Next to our playground is a skate park know locally as 'the humps and bumps'. The following day after we had the bon- fire children were playing over at the park. 'Arrh come and look...' screamed some of the children. As we ran over to the humps a small group of children had discovered a rather large frozen puddle. As they walked and skidded across you could hear the ice cracking under foot and air bubbles popping. 'Lets smash it!', 'what a brilliant idea'...We ran back to our play hut collected up a number of small hammers and shovels and made our way back...
It wasn't long before we were joined by other children and soon after some patience the top layer was broken up. The children continued to play in this area for the rest of the evening. Some adventureous children challenegd each other to stand in the cold water, 'yieks' freeezing!
The temperature has defiantly dropped and the cold snap has finally reached Hackney Marsh Adventure Playground. This gave us an idea and children were invited to experiment with water and ice.
Each child was given a disposable cake tin and they were asked to fill it with things they found within the playground. Some children picked natural things like leaves, berries and twigs while other children cut paper flowers, glitter and buttons.
Once their tins were finished the children filled them with water, sealed with foil and placed them in the freezer over night.
Some children even added food colouring to their ice art blocks. The next day we had lots of wonderful ice blocks but very cold hands!
Monday, 28 November 2011
HAND ON ACTIVITIES
November has been a very exciting month for us. The children have undertaken a number of new creative project and have got their hands truly stuck in - digging, mixing, rubbing and shaking!
Here's a quick run down of what we have been up to...
Sand Castles with a twist! - Moon Sand
... what is moon sand you ask? Well, basically it's wet sand that can be kept, re- moulded and re-shaped time and time again.After some research we discovered a cheap alternative to the shop bought supplies and here is how you can make your own moon sand.
for an added sparkle we added red glitter to our mixture too!
RECIPE FOR HOMEMADE MOON SAND
6 cups of play sand
3 cups of cornstarch
1 1/2 cups of cold water
Mix the water and cornstarch together until a smooth paste. Gradually mix in the sand, one cup at a time. You'll need to really work it in with your fingers. Add additional food colouring to change the shade (we used red) and your ready to play! When you're finished pop it in an airtight container ready for the next time you want to play with it. (if it's dried out slightly add a few tablespoons of water. Just sprinkle it over and work it in.)
TREASURE HUNTERS a go-go!
A new addition to our playground kit is this fantastic metal detector. Small groups of children took turns to search and dig around the playground looking for buried coins and relics.
"come on guys -dig deep!"
UNDER AND OVER, OUTDOOR WEAVING
An interesting creative idea came about with the use of a couple of cut down branches, tree stump and materials box. Children were encouraged to express their creative ideas and explore through this weaving experiences outside our main play hut. Passing children stopped to ask was it an early chritmas tree as it was so colourful!
PLAY, SENSORY MEDIUM USING COLOURED RICE
Did you know that rice can also be used as a playful thing too? The texture is something that is lovely to sift though you fingers, shake and sprinkle. It's alot of fun and adding colour to it adds an extra element. It's really simple to do and a lot of fun.
The best rice to use is long gram white rice. Pour a cup full of rice into a small sandwich bag and add a table spoon of water. Then add a few drops of food colouring. Seal the bag and shake until all the small grams of rice are covered. Afterwards open the bag and spread the rice onto kitchen roll tissue and leave to dry over night. We made 3 different colours but of course you can make lots of different colours and shades depending on the amount of food colouring you add.
Autumn has finally arrived at Hackney Marsh Adventure Playground. The leaves are falling, orange and yellow hues decorate the pathways, platforms and tree houses. The mild temperatures meant we still have plenty of activities happening outside from den building, decorating the tree house and at the end of the day 'murder in the dark' hide & seek team games.
Tuesday 1st November, Salt Dough Autumn Leaves:
This week we experimented with making salt dough autumn leaves. In the past we have made play dough which is a much loved activity. The children enjoy squeezing, shaping and modelling the dough but their items are never persevered. This time we followed a very simple salt dough recipe and added food colouring at the beginning in autumn shades. Salt dough is a cheap alternative to commercial clay based material and easy to make.
What you need:2 cups of plain flour, ½ cup of salt, 1 cup of water, food colouring, extra flour for rolling out.
Mix the flour and salt together and then add enough water to make a dough ball that is firm but not sticky. Add the water drop by drop until you get the right consistency. Knead the dough until its flexible then roll it out, on a floured board. The thickness should be approximately 1cm. Place the shapes on a foil-lined baking tray and cook in the oven at 120oC for 2 hours or leave to air dry for a few days turning occasionally.
Children rolled out their coloured salt dough. The next stage they pressed a real leave into the soft dough and finally cut around the shape. When the leaves have dried we will varnish then so they have a sleek gloss finish.
ROCKY ROAD TOFFEE APPLES-YUMMY!
With Bon-fire night just a few days away we made these delicious rock road toffee apples. These were really easy to make and lots of children took part in doing a task. We organized a small factory line, one person added the toffee, another person dipped the chocolate, someone else added the chopped up marshmallows and sprinkles were added just at the end. The only downside to this was that we had to wait for everything to cool down before we could tuck in!
Well worth the wait - mm, yummy!
BON-FIRE event
Ooh - a marshmallow tree!
This year we held our bon-fire event a day early and organized a number of fun things for the children to take part in. First, we had to get the fire going with the help of a few older children this didn't take long. A huge cook out was prepared and sausages, potatoes, soup and apple pie were all on offer.
Children earlier in the week helped Cat (playworker) to make a stuffed guy for the fire. A number of debates were had about what the face should be, if it was a girl or boy?
The guy was thrown on to the fire, with in minutes in went up in a ball of flamesto the delight of all who were watching!
Firework themed art work: Girls used their hands to flick and mix paint to depict the glowing night sky.
