In the Atelier ...ending Jan 30th

In the Atelier...ending Jan 30th

🎨We are excited to announce that our atelier is now accepting applications for our spring 2020 session.

Presently, we have 2 preschool drop in programs available.
Only 2 spaces available in both sessions.

Please contact us for more information. 

Le Jour de Souvenir: Nous Nous Souvenons

The children enjoyed making a poppy craft on Tuesday. Today we continued our learning about the significance of Remembrance Day. They learned some important vocabulary, and coloyred their own poppies. We were going to cut out the poppies, but the children asked to keep them as they were...and so we did.
I like how they all had their own colouring style. 

Vocabulaire
Le Jour de Souvenir -- Remembrance Day
le  coquelicot -- a poppy
paix -- peace
merci -- Thank you!
novembre -- november
un soldat -- a soldier
la liberté -- freedom
l'amour -- love

nous nous souvenons --we remember

See our previous post on Remembrance Day learning and a poppy craft!



Helpful Resources 

Remembrance Day: Cupcake Liner Poppy Craft (English Version)

Armistice Day, also known as Remembrance Day in Canada is just a few days away. November 11th is the day to honor the heroes who fought for our freedom. 

Remembrance Day is a time to reflect and to give thanks.  But how do we teach the youngest children and remind them what the very important messages of REMEMBERING means?

At Small Wonders, we always use our head, heart and hands. In the upcoming posts, you will explore with the children as they use various mediums (literature, music, and art) to learn all about this important part of our history.

About the Poppy

The children and I have been speaking about gratitude, acceptance, mindfulness, and love.

We also spoke about the significance of the poppy. The children worked on these poppies with enthusiasm. I was very pleased. 

Here is some English information (about poppies) that we found:

Please ALWAYS watch videos first before sharing with children…

Cupcake liner Poppy Craft

Materials & Method
--red muffin liners 
(if you can't find, use white and paint them red)
--scissors 
--paintbrushes 
--black paint 
--glue 
-- green pipe cleaner
---tape

Method
To ensure you have one large and one small liner per poppy, make some of the liners smaller by cutting the top edge off with scissors. 
Place the smaller muffin liner inside the larger and crinkle into shape. 
Paint a circle in the center...let poppy dry

...and a wonderful story as well

See our other poppy crafts from previous years here and here.


Stay tuned for part 2 (the french version of our learning).

Moments of Reflection: Painting & Mozart

"If children are not introduced to music at an early age, I believe something fundamental is actually being taken from them."
~ Luciano Pavarotti

What happens if you give children a paint brush

and paint

and

put on some Mozart?

What happens if you ask them to close their eyes

and

feel the music?

Some things cannot be captured.

Like the vision of children painting to Mozart.

Inspired? Discover Mozart's Magic Fantasy.

Promenade Dans Les Bois: Pencil Shaving Art

Keeping up with our discovery of the woods, and beyond, we continue to explore the beauty of the season. Last week, we "branched" out in our art session. Interestingly, this was not the intention at the beginning of the day (or our session for that matter).

I began by sharpening the pencil crayons that the children needed (we only use a few colours, or everything gets chaotic). 
As I was setting up our activity, I noticed a beautiful array of colours from the shavings. I wondered what we could do with it :), so I collected all the shavings and decided to make coloured pencil shaving art with the kids.

Materials:
– we used our sketch books (the page can be ripped out and framed) 
– pencil shavings 
– glue/glue stick
– pencil

Method

-– draw outline of picture you want to fill in

-– spread glue on paper or canvas

-– gather up pencil shavings

-– spread pencil shavings on glued paper

-– brush off excess shavings
-- I like to put a piece of paper of top of the art and close the book. This keeps the pieces in tact.

This is a great and easy way to recycle pencil crayon shavings. 
Happy crafting.

Weekly Collaborations #1 & 2

Introducing the Weekly Collaboration Series. This is a simple project, but oh so fun, and I cannot wait to see where it leads.

How did it begin?
Our curriculum is not a one size fits all. After all , aside from being perfect individuals, the children range in age. They also have unique knowledge and abilities. Since we have a small group, it works wonderfully.
Many activities and invitations to play are set up in a way that the children share the space in learning, however, they are encouraged to explore at their own pace, and in their own time.

As we begin a new year of discovery, I thought it would be wonderful if the children to tackle one creative task together.  I've been thinking about it since the summer when they collaborated on their first mandala together as a group (see here)...

I came to the conclusion that an open-ended simple activity would be a perfect and non-stressful way to allow the children to work together, in a collaborative manner, at least once a week. 

Last week, I laid out various painting materials and invited them to create a masterpiece together.

I began by letting each child choose 2 paint colours. I put a couple of feathers, a popsicle stick, and a sponge, and I left them to their devices - without instructions.
This is what they did (Week 1)...

Week 2

We created apple trees.

They used
toilet paper rolls
green
red paint (thumb prints were fun)