Giant Bubbles

After all taking turns to blow bubbles this morning we decided we would experiment making giant bubbles. We managed to make them really big, this involved lots of trial and error with our mixture. Next time we will investigate to how we can make them big enough to stand inside the bubble.

Creating a dragon!

At Uxbridge, we like to show respect to our multi cultural community by learning about all the different cultures, customs and traditions that are important to them. During this time of the year we celebrate the Chinese New Year. To mark this event we took part in several events. Today we created a Chinese dragon using our creativeness and artistic expressions. We put our thinking hats on, suggesting different ideas for creating our dragon. The children contributed in painting the paper cups, which was to be used for the dragon’s body. While we were painting the cups we talked about how we could make the different body parts of the dragon. Jack suggested that we can use a cardboard box for his head and glue some red pom poms on the face as eyes. Evan and Isobel  wanted the dragon’s tail to be gold. Everyone put their ideas into action by finding  the resources. Gabriel wanted to be involved in too. He was so excited to see the dragon when we put it together. He stick some red cellophane on the dragon’s mouth to make it look like it was breathing fire. “He breaths fire!” he said very excitedly. The children have been creative and resourceful and they have used their problem solving skills throughout this project. Our dragon looked fantastic after we had finished it, and the children and we were very proud of  our creation.  By Anu

Celebrating Chinese New Year!!

It is the time of year celebrate Lunar New Year (formerly known as Chinese new year).  It is the time of year where the Chinese culture celebrates the new year.  Traditionally they give gifts of money in red envelopes, and hold parties with their loved ones.  It is a time of great joy and celebration.  Over the Lunar new year period, we have been learning through artwork.  Red and gold creations, red and gold playdough as well as making our very own Chinese dragon!  To complete our celebration, we held our very own party.  Apart from people, the most important ingredient in any successful party is, of course, FOOD!  Chinese noodles to be exact!

Firstly, we cut up the vegetables.  We used carrots and onions, and added some frozen peas, corn and beans to our hot Wok.  

The next step was crack open some eggs, into a bowl and then whisk them using a fork.  It was quite tricky to keep the eggs in the bowl, but it was good practice, and we learned how much force we need our arm to use when whisking. 

 Next we added some egg noodles and soy sauce.  

All that was left was to mix it until it was all cooked, and we were able to sit down and enjoy!

Celebrating with our Uxbridge Whanau, over our home made noodles, was the perfect way for us to learn about the Lunar New Year.  By learning about cultural celebrations, we are giving our children an understanding of the greater world around them.  Real life experiences produce authentic learning outcomes, which our children will be able to draw on throughout their lives.  As we are now experts at making noodles, maybe we could expand our cooking skills and try some other Chinese delicacies like, fried rice, dumplings or wontons.   I can't wait!    Written by Mel - Feb 2018.

Flowers for our Valentines!!

Rainy day fun!

It was raining really hard all day.  There was no chance of us getting to go out side and run around, so we needed to improvise.  We are lucky to have a deck area downstairs that is sheltered from the rain, but where we can still get some fresh air.  Because it is always important for preschoolers to be able to use their bodies to move and explore as much as possible, we needed to set up an experience that promoted movement.  Between two frames, there was a plank, which the children we able to jump off onto some mats.  This was such great fun, but everyone soon got tired of doing the same thing over and over.  To make it a bit more challenging, we strung a balloon up.  This provided a target for the children to aim towards.  Some children were able to touch it straight away, while others needed a few tries to perfect their technique.  Moving is such an integral part of being a human being.  Our bodies need movement in order to function and stay healthy.  Movement is also crucial for brain development as well as physical development.  It may sound strange, but you need to be able to move, in order to learn how to stay still.  Jumping off the plank, helped the children to develop their muscles, co ordination, depth perception and their proprioceptive and vestibular systems, which are needed for balance and the control of their body (for example, holding a pen or holding your body still while you listen).  We had such fun, but we were also learning and developing our bodies at the same time.

Mt Valentine

We love to build volcanoes in the sandpit and make them erupt. The children built a heart shaped volcano in the sandpit on Valentines day which we named Mt Valentine and had lots of fun exploring science as they made their volcano erupt.

Isobel had a great idea to drill a hole for the crater instead of using our hands

Adding the baking soda

Evan adds some vinegar to cause a fizzing reaction

We added red colour to make it look like lava

Lachlan has a turn to add the vinegar

Issy just loves making the volcanoes erupt. Gabriel was jumping and squealing with excitement as the lava flowed down Mt Valentine. 

Jack also enjoyed adding some vinegar to our crater

Happy Valentines Day!!