Welcome to Fun With Junk Camp - Session 2

We had such a nice opening to our camp week with our preschool friends today. We opened around clay and were happy to see that everyone was willing to dig their hands right in. We rolled balls, made coils and many friends found ways to make their clay stand up. The pictures show how our work evolved throughout the day, with everyone exchanging skills and ideas.

After our gathering activity, we split up for small group work. Susan and her friends mixed paint, starting with the primary colors and white in squeeze bottles. The children explored what would happen if they mixed two of the colors together, and then they were encouraged to make more of the color they mixed. The paints were then used to cover a board that will be used in a project that we work on every day. We also made the paint available to use at the easels during free exploration.

In Kelley's group, we explored the kinds of marks we could make with everyday items if we dipped them in black paint. The children enjoyed discussing what the items were used for: "Oh, I had medicine in this!" and "Tic-tacs were inside here!" They then made designs on colored paper.

We ate snack and lunch on the patio where we heard the sounds of the metro and enjoyed people watching from our perch. The children also explored enormous planters on the patio and even tried to move them!

During our free exploration time, many friends worked together to create a kitchen that was eventually connected to a restaurant that served iced mango-lemon tea and soup. Designing the kitchen and collecting the ice for the tea required a lot of cooperation and team work. 

Friends also painted at the easel, worked in the message center, explored lenses (ice) on the sensory table, added color to their found object prints and returned to clay. "An army of snowmen" with silly tops was created on the clay board. 

We hope you enjoy the pictures from our first day. We look forward to seeing everyone tomorrow!