Hi! It's Scott from Brick by Brick. I love to repurpose materials—use materials in ways different from their intended use. Today I'm thinking about repurposing things for art outside.
Here are some fun outdoor art experiences that we did last summer. I'm thinking it's time to try some of these again.
Flyswatter Painting
Buy plastic flyswatters from the dollar store. Pour paint into shallow containers or dishpans. Dip flyswatters in paint and hit the paper.
We hung the paper on our playground fence. Kids enjoyed hitting the paper. I would advise having several stations for this activity. And it can be messy, so make sure kids are wearing appropriate clothes and stand back when not painting.
Spray Bottle Painting
Fill plastic spray bottles with liquid watercolor and spray away. You can also color water with food color and use that, but the color isn't as vivid.
Make sure the bottles are filled with paint. Bring more to refill the bottles. Our kids loved this and wanted more.
Draw with Chalk and Spray Water
Drawing with chalk on sidewalks or parking lots is a favorite outdoor activity. Bring spray bottles with water, buckets of water, and large paintbrushes. Using these can make the drawings "disappear."
Children enjoyed exploring the different types of activities - drawing, spraying, brushing. Choose an area that will get rain or can be easily sprayed off with a hose. We drew on a covered area and it took a while for the "evidence" to disappear.
Plastic Cups and Fence Sculpture
Repurpose plastic cups of various colors. (Mine were again from the dollar store.) Kids can insert the cups in a fence to create a sculpture or overall pattern. Our kids really enjoyed this different activity. It looked like an art installation after we were finished. I liked the "come and go" nature of this activity. Kids would place one or two cups and then leave; later they would come back and add another one. Other kids would play on the playground for a while and then try the art. And others stayed with the art for a longer while.
Make sure you try the cups in the fence before using with the children. Our cups were just a little too big. Some children had difficulty making them work. (But the crushed sides added some different elements to the sculpture, too.)
Art belongs outside as well as inside. What art experiences have taken you into the great outdoors? What have you repurposed for this outside art?
The sun’s in
the sky, the breeze is gentle and what could be better than singing and dancing
outdoors! It’s Miss Carole of MacaroniSouphere, and I’ll keep this blog short and sweet.
Are you still teaching this summer? Day camp, year-round school, park district
program, youth librarian, daycare provider – get outdoors and lift your voices
to the sky!
Children
love to sing outdoors – it’s freeing!
Plus there’s often more space for movement and dancing.
SO, what can you do? Find a performance venue presenting local
professionals – libraries, park districts, or city cultural events. Perhaps you could meet at the venue that day,
or if you’re lucky it’s walk-able! (I’ll
be touring in the Denver area in a few weeks – check my website calendar for
specifics – as well as performing around Illinois.)
B-I-N-G-O!
Take your
students outside your own location – a small patch of grass can be a great
place for a circle dance such as “B-I-N-G-O!” or "Here We Go Looby Loo!" Need a refresher on that one? It was the topic of myFebruary 2016blog!
The Shaker Hop!
Bring
instruments outdoors and get “The Shaker Hop” going (check it out on my April2016 blog) – or just shake your sillies
out, or have a Marching Band or Parade!
Everyone
knows “The Hokey Pokey” – put your hand in, put your hand out…children of all
ages love it! Go on - it's in your head! "You do the Hokey Pokey and you turn yourself around
That's what it's all about!"
You can use my version - no lefts/rights and not too fast - on my "Sticky Bubble Gum" cd.
Singing in the Rain - "tongue out
Oh Oh! There’s “Singing in the Rain”, too! I wrote all about that in my MARCH 2016 blog.
“Children” of all ages love this one!
"Singing in the Rain" - bottoms up!
Jump Jim Joe - round you'll go!
Go on –
swing your partner in “Jump Jim Joe!” Find out more about this one in my January 2015 blog! It's the second song I highlighted in my topic of songs that promote friendship/good social behavior!
Hi there! This is Terri Izatt from Kinder Kapers and as you may recall I LOVE being outside and getting my students outside.
Being outside is so healthy for them, even the dirt outside is healthy. And our little ones do get dirty (more about that later). Today I want to talk with you a little bit about getting them clean.
If you will permit me to step up on my soapbox for a minute...I don't like hand sanitizer, in fact I almost hate it. Let me explain....
I hate it because my students all think it is the only way to clean hands. They come to my classroom with little bottles hanging from the outside of their backpacks and bigger bottles in their pockets and one mom has even sent her son with a large pump bottle he keeps in his backpack. They share it at recess like it is a toy. They drip it in big gobs on the floor where it strips away our floor's finish and leaves white marks. They think it cures everything...when really it does nothing to dirty hands. Yes, that is correct. If your hands are visibly dirty, it doesn't work.
The sanitizer wets the hand, brings up embedded dirt, smears it around, and leaves the dirt on the hand.
Hand sanitizer works by stripping off the outer layer of oil from the skin. This prevents bacteria present in the body from coming to the surface, but these generally are not the kinds of bacteria that make us sick. Hand sanitizer was only meant to be used when washing with soap and water was not a possibility or as an adjunct to washing.
Alcohol-based hand sanitizers (particularly those with 60 percent
alcohol or more) can reduce the number of some germs, this is true, but a new study
from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reveals that hand
sanitizer doesn’t reduce the spread of some viruses such as the
norovirus. You can find more research here. The Food and Drug Administration, in regards to regulations concerning proper procedures for food
services, recommends that hand sanitizers not be used in place of hand
soap and water, only after proper hand washing.
So where does that leave of as teachers of small children who like to get dirty? We need to let them get dirty, and then teach them the right way to wash their hands. When we send them to the bathroom with a bottle of sanitizer, are we telling them that it is okay to go to the bathroom and then just give yourself a squirt of this and you will be okay? Or do we make them wash with soap and water before using the hand sanitizer? We hope they come to school knowing how to wash their hands, but do they? Take time to teach them the steps. You can find this wonderful maze to help you explain the 4 steps to clean hands on the Home Food Safety web page.
There are also YouTube videos and songs, like this one, to help you.
When convincing your students of the importance of washing their hands a lesson about germs can be very helpful. The first time my students had this lesson it was given by a university program that came with preset lessons and all the supplies to present the lesson. It was an all science all day program. I loved it!
But I digress....We read this book:
and then used glow germs and black lights to show how germs spread and how you need soap and water to get rid of them.
You can get those glow germs many places, but I have found Amazon to be the least expensive and have the biggest selection.
Heidi Butkus of Heidi Songs and Little Miss Kindergarten have another way to present this lesson. You can read about it here and here. Or you can just mix cosmetic glitter into some hand sanitizer, put it on your own hand and high five or shake hands with everyone in class. Go ahead and play some music and shake hands for two minutes. You should also touch random things around the room to see how far the glitter travels. You can look for the glitter with magnifying glasses. This is a great visual for the kids. It also shows them how important it is to thoroughly was their hands. It is not easy to get the glow germs or the glitter off your hands. As you teach your students the proper procedure for hand washing, you might want to share this song.
Little Miss Kindergarten had another good visual for how germs and travel. She took yellow and pink paint and put a dot on the hand of every student, except for two students who got blue dots. Once again students were to shake hands while the music was playing. When the music stops students make a handprint. When Little Miss Kindergarten did this all but one had blue on their handprint. Another good visual.
If you have an outdoor play space you could make a simple hand washing
station if you need to, with a bar of soap and an old pair of panty
hose.
Don't be afraid to let those kinders get dirty...there are health benefits. You can read more about it on the National Wildlife Federation website here. Just remember to get out the soap and have them clean up after.
My final piece of advice....Encourage your students to wash their hands properly and often. SOAP...it's more than a four letter word!
Come visit me at Kinder Kapers and see what kinds of messes we are making! You can follow me on Facebook too.
Happy Birthday! PreK and K Sharing is turning 3 this month. I share a birthday this month too, but I won't tell you how old I am turning.
That may be a bit too much self promotion for me....but I am so excited to be a part of this wonderful collaborative community. I learn new things all the time. There are so many experts here with so much to share.
Birthdays are a great chance to go back and reflect on some of the things I have shared and some of the posts that made an impact on me and my teaching.
When I look back at the things I have shared it is no surprise that my favorite posts are my favorite things to do in my classroom.
I want to mention a few (I know there are more than I can ever shout out ). I apologize for that ahead of time.
I love everything Deb Chitwood writes. Her latest on owls is one of my favorites.
This post on the power of asking questions really got me thinking.
Carolyn Kisloski always rounds up a ton of ideas that are easy to use.
And she makes Prezi (which I want to learn to do).
Of course there is our fearless leader Debbie Clement. She is so talented and and sweet and kind and I learn so much from her. She has rounded up resources from many great contributors for a Birthday Bash Giveaway. Don't forget to enter here.
Happy Birthday PreK and K Sharing! from Kinder Kapers
That's quite a question. Hopefully there is a different answer for each child, and in general hopefully we are looking for constant clues from the child related to what they say and do to recognize the invitations to learn which we can present as guides.
Welcome back to my blog! For those who are new, my name is Enrique and I'm the Founder of the F.A.M.E. Foundation. We work with children, teachers and parents all over the world with organizations like our partners in Los Angeles, MyTown Music, Arts Integration Solutions and many others. One of our long time partnering organizations is Child-Parent Centers Inc., in Tucson, Arizona. Thanks to all my colleagues and friends there... you are brilliant human beings!
To kick off this blog, read the following which documents the basic's of how Rudy, age 4, was engaged by his teacher.
Pretty amazing, right? There is so much that these teachers do so well. Among them is the asking of questions which engage the child's natural sense of curiosity. Below you can sense the body language of Rudy. Off to draw a map to the garden he goes... oh and there is so much more that happens in context!
Along the way, Rudy notices new things that perhaps he had not noticed before. The experience of how observing is different than looking is a huge life skill.
Revision is another fantastic skill Rudy experienced by observing things more than once, drawing them, observing some more, and then making changes to show more detail. What if every young learner was excited when they heard the word revision? Hmmm...
Rudy notices colors, shapes and begins to attach this a growing vocabulary... and all the while acting as an explorer, a scientist, an engaged learner.
Rudy continued to experience the idea of "What Else?" Looking for depth of knowledge over time transfers to growing our depth of being.... profound and all experienced in a play-based setting.
I LOVE this image of notes! My Foundation has been working with this center on many things, including how to write music, write songs, and connect that to math. Well... it looks like Rudy noticed that on his journey of creating a map!
It looks like Rudy has arrived at his destination... the GARDEN!
I present to you Rudy's Map of how to get to the garden at his center for learning, his home away from home. Bravo Rudy and Bravo Child-Parent Centers!
Great to have you back in the month of May! I am so grateful for the opportunity of being able to be a part of the lives of so many children. I'm grateful because I find children healing. I have also learned so much from their authentic sense of wonder, willingness to explore, risk and create. One of the preschool centers I have been around a lot is Child-Parent Centers, Inc. Specifically, over the last couple of years, the center site in Benson, Arizona. Together we have found ways to address both:
Critical Thinking and Creativity
Academic Growth and Emotional Intelligence
A strategy that this entire program has used successfully is engaging the children in "Studies" of certain topics. Recently, the topic which excited the children was "Grasshoppers!" Below is a description the teachers posted after the experience so parents and other visitors could see what they had been up to.
One of the most powerful ways to elevate any learner is to help them experience the "Artistic Process" in any area of study. Experiencing the artistic process helps the learner realize that:
learning takes place over time
learning never stops
the precarious edge of "not knowing" is a thrilling place to be and return to
creating your own structure creates a life full of learning
Recently in my collaboration with other artists, (primarily International Mime and Director Rick Wamer of Arts Integration Solutions and Corey Ferrugia of MyTown Music), I have had some of the most meaningful conversations and artistic experiences in my life. From those experiences we have talked about some of our experiences as Artists and here's just a small part of what I has been illuminated for me as a guide of children in the artistic process.
The Artistic Four (there are more, but these are some of my favorites):
Context
Concept
Content
Collaboration
CONTEXT In this study of Grasshoppers, children began with a context they knew and loved… the outdoors! This is where they first noticed grasshoppers and became interested in knowing more. As I have pointed out in many of my posts, the use of questions by the teachers was the launching pad for discovery.
CONCEPT Elevated teachers help their young students establish goals and an overall plan. In this case that meant:
Catch some grasshoppers
Examine the grasshoppers
Figure out what grasshoppers eat
After the examining had gone on for a while, this study expanded as teachers added the ideas of:
Counting
Sorting
CONTENT
Throughout the experience, content was present, and it was present at all times IN CONTEXT! This of course enriched the experience for the learner, in this case preschool children. The content present throughout this study varied from the resources and materials below.
Prior knowledge of insects
Insect books
Containers that could hold grasshoppers without harming them
Writing materials
Food for grasshoppers
Content is of course necessary and it's important for us to remind ourselves that it needs to be connected to concepts in order for the content to have anything beyond surface meaning.
COLLABORATION Guiding young learners to work together goes beyond teaching basic social-emotional development. When we help learners of any age understand how to listen to the ideas of others and truly collaborate we are giving them the gift of:
Understanding that your own idea can become part of a larger idea
Recognizing that no one has all the answers working alone
Embracing new ideas as a way of learning and growing
THINK ABOUT…
What else was learned in this study by the students?
What else was learned in this study by the teachers?
How could you use a study like this and create even more learning?
What areas of science could you teach to preschool children or older students?
ASK YOURSELF…
How can I use the scientific ideas of comparison and contrast with young learners?
How can I use the scientific idea of observation with young learners?
How is observing different from seeing or looking?
How often do I use the word "observe" with my children and how could I use it?
MAKE A COMMITMENT TO…
Beginning the learning process of each day with CONTEXT the children are connected to.
Co-create CONCEPT with your children that is connected back to the CONTEXT.
Trust that the CONTENT will reveal itself based on the CONCEPT which is connected to the CONTEXT.
Become a master at asking questions that encourages true COLLABORATION
Children are some of the most wonderful teachers I have ever met. When we can embrace that idea and when we, as adult learners, can remember what it is to be like a child, full of wonder, excitement and energy, we can achieve so much more.
Meaningful success is much like meaningful learning. It's not the content alone that is important. It is helping the learner create their own structures and their own understanding OF THE CONTENT. The CONTEXT of this is key, and the asking of questions is one of the foundational strategies in our quest to grow new paradigms of thinking in our youngest learners.
I would love to hear how you are using any of these ideas. I invite you to post questions and comments on my Facebook educational site, "Living Like a Child."
