In my previous post I wrote about how my plan to repurpose the old lounger cushions resulted in playroom renovation in order to move the ‘nature area trees’. I have been working on a post about the cushions and just realized that I never made a post about the trees after I finally got them moved. So now I’ve got a quick tree post to write – well, mostly just tree pictures to post.
Now that I’ve shown you the trees, I can finish the post about the cushions.
We go outside to play every day after morning snack. This is our routine in all seasons. As the children finish eating I start sending the more independent ones to begin dressing to go outside. I finish cleaning up snack dishes and then bring the little ones to get dressed.
On this particular day, as I was cleaning off the table I was listening to the three year olds chatting as they put on their coats and boots. They were discussing the ‘scary pumpkin’ – I assumed they were talking about the jack-o-lanterns we see in neighbours’ yards when we are walking around the block.
However, I was a little confused when I heard them asked each other “Why did Cheryl put the scary pumpkin up there? ”
I didn’t put up any Halloween decorations this year. I do have some autumn/fall decorations at the front entrance including a pumpkin with a face but I wouldn’t consider it ‘scary’. Besides, it has been there for almost two months already – not likely to be something new to discuss.
I finished cleaning up and took the little ones to the entrance to get dressed. I asked the three year olds why they thought that pumpkin was scary. They corrected me “Not that pumpkin, the one up there” pointing to the ceiling in the hallway.
Whoa! That is…pretty cool actually.
I can’t take any credit for putting the ‘pumpkin’ there though. All the ‘pieces’ have been there for years – the Welcome wreath hung on the front of the cats’ loft and the little red tent in the loft where Montgomery likes to sleep.
At this particular moment however, the sun beam coming in through the stairway window is shining directly into the tent behind the Welcome wreath. A combination we haven’t noticed before – or since. The location of the sun in the sky at this time of the season, following the recent time change – that is what created the conditions for this to occur at the moment we were getting ready to go outside to play.
Yes, a very cool, not-so-scary ‘pumpkin’ – and some very observant three year olds.
When one of my childcare parents asked me if I wanted some tile samples from her workplace I of course said yes – I wasn’t certain what I would use them for but I knew I’d find something. Removing all the tiles from the sample boards/books was a very long and difficult task but sorting and organizing them by size and colour was much more fun. If the tiles were not so breakable they would make wonderful loose parts just like that but with a mixed age group that includes infants and toddlers there are some safety concerns.
My first project didn’t involve the children – I glued some of the tiles on an old spool to create a table for our outdoor play space. This was done during my vacation as part of my most recent outdoor play space renovation.
Still, I also wanted to find a way that the children could use the tiles too. I decided that mosaic pictures or stepping stones for the garden would probably be the best choice. The majority of the tile samples were too large to use whole so I thought the children would like to help break them up. For a few hours on two consecutive summer days I sat in the yard breaking tiles while the children ran around fully engaged in other activities. I was a little surprised my invitation to smash stuff got no interest but I certainly wasn’t going to insist they stop what they were doing and join me.
Initially I planned to use cardboard trays as forms for cement ‘stones’ and let the children decorate them with the broken tile pieces – with direct supervision I thought even the youngest ones could do this. However, after reading cement making directions and calculating the amount of cement needed to fill each tray, I had doubts about being able to make enough cement to fill all the cardboard trays I had collected AND supervise children too.
I thought about how I had glued the tiles to the old wooden spool and decided that would be an easier way to do it. I cut cedar fence boards into squares to use as the base. Using cedar the finished ‘stones’ could be used outdoors for garden decorations or indoors if they preferred. Also, because the cedar squares were much smaller than the cardboard forms I originally planned to use there was a better chance the children would complete at least one.
There were many steps for this project so this allowed us to work on it over a long period of time. Not all the children worked on their creations at the same time but most of the work was done at quiet time when babies were sleeping. Ultimately, due to the sharp edges of the broken tiles and the toxicity of some of the supplies, I felt it was not a developmentally appropriate activity for the littlest ones even with direct supervision.
For the first step I provided each child with a cardboard base the same size as the cedar squares. They used this to dry fit the tile pieces taking as much time as they needed to choose and arrange tiles to create their designs.
When they were happy with their design I mixed floor leveler cement to use as an adhesive for the tiles. I had considered several adhesive options but decided on the floor leveler because;
The next step was to put the cement on the cedar boards – the children enjoyed watching the wet cement flow across the board. No pictures of this as we had to work quickly at this point. Each child then had to transfer their pattern from the cardboard template to the cedar board before the cement dried.
Interestingly all three of the four-year-olds managed to complete this step with only a couple ‘extra’ pieces that didn’t fit on their boards. The school-age children were much slower, overthinking the process and trying to change their patterns. They ended up with many leftover pieces and some spaces where the cement dried before they could get any tiles on.
Now, when I originally planned this activity this would have been the finished product but although the floor leveler cement worked well to adhere the tiles to the boards, it wasn’t thick enough to cover the sharp edges of the broken tiles. If we had used thick concrete in cardboard forms we could have pushed the tile pieces in far enough that they would have been flush with the concrete surface. Alternatively, if the tiles had all had straight edges and been arranged close together then there wouldn’t have been large gaps.
However, we did have large gaps and sharp edges and my solution was to use grout. Luckily, I had plenty on hand leftover from when I tiled the back splash in my kitchen. I mixed it in small batches and let the children spoon it into the gaps – I know, not proper grouting technique but it worked.
Then came the final step – washing off the extra grout. This proved to be everyone’s favourite step. In fact, now that I know how much these children LOVE using warm soapy water and sponges I have many more ‘projects’ planned for them 😉
This was a very long project – nearly six weeks from the time I first broke the tiles until the last child completed their mosaic board. Probably wouldn’t have take that long if we didn’t work on it only in small groups at quiet time and didn’t have to wait for things to dry between steps. Yet, those were some of the ‘special’ things about this project too.
Here are a few of the finished products;
Every year I look at the various gingerbread kits available in the stores and think ‘That is a cute project but it is just way too much sugar’. Once, probably a dozen years ago, I did buy a gingerbread house decorating kit for the school-age children to work on during the afternoons of Christmas break when there was no school and the little ones were sleeping. Combining the little ones with that much sugar was something I was not prepared to do.
This year we did make whole wheat sugar cookies;
Sorry, I didn’t manage to take any other pictures of the cookies – too busy assisting toddlers with dough stuck in cookie cutters. They were very good cookies though – here is the recipe:
Whole Wheat Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
Directions
We didn’t decorate the sugar cookies but I still liked the idea of a decorating project so I thought about what would be a healthier option for gingerbread decoration.
I’ve never made gingerbread dough before and the store bought kind is so prevalent that it just seemed to be a better choice for the decorating base – besides, it was the decorating that I planned to be the main project. As for my concerns about the excess sugar – I chose dried fruits, pretzels, and flaked coconut for decorations and some Wow Butter for glue.
We started with each child working independently on their own gingerbread man. We began after morning snack – I hoped that having just finished eating snack they would be less inclined to nibble on decorations.
Of course many decorations were still eaten – in some cases devoured leaving few to use for decorating;
Even the Wow Butter got consumed by the handful – I’m really glad it wasn’t candy and icing. Phase one complete;
Phase two was more of a group project with many smaller steps over several days. Five little houses were decorated and grouped to create a centerpiece for our table. Often there were only one or two children working on the decorations and sometimes only for a minute or two. It took nearly three weeks to complete and there was very little ‘snacking’ – maybe because this belonged to the whole group or maybe because the decorations were becoming less appealing over time.
Finished;
There is a thin layer of snow on the front sidewalk but I am stubbornly refusing to go sweep it off. The temperature display on the weather station reads ‘0’ degrees at 6am so I am confident the sidewalk snow will melt soon – the snow on the steps has already melted. Yesterday morning when we went out to play there was no snow anywhere in my back yard and there was a collective “Awww, there’s no snow” 😦 from the children so I’m certain this recent snowfall is Mother Nature’s response to that lament.
I like winter too and this past (present?) winter has been quite pleasant. There have been a few indoor issues with running across the playroom and jumping in and out of the nature area. I’ve tried several indirect measures to curb the reckless behaviour – most had limited effect but this has been quite successful;
These cardboard circles used to be attached to the loft for toy storage but we no longer have the loft – of course I kept these ‘just in case’ I found another use for them… 🙂 The smaller children enjoy using the ‘tunnels’. The school age children and I can step over. Either way it slows down traffic – like the pot holes on the street.
Speaking of cardboard tubes, I can’t believe we still have these ‘binoculars’ made from plastic wrap tubes and tape;
I quickly put them together for some toddlers who wanted them for a dramatic play activity they were engaged in two years ago! I never expected them to stay in the playroom for more than a day or two but they are just as popular as ever and they haven’t been damaged yet. I’ve considered making, or having the children make more, fancier ones but no one is really interested so these ones stay. The current group likes to lay on the floor in the nature area and use them to look for butterflies and birds in the trees.
Another constant in the playroom is these eggs in this pot;
Upon entering the playroom one of the toddlers will place these eggs in this pot and set it on the counter. If at any point someone else moves the pot, puts other food in the pot, or puts the eggs is a different pot there will be a scuffle. I can’t explain it but it has been like this every day for months now. No one ever actually plays with the eggs in the pot and the toddlers will happily put them away at clean up time but they MUST be on the counter like this during play time.
However, there have been several complaints that I have not yet taken down the Easter decorations;
Honestly, I’m happy leaving them up as ‘Spring’ decorations. I have many window clings for Fall, Halloween, Christmas, Winter, Valentines, St Patrick’s Day, and Easter but for the period between Easter and Fall all I have are butterflies. Butterflies are nice but I’d like to have some variation over the 5 month Spring/Summer period. Flowers or birds would be nice.
Yes, there is snow on the ground – again – but summer is coming. Check out our seedlings;
We’ve started our peppers, corn and several types of squash. The corn surprised us – we don’t usually plant corn but we found an old package of corn seeds in our seed collection – we were not certain they would grow. I don’t usually buy seeds – most of our garden plants are grown from seeds we collect from our garden or produce from the store or CSA box. Our peas and beans will be planted directly in the garden outside but it is too early yet – we’ve tried digging in the soil every time the snow melts but the ground is still frozen. Some of us are very eager for Spring to arrive.
There’s just one more week until Christmas. It’s not my favourite holiday – I find the overindulgence to be off putting. Yes, there are some traditions that I enjoy but I’m more of a ‘if you want to’ as opposed to ‘you must do this’ type of person.
Traditions – the handing down of statements, beliefs, legends, customs, information, etc., from generation to generation, especially by word of mouth or by practice – are often viewed as requirements. When it becomes compulsory to participate the enjoyment is sometimes lost.
Personally I love Christmas music and I would enjoy listening to it all year round but I don’t (when other people are around) because I respect that not everyone wants to. I also enjoy some aspects of Christmas decorations but I prefer ‘simple’ over ‘extravagant’.
Every year my step-grandmother used to make Christmas tree ornaments for each of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. I have many more ornaments than I could ever use on any tree even if I did put one up especially for the Christmas season. I do use some of these ornaments to decorate the tree in the nature area.
My mother briefly continued this tradition with my own children but many of these ornaments were very fragile and didn’t often get displayed. Last week I found this unconventional tree at Ikea and thought it was perfect for these ornaments. Yes, I continued to defy tradition and hung this ‘tree’ from the ceiling – because I have toddlers, cats, and no extra floor/table space.
This year I am including a Christmas decoration in the gift bags that I will give to the children. I plan on doing this every year from now on. This year I purchased the ornaments but in the future I hope to make some. I also wanted to have some type of free play Christmas activity available for the children so I placed these little gift bags on the shelf.
I gave no directions, I just waited and watched. Of course the infants’ favourite thing to do is fill the bags with various items – they’ll do this with any container.
The older children immediately chose to ‘go shopping’.
There were some sorting games where they tried to place specific coloured items in the bags. They also used the bags for ‘hide & seek’ and guessing games. It took a couple days but eventually they began to exchange ‘gifts’.
I love it when giving is a choice not a obligation.
Cheryl's Child Care 