Pumpkin Slime

Yesterday we continued our Pumpkin Palooza by making pumpkin slime!  First we had to scoop out the inside seeds and pulp, which Jacob and Eli did, with gusto, for half an hour.  Then we made our slime recipe, added the pumpkin pulp we had put in the blender, and let it sit (Did you know you get a better quality slime if you let it rest?)

Today we filled the pumpkins with the slime and invited the Etzim children to play. Eli and Jacob returned immediately.  Eli was delighted.  Jacob was a little surprised by how "very slimy" it was!  Everyone was a little hesitant to put their hands into a slime filled pumpkin!!

Playing with Gak

The Kindergartners enjoyed exploring gak today! They noticed how cold and smooth it felt. They tried squeezing and stretching the gak. Adam discovered that he could separate the gak into pieces and braid it just like challah! He used the gak to braid three different challahs: A teeny tiny challah, a small challah, and a giant challah! Playing with gak is an amazing sensory experience. As the children manipulate the gak they are exploring and naturally using the scientific process as they play, create, and investigate.

Zach Explores a New Medium

 

Zachary was  one of the Levana friends who approached the clay table with caution. He spent time looking at it and watching kids play with it then he would leave and play with animals. He did this two or three times but he wouldn't actually touch the clay. After awhile he was on the other side of the room playing with a plastic puppy and then ran over to the clay table, took a ball of clay and and then put the puppy into the clay and made paw prints!

At that point in the morning we had only been using our hands to explore clay. However, we know that Zach loves animals and found creating foot prints a way to engage with the animals while participating with many on his peers.

Zach then preceded to go back and forth across the room and grab one of each animal to compare their prints. After I awhile he had the idea to get a car. He then zoomed the car back and forth across the clay and exclaimed, "I made tracks!" he had created a neat road. After the car he then got out the bucket of playdough tools and then he chose to hammer the clay with a wooden hammer. After that he shoved his hands into the clay and started to mold it. It was so neat how many different manipulative Zachary used before he felt comfortable enough to dive in and touch the clay. Yet, once he was comfortable he was so exited he didn't want to stop. He made me a beautiful ice cream sundae with a cherry on top and worked hard to learn how to use his hands to roll a ball.

I was also impressed that Zachary had such a strong vision for how he wanted to interact with the clay and he seemed to know exactly what he wanted to do step-by-step. It was so fun to watch each of them engaging with clay and I hope we get to explore with it again soon!

Levana explores clay!

Today the Levana class explored clay! It was so neat to watch the group look at it, and then grow intrigued by it, and then by mid-way through the morning, most of the class was playing with it!  Clay is a fun medium simply to explore. Hannah worked on using two hands to press it flat like a pancake. Mason used a popsicle stick as a tool to cut the clay into pieces. Michelle's technique was to take a big ball and then divide it into many many teeny tiny pieces.  Each child was able to interact with the clay in their own way and then they also each enjoyed watching each other to get ideas of how to use clay.  Throughout the morning we pinched clay and smashed clay, we rolled cars on clay and made foot prints with different animals. Some kids used tools like the hammers or clay scissors others just liked the way it felt on their hands. Open ended projects allows each child the opportunity to explore and learn. It was neat to watch children begin to understand how clay responds to their hands and motions. We talked about how to make a snake vs. how to make a ball. It was a station enjoyed by many this morning and I'm sure we will have clay again soon!

Flubber Recipe

The flubber was a big hit! The children enjoyed touching, rolling, squeezing, banging, pinching the flubber. Justin made balls, Ellie created a big puddle, and Samantha L spent a lot of time decorating the flubber with colored pasta.

Here is the Flubber Recipe try it at home...

-1 1/2 cups warm water
- 2 cups glue
- food coloring
-1 1/3 cups warm water
-3 teaspoons borax

Mix water,glue, and food coloring in bowl number one. Mix 1 1/3 warm water and borax in bowl number two. Then mix both mixtures together. Place in tray and let sit in air tight container for two hours.

Have Fun!

There's a Duck ...

 in the ICE!  The children enjoy hearing the story Duck at the Door by Jackie Urbanovic.  It tells the tale of a duck that doesn't fly south with the rest of the flock for the winter.  This morning, the children found some rubber ducks that were stuck in a large piece of ice.  Could this happen if a duck decides not to fly south?

Brrrr!  The ice is very cold.  It melts when we touch it!  Over the course of the morning, the children freed the ducks from the ice and enjoyed placing them in and out of the empty spots that they left behind in the ice chunk.  They also "skated" the ducks across the "pond".

After our visit to the sanctuary to celebrate Purim together, we found that the ice was almost all gone!  The children continued to enjoy the cold water and the last chunk of ice until it was time to go outside to play.

Bathtime for Babies!

Today we filled our sensory table with soapy water, and put in our classroom babies who were due for a good scrub!  The children always enjoy sponging down the babies and talking about their bath time rituals at home.  Some children even suggested we put their younger siblings in our classroom "bathtub"!

The Sandwich Swap

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"The Sandwich Swap is a delightful story that teaches children invaluable lessons on the importance of tolerance, understanding, and friendship."


"Lily and Salma are best friends.  They like doing all the same things-jumping rope, drawing, and playing on swings.  And they always eat lunch together.  Sure, they don't eat  the same lunch, Lily eats peanut butter and Salma eats hummus-but what's that between friends?  It turns out, a lot. And before they know it, it's a food fight.  Can Lily and Salma put aside their differences and save their friendship?  Or will a sandwich come between them?"

Her Majesty Queen Rania and bestselling author Kelly DiPucchio tell a story inspired by Her Majesty's own childhood.

The children enjoyed making their own yummy hummus ,soy butter and/or  jelly sandwiches.  Every ones taste buds are different.  Zach and Charlotte made a hummus, soy butter and jelly sandwich...what a combination!  Adam decided a jelly sandwich was the best choice for him.  Micah R likes hummus but not he kind we were serving today.  Samantha and Josh went for the hummus.

Snow in the Classroom!!

Today on the playground we collected snow and sticks to play with in our classroom. it was neat to have snow inside. We used shovels to bury the sticks and to dig for buried treasure! Some kids liked using their gloves to dig in the snow and other kids liked experimenting how the snow felt on their hands. The snow was smooth and good for packing. We even made a tiny indoor snow-person! So fun!

 

Where's the Paintbrush?

The children had an opportunity to do some finger painting this morning.  After an explanation and a brief demonstration, they understood that no brushes were necessary.  This creative opportunity has a sensory element that can be strange at first.  Sometimes we forget that children need to be exposed to new things over and over before they become comfortable and allow themselves to explore more deeply.  We plan to offer this activity on several more occasions to allow the children to become more comfortable with the medium and the experience of having wet, gooey, paint covered fingers and hands.

At the Sensory Table

When we think of the sensory table, we don’t often think about sound and the sense of hearing. Today at our sensory table the children were loudly playing with the colored macaroni and dreidels making so much noise that we could hardly hear each other speak.  When I asked them if this was a quiet sound or a loud sound, the children all chimed in that it was LOUD! With all the excitement at the table some of the macaroni flew out and onto the floor where Lily noticed and pointed it out to all of us.  She and Ellen got the dustpans and brushes and began to sweep up the small pieces of broken macaroni. Our Levana children demonstrated with finesse the concept of taking care of our classroom and materials.

Check out the Floam

The table set with pieces of Floam attracted many of the children this morning.  The tiny, sticky round particles that make up Floam hold together like clay, but can be individually pulled off as well.  Each child explored in his own fashion.  Some were cautious, while others jumped in with both hands.  When a few children had trouble removing tiny particles from their hands when they had finished playing, a teacher took a ball of Floam and pressed it against the hand to pick off the offending bits.  This elicited lots of giggles.  Cleaning up can actually be fun!

  

Multi-sensory Table

The Levana children enjoy playing with different materials in the sensory table.  We've filled the table with water, dried corn kernels, slime, play dough, toys, and other different materials.  We had shaving cream in the table this week, which the children have enjoyed playing with.

After the shaving cream dried out, we poured some water in the table to rinse it out.  While the water was being poured in, the students heard the unexpected sound of water rushing out the bottom of the table.  They crawled and peered underneath the table to see what the noise was.   They enjoyed watching the water pour into the bucket, and some stuck their fingers in the water, too!

Flubber Fun!

 

Slimy flubber is easy for children to make and ever so fun for children to play with.  This ooey, gooey, slippery, and slimy stuff provides a perfect opportunity to guide the children to discover new things by applying what they already know.

The children asked me to put the recipe on the blog...

FLUBBER RECIPE

Mix thoroughly

Bowl 1

• 1 1/2 cups very warm water
• 2 cups Elmer's glue
• food coloring or water colors

Bowl 2

• 1 1/3 cups very warm water
• 2 level teaspoons Borax

Mix the contents of the two bowls together kneading until it is fully combined.  Discard any remaining liquid.

HAVE FUN!

Apples at the Sensory Table!?

Today the Tel Aviv kids entered the room to find what was the bean filled sensory table filled with water and apples. As soon as circle was over the majority of the class rushed over to explore. The class enjoyed picking up and dumping the apples and the manipulatives allowed for their imagination to run wild. Throughout the morning applesauce, apple stew and apple cakes were all made. The water table also is a good place to practice sharing and turn taking. Also it is inevitable that there is some splashing at a table filled with water and Tel Aviv kids had to ask their friends to be gentle so that they wouldn’t get soaked.  All had fun, and we can wait to see what the “Apple Chefs” will make tomorrow!

Lunch Bunch for the Tel Aviv children....

What a day...Lunch, Peace- Out Time, Activities/Free Play and we like to end the day with Outside Play!

Peace-Out Time was spent playing with play dough, writing in journals, puzzles and and a friendly game of Zingo. Then most of the children took part in measuring and mixing all the ingredients together to make blue gak. We ended the day with some outside play.

Frozen Fruit Smoothie Pops

The frozen fruit smoothie pops were a" big hit" ! Try them at home. Just pick your favorite fruit, add vanilla yogurt, a little apple juice, place ingredients in blended and then freeze pops for five hours. Enjoy!!!!!!!!

Making Pizza Together!

The children worked together to make a delicious lunch! They rolled out the pizza dough, added a little red sauce and sprinkled on some mozzarella cheese. Eli cooked his favorite green pasta, to share with his classmates and friends.

The "Friendly Fruit Salad" took a bit of time to prepare, but it sure was a sight for sore eyes when we were done! It was yummy! The fruits that grow during the summer months are so sweet and juicy!

How do you play with mud?

Adam took charge of the Mud Ship! Guess who he pretended to be? Captain Adam Mud, of course! He sailed the Mud Ship all morning long! Allison decided to take a bath in the mud. She announced, "I am a pig taking a bath in the mud so I don't get a sunburn!" Eliza and Hannah packed mud on big rocks and called them "slippery rocks." Eli made delicious "mud cupcakes."

Everyone had their own ideas as to how to play with the mud! I can honestly say that a good time was had by all!

QUESTION OF THE DAY...

How do you make mud? Eliza, Eli, Allison and Sadie came up with the Mud Recipe! "First you cut open the bags of dirt with scissors. Then add some water. Last you add more water and start to play."

The children filled the ship and sensory table and started to play the day away!