Matisse-Inspired Art in KDH/KB

One day at lunch, we read Henri’s Scissors by Jeanette Winter. 

It tells the story of the artist, Matisse’s life. The children learned how later in life Matisse made art by painting, then cutting shapes from the paper. He then arranged the shapes into a composition and glued them on to another piece of paper.

Inspired by this process, the children wanted to make their own art this way. 

The Morahs provided the children with two different painting opportunities. 

First they painted with red, yellow, and orange watercolors using droppers. 

Next the children made paintings with bright blue, purple, and teal acrylic paint. 

Once dry, the children traced and cut Matisse-like shapes out of the paintings. 

They glued the shapes into their own compositions on brightly colored construction paper. 

Kitah Alef Keeps Germs at Bay

We are so happy to be back at school for camp! Due to the current need to minimize germ spread, we make sure to incorporate extra sanitary practices into our daily routine. 

When we and the children enter school in the morning, the first thing we do is we get our temperature checked to make sure we don't have fever.

We know how important it is these days to wash our hands! Until we get to the sink, we each receive a squirt of hand sanitizer for a quick clean.

We wash our hands many times a day - when we transition from outside to inside or vice versa, after diaper changes and before meals. There's a song we like to sing while washing our hands to make sure we scrub for long enough and remember to get the soap to all parts of the hands. It goes like this:

Tune of: "Row, Row, Row Your Boat"

Wash, wash, wash your hands,

Play the washing game,

Rub and scrub and rub and scrub 

'Til germs go down the drain. x2

Tune of: "Where is Thumbkin"

Over, under, over, under, 

In between, in between,

Rub your hands together, 

Rub your hands together,

Now they're clean. Now they're clean!

We're also practicing catching our coughs and sneezes with our elbows.

In the classroom our table materials are organized onto trays to designate each child's spot. 

To help the children feel more comfortable around adults wearing masks, we had an activity of decorating masks for our baby dolls! 

We colored the masks with markers, and we were finished, we brought them to circle time to sing with our babies and help keep them safe. When children go through the motions of caring for their babies, the mirror neurons in their brains tell them they're safe as well.

Implementing these practices at school and extending them to home-school transitions is the best way we can prevent the spread of germs and keep everyone as safe as possible. 

Here's to a fun and safe summer!

Food Truck Pretend Play in KDH and KB

On the first day of camp, the children began to build a structure with large blocks. They said it was a food truck. 

The next day, the Morahs added play food to the provocation.

The children started “selling” it from the truck. Noticing this, the Morahs offered a cash register. 

A small table was set nearby with paper, colored pencils, scissors, and Washi tape. The Morahs also printed out a menu as drawing inspiration. The children first began making money for the cash register. 

They wrote large numbers on the bills such as 100, 500, and 100,000. They added the bills to the cash register and encouraged each other to use the rest of the bills to “buy” the food. 

Morahs reset the art table, adding a few pieces of play food for inspiration.

At circle time, the Morahs asked the children to name their favorite foods. They made a list and hung it up. 

The Morah’s drew a few pieces of fruit and hung them up near the children’s structure. 

The children began making their own food-related drawings. There were a lot of ice cream cones, watermelons and other fruits. The drawings were hung up next to the list. 

Noticing there was some argument over turn-taking in the food truck, the Morahs opened up the structure on one side, making it into more of a market. 

At circle time the Morahs asked the children if they had a name for the store. The children came up with: B’s for BBQ. 

A few children began creating an ice cream truck using the rolling wooden crate which normally houses the large blocks. They made their own drawings and signs and taped them to the outside of it. 

They began pushing it around the room, asking the other children and Morahs if they would like to purchase anything. 

One child began adding price tags beneath the play food in the market structure. He wrote prices on pieces of tape, even included decimal points in his numbers. 

The children’s continued interest in this pretend-play and improvisation is fascinating. We are excited to see what they create next!

-Morah Jessica and Morah Lindsey