next - the differences in the seasons. Toddlers are visual and when I provide bright and fun bulletin boards the tots pay attention. They ask questions and they make suggestions of what they want to see.

Easter in our classroom!

Every season and occasion brings little extras into the classroom,

which makes things fun and interesting!

Here are a few things we added:

An I Spy - made from a plastic Easter egg and all the goodies that fit the occasion.

Like Barrel of Monkeys - but it Bunnies!

For fine motor and hand eye coordination skills.

Tic Tac Toe - we are using it for sorting, patterns / sequencing and counting

Transferring and sorting with tongs.

Open and closing activity - each egg has a small eraser in it.

Pouring small erasers from one flower pot to another.

Patterns - counting - sorting.

Our little bunnies!

There are probably Kmart coupons available for holiday supplies, to save some money, so check online for next time.