No School -- Cuesta Park

Today is officially the first day of the school's winter break, and our last day of Children's Garden of 2007. We decided to all walk together to Cuesta Park. Here is everyone before the walk (Anna, Eden, Ryan, Lucas, Holger, Gabriel, and Katie):

It was soooooooooooooooo exciting tromping through all the many piles of leaves on the way to the park.

At the park, brother and sister Gabriel and Eden do some spinning together.

Katie and Eden on the suspension bridge . . .

Anna climbing . . .

Katie, Holger, and Anna

Anna is a very strong little girl!

Here Ryan, Lucas, and Iain enjoy a moment atop the climbing structure . . .

. . . and are then joined by Gabriel . . .

. . . and then Holger!

Meanwhile, the girls )Anna, Eden, and Katie) are on the other half of the structure.

And now the whole gang is together.

Mud, Glorious Mud!

Ah, California winter is really here now. That means rainy days, wet ground, but very moderate temperatures allowing children to enjoy the feeling of wet mud on their bare toes. This morning the kids had a great deal of fun in the backyard enjoying the light sprinkling rain on their faces and the mud on their feet. I love this photo of Georgia and Josephine. If I ever get around to putting up a photo collage as I've intended, this will definitely be up there.

When it was time to take off for school, I herded the children around through the side yard and out to the front. There lay towels to dry off their feet and all their shoes.

In the afternoon we had a new addition to the Children's Garden . . . Emma! Here Emma and Katie are creating a life-sized portrait of Emma as Orianna (or is it Snow White?) looks on.

Apple Coils

I'm still getting used to my new camera, so the photography here isn't the best, but that doesn't make apple coils any less fun . . .

Marie:

Eden:

Jultomtar

A couple weeks ago I made a little jultomte (Swedish for a sort of Christmas elf) out of pipecleaners, red yarn, a doll bead head, and felt for the hat. I showed the kids, and they really wanted to make their own. For over a week they've been asking me to show them how, so today, being that it is a nice long afternoon (Thursdays school gets out earlier), I took out the materials and showed them what to do. All of the older kids quickly decided that it was simply too much work and went off to play elsewhere. But surprisingly, the kinders all stuck around and focused hard on the task at hand. It wasn't easy wrapping all the pipecleaner limbs with yards and yards of yarn, but each one of them fastidiously worked away.

Holger:

Orianna:

Josephine:

Afterwards I set the three little jultomtar in the Christmas tree for a photo shoot, but Holger tried to steal the limelight . . .

Here are the wonderful little dolls that they worked so hard at.

Left to right: Holger's, Josephine's, Orianna's

A Busy Morning

The kids went straight to work this morning on the hot glue guns. Each time I think I'm out of materials for them to glue, more magically appear. Here is Holger hard at work.

And Dylan (with Jo in the background) also kept busy.

Dylan ended up making these fantastic pirate ships out of shells, artificial leaves, golf tees, and popsicle sticks.

Georgia created a very llllooooonnnggggg thing out of CD's.

And I'm very embarrassed to say that I am posting this a month after the event, and I simply don't remember who the owner of this fabulous masterpiece is. I think it's either Holger or Dylan. If you know, please let me know, and I will give the appropriate credit.

Baby Envy and More Hot Glue Guns

Early in the afternoon David and Ria had some playtime together. David, almost 15 months, is a well-established walker, while Ria, 14 months, just really really really wants to be. Today when David so brazenly walked in front of her, she expressed her extreme displeasure at his "showing off."

After school the hot glue guns were out again, and the kids were extremely busy with their creations.

Lucas made this fantastic train for his younger brother.

Josephine worked hard on her creation.

Marie used one of the felt Christmas tree cones from the week before to make . . .

. . . this!!!

Iain also had a rather creative take on what a Christmas tree should be.

Pollock Painting and Hot Glitter Glue

This morning Dylan and Josephine painted a sculpture which Josephine had made days before. They used the Pollock drip method. Here is Dylan using a dropper to add purple paint. Did you know that Pollock sometimes even used a turkey baster to drip his paint?

Again, in the spirit of Pollock, Josephine began to make her drips from high above, holding the brush and squeezing it while standing.

And here is the completed Pollock Village:

In the afternoon, we tried out a newly acquired art supply . . . hot glitter glue!

Eden:

Josephine:

Katie:

Eden and Georgia:

And while the girls worked on crafts indoors, the boys enjoyed the sandbox outside. Here are Holger, Ryan, and Jack:

Christmas Trees

Today we decorated felt cones to make Christmas trees. Anything involving a hot glue gun is fun, of course!

Some went for the traditional green, but we also have turquoise, white, pink, and yellow trees!