teacher project vs kid project

What is this? Yup, it's a spider. We made it with our hands today. So tomorrow we will add eyes and maybe some 'web', and it will be cute, and you will love it.
So here is the problem. For the little guys I have to paint their hands to get it just right. Then I have to place their hands down on the paper just so, to get the 'spider' look. Then I have to take them over -right away- after I place their hands down, and wash them so they don't paint everything else black because I have to paint someone elses hands because they are waiting. That is alot of I's, isn't it? Sure the project is cute, but your child did not really make it. I did. :)So I let the older kids paint their own hands, but what happens if they do it.....wrong? Which is something that I stive very hard NOT to do, is make the kids feel bad about doing Art wrong. But I have to tell them exactly where to put their hands....and sometimes....They do it wrong. I don't tell them though...and we move on to the next piece of paper. I say, "let's do another one Lexi!"I started getting pretty frustrated at myself, and the things I was trying hard NOT to say, but ended up having to say, like....wait, hold on, in a minute, no, not there, stop!!!!! Because they all wanted to do it at once.
So, I put out a big piece of paper and let them do it themselves. Ahhhhh, much better! Quinn and Sam painted themselves for about 20+ minutes and I just sat and listened and watched and it was so peaceful and so much less chaotic. They learned much more by doing this than by me doing it for them.
That is why we don't bring home very much 'cutsie' art work. :) ....it's because I love your kids so much and love when they are doing it, not me.

Ooohhh, this is cool. I have plexi glass pieces that we paint on, shaving cream on, window crayon on, but today we used window pens. Have you seen those? Cool dude......I printed out some spider pictures and taped them under the plexi glass and set them out with the pens. Me likey!

Spiders and random pix.....

We are all over in the sand box and these two are giggling away over on the deck. I look over and this is what I see. Too cute!

These guys are working hard on the 'bathtub' bubble solution. They are using sand, playchips, rocks, and whatever else they can find laying on the ground.

Here is the bathtub. Right now just Lexi is in it, but they all take turns and all 3 were in at one time.

I put a hay bail in front of the bunnies. Now they can easily stand up high and feed the bunnies pieces of hay. Quinn loves to do this and at one point he looked at me, "hey annie, they are sharing!" Indeed they were.

We will add more webbing but here is a shot looking from the entrance doors.

Boys.....

I put out cooked spaghetti noodles and added plastic spiders.....They LOVED this!!These gloves are the best! I got them at Target....make sure to get enough for everyone.

Yup...6 pairs of skelly gloves!...well I got enough for the boys anyway. :)Spider discovery bottle. I added rice and many different kinds of plastic spiders. We are also in the process of making real ones with real spiders. I will show those after they have made webs.Anna loves the feel of the 'key chain rope'. It's for the magnet board.This is the magnet board....The easle has yellow, purple, white, and black. I put a hole in the middle to see what they would do with it. More spaghetti stuff......I added spiders to the beans......Potato prints......Dancin' girls.....Okay, this is super cute....Quinn is showing Alondra how to golf. He is explaining to her where to put the ball, how to hold the club, and how to whack it! I love him!Jackson is using his keen counting skills to make sure everyone gets the same amount of shells on their plates. Hot tray! If you don't have one of these I highly recommend it. The kids love it when I put this out. They will burn themselves, but thats how they learn and the burns are not bad enough to leave any damage. They can draw pictures and make prints, or watch as the crayon slowly melts and leaves a big puddle of colored wax. You can always tell when it is on because it fills the room with that distinctive melted crayon smell! This is one of mine and the childrens favorite activities. Oh...they also love to peal off the melted wax from their fingers....remember doing that with candle wax?

drummin'

Here is the video...for some reason only the picture posted before....

Drums...

Quinn and Kelly Drumming away!

bubbles.....

I put the bubbles out today....

I found these gloves at target....I knew the boys would love them!!

around the room....

The kids are really loving these tubes! I will have to put some out in the water bin.

Here is a shot from the back of the 'messy' room.....

Bryan loves the busses!.....People in...people out....Bryans best buddy Dylan came to join the fun.....Lexi washed this ball for about 30 minutes......It can get pretty slippery!

Carrots had babies.....

Our bunny Carrots, had babies. 6 of them. They were all dead. I think she was too young. There was no nest or anything.
I showed the kids. They wondered what we were going to do with them. "let's bury them" "Are you going to put them in the garbage?" Olivia wanted to set them on the Hay bail so that they could eat when they got bigger. "They are dead honey, they won't wake up." "Can I touch it?" ....."um...sure." So we touched them. they were cold. they were stiff. they didn't move. Olivia said, "Can we squeeze them?"
Dylan said, "Yeah, theyre dead"
Olivia was very fascinated with them. If I had the guts (no pun intended) I would let them dysect the little guys.
"Soooooo, what should we do with them?"
and after touching them and realizing they were dead, Jackson said we should eat them.
Olivia replied "Yeah let's have them for lunch...but we have to cook them first!" Smart girl.
Don't worry....I could never cook the bunnies.

Around the room......

Cornstarch and water...and some color. This is a favorite. Sometimes I just put out the cornstarch and water and let them mix...but today I had it all set up, even with color. Olivia and Jackson were the first ones to try it out. "What do I do?"....that question for some reason is always asked. I am not sure why they ask because I always say the same thing...."what do you want to do?" "Touch it!" "Okay...touch it" "But I don't want to...." "So what do you need"....which is a question I am learning to say more often.....She said "I need a stick!" So I got a wooden spoon and that seemed to work. "Wheres my spoon?" asked Jackson....so I went and got another one....and another one......

At the table behind the cornstarch were baby food jars filled with watercolor paint, crayons, and paper. Kelly thought it would be a good idea to bring some of the color into the starch....At the big blue table I set out paper and pie tins with different colors of paint. I put one car into the tin...and waited. Quincy (of course) loved this spot. He picked out all sorts of cars, trains, and even a person. "LOOK ANNIE!!! FOOTPRINTS!!!" "your right Quinn...footprints"Can you see the sound that a big person makes stomping on the paper with green feet?The watercolor table.....I love the look of the watercolor pictures. I also love that Alayna likes to mix the colors.....There are now beans in the sensory bin.....There are scoops and small containers but Quinn had a better idea.....He brought over the tubes....."ANNIE!!!! It goes through!!!He tries to make it longer....it didn't work and he moved on to something else....maybe tomorrow.