 It was good to be back after the winter break, and to also put some routine in our days! On our first day the children investigated the light tables and our light projector. They placed items over the light and noticed their effects on color and aspects of light and shadow. In the hallway we like to offer a gross motor exploration. The week the children crawled in large boxes and played with the light from flashlights. We continue to have centers for painting and clay work adding various formats to challenge and add elements of surprise to challenge the children's thinking. We always provide a "skills" table where children with their adult can work on scissoring, taping, gluing and mark making. See you all next week! Eve and Courtney The Animal Welfare League of Alexandria (AWLA) and UpCycle Creative Reuse Center teamed up again in the north hall of the Torpedo Factory for First Night Alexandria festivities. The AWLA brought two dogs and a snake that were available for adoption. Pugly was a 1 year old pug mix who will be available for adoption after he receives extra medical attention. Franco was a friendly 10 year old pug/Brussels Griffon mix and Monty was an adult ball python looking for a forever home. Children were invited to paint, draw, and create a collage of one of the on-site animals to help get them adopted. George Washington joined in the creative fun and made a portrait of his best animal friend Screech! Eight pieces of artwork from the event have been selected as animal winners and are posted on UpCycle's Facebook page. The public is invited to "like" the artwork until midnight on January 7, 2017. The design with the most "likes" overall wins an AWLA Executive Director led tour of the Shelter for up to 20 guests and a gift certificate to UpCycle Creative Reuse Center. All of the artwork created at First Night Alexandria's Kids Help Get Animals Adopted Through Art may be viewed below. UpCycle provided a variety of arts educational programming and outreach in our community. Here are some highlights from 2016. What a year! Materials Playgroup - for ages 1.5-4 years Tinker Time - for ages 3+ Studio Workshops, Scouts, School Groups and Parties Camps - for ages 3-15 Partner Events - Alexandria's First Night with the Animal Welfare League of Alexandria; Torpedo Factory Arts Safari; Space Bop with Arts on the Horizon Adult Art Workshops Teacher Professional Development Outreach in Alexandria City Public Schools Preschool and K Classrooms Community Events - Maker Faire, Alexandria's Earth Day Celebration, Art on the Avenue Fundraising Events - Gingerbread House Decorating Party
A very warm thank you to everyone who joined us for our Gingerbread House Decorating Party on Sunday. It was wonderful to gather with friends and see so many creative ways to design with candy--much of it donated to us after Halloween. Now that's creative reuse! Huge thanks goes out to the Bennett, Jahns and Setliff families for serving as the host committee for our first ever fundraising event! And, a special thank you goes to Susan Miranda who shared her party idea with UpCycle and made the inspiring gingerbread Masonic Temple. We hope to see you all again next year! Thank you and happy holidays from all of us at UpCycle!  Research shows that when children are engaged with open-ended materials, their minds are more actively and dynamically engaged. Open-ended materials allow for children to explore and discover according to what interests and engages them. In Upcycle's playgroups, children challenge themselves by trying materials in new ways--like our recent ball play in the hallway. They also are experiencing activities that reinforce fine motor development through gluing, cutting and mark making.  It is lovely to see the children engaging eagerly in activities with each other and also with the other adults present. They are growing into a wonderful community of learners! Here is a selection of photos from the last time we were together. This week we explored different textures. We sprayed watercolor on crinkly paper, painted on slick plastic and taped and drew on bumpy (and very sparkly) paper.
We also explored printmaking with tubes and cork on cardstock and really loved the bubble effect the tubes created! We built with blocks and tubes and had a ball playing with bouncy balls on a large ramp outside of the classroom. This week was about exploring common items in creative ways.
We drew on boxes and cardboard and had a table dedicated to tape. The children loved playing with the different colors, sizes and stickiness of our many tape rolls. They also explored taping different types and textures of fabrics and sometimes just had fun seeing how long the tape could get. On the easels, we switched from dark paint on light paper to light paint on dark paper for a different contrast. We had a table to explore cutting many different types of paper and ribbon. Our tubes, boxes and balls provided numerous ways to create slides, pathways and tunnels and explore motion. We welcomed new and returning friends to playgroup this week! We will gather around clay each time we meet. It's nice for children to encounter a familiar activity upon arrival. They feel confident to enter playgroup, explore the material and use it in new ways. During UpCycle's Materials Playgroups we set up experiences to make children think and make connections between experiences and various materials. We have been noticing the children's strong interest in balls and rolling them down tubes and gutter pieces. We invited the children to experience clay and the tubes in a new way. We connected these two activities! This prompted delight with the children as they immediately understood the connection. They tested small and large clay balls, flattened balls and lumpy balls. Some went fast, others slow. And guess what! Rubber balls bounce; clay balls do not! It is exciting to watch children create new understandings and connections by joining what they see and experience with previous understandings. At the easel we continued the "round" idea. The children painted the round shapes of apple box dividers. The teachers, caretakers and parents in the class are partners with the children-thinking in new ways. It's all about connecting! |
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