Where the Wild Things Are
Wooden Magic Twigs + Dried Flowers + Colored Wooden Toys Free Play
A lot of different types of twigs were laid out for us to explore and turn into magic wooden twigs! How do we turn them into magic wooden twigs? By wrapping it around with colorful yarn. Interesting how each of us found different ways to wrap the twigs which shows our own personal preferences and style:
Hold the twig in place and roll the ball of yarn around it
Keep the ball of yarn in place and let the twig do the rolling
Have a friend hold either stick or yarn and do a collaborative work on accomplishing the task
After the initial step of wrapping yarn around the twigs, we thought of several ways on how to use it. With each twig having its own colored yarn, it felt like it had its own special personality. Here are several ways we played with the wooden magic twigs:
Balance plastic cups on top of it like circus performers
Pretend we were lifting barbells by placing plastic cups on each end of the twig
Have a pretend sword play
Use it to lift objects (basket) up in the air
Make flower arrangements by placing it inside a cup or decorating it with feathers
Collaborative drum stick sound making
Use it as a broom to move one object on the floor to another spot
The flowers given during Teacher Appreciation Week are now dried. We swayed it all around the room, making flower petals fall off from its core … making it feel like we could do beautiful magic! A few of us even used the dried flowers as a tool to help sweep off the ripped paper when it was time to clean up! Talk about thinking out of the box!
Apart from twigs and dried flowers, we also had a table full of colorful wooden Montessori objects to play with. A lot of us took on the idea of stacking it as high as we can while others liked stuffing the insides of the wooden toys with colorful bells. It was also interesting to see us make a stable structure by using different materials… it allowed us to exhibit problem solving skills.
Cutting, Snipping, Ripping
A whole lot of us have been keen on using scissors! We enjoy being able to observe how we can control our fingers and hand movement for us to properly use the scissors. Most of us who are older gathered around a yoga mat to do some cutting, snipping, and ripping. It was fun to observe how each of us had our own way of holding the scissors. Also, being in a group set up allowed us to offer help to those who need assistance in using the scissors.
Apart from cutting, snipping, and ripping, a few of us thought of unlocking another fine motor skill… which was to roll strips of paper. After successfully rolling, we used it as telescopes to look at each other.
Our vehicle loving friends also took advantage of the pile of ripped up paper. They hid toy cars underneath it and used excavators, diggers, and tractors to scoop the paper and free the trapped vehicle underneath it! So many ways to utilize this activity area!
Yearbook Class Photo Taking
It was fun to see everyone wear their Ohana shirts today! Our teachers said we did well with our photo taking as we easily followed the photographer’s instructions and looked at the camera when it was time to say, “CHEESE!” We hope our class photo will turn out well for us to keep and remember our wonderful time as Buds Class when we grow older.
Where the Wild Things Are Interactive Story Telling
In congruence with our theme on food, the instrumental version of “Banana Dance” by Dr. Jean Feldman was played for us to change the lyrics into our morning roll call. This activity enables us to detect rhythm patterns and allows us to infuse creativity with it by changing it up.
Max from the story “Where the Wild Things Are” by Maurice Sendak did not get to eat his supper which is why he went out to the place where the wild things are. Similar to his room that slowly turned into a forest, our own room is starting to grow it’s own Sakura tree! With tribal drumming mucks playing, we acted like we were “Wild Things” by stomping our foot loudly and pretending we had big terrible claws and teeth! We danced around the Sakura tree until we were asked to stop because it was time to head back to Max’s home for his hot dinner was waiting for him.
Just like Max, we had to get ready for our meal time!
We hope everyone is having a lovely Tuesday so far.
Love,
Buds Class Children