Last year we created a cardboard haunted house , this year we decided to create a Cardboard Haunted Mansion near our Outdoor Interactive Painting Gallery & Art Studio. The beauty of cardboard and process art is that anything and everything can be used as a canvas or morphed into something creative. Cardboard is such a versatile material that provides a great surface to paint on. Since it comes in so many different sizes, textures, and 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, and promotes collaboration as the children can work together to paint and talk about what they are creating. Since the children at our centers are excited for Halloween we decided to honor their current interests and assemble a "Haunted Mansion," with recycled boxes and let them paint with Colorations Tempera Paint from Discount School Supply! This inspired so much excitement and engagement as the children transformed and reinvented these boxes into a spooky house! When we provide opportunities for a child to paint freely and express their feelings in a visual way it will further help build their social emotional development. Painting allows children to explore emotions and find safe ways of expressing them. Active engagement in the arts yields positive results children internalize and externalize emotions. Researchers tell us that children who participate in arts over an extended period of time show more sophisticated social skills such as sharing and cooperation, reduced shyness and anxiety, and reduced aggressive behavior. Children who engage in arts regularly are better able to control their emotions and express them in productive ways. Since the social emotional development of a child is the foundation to support all of the other domains when a child feels empowered and confident through painting they will also enhance their fine & gross motor development, hand-eye coordination and control, openness to experiment/take risks with tools provided, further develop their language as they express what they are doing in the process, and continue to have the avenue of using their most powerful capability creativity + imagination.

Exploring gravity for young children is such an enticing process for young children. It is one of the foundational cause-and-effect sequences that infants as young as 2 months old already have basic knowledge of "intuitive physics," researchers report. As a child develops, their knowledge is refined by experimenting and exploring and that eventually will lead them to understand the concept of gravity. It is something that they do over and over in so many different ways. In this invitation we provided pumpkins, pitchers, water, on our Lakeshore Learning Watch it Flow Water Table where the children were invited to explore the magic of gravity & water play with pumpkins going wild while they are rolling, falling, dropping, and plopping. The children observed that some pumpkins moved faster than others because of the size or shape of the pumpkins. With the added flow of water, it made the pumpkins roll faster from the top of the table to the bottom. They observed that filling a container with water and emptying it into the table shows how liquids are affected by gravity. They also collaborated with one other to defy gravity!

After reading the rhythmic read-aloud book Pick a Pumpkin by author Patricia Toht and illustrator Jarvis which captures all the excitement from picking out the pumpkin @ the patch to scooping out the insides and carving a jack-o’-lantern we set out explore pumpkins and then make pumpkin oobleck! Part one consisted of letting the children scoop out the seeds and strings from the pumpkin and explore the insides with their senses. When children use all their senses through exploring something new it helps them to better understand the components of a pumpkin as well as retain new information. Part two consisted of using the insides of the pumpkin to make OOBLECK. We mixed the seeds, strings, corn starch, orange colored water and some cinnamon. Oobleck is a fun mixture that is a great sensory activity that has scientific elements. The really cool thing about oobleck is that it’s neither a liquid nor a solid. It’s actually a suspension (known as a non-Newtonian Fluid) and will behave like either, depending on the amount of pressure you apply. When the children squeeze it in their hands it will feel like a solid, but when they open their hand, it will flow over and between the fingers like a liquid. Exploring this exciting sensory material is also an extension of the children's exposure to states of matter.

Salvador Dalí is the Artist of the Month and we have been reading so many wonderful books to learn about the Spanish Surrealist artist renowned for his technical skill, precise draftsmanship, and the striking and bizarre images in his work. Today we explored three of his art works. 1.Lobster Telephone Still Life Painting: We provided images of his actual art work, 3-D Phone & Lobster, paint, brushes, and paper. The children were invited to do a still life painting of the unexpected combination of objects. 2.The Persistence of Memory STEM Small World Play: We provided objects & loose parts that were similar to the dreamworld in which common objects are deformed and displayed in a bizarre way and the children were invited to create their own persistence of memory. 3. Ship with Butterfly Sails Art: We provided a ship made out of recycled boxes and invited the children to paint it, followed by adorning it with butterflies just like the painting. Invitations where children are exposed to different types of artists opens a child's mind to the many ways of creating art. When children learn about diverse types of art the more well rounded and creative they become. Art is a fundamental component of early childhood education therefore continuous exposure leads to seeing the world in different ways and learning about all the beautiful forms of art. Opportunities for creativity reinforces the children's ability to engage with the world in new and novel ways, which promotes inquiry, reflection and critical-thinking skills.

Freezing any type of toys, loose parts, or special ingredients always makes for a great way to explore science. We froze bones in gloves with water and provided magical potions mixtures to invite the children to experiment and explore how to excavate & release the phalanges from the ice. With beakers, Colored Potion Bottles , Learning Resources Spalshology Water Lab , Primary Science Lab Set , and twisty droppers the children worked together using different techniques of squirting water or pouring water to release the bones on our outdoor panning table with pump . They were able to discuss & collaborate on how to make the ice go from a solid to liquid state through a lot of trial and error. Even with all that experimenting with science, there was also a lot of water & sensory play, cognitive + fine motor development all packed into this invitation! Scientific opportunities such as this let children learn & explore their environments through a multi layer hands on approach. As they learn about cause & effect, cycles of nature, comparisons, chemical & physical changes, reactions & properties of matter, their curiosity about how the world works continues to form. When a child's curiosity continuously builds, children learn to be patient with projects that take time & how to make decisions based on the data they gathered. They are exposed to the basic skill for "scientific research" which is the ability to observe and realize how things are the same & how they are different. Developing this ability to understand likeness & differences builds a science base as well as a skill for future math & reading skills.

From the acclaimed author-illustrator of Gustavo, the Shy Ghost comes a charmingly spooky celebration of the difference of Vlad the Fabulous Vampire. Vlad has a passion for fashion and he hides his rosy complexion behind elaborate vampire outfits. When he finds out that his best friend has a pink secret of her own he finds his confidence to shine. After reading the story and talking about how we are all uniquely fabulous, we extended the literacy experience by inviting the children to create fashion like Vlad with pipe cleaners, pom poms, sparkly foam, felt, crepe paper, washi tape, googly eyes, yarn, and fabric scraps. Experimenting with different media and varying textures always brings a special spark of interest and engagement because of the open ended process for children. Children who engage in art such as this learn to think with an open mind, to look at situations creatively, and empower their talents. They develop critical-thinking skills through making self-directed decisions, how to use different materials, and feel empowered to be creative. By creating freely children gain confidence while acquiring the foundation to look at the world with the confidence that they can accomplish any goal. When children create art, they are proud to be unique and take risks, while honoring their innate creative artistic style.

Since we love Gustavo, the Shy Ghost it was only a matter of time to read another book in the series Leila, the Perfect Witch. In the story Leila dreams of winning a Magnificent Witchy Cake-off! Through the help of her three magical sisters who share their baking secrets she discovers that win or lose she has discovered baking is fun! To extend the literacy experience we invited the children to create their own spooky baked goodies just like Leila did in the book. We provided these cookies sets from Target and invited the children to bake just like Leila! Extending the literacy experience through any invitations deepens their comprehension of the story, builds upon their language, and honors their interests with what's going on in the world around them. The best part about integrating books and hands-on learning is that it further ignites their curiosity and wonder of the world all through the power of a story and creating!

Today we read the story Gustavo, the Shy Ghost. In the book shy Gustavo is finding the courage to make friends during the spooky season. He loves nothing more than playing on his violin, and with the Day of the Dead approaching he wanted to share his two favorite things with them. Through loneliness, bravery, and friendship he provides an experience for his friends. Reading stories that incorporate celebrations such as Día de los Muertos, is a wonderful way for children to learn more about different cultures. This ancient Mexican tradition honors ancestors and loved ones who have passed. The preparation of sugar skulls, delicious food, flowers, art, and shrines are made for the festivities of singing, dancing, and reminiscing. To extend the literacy experience we invited the children to create their own cemetery along with ofrendas just like the one where Gustavo played his violin. We provided these amazing foam blocks donated from the Bay Area Discovery Museum, wooden tombstones, skulls, skeletons, monarch butterflies, marigolds, ofrendas, alebrijes, wooden spooky friends, and MerryMakers plush Gustavo! Extending the literacy experience through any invitations deepens their comprehension of the story, builds upon their language, and honors their interests with what's going on in the world around them. The best part about integrating books and hands-on learning is that it further ignites their curiosity and wonder of the world all through the power of a story and play! Invitation to Decorate Calaveras with Loose Parts Four Día de Los Muertos Invitations

Story time is a powerful way to build meaningful literacy skills. Today we read the story Room on the Broom and as we read the books we had our felt board out to use our literature inspired Rally Felt Co. Set. Felt Sets are amazing to use for story sequencing props. They help a child to be able to observe, recall, and sequence events. In story sequencing, children learn about patterns in relationships and they learn to understand the order of things. By learning to sequence, the children develop the ability to understand and arrange purposeful patterns of actions, behaviors, ideas, or thoughts. Ordering stories and directions helps children develop necessary skills such as reasoning and inferring. It also helps them become better writers later down the line as they learn there is a logical sequence of events in stories and life. After reading the story we further extended the literacy experience by inviting the children to become witches on broomsticks for some Action Process Art! We provided small brooms and pampas grass as their broomstick brushes. Provided Colorations BioColor & Tempera Paint and butcher paper as their canvas. The children were invited to paint by flying on their broomsticks! With the little witches cackling with excitement, they loved exploring the different ways they could use the brooms in order to paint. They brushed the butcher paper making different strokes and mixed all the colors. There was definitely some problem solving to do from beginning to end when discovering how to maneuver and use the paint brushes. Gross motor skills were being enhanced as they had to use their whole body to move the broom sticks. Endless creativity was flowing as their imaginations were running wild pretending to be witches.

National Hispanic and Latinx Heritage Month is a period from September 15 to October 15 in the United States for recognizing the contributions and influence of Hispanic Americans to the history, culture, and achievements of the United States. Today we learned about Selena the American Texan Singer who is one of the most celebrated Mexican-American entertainers of the late 20th century. We read the stories Queen of Tejano Music: Selena & The Life of - La Vida De Selena. After reading the stories we invited the children to build a stage that Selena could sing on just like she did at her concerts. In a tuff tray we provided red roses & petals, translucent blocks, and a plush doll of the singer. We also played her music as they created and explored. Continuously reading stories that honor different cultures establishes an inclusive environment where every child can feel seen. The more we learn about all cultures in classrooms or our homes, the more knowledge and understanding we provide for everyone within our communities. Exposure to other cultures stories brings personal meaning and awareness to the classroom or home. While children’s books open children’s eyes to differences, actual experiences such as this invitation can have a profound influence on helping children understand, respect similarities and differences, and comprehend the story. They begin to understand who they are in context of race, ethnic group, culture, religion, language and familial history. It provides a child with personally meaningful information and also introduces concepts from anthropology, culture, history, religion, geography, etc.

The past couple of years we did similar invitations such as: Five Little Pumpkins STEM with Natural Wooden Blocks , Five Little Pumpkins STEM Invitation with Jumbo Interlocking Blocks . This year we added different building materials and figurines to integrate small world play into the invitation. The beauty of STEM is that you can do the same invitation and modify or enhance the process by providing different materials. To set this invitation you will need tree blocks ( with bark , without ) , wooden hollow blocks, translucent colored blocks, gem blocks, smaller sized pumpkins, a witch, ghosts, spiders, and trees. You can read or sing the story Five Little Pumpkins followed by inviting the children to create a gate or small world play of the story. Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate, First one said "Oh my, it's getting late!" Second one said "There are witches in the air," Third one said "but we don't care!" Fourth one said "Let's run and run and run." Fifth one said "I'm ready for some fun!" Ooo ooo went the wind, and out went the lights, And five little pumpkins rolled out of sight. Integrating literacy or songs followed by a STEM invitation is a great way to deepen their connection and to make the book/song come to life. The goal with this invitation was to inspire the child to recreate the story/song through building. Depending on the child's age they may need your guidance, engagement, or collaboration to begin the building process. If that is the case, a lot of language and mirroring what is going to be done and what you are going to do together will help guide the process. If they are old enough you can prompt questions before building of "Can you build a gate for the pumpkins just like the story or song we just read?" Followed by letting them build in their own way. Opportunities for hands-on play with different materials allow children to learn and extend their knowledge and creative thinking skills. STEM invitations are designed to engage and stretch their thinking by introducing/extending the engineering and design process through building which is a natural fit due to the fact that in the early years a child's work is to constantly problem solve through play. This invitation is a perfect opportunity to change a building invitation to challenge the child to think and create in new ways, while enhancing their interpretation and perception of the song or story they just read.

When a child shows extreme interest in a subject matter, creating invitations to build upon their curiosity honors their learning process by letting them be active collaborators. So sometimes, when you are in the thick of watching the same movie over and over like we are with Nightmare Before Christmas, creating an invitation through open-end play can provide for a meaningful experience to guid a child's exploration in something they are genuinely interested in. To set this invitation in tuff tray, Haunted Houses Excellerations® Building Brilliance® Magnetic Clear , Halloween Critters, Skulls, Tombstones, Bones/Skulls, Creepy Cloth, and Nightmare Before Christmas Figurines were provided. Small world play accompanied with loose parts & STEM materialsare a great way for extending literacy, language, imaginary play, and tactile play. Through this play they can reenact what they see in stories, movies, shows, experiences, and 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, and 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. Here are other similar Halloween Invitations: Gilbert the Ghost STEM + Small World Play , Invitation to Create a Spooky House