Making Paper with Children

We tried this out last week and it worked really well, the children were fascinated with the process and because it took time and we did it outside, they drifted in and out of the activity as it suited them.  One of the youngest at 18 months old stood still at the edge of the table with her chin on her hands and observed very closely as three children made thier paper sheets.  When it came to her turn, she knew the steps to take and did so well!  I had never seen her concentrate like that before.

To make your own paper you will need:

1. A picture frame with the glass, back and any sharp bits removed.
2. A pair of finely woven tights.
3. A rectangular washing up bowl or plastic storage box that will easily fit the frame you have.
4. A blender.
5. Scrap paper (a mix of different types of paper is great.... if you want to make coloured paper, use some tissue paper that bleeds its colour when wet!)
6. A bucket and spoon.
7. Dry sheets of newspaper cut slightly bigger than your frame.
8. A rolling pin.
9. A sponge.

Follow these steps:

1. Tear the paper into very small pieces about 2cm/2cm maximum, put them ina  bucket full of warm water, mix round and let them sit..... overnight is preferable but a few hours will do, just keep topped up with hot water from a kettle if you do it over a few hours.
2. Take two cups of the paper to one cup of the water and blend it in a food mixer until it is a pulp. If the blender is working very ahrd, add a bit more water.
3. Tip the half-blender-full of mix into the storage box/washing up bowl.
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3.
5. Add 2 inches of water to the storage box/bowl and swirl it around until all of the pulp is suspended in the water.
6. Put the tights carefully over the frame, taking special acre that the corners do not snag. Tie a knot in each end close to the frame and cut the extra bits off.
7. Lower the frame into the mixed up pulp, and then gently and slowly lift it out of the box.

8. Lay a few pieces of newspaper over the top, place your hand flat in the middle, flip the frame over and lay it down on the newspaper.
9. Use the sponge to press over all of the frame (don't rub or you will wrinkle the paper!) until you have sponged away as much of the excess water as you can.

10. Slowly and gently peel up the frame and use your fingers to tease away from it any edges that stick.  this will leave the paper open side up on the newspaper.
11. Put a few more sheets on top and use the roling pin to squeeze more water out to be absorbed by the paper.
12. peel the newspaper up carefully, and leave the exposed paper to dry in the sun or in a warm place.  it will peel off its newpaper base when dry!

Experiment with different amounts of pulp, different types of paper to shred, essential oils to make scented paper, adding dired leaves and petals to the pulp, and see what you can create!

Earth Day 2010

I have never explored Earth Day before, but after searching around, the emphasis seems to be on protecting the earth for future generations and increasing understanding about issues that affect the earth today.  Personally, I will be focussing on trees and their importance and wood and it's uses, with a side step into making paper, for the reason that trees are a popular theme around my setting after tree-planting recently!  Other themes that you could focus on could be recycling or water. 

• There is information here about what Earth Day is.
• A beautiful poster.
• Some colouring pages.
• Have a sing-song with some great songs to well-known tunes (you need to join the site to get access).
• Make a coffee filter planet earth.
• I love this textured globe as a project for older and younger children to share.

Our focus this week has been on making paper..... the children asked how paper was made and we have been chatting about it and we recycled some scrap papers into new paper today.  It worked well and even the littlest children were fascinated with the process.  I will post on our efforts tomorrow!

Badger Bumble!

We took twelve children to the nature reserve today, ranging between 18 months and 8 years old.  We showed them photographs of signs that badgers were in the woods and off we went.  I hadn't known what to expect when I planned it but it was fantastic! The children were so excietd and interested and engaged, examining logs for signs of scratches, looking carefully at muddy patches for footprints and peering down every hole they found.  We found the badger setts almost at the end of our walk, and they were worth the wait..... huge earth mounds with dark mysterious holes underneath them!! They all just loved being in the woods and it was a joy to see them!

If you want to plan your own 'badger bumble' you might find the following links useful:

• Lots of information and great photographs here about badgers so you know what you are looking for!
• A lovely set of wildlife footprints and photos of the imprints to print and laminate.
• Simple badger outlines.
• A gorgeous badger mask!

Remember that there doesn't actually HAVE to be badgers in the area to do this..... simply the process of suggesting it gets the children looking more closely at the natural world around them and thinking about the possibilities!

Life Cycle of a Bean

Today we planted our beans from the BBC 'Dig In' campaign as well as some snap peas that we had left over from last year.  Gardening with children is such a great way to spend a sunny afternoon!  Often the children that you are childminding will not have the opportunity to grow vegetables at home making it an invaluable experience for you to offer them.  Planting seeds covers all of the areas of learning and development within the EYFS and should be part of your continuous provision contained within your planning. 

I wanted to provide you with a nice set of resource links to support the life cycle of a bean but came up rather short!!  The best that I found was this set of sequencing cards, although it would be nice to have a card that shows the bean pod open with the beans inside ready to be sown and start the cycle over again! 

My solution to this, and far better than using printed resources in my opinion is to make your own cards!  I am going to cut out some bean shaped pieces of beige sugar paper and then take photogrpahs of the bean developing.  Print a photograph for each stage and then stick to a bean shape with appropriate words.  A great way to include children in the planning!

To enable you to take photogrpahs and the children to see the bean developing, trap beans between damp kitchen paper and the side of a clear glass jar.  Keep the paper moist and the bean will germinate and produce leaves within a week! 

This idea is clearly explained, amongst other simple and fantastic nature activities in the 'First Nature Activity Book' which I thoroughly recommend! There is also a book dedicated to 'the life cycle of a bean'!

Baisakhi Planning 2010

I have struggled to find resources on the web that are ready planned to help explore Baisakhi.  There doesn't seem to be a lot around but what there is will be lots of fun! Here are my ideas:

• Look at this picture of the 5 K’s and talk about why they are important to Sikh people (scroll down, I think it's about page 17!!)
• Look at the traditional bhangra dress (for men) and giddha dress (for women), read about them here.
• I could only find a good colouring picture of a bhangra dancer.
• Play some bhangra music and dance to it: the dances tell stories of everyday life so make up some moves related to gardening (as baisakhi is the Sikh harvest festival), cooking and eating as a fun story line!
• See a picture of the Dholak hand drum used to drum the beats here.
• Make anklets and bangles to wear.
• Cook Halwa.

April Planning!

There will be lots going on regarding planting veg, fruit and salad out in the garden, and observing signs of Spring such as our tadpoles that we have in pond water in the lounge, ready to be returned to their pond when the taddy's are bigger! 
I am planning a series of nature walks for the childminding group in the local nature reserve, as well as tree identification by looking at the twigs before they burst into leaf - use this ID sheet from the nature detectives website to guide you, it can be used in your garden or local park, it doesn't have to be a nature reserve!

Topics I am planning to cover are:

• Vaisakhi - Sikh festival on the 14th April.
• Earth Day - 22nd April.
• St. George's Day - 23rd April.
• National Pet's Month.
• Lifecycle of a bean.

As I do the planning for each topic and post all my ideas and links, I will link each post back to this main one so that you can access all the ideas from one place!
For those in the childminding group, the walks will be titled:

• Badger bumble
• Otter oddyssey
• Shrew shimmy
• Rabbit ramble
• Fox fandango

once again, i will post all of the links through to the site for you to use wherever you are; the resources will be aimed at increasing awareness and understanding about how animals live in woodlands, it doesn't really matter if there are thopse species where you go, the children will get excited none the less!!  Fortunately for us, there are those species at the nature reserve...... whether we find any evidence of them is another matter!!!!!