Bright Ideas!

I wanted to share some of the great ideas I've seen recently and tried out. They may seem random, but these were things I got so excited about that I worked into our already jam packed days. I'm so glad I tried each of these~ each was well worth the effort!

I found this cute alligator puppet made form a toilet paper tube. We've been using this as a prop in our songs and fingerplays. I wish I could remember who posted this so I could give them credit! (Please let me know if I saw this on your blog!)

 

Brick by Brick posted this awesome zoo idea using wooden unit blocks and zoo animals. We did this as an independent group and the friends really enjoyed it. Some of the groups got really creative! This week we are studying bugs and will do a similar group as a "bug zoo"!

Horse Stable

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One group had a bridge for the animals to be free!

One group even put zookeepers into play!

I saw this on Not Just Cute and went immediately out to Home Depot and bought rain gutters! The $4 investment has been well worth the pennies out of pocket. They have been an extraordinary addition to our center. We were really able to explore forces and motion and I have gotten some great assessment data from their play. The friends just think they are downright fun! 

The exploration began by building with the gutters.

The friends tried rolling balls on the gutters.

They tried the spouts out in different positions.

Finally, they got out the cars and tried rolling them down the ramps.

It was no surprise that they would race cars after trying them solo!

 Eventually, the ramp building became quite elaborate!

Thanks to all you wonderful bloggers, who inspire me everyday with your amazing creativity!