Putting our own special touches to the decor in our school while sparking creativity gets us in the holiday spirit. To set this invitation we placed @colorations.artoflearning  BioColor® Metallic Paint in our 6 paint jar strips + paint brushes from @discountschoolsupply  and thrifted holiday wreath. The children were invited to paint the wreath to add their magic touch. All mediums & canvases of art support creativity to come naturally to all children because they encourage freedom of art expression. When it comes to young children art is much more about the process than the end result. When young children are given opportunities to experiment with art on different canvases such as this wreath, there are endless benefits and so much fun! The sensory process with the paint + the 3-D Canvas with so many grooves/textures allows them to explore different techniques. They learn, explore, & experiment about color theory when mixing + creating new colors. And all this painting helps with the development of #handeyecoordination , strengthening the finger & hand muscles, & full body movement as they maneuver their body to paint the wreath.

The book Snow Globe Wishes  by  Erin Dealey   (Author),  Claire Shorrock   (Illustrator) is a lyrical story about wishes and community and snow—lots and lots of snow. After the worst snow storm,  a little girl makes a wish on a snow globe and the next morning families everywhere go out and play together in a winter wonderland.  After reading the story we extended the literacy experience by inviting the children to engage in sensory play. In bed of magical Steve Spangler Insta Snow, we placed wooden houses, bottle brush trees, cars, snow globes, and wooden peg people. The children were invited to explore and recreate the story all through the power of play!

One of the most amazing things about the Holidays is to see how so many cultures celebrate in different ways. The book A World of Cookies for Santa: Follow Santa's Tasty Trip Around the World by M.E. Furman   (Author), Susan Gal   (Illustrator) is such a great book for children to see all the treats that await Santa on Christmas Eve and even try to make some of the recipes from around the world. After reading this book to integrate the literacy experience we invited the children to create cookies for Santa on felt circles with loose parts (acrylic rocks, buttons, pom poms, flat marbles, grappats). Providing loose parts to decorate the felt cookies inspired the children with endless opportunities of creativity. Since loose parts are dynamic in nature, it brings about the authenticity of formulating ideas and you can see a child's creativity shine in their creations.

The beauty of recycled cardboard and process art is that anything & everything can be used as a canvas or morphed into something creative. Since it comes in so many different sizes, textures, & shapes it allows the children to explore art in a different medium, use their imagination to think of a range of ways to paint cardboard boxes, & promotes collaboration as the children can work together to paint & talk about what they are creating. Since the children are getting excited for Christmas we decided to honor their current interests & invite them to paint + decorate a 3-D X-Mas Tree. This inspired so much excitement and engagement as the children transformed & reinvented these boxes into something truly unique! First we invited the children to paint the tree with different shades of Colorations green tempera paint from Discount School Supply. Then we invited the children to decorate the tree with pom poms, dried pasta, tissue paper, recycled bottle caps, paper scraps, sequins, and pipe cleaners. A voila, two magical festive trees!

The colors of the holidays sure light up the magic of the season. This invitation is a fun way to explore color and science plus end it with some fun sensory play.  To set this invitation you will need clear or white cups. First pour water into the cups and add Colorations Liquid WaterColors. You can place these fun lights from the Dollar Tree to be a point of reference to match the colors that will form. Next pour a tablespoon of Steve Spanglers Insta Snow into the cup and watch the magic unfold.  The science behind. Insta-Snow works  by using a superabsorbent polymer, primarily sodium polyacrylate, which rapidly expands when mixed with water, essentially acting like tiny sponges that soak up the water and dramatically increase in volume, creating a fluffy snow-like appearance; this process is driven by osmosis, where water molecules move from a high concentration area (the water) to a low concentration area (within the polymer chains), causing them to swell and separate, resembling snowflakes.  After creating all of the beautiful colors let the children mix, pour, and play with the colorful snow!

Make way for this Moana Small World Play! If you haven't already seen Moana 2, 10/10 recommend. After seeing it in theaters, we just had to recreate the amazing movie through small world play.  In our tuff tray we placed blue iridescent fabric as the water, placed our grimm's wooden toys, sea life figurines, aquarium seaweed, acrylic sea creature/shells loose parts, sea shells, fake rocks, and Disney Moana Toys. The children were invited to way find like Moana, shape shift like Maui, crow like Hei Hei, sidekick like pua, love like Moana's family, all while using their imagination from the magic and beauty of the film.

We  have been learning all about Farm Animals this month through reading books and extending the literacy experience through invitations. By creating invitations that make books come to life through playing, exploring, creating, and tinkering are some of the best ways to build comprehension skills while also creating life long lovers of reading!  So many skills are enhanced, developed, and supported through this type of learning in early childhood.  1. Invitation to Shear Farm Animals: We taught the children that shearing is typically done once a year, before the summer heat, to help animals stay cool and comfortable. To set this invitation we placed inflatable farm animals. We covered the animals with shaving cream, placed different cleaning tools to be their tools, & invited the children to shear the animals. 2. Horse Stable Small World Play: After reading books about horses, we set this small world play that was inspired by all things horses. We placed a wooden horse stable, pet bedding, horse figurines, trees, pretend food, tractors, farmer, and any other items that you may see near a horse stable. The children were invited to play! 3. Invitation to Paint a Cardboard Barn: W e invited the children to paint their very own 3-D cardboard barn with Colorations tempera paint from Discount School Supply.

This whole month we have been exploring Community Helpers along with safety. After reading a lot of books about firefighters, we also talked about what firefighters do to keep our community safe, the tools they use, the gear they wear, and where their stations are and how they transport to places, etc. We set up a hands-on invitation that would not only spark a lot of pretend play, it would allow us to reinforce how the heroes, like firefighters, save people, animals, community buildings, and homes in danger. In a sensory bin we placed different structures to act as the burning buildings "on fire" (shaving cream with Colorations Liquid WaterColors & Tissue Paper).  We provided spray bottles filled with water and invited them to become firefighters and put the flames out. Dramatic/Pretend play, such as this is a crucial part of early childhood. Since possibilities are truly limitless in pretend play it encourages a child to use their imagination in its truest form by doing. The child will build social and emotional skills, language skills, problem-solving skills, take risks, and become whoever they want to be. If there is one thing we need to encourage children to do more is imagine, and through dramatic play they will! After all, play is the work of a child.

When children see movies, read books, experience environments, spark an interest in a subject matter, or engage in imaginary play, being able to provide an environment with their current curiosities can honor rich play. Play comes in all different forms, and our core memories are associated with play that was meaningful to us. Whether a child is interested in dinosaurs, space, or in this case Trolls, the magic of small world play can truly bring their wonders to life. To set up this Trolls Village, in a Tuff Tray I placed rock blocks, natural blocks, dyed rice, acrylic rocks, grappat loose parts, moss, felt flowers, trolls figurines, fairy house, grimms coral reef + rainbow, and mushrooms. Exploring these materials through open-ended play is a great way for extending literacy, language, imaginary & sensory play. Through this play they can reenact what they see/hear in stories, movies, shows, experiences, & environments around them to deepen their understanding of the world. This type of play can be defined as where children accept and assign roles, then act them out. When children engage in this type of play they break through the walls of reality, use their imagination, pretend to be someone or something different from themselves, explore different worlds, & have actions to go along with the roles they have chosen to play.   Play is an integral part of the developmental learning process by allowing children to develop skills in such areas as abstract thinking, literacy, math, & social studies, in a timely natural manner. They are able to play and manipulate a variety of materials and textures that stimulate their mind and body while deepening their connection and understanding of the world.   Childhood can quite possibly be some of the most magical years with such wondrous films like the Trolls movies, so why not spread more magic with PLAY and create memories that will stay with a child forever!

Native American Heritage Month is a great opportunity to celebrate the diverse histories, traditions, & cultures of the indigenous people. Playing tribute to rich ancestry through reading stories is a great way to honor & learn more about the Native American people. Here are two ways we have been exploring Native American Heritage month through these invitations that are inspired all by books.  1. Invitation to Explore Berries: T he Caldecott honor book Berry Song by Michaela Goade, is about a girl & her grandmother gathering gifts from the earth. Salmon from the stream, herring eggs from the ocean, & in the forest, a world of berries. Brimming with joy and gratitude, in every step of their journey, they forge a deeper kinship with both the earth and the generations that came before. After reading the story we set out an invitation to eat berries + jams  with berries to deepen the children's own relationship with the food, where it came from, & how it tastes.  2.  Invitation to Paint Life: The book Remember by US Poet Laureate Joy Harjo + Caldecott Medalist Michaela Goade  is another beautiful book to read during Native American Heritage Month. The book invites children to reflect on the wonder of the world around them, their family, heritage, nature, & how we are all connected. The timeless poem is paired with magnificent paintings which makes for a book that is a true celebration of life & our human role within it. Since the book is full of vivid illustrations of the earth & the wonder of nature we integrated the literacy experience by inviting the children to paint water through resist art with watercolors and salt & oil pastel designs. Whenever we set invitations that are related to books, it makes the concept explorations even more motivating, engaging, and appealing to the children. The pictures and words impart a lot of meaning but the invitations further help in the child's ability to retain & comprehend the information, extend the children's inquiry learning process, all while making the magic of a story come to life.

W e have been exploring the Dutch post-impressionist artist Vincent Van Gogh. Through reading stories about him, looking at his art, exploring his bold use of colors, and exposing them to the beauty in different styles and techniques in art from around the world helps children develop awareness of the arts. Today we set up two invitations to create his famous Sunflower paintings.  1. Still Life Painting: We set out a vase filled with sunflowers, images of his paintings, 6 paint jar strips filled with Colorations Tempera Paint, paint brushes, and construction paper from Discount School Supply. The  children were invited to paint their own inspiration of his various sunflower paintings. 2. Loose Parts + Play Dough Sunflowers: We set out vases filled with sunflowers image of his painting, playdough on acrylic mirrors, and a tinker tray filled with loose parts (flat marbles + acrylic rocks). The  children were invited to create his sunflower painting in a 3-D way with the materials. Both of these invitations are provocations. This is a technique used to stimulate children's thinking, to inspire them artistically, to empower them to take control over their learning, to open their minds, to create an environment for reflection, to challenge children, to observe the world around them, & to encourage creativity.  This was a wonderful way for the children to observe every detail in the flowers & images, compare similarities/differences, & become more aware of details. These types of invitations are amazing because it's interesting to observe each child's individual approach & creativity blossom.

We invited the children to put aside their normal paint brushes and use skeleton hands instead as their tool to create. We provided butcher paper, paint, and skeleton hands galore !The children jumped right in and loved exploring the different ways they could use the skeleton hands in order to paint on the butcher paper. Working on the vertical  painting surface puts a whole new spin on the experience.  Physically they are using the large and small muscles of the arm with vertical painting. Simply moving the skeleton "brush" from the paint bucket to the paper requires focus and control which enhances their fine and gross motor skills. All these movements enhance their hand-eye coordination as well. Continuous exposure to these movements through large scale vertical painting also helps control their marks later on. Children who are provided opportunities to paint regularly learn to think with an open mind, to look at situations creatively,  develop critical-thinking skills & make decisions about what works and what doesn’t on their own, how to mix colors to create new ones, or how to make certain movements/techniques to create designs and get the paint on the paper.  Painting freely has a fluidity that is different from other art media which in turn make children more empowered and confident to express their creative artistic style.  Through painting, children continuously gain so many skills which gives them a foundation to look at the world with curiosity and wonder.