Collaging with Kitah Alef

 Collaging

The children used glue sticks to adhere scraps of metallic papers onto card stock.

The children continued the thread of mark-making from the school year.

They painted the paper using paint dotters and paint sticks.

The children seemed to enjoy the various textures and colors presented.

The mark making was varied. 

Some children made short, staccato dots, others painted lines, swooshes, and chunky shapes on their paper.

Stamping

This week the children were presented with recycled materials and paint.

The children stamped materials of a variety of textures such as lids, mesh, and plastic tubes into tempera paint.

They used paint in shades of red, pink, yellow, and blue.

The impressions intermingled on their paper.

Brightly colored rings linked together.

The children seemed to enjoy discovering what mark each object would leave on their paper.

Summer Sensory Art in Kitah Gimmel

Snowy Treasure Hunt

We have been exploring more messy, sensory experiences this summer in Kitah Gimmel. For the first project, the children made fake snow!

First, children dumped Baking Soda into a sensory table.

We did this outside since it was so messy.

Next, children took sticks, a spatula, and an egg beater to break up the clumps.

The children squeezed Hair Conditioner into the Baking Soda.

The children the two ingredients together to combine them.

The children added iridescent glitter to the mixture for added effect and texture. The glitter added a magical quality.

The children squeezed the mixture together. It felt slightly wet and soft. It smelled slightly floral and pleasant.

Morah Jessica had the children step away for a few minutes as she hid resin gems (hand made by Extended Day children) under the snow.

The children were given tongs and a couple plastic containers to hunt for the treasure.

Shaving Cream Treasure Hunt

Kitah Gimmel continued sensory play with a shaving cream treasure hunt. Morah Chaya's daughter, Basha kindly helped set up this experience for the class.

She covered the gems with shaving cream and topped it with glitter, for that magical touch.

The children flocked to the sensory bin. 

The children took turns digging into the fluffy, fragrant clouds of shaving cream.

Some children used tongs, others used their hands to find gems.

The children began scooping out the shaving cream and spreading it onto the plexiglass windows.

The children really enjoyed this experience.

We will continue this sensory thread. Next week, ice cubes!

 

Messy, Sensory Art in Kitah Daled

We've been focusing on messy, sensory art experiences for the summer. For our first experience this summer, we made Oobleck.

Oobleck

The children mixed cornstarch and water together using large sticks found on the playground.

We kept adding more of each ingredient until the mixture was right.

They added blue food coloring.

Once the children finished making the Oobleck, they would pour the liquid into different containers. They even began mixing it with dirt from the ground to make a kind of mud.

Fluffy Slime

The children love to make slime. This week we tried a new recipe, Fluffy Slime.

First, the children added school glue to the bin.

Next, the children colored the glue using blue and purple water colors. 

They also mixed in glitter.

Then, the children added our special ingredient: shaving cream. 

Finally, we mixed in laundry starch activate the mixture and make it rubbery.

The children played with the finished mixture, noticing how it stretched and made spiderweb-like strings. 

    Many of the children pretended they had Spiderman-like powers.

 

Magical Art Experiences in Extended Day-Part 2

The love of treasures kicked off the theme of magic in Extended Day. Noticing the love the excitement of finding treasures, we started presenting the children with a treasure hunt during playground time. A “Fairy” hid beads on the playground and the children searched for them.

This led to Morahs presenting more magical experiences.

      

Gems

We wanted to recreate this experience for parents and families on Siyum night so we decided to make our own gems! Morah ordered some silicone molds, resin, and resin dye. 

When our supplies arrived, we first had to cover up, not only ourselves but our workspace too. Resin is VERY sticky. The children first added gold foil, glitter, and tiny sequins to the molds. Then, with Mora’s help they mixed up different colors of resin. The children poured their different colors of resin into the gem molds. There were several different shapes and sizes. 

Once dry, The children were able to pop the treasures out of the molds and marvel over their work. On Siyum night, they will hide them for family members to find and take home.

Magic Wands

Continuing our magical theme and our work with resin, the children made magic wands. When we ordered the gem molds, we also saw crystal molds. The children realized that they could make these elaborate magic wands so of course we ordered those too!

We made the crystals the same way that we made the gems. The only difference was that these 

molds were completely three dimensional. There was a lot more space to experiment. 

They were able to layer colors within the molds. 

Once dry the children attached the crystals to the ends of sticks. They then decorated the sticks with ribbons, rhinestones, tiny tiles, seaglass, buttons, and paint markers.

Potions-

The children mixed together Epsom salts and glitter for sparkle. They added color with tempera powder. The children also like to grind chalk into powder, so they mixed that in too. 

For another fun textural element, they added multicolored seed beads. The children also added some fragrant essential oils and combined the mixture using their hands for a calming sensory experience. 

They scooped the mixture into plastic test-tubes then decorated their potion tubes with paint markers and gems. 

Once dry, the children tied their tubes onto strings to make them into necklaces. The children also wrapped some of the tubes in wire and ribbon and strung them with beads. 

These tubes were hung all over the sun porch in building 3 from the ceiling, on the walls, and in the windows for a magical atmosphere.

Resin/Potion Painting-

First the children sprinkled some of their potion onto a wooden panel.

We had some leftover resin in different colors. The children poured the leftover resin on top of the potion. They used paint scrapers to ensure that the resin covered the entire board. 

Glitter Glue Paintings-

We wanted to see if glitter glue could achieve a similar effect to the resin painting. First the children painted boards and canvases with gesso.

 

Then the children dyed the glue with liquid watercolors, poured it onto the panels, then sprinkled different shades of glitter into their concoction. 

They pushed the mixture around the canvas using paint scrapers.

Wings-

The children designed their own wings inspired by magical creatures to wear on Siyum Night. The children drew pictures of what they wanted their wings to look like. 

Next they made the shape out of wire.

With a Morah’s help they cut and glued fabric to cover the wire armature. 

They then decorated the wings by gluing feathers, rhinestones, and pom-poms onto  their designs. 

Morah attached stretchy cord into looped straps so the children could wear their designs.

Come experience the magic on Siyum Night!