Windmills

It was a shame to see the rain again this morning and we guessed we would probably not be able to go to the park. Instead we had an extended free play time and 2 circle time activities. We were joined by a new friend today who dressed up in a princess costume right from the start of the day. Welcome! On the main table in free play time we saw the light box with some plastic lined sheets and some outlines of objects on it. We took a plain sheet of paper and put it on top of the plastic sheets and the light shone through the paper. We could then trace along the lines or use the outlines to make our very own artwork designs. On the second table Hisami helped us with the junk art inventions and many of us used the colored paper, recycled materials, tape and Posca paint markers to make our own ones. The was also a box with a picture of a windmill thing on the front. On the back of the box were 7 or 8 pictures of things we could make using the construction set. There was a big title on the front saying ‘Wind Power’ and when we looked closely we saw that the pictures showed 2 pictures of wind turbines, a wind powered jet car, a sailcar and several other items that all harnessed the power of the wind! 3 of us came to the table and wanted to start making. We looked carefully at the instructions and then decided we wanted to make the sailcar model. Together we collected the pieces we needed and shared them out so that we could work together on it. It took us a long time but we finally finished making it. We then tested it on the car with the small electric fan and watched as the sailcar moved along the table to the end. Wow, it worked! On the carpet we enjoyed playing with the cars and also covered Hisami with lots of toy dinosaurs. After packing away and having our snacks we got together with Natalie on the carpet and she read a great book to us called ‘Rockets, Rockets’ while we all lay down facing up to the sky. In circle time Natalie drew some nice pictures on the whiteboard and we added our own ideas before asking “What kind of day would it be if we were wearing these kind of clothes”? We soon guessed correctly “Windy”. She then showed us a small origami paper windmill which when we put it in front of the small fan span really quickly. We were all excited and wanted to make our very own paper windmill. We started off by cutting from the 4 corners of the origami paper towards the center and then made 4 holes in the paper which we folded into the center. We put a split pin into the center and attached it to a wooden stick. To test it we moved back to the carpet area and put our windmills in front of the electric fan. We had made our very own fan and were very excited to see them spin soooo fast. Wheeee!

Have a great afternoon,

Love,

Darren, Hisami, Natalie and Yuhei