Clubhouse Paint, Just add Leche

There are certain words in my home that are almost always said in Spanish. There are also certain words in my home that are almost always said 150 times a day. Leche falls into both of those categories. It is Milk, and it is my Son's absolute favorite thing to drink, above all, bar none. He asks for it all day, all the time. He has even been known to ask for it in his sleep, which leads me to believe he dreams about it. Yes, it is a hot commodity in this house. I have often contemplated purchasing a cow.

So today when I brought some tins full of leche into the Clubhouse Classroom, he was ready to lap it up like a kitten and get on with his day. 

When I explained we would be making rainbows in the milk, he just wanted to know if he could drink it when we were done. Not this time buddy.

I used whole milk, food coloring, dish soap and toothpicks. This was so incredibly simple, and the results were quite impressive.

First, let the kids squeeze drops of food coloring into their milk.

Then, let them dip the end of the "rainbow maker" into the milk.

(That's really just a toothpick that has been dipped in the dish soap, 

but why call it that when you can make this magical?)

Now, watch the magic...

The colors seem to instantly run away from the toothpick...

"Rainbows in my leche!!!"

Everyone dipped,

and swirled,

and made rainbows.

The kids wanted to try "normal toothpicks" to see if they worked the same.

They didn't.

So they went back to their "rainbow makers" and kept creating magic :)

It was quite beautiful, as you can see...

and we successfully made it through the entire activity without my Son sticking his face in the tin and drinking up.


Milk, it does a body good... and you can make rainbows in it!

Ms. Liz

**Our inspiration was found here, at another blog name I adore... Modern Parents Messy Kids. 

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Clubhouse Creation Station, DIY Sensory Bags

The Clubhouse has a lot of "stations" that come and go, and some that are a permanent facet of the classroom. Albeit in many of those permanent stations things can be "created", an actual Creation Station is solely all about creating our finished product. Hands on, all ingredients at our fingertips, we dig right in and get to creating.

This morning, carousing through the classroom pantry for inspiration, I suddenly knew exactly what could be created... using almost everything in the pantry! Usually, I'm the one who does the creating of this specific tool, why not let them do it themselves and see what happens?

So I set it all up, and braced myself for a messy adventure in sensory exploration...

Table #1 had a variety of subtances in a variety of containers. I wanted the kids to be able to pour, squeeze, scoop... obtain their ingredients several different ways. All part of the process, right?

So what is all that stuff?

Colored water, oil, aloe vera, shampoo, food coloring, and that goopy substance sold by the vat that is still called hair gel but hasn't touched my hair since 1986. Sand, Dirt, Corn Starch, Coffee. Measuring Cups and Spoons, and of course.. let us not forget.. some heavy duty baggies ;)

That was not nearly enough for a Creation Station though, so we had to have another table. 

Cotton balls, dry pasta, different color pom poms, coins, sunflower seeds, easter "grass", sprinkles, lavender bath salts, small toy dinosaurs, marbles, sprinkles, nutmeg and cinnamon.

Phew. Is that enough? You would think so, but there were a few last minute additions that didn't make the photo. I was absolutely running around the house this morning grabbing random things from bathrooms and toy bins. That is the best thing about this concept. You could honestly set this whole thing up without having to run to the store for anything. Unless you don't have baggies. You absolutely need the baggies!

There were no set "rules" for this activity. I have made so many different sensory bags for the classroom, he knew the end result he was going for. Explaining that he could use anything from either table in his baggies, he got right to work.

So, here I am with another one of those blogs where the pictures do most of the talking. What can I say? When allowing the Preschooler to explore, to create on his own... I am always the one who ends up learning. From start to finish, this was all him. Sure I may have put out a few things that clearly go together, but he was the one who decided what went into his baggies. I had to hold the bags open from time to time, but other than that I was there solely for conversation... and oh what great conversation it was!

The first bag was a bit of a free-for-all of ingredients as he poured in water, oil, added some dirt, corn starch, a pinch of coffee.. etc.

"This bag really needs red water!"

"That's oil. Look at the bubbles!"

He added and added until the bag really just looked like it had a little of everything. 

I anticipated this.

Finally he announces,

"This bag is done!"

We sealed it up and he got to squishing...

I was certain this bag was going to be my first big mess of the morning.

He squished, a lot. 

He laid it on the table and smashed everything around.

Squish!!

He squished some more.

It's amazing how tough those little bags are, even when being squeezed by tough little hands.

Then he started shaking the bag.

"It will change if I shake it!"

...and change it did.

"It's Pink!! I made Pink Dirt!!"

I had forgotten he had even put dirt in that bag, but he certainly hadn't forgotten.

He set out to find the dirt he knew he put in there...

and find it he did.

Pointing to the dirt he knew he added to his bag.

This bag kept him busy for awhile, so I reminded him that he could make more.

"I CAN MAKE MORE?!"

Maybe I should have clarified that in the beginning. Then perhaps he would not have tried to add every ingredient to one bag.

Note taken.

In total he made 11 bags, and he was at work for at least 2 hours.

TWO WHOLE HOURS doing ONE activity. 

That alone was worth the clean up.

All of the substances had different scents, textures and colors so we got to talk about all of those differences as he went along. This was absolutely a sensory adventure, but that wasn't all.

Squeezing bottles, pouring liquids, measuring out with cups and spoons, reaching his hands into different size containers (the goop all over his hands definitely helped him reach right into the smaller jars... bonus!) He was focused, and having fun! 

The blue goop, a.k.a hair gel, was a favorite.

"These are swampy waters!!"

He tried scooping it into baggies with his hands, and eventually realized he could transfer more with a measuring cup.

"This stuff is what people get stuck in!" he says as he pretends his hand won't come out.

Enter the dramatic play as we feverishly work to get his hand out of the swampy quick sand :)

He did make some bags that were "sensible".

Dirt, seeds and water went in one bag.

The toy dino's were coupled with sand in another bag.

Mostly though, his imagination was in charge.

He decided the lines in there were roads.

"This one has roads in it! I made roads!" 

(That's Aloe Vera squirted into a baggie that had green water and cornstarch.. and those "roads" stayed that way for awhile.)

Adding marbles and cotton balls to a baggie (full of goop and nutmeg) we talked about how the cotton balls got mushy and you could squish them.

"Not the marbles though, marbles are hard and even when I put them in there they don't get squishy like the puff balls do!"

As he declared each baggie done, I was amazed at how cool his creation had come together. For every sensory bag "recipe" you find online, you can find a Preschooler to top it with their own invention. Yes, invention. That's what he said they were.

"I'm inventing things here!"

Once he was done inventing, we took all of the baggies outside to explore them further. I asked him what the name was of each individual baggie. Of course, he had a name for every one. 

"My 1..2..3..4..5 bag"

He remembered every ingredient that went into each bag. 

He explained his reasoning for some bags.

"For this bag, I thought Pasta was a good idea."

"This bag smelled like Pancakes when I made it!"

"This is my swampy waters bag."

"This bag is full of a green gooey goo, I put in a lot.. not just a little."

Yes, there's pasta in there somewhere.

"This bag has coffee, oil and pasta. Find the pasta!"

On, and on we talked about all of his sensory bags, and I'll tell you something...

I will never make a sensory bag by myself again :)

The Creation Station, DIY Sensory Bags will remain open throughout the next week, and I am excited to see all of the sensory bags that fill the Classroom. 

We're already off to a pretty good start...

Oh, and as for that first baggie he made that I was certain would be a big mess:

It's pretty much proving to be indestructible!!

Grab some baggies and swamp water and have some fun,

Ms. Liz

If you liked this post, check out this one and see how we used the ingredients in our Fall Fun Basket to make Fall Sensory Bags.

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Clubhouse Paint, Squirt Bottles Optional

This week's paint recipe was one we have been waiting to do because as simple as the recipe was, I was missing one key part of the process... the squirt bottle. Honestly, I have been keeping an eye out for the perfect squirt bottles for over a month now. Then, lo and behold, at the market this weekend I noticed a few I thought were perfect! Finally we had the green light for our Puffy Paint adventure.

The recipe for Puffy Paint is all over the internet, but I stumbled across it here awhile ago. Her pretty little squirt bottles all lined up in a row convinced me this would be a fun one to try. Preschoolers like to squeeze things, right?

With all that was needed lined up, we were ready to go.

The purpose of our weekly paint adventures is to let the kids make the actual paint. They look forward to what kind of paint they will be whipping up every week. So when the pots, spoons, and ingredients came out... they were excited to get started.

The recipe is simple. Equal parts of three ingredients. Add some color. Presto.

"Oooh, is this coffee paint again?!" (Um, no. No coffee in sight. We will definitely have to do the coffee paint again soon though, it was clearly a Clubhouse Favorite.)

Each child armed with their own "paint pot", measured out 1/2 cup of all 3 ingredients.

Flour.

Salt.

Water.

Stir.

I had a few different large spoons available for stirring, but these are Preschoolers...

The stirring went from being done with our spoons to being done with our hands.

All part of the process. Speaking of which, I love the name of the blog that we got this recipe from. Get Your Mess On. We do that every day at the Clubhouse. It's how we get our Learning on too ;)

Once the mixture was all mixed up, the kids got to pick their color.

Here is where I probably should have had a tablespoon or something available for them to measure.

I didn't though.

I just let them give it a good squeeze.

Some squeeze a little more than others though, and we ended up with varying amounts of paint in our squirt bottles once I filled them all up.








With the squirt bottles ready to go, I put out some cardboard and let them get to painting.

Some colors required a bit more squeeze on the bottles while painting.

Again, I think this is because of the varying amounts of the liquid paint added for color.

Next time, tablespoons. Check.

The squirt bottles were fun though,
and a new way for everyone to paint. 

At first, they were really enjoying the squirt factor...

and then...

Someone decided just dumping the paint out would be more fun.

Next time, screw the lids on tighter. Um, maybe even crazy glue them. Check.

Once I poured that smurf puddle back into the bottles I told the kiddos to keep the paint in the bottles. Easy enough.

The squirting continues momentarily...

and then...

Who needs a squirt bottle?

It figures, right? The one part of the process I think is going to be a raving success, and they toss them to the side and turn this into an adventure in finger painting. So we talk about how the paint feels, since they decided to add sensory painting to the lesson plan :)

"Feels like sand!"

"Tickles!"

"Slimy!"

The fingerpainting with puffy paint went on for awhile, and I must admit.. I thought for sure these paintings were in no way going to dry "puffy". They were bright and beautiful... puddles. I set them outside to dry though, and the Arizona sunshine worked some magic.

Definitely dried puffy, and even a bit shimmery. 

Seems puffy paint does not necessarily require squirt bottles.

I could have left it at that, but then once we came in from outside a certain someone headed back to the puffy paint, and couldn't get enough of the squirt bottle fun.

He wanted white paper so he could pretend he was decorating a cake.

Then he wanted to make "really big circles"...

...and tackle that tough to squeeze red color.

So, overall, with or without squirt bottles, puffy paint was a success!!

I think we'll keep the squirt bottles though.

Big Squeezes,

Ms. Liz