Forest floors and paper mache!

Boom!

So this morning's group was focused on making our own forest floor~  We talked about the different things you see when walking through the woods, all the different leaves and sticks, bugs and worms and critters.  They then proceeded to make their own, focusing on a birds eye approach and what its about.

Hard at work!

While those dried, we spent a little bit outside, playing games of Simon Says which someone turned into Following the Leader.  We also threw some glitter on the Forest Floor projects, as the girls were all talking about Fairies and which ones existed (they all agreed that the Tooth Fairy was real) and which ones didn't.  We talked about where Fairies might live, what they would look like, and what their houses would be like. It was fun to see them all be so creative with the concepts they were coming up with.

During snack time, the girls all ran around outside with Ice Pops and stayed in the shade (it got into the 90s today.)  We came back in and proceeded to draw on construction paper, which we then folded and turned into fans. Some of the girls made cases for their fans, designing those as well. 

Looking at some flowers we found outside.

The second group worked on paper mache, which was both fun and super messy.  We took some lemonade and milk jugs, cut doors out, and got to layering!  It was interesting to do, as I haven't done anything like this since high school, so I was right there with the kids while watching Mrs. Nathan, even asking them a few questions and letting them show me how to do it. 

Digging in!

During the "Amazing Thing" drawing time in the beginning, I started doodling my space pirate idea, which got the kids asking what I was drawing.  I told them the general idea, and was saying that I was still working out the details. What I had so far: Space pirate, who captains a ship and sails them into nebulas, collecting the star dust and the adventures it took her on.  Then I started asking them for suggestions, asking about what the ship would look like; would it look like a traditional pirate ship, or would it look like a space ship? Maybe a blend of both?  How would she collect the nebula star dust? 

With their help, we figured that the ship would LOOK like a tall ship, but be made out of metal/futuristic material, with the jets on the sides, and the sails would collect the dust from the nebulas.  The Captain herself would have some sort of rocket boosters in her boots, which she uses to fly out and ahead to collect stuff personally. Her necklace would be a gem that'd project a sort of helmet/air bubble for her, and her sword would glow.

Some of them were asking about what other stories I was working on and I told them about the Russian Fairy Tale i'm working on, explaining to them about Baba Yaga and her tree house.  This was all while we were steady working on our paper mache mugs, talking in between about what kind of house they would be, and what looked like what.  Mine turned out to look like a duck, which, once i'm done putting layers on it, i'll either paint like a duck or a swan.  I'm not sure which one yet.  Once they're done, i'll be sure to take a picture and post it up here~