Independence Day

Well I'm not American, but I have a lot of friends! So here are cute cup cakes, in honour or should I say honor of the United States.

IPad Fathers day card

And again... Star Wars features again.

After making the card four year old announced "We need the screen to go black so that it is off when we press the button." Well of course we do I thought, but do we have to?...of course we do!

Cutting a slit at top and bottom of screen, inserting a black piece of card through for when we press the button.

And the back...

Another view

And the wonderful cards, with a little circle of funky foam at bottom for the button.

Foam Lightsabers

You all know my opinion about going with interests, well when all straight things are being used as lightsabers one must find appropriate means to create a safe environment. So I anounced I will make fabric lightsabers for you! Child replied "Fabric is floppy a lightsaber is straight and hard." My reply was I will find a way to make it, mmm that was going to require sewing :( so after a bit of googling I found these swimming woggle lightsabers (USA Pool Noodle) perfect!!! So off to poundland I told the person I paid what they were for she smiled and said "Each to their own" think she thought I was a nutter.

Such play can often be discouraged in early years settings, but is a continuing source of discussiong amoung practitioners relating to whether this is a developmentally appropriate activity and is largely due to some prevenlent pieces of writing on this subject e.g. "We don't play with duns here: war and weapon play in the early years" and "Boys and Girls: Superheros in the doll corner" There are also a three case studies on the subject published by The National Strategies, which make interesting discussion points. Additionally I like this succinct article from the national childcare accreditation council (Australia).

I would however suggest that rules are created to support safe play when allowing children to engage in activity that may result in potential physical contact. The rules in this picture were created in collaboration with children, when doing this be mindful of making an effort to create rules that tell children what they are supposed to do rather that not do. This is sometimes difficult for children to create, so at least attempt a balance or some compromise. Two more rules have been added "When an adult is not around jedi practice only (no lightsaber contact) and "Only play with people who have agreed or want to keep playing"

Lastly on a safety note after you have cut the foam it will be sharp, I suggest you tape the end that has been cut as it will scratch. Alternatively squish or stamp on the end.

Creative Kids...

And again... they come up with something amazing! Not even sure how this came about, I just provided the materials on request (actually, just directed to the draw where the card off cuts was)

Just a construction so I thought!

Oh no there was method to this, a slope had been constructed.

A parking lot/ garage.

A perimeter wall

With a gate (the beige)

Many more parking spaces. Oh how much time was spent with this. Silly Me I asked what the beige lines were, and was promptly told they were movable gates etc. Of course now I now I can see it makes sense, looks like air port parking to me!

Making "fuzzy felt" - (for americans flannel graph characters)

My last post was a quick one about Star Wars fuzzy felt. Here's how it was made, You need:

• T-shirt transfer paper
• Felt (Preferably white, but as light as possible)
• Heat tool - iron or hair straighteners
• Pictures on computer- printer

1. Gather pictures from online using clip art or an image search, or even scanning pictures. I personally copy all pictures and then paste them onto powerpoint and arrange them to get the best value from the paper.

2. Once happy with page, print onto transfer paper.

3. You can then iron straight onto the fabric, I only cut out to fit onto different sized felt.

4. Iron onto felt, as packet instructions. This will say the use of an iron but hair straighteners work just as well for small things (if you can't be bothered to get the iron out :)

5. Peel off the paper, I find the quicker this is done the cleaner the end result.
6. Cut out the pictures.

7. You can do any pictures you want, utilising interests and accompanying stories etc.

Star Wars "fuzzy felt"

Mentioned today that I had made "Star Wars Fuzzy Felt" to be met with a giggle and "well that's not something you hear everyday!" But I thought it was a blumin good idea and one that has worked rather brilliantly!

A very quick project that has turned out rather great, and been rather well utilised today already. Will follow up with more details. But in the mean time the images were from a cartoon clip art site.

Geomag- pinball game

Just celebrating children's creativity here, I always wish I came up with all the great ideas but that in most cases is actually the children! It's just up to us to provide the right resources, environment and support should it be needed. In this case all I was needed for was an occasional extra hand to balance things.
Paper held up by straight pieces of geomag, free standing on metal tray and paper held with the geomag balls (which provided amazing strength)

Growing complexity, adding the plastic panels to the bottoms of the poles to prevent the ball getting stuck to the ends by the magnet. Later only one this was not the case for with the finish line/ goal!

And...action! Was actually quite a difficult game. I'm not sure this was the original plan and I'm sure this child would never have seen such a toy/ game but it certainly worked.