When I Was A Fly on the Wall.

In our agency we have two 3-5 programs, and because I work with the toddlers we regularly transition the toddlers to the older programs when they turn 3.  One of the things I like most about transitions is that I get to hang out in the other programs and see different kinds of activities, art and room design ideas.  I find it inspiring to see the creativity, effort, and ideas of my co-workers.  I always come away impressed!

Here are some things I saw in the fall.

Cool hey?  

Fun With Boxes.

We have had a lot of boxes at the daycare in the past few months.  Different sizes and shapes.  Some I simply taped up and put out for the toddlers to stack and push over and move around.  So easy to recycle as needed, the fun was there as long as the boxes lasted.

Over Christmas our Daycare had a fundraiser and we ended up with a whole lot of empty Purdy's Chocolate boxes!

With the larger boxes we decided to create a maze on the patio and then we created an addition later with more boxes. 

For the maze I just duct taped the top, joining each box and then cut corresponding door way holes in each one.  They have to crawl through, using lots of gross motor energy.

My co-worker created the additional castle box with doors! In and out, in and out!

Simple, fun, free and kept the toddlers engaged all winter.  

Win!

Inspired by the Art of Wet-Felting.

I haven't been here in a while.  I think about blog posts in my mind but that's it!  Life happened to me!!  My dear old Mac laptop which I was so familiar with has been replaced by a less familiar PC. It has taken time to learn a new way of loading pictures and moving them around.

 And winter happened too and kind of sucked my energy. 

 But here I am and I want to share a fun workshop my daughter and I recently facilitated.  I was asked by the local Child Care Resource and Referral program to teach the ladies how to wet felt a winter scene play scape. 

After sharing the basics of wet felting and allowing for some creative thinking time we jumped right into the process!

Everyone made a cave on their playscapes because...well, because the children just love caves!!

This lady had the idea to add sparkles to the wool.  It turned out sparkly!!

Look what happens when some animals come to live on the mat.

Transformed!

This lady just had the most fun sensory experience!  She loved how soft the wool was.  How lovely the silk waves turned out on this mat!

My hubby D drilled holes in some tree cookies and each lady got to take home a tree and a Susan Munzer inspired flower.  The flower I thought was the Hope of Spring.

The ladies had fun experimenting with roving and silk, making ponds or ocean water.

It's not easy making caves the first time round.  I was amazed at the creativity and how easily everyone caught on to wet felting.

So many different ways to make a winter scene.  The children will love these mats.

Before.

After.

This lady was inspired by the Northern Lights.

Gorgeous little cave!

An old co-worker and a new one.  I'm fortunate to work with amazing women I can learn from.

I came away from the workshop refreshed in a way.  That's what art does I think.  I am passionate about sharing this craft particularly because it is a natural material and the children respond so positively to the little playscapes whether through story telling or imaginative play.

Here is where I purchase my supplies

Here is where I purchase my Schleich Animals