Mandala with Stamp Play

Mandala is loosely translated from Sanskrit to mean, "circle."  Creating mandalas with children is a great artistic project that can be used to explore creative expression and is said to promote a calming presence with the persons creating them.   To make a mandala one begins in the center and works out in a circular pattern.  One of the wonderful things about the process of creating mandalas with children is that there is a lot of vocabulary that can be brought into the experience.  There are a variety of ways that these can be made with small children.  In the past I have seen  people use a sheet of black felt and small pieces of felt to make the mandala design in a temporary fashion.  I have seen people use natural materials to create a mandala with shells and sticks and beads.  I've also seen Maria at Casa Maria use see through items on the light table to create mandalas with her students.  The thing that I really love about making mandalas with children is that while it's all about the process... The end products turn about beautifully.

Last Friday I was working in our 4-5 year old classroom and playing with some of the children at the art center.  One of the children pulled out the stamps and were making pictures with them.  I decided to try to create a mandala with the stamps.  One of the children asked me how I made it and the lesson created its self!! I love when that happens!!

Here are some of the mandalas we made.

These were a lot of fun to make.  I think that when you cut around the edge they sorta look like snowflakes and could be used with a winter theme in a classroom if you're sold on themes.  

Dedicated to Hippie Teacher Jane

Rockin' the 80's

So today Miles wanted to play with a doll house, which gave me the perfect opportunity to pull out an oldy, but goody from my childhood.  When I had started school, but my mom still had my brother at home.  The two of them made me a doll house.  It was simply made of 2 pieces of 1/4 inch ply with a slit cut half way up from the bottom on each piece, so that they can slide together.  They wall papered the walls and cut pictures from magazines to create 4 separate rooms.

Bedroom

living room

 kitchen

 nursery


The furniture was made mostly by Mom, but the kitchen appliances were made  by a friend of the family.  ( I received them as a Christmas gift one year.)  Mom and Wendell did  affix them to the doll house with zip ties.  The couch is a Velveeta  box and piece of cardboard attached and then paper mached for the back and arms of the couch.  The cradle is the bottom of a dish soap container that has had a cover crocheted to make it look lacy and stuffed with a tiny pillow for the baby barbie to sleep.  The barbie bed doubles as storage for all of the barbie's clothing and accessories.  There is a zipper on the bottom and the blanket and pillows are sewn on, so pieces can't be lost.  

Daddy has decided that Barbies is, "....defiantly a Mommy and Miles thing to play."

Science...

Tonight we decided that we wanted to see how the little balls that get larger in water would react when put in other liquids.  So we hypothesized that They wouldn't grow in oil.  That the oil molecules would be too large to fit though the membrane on the balls.  That they would react the same as they always have in water (to absorb the water).  We figured that since the corn syrup has some portion of water in it that the balls in this cup would adsorb some water, but not as much the water.   

Miles and Daddy counted 10 little balls into each cup.

They sunk to the bottom in the oil and water, but landed right on top of the syrup.  

Chris poked them down with a stick.  

And then we waited...

The next morning when we woke up this is what we found.  They only got bigger in the water.  They finally made it to the bottom of the syrup.  

Oddly, when we got home from work the balls in the syrup were floating on the top.  

The ones in the oil may have shrank... but certainly haven't grown.  

It was fun doing an experiment as a family and discussing the results with Miles.  I think that if we were to do a second round we might try adding some other liquids like ammonia or vinegar.... 

Spicy Sweet Potato Soup

It isn't often that I make up a recipe entirely from scratch.  Usually I just modify a recipe that I've found or have been given.  Some of my friends joke that I'm the queen of substitutions since I will just modify things if I don't have everything in the cupboard to make a dish.  Anyway... I digress...

I forgot to take a picture to add to the post, but Chris ate seconds.

Spicy Southern Soup

1 Can of Cream of Celery Soup
1 1/2-2 cans of water
1 cup of chopped broccoli
1/4 cup of saute'd onion
1 1/2 T of Cajun seasoning (I used Target brand, but something actually from the south could be better.) 
1/2 lb of browned Polish or Cajun sausage
2 cups of sweet potatoes (mashed) I had some frozen.

Saute the sausage with the onions.
Add all ingredients to a soup pan and bring to a simmer for at least 5 minutes, scraping the bottom with a wooden spoon to keep it from burning.

Sprinkle the top with a little paprika if you're feeling fancy.

I served it with hint of salt wheat thins and apple slices.

This was a perfect dish for the rainy day we've had today.