The Starry Night

Over the last couple of days we've been talking about the night sky, what can you see in the sky, stars the moon, aeroplane lights and fireworks. This afternoon I showed them a picture of Vincent van Gogh's The Starry Night and we looked at Katie and The Starry Night

I had this idea that if we used shaving foam and paint they could have fun and recreate some of the swirling images from the painting. It wasn't about recreating a perfect copy of the painting rather them exploring the movement and images. I did think about cutting out some houses etc for them to add to it, if I do it again when they are older I might add them, then again I might just wait and see what they want to add themselves, as it's always interesting seeing what they see and what they take from a painting.

 

As per usually here, once we had finished the planned activity they were let loose to do and create (within reason) whatever they wanted! Using a spatula they mixed the paint and foam together and created a lovely mint green.

Then they added more foam and used their hands to mix it in.

One then decided to use the spatula to paint with

and the finished spatula painting.

Then they asked for some more paper and decided to place the paper in the tray on top of the remaining foam, press it down and then lifting it out to see what they had created.

When I'm doing a theme, I always sort out a selection of relevant books and put them into a basket for the children. They have enjoyed looking at books on owls and reading some owl stories. I printed out laminated a tree and 5 owls to go with the 5 Little Owl rhyme, they have loved this counting rhyme and the owl pictures. We have sang the song and played with the owl pictures several times. Lots of counting done as well, as each time an owl flies away they are counting the owls left on the tree. Yes one owl is upside down, when I first put them on the tree, I pointed out one was upside down, I went to turn him the right way up but they said no and now every time they have to have one upside down owl!

5 Little Owls

5 little owls on a dark, dark night,

5 little owls are quite a sight,

5 little owls, are you keeping score?

1 flies away and that leaves 4.

4 little owls as happy as can be,

1 flew away and that leaves 3.

3 little owls calling "Who, who, who"

1 flew away and that leaves 2.

2 little owls having lots of fun,

1 flew away and that leaves 1.

1 little owl and we're almost done

He flies away and that leaves none.

Weather

We'll be finishing of our bear theme this week, with some activities based on Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See?  I thought I would share my planning for our new theme the weather which we still maybe towards the end of this week or the beginning of next week, depending on how everything flows.

 I thought I would also share the words to some of the rhymes we will be using and learning.

I Hear Thunder

I hear thunder, I hear thunder

Hark don't you, hark, don't you

Pitter patter raindrops, pitter patter raindrops

I'm wet through, so are you!

I Can Sing A Rainbow

Red and yellow and pink and green

Purple and orange and blue,

I can sing a rainbow,

Sing a rainbow

Sing a rainbow too.

It's Snowing ( to ten little Indians)

Snowflakes falling down,down,down

Snowflakes falling down,down,down

Snowflakes falling down,down,down

Falling to the ground.

Children playing - snow is fun

Children playing - snow is fun

Children playing - snow is fun

When it hits the ground.

Whether The Weather

Weather the weather be fine

Or whether the weather be not,

Whether the weather be cold

Or whether the weather be hot,

We'll whether the weather

Whatever the weather

Whether we like it or not.

The Day Has Begun

Butterflies flutter

Baby birds twitter

Caterpillars awake

Leaves gently shake

And her comes the sun

The day has begun

The Lovely Sun

There is a big ball in the sky

I cannot reach it even if I try

All the day it shines so bright

But hides itself in the night

In the huge sky

There is only one

Yes it's the

Lovely yellow sun

Teddy Bear's Picnic

I discovered this morning that today is national teddy bears picnic day. I had not heard of this before, yes to teddy bears picnics but not to a specific day but as we are in a middle of a bear theme, I thought it was rather apt, so quick change round of planned activities and today we had a teddy bears picnic.

As I've probably said before I love making bread and luckily the children love it too, we shaped our rolls into teddy bear faces and used raisins for their eyes and noses.

I used ham or cheese cut into shapes and raisins again for eyes and noses, to create teddy bear crackers, not too sure how teddy bear like they are but the children liked them.

We also made some gingerbread teddy bear biscuits,

I think the teddy bears enjoyed the picnic.

 Gingerbread Biscuit Recipe

                                                   120g plain flour
                                                   1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
                                                   20g brown sugar
                                                   50g margarine
                                                   70g golden syrup
                                                   1 tsp ground ginger
                                           
1 - Cream margarine and sugar together, add golden syrup and ground ginger.
2 - Sift in flour and bicarbonate of soda.
3 - At this stage it should form a nice dough that isn't sticky to touch, if it is really sticky then do add a little more flour.
4 - Turn out onto a floured surface and roll out and then cut out your shapes.
5 - Bake at Gas 5 for 8 to 10 minutes, until golden, when cool you can decorate if you wish.

We had a lovely sunny day to enjoy our picnic, the children helped to carry out, lay out all the food and set up the teddies. I loved the comment about our picnic blanket (an old duvet cover) "Helen, it's like having a picnic in a flower garden"

We have also been learning the Teddy Bears Picnic Song

If you go out in the woods today

You're sure of a big surprise.

If you go out into the woods today

You'd better go in disguise.

For every bear that ever there was

Will gather there for certain because

Today's the day the teddy bears have their picnic.

Picnic time for teddy bears,

The little teddy bears are having a lovely time today.

Watch them, catch them unawares.

And see them picnic on their holiday.

See them gaily dance about.

They love to play and shout.

And never have any cares.

At six o'clock their mummies and daddies

Will take them home to bed

because they're tired little teddy bears.

Every teddy bear, that has ever been good

Is sure of a treat today

There is lots of wonderful things to eat

And wonderful games to play.

Beneath the trees, where nobody sees

They'll hide and seek as long as they please

Today's the day the teddy bears have their picnic.

Chorus

5 Little Fish

 Last night you would of found me gluing together some colourful lolly pop sticks into fish shapes and cutting up some kite paper into backing sheets and smaller pieces for the children to stick with. Kite paper is a waxy paper and I tend to use it in place of tissue paper, as it holds glue better, doesn't become a soggy, gluey mess, doesn't rip as easily etc and therefore easier for little people to use. We also sang some little fish counting songs, words are at the bottom after the photos of our fish.

Two variations of five little fish rhymes, we really enjoy the first one as all the little fish coming home, you repeat each verse until you have no fish coming back and of course we also sang 1,2,3,4,5 once I caught a fish alive.

5 Little Fish

5 little fish went swimming one day

Over the sea and far away

Mummy fish called "comeback, come back"

Only 4 little fish came swimming back

No little fish came swimming back

Then a big whale went swimming past

and five little fish came swimming back

OR

5 little fish

Swimming out to sea

Teasing Mr Shark

"You can't catch me"

Along came Mr Shark

As quiet as can be

SNAP!

4 little fish etc

Jelly Fish

The children have enjoyed watching this short film showing lots of different jelly fish, then giggles as they tried to be jelly fish. We then used half a paper plate, paint and some crepe paper to make some jelly fish. Once they were dry, the children enjoyed running round the garden with them, watching how their tentacles moved in the wind.

We enjoyed this rhyme to go with our craft

 Three Jellyfish

3 jellyfish, 3 jellyfish, 3 jellyfish sitting on a rock

one fell off, splash,

and then there were two.

2 jellyfish, 2 jellyfish, 2 jellyfish sitting on a rock,

one fell off, splash

and then there was one.

1 jellyfish, 1 jellyfish, 1 jellyfish sitting on a rock,

one fell off, splash

and then there was none.

1 climbed up hooray

1 jellyfish, 1 jellyfish, 1 jellyfish sitting on a rock,
1 climbed up hooray
2 jellyfish, 2 jellyfish, 2 jellyfish sitting on a rock,

1 climbed up hooray

                                         3 jellyfish, 3 jellyfish, 3 jellyfish sitting on a rock

There are some cute jellyfish puppets to make out of paper or card to go with the song, if you didn't want to make paper plate ones

                                                  

Polar Theme

We had fun last year exploring the Polar regions. As well as the books listed below we also enjoyed reading Polar Bears Past Bedtime and the fact book that went with it. The children enjoyed creating paper plate caves and walrus, had lots of fun with shaving foam, painting it, freezing it to name a couple. the shaving foam was used for pretend snow. We had a pretend trip the the polar regions as well. If you want the planning linked into all the areas of the EYFS, you will find this at the bottom of this post.

The children made the polar bears cave out of a paper plate, cut and glued into shape and then the fun of gluing cotton wool on it, to make it look like it was all covered in snow.

These are some of the books we enjoyed. 

They also had great fun with puffy paint (a mixture of shaving foam and pva glue) to paint polar bears and snowy scenes. I cut out some polar stencils, from a cardboard box. I added a small amount of sand to some of the puffy paint to add a different texture. The children really enjoyed this activity and the pictures turned out brilliantly even if I do say so myself.

Followed by a game of hibernating polar bears (sleeping lions by another name).

                                

                               

                           

When we read Mama Do You Love Me? which got the children really thinking about how Mum's love them even if they are sometimes cross. Afterwards we made some paper plate walruses and then measured out the size of real walrus. they were amazed at how big they were.

                                 

We also talked about how the sea animals keep warm in they icy sea and they had fun experimenting, with our home made blubber, two plastic bags put together with some oil poured in between, to make a glove and another bag with no oil in. I then filled a bowl with ice cubes and water and the children tried the 2 different bags to see if their hand stayed warmer with 'blubber' or not.

Well a trip to both the Arctic and the Antarctic as I put all those animals out to be played with. I think I might have to do an activity so the children can learn about both the Arctic and the Antarctic and the different animals you find there.

As the weather was very hot, to try and keep the children cool, happy and learning something, I froze various blocks of ice and a tub of shaving foam to use in my builders tray, shaving foam freezes really well. They were very interested in the way the ice melted and the different shapes formed. Later on when all the ice melted they had fun jumping in the water pretending it was snowing with all the shaving foam :)

                                 

                                       

Words for Polar Bear, Polar Bear, Twirl Around

Polar bear, polar bear,

Twirl around.
Polar bear, polar bear,
Make no sound.
Polar bear, polar bear,
Dance on your toes.
Polar bear, polar bear,
Touch your nose.
Polar bear, Polar bear,
Show your paws.
Polar bear, Polar bear,
Hide your claws.
Polar bear, Polar bear,
Reach up high
Polar bear, Polar bear,
Wink one eye.
Polar bear, Polar bear,
Say good-night,
Polar bear, Polar bear,
Shut your eyes tight.
Polar bear, Polar bear,
Wake up now,
Polar bear, Polar bear,
Take a bow.