Projects
February, 2012
Planting Seeds
While enjoying popcorn and avocados for afternoon snack on January 4th, one buddy shared that she was saving her popcorn kernels so that she could plant them and grow popcorn trees. The idea grew into a spontaneous growing experiment following snack time and the popcorn kernels and an avocado pit were planted after gathering our materials such as: soil, plant pots, spoons, watering can, paint to decorate the pots. After a few days there was no sprouting despite all the watering and care, days past and still nothing was happening. Our research told us that avocados planted in soil would grow faster than any other method. After a few weeks, the children were open to planting spinach and basil and wanted to see if these would sprout sooner. The grow light was added to the mix, and soon many of our buddies wanted to plant their own!
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The children have put together their own planting books, where we keep track of the watering and how much time it has taken to see some sprouting! On February 1st we noticed the first seeds to sprout! There are now 2 basil plants showing tiny sprouts and 2 spinach plants showing more prominent sprouting. We will keep watering these little sprouts and look forward to tasting them too!
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January, 2012
Space Exploration
It began with a simple question: What can we make out of straws and connectors? After a brief argument, and a failed attempt at making a bed, the kids decided to make a spaceship. “What do we need for a spaceship?” Lawrence asked, and a list was created.
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Once the ship was created, we needed to set the destination! They decided to explore nearby planets, including “Big Ben” Planet, “Playdough” Planet, and many more! We made a thorough investigation, and collected samples from each one.
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December, 2011
The Grinch
This little buddy dropped into Buddings excited about the Grinch, from the Dr. Seuss movie: “How the Grinch stole Christmas.”
Together we looked at pictures of the Grinch on our very cool Ipad and our little buddy decided to create a Grinch Image on our front window to get to know this character a little bit better. The process continued with our little buddy wanting to dress up as the Grinch with a BIG heart. The mask has whiskers draw on it (hard to see because they are yellow), and the claws were so fun to tape on! We traced our buddy’s body on to large paper and cut out the arms and legs and drew fur onto the images, we also added a rib cage x ray with a small heart and a Santa hat!
The play was then extended further by finding out what our buddy knew about the Grinch. What he knew was: the Grinch had a small heart, and that is why he wanted to steal Christmas. He also knew that the Grinch has a dog named “Max” and so, after viewing images of Max on the IPad, we created a mask for the dog. It was then decided that: Jenny would play ”Max” and our little buddy would play the Grinch!
This Grinch at Buddings wanted to role play as the Grinch with a BIG heart. When I asked him why the heart changes from small to big, our buddy shared: ” The Grinch grows a big a heart because he is giving back all the presents”.
Then it was time to make a Christmas Tree with Presents underneath. These presents were taped onto the tree that he painted, so we could pretend to ”steal” them and then “give the presents back”. Our little buddy then wondered if his body was bigger than the Grinch with the small heart. So to find out we traced our little buddy’s self onto the window with our magical erasable window markers! As it turned out, our Buddy is a little bit bigger than the Grinch with a small heart! We also researched and printed out the words to the song “Your’e a mean one Mr. Grinch” from the movie. This little buddy loves learning the words to songs he loves. He especially loves the part:” The three words that best describe you are as follows and I quote: Stink, stank, stunk! ”
November 28 – December 2, 2011
Bears and Dragons!
This week, our inspirational topic is: all about bears. We were ready with materials to make bear puppets, and a den for them to hibernate comfortably. Our little buddy wanted to create a dragon puppet as well as make a den for the dragon. So we created a web of possible materials for the project! Toe pin the paper bag dragon was created.
His den is brown, filled with bamboo and soft paper spirals. Next, we made a Lego dragon. Toe pin the paper bag dragon was happy to have the lego version come by for a visit!
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The Bears – Ed, Fred and Ted – and the Dragons embrace one another. They celebrate their differences and rejoice in the ways they are the same!
November, 2011
Appreciating Dinosaurs!
This week, in celebration of the end of our licensing adventure, our Theme is APPRECIATION. We have so much to be thankful for! Of course, an emergent curriculum is an active process, and while we visited our theme in a few different ways, the most interesting project by far revolved around… da da da! PTERODACTYLS!
What do we know about Pterodactyls?The Pterodactyl needed a nest. The children decided that nests should be made of bamboo sticks and big and small branches. And a nest should have eggs! Luckily, Jenny knew a great egg “recipe,” so we could fill the nest. When Talia asked what we say for when babies come out of eggs, the answer was: “Wow!” … or “hatch”… 
When we discussed what pterodactyls eat, we then needed a frog. Luckily, Talia had a blue jumping frog in her handbag! We found out that we would find the frogs in a pond, so we created that, too!
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