Changing up the Environment

After summer enrichment was finished I realized my shelves were a little full to say the least! I am a student of the creative curriculum that says shelves shouldn't be too cluttered, I just wasn't abiding by it! So in an effort to shake up some things and keep the classroom interesting I decided to take out the majority of materials I'd placed on the shelves and commit to refreshing regularly. I am ashamed to say the shelves to still have quite a few things on them even after this!

Here are a few shots before and after.

I cannot believe that there is still lots of other stuff in my garage even with the shelves this full!

I also felt like the kids were having a hard time putting everything back in its place.

Sorry the before photos aren't as clear,

but you get the idea!

Almost finished reorganizing this one!

I think this is much more organized.

 

The kids are able to put the blocks and toys back on the shelf much easier now.

Sensory Boxes

I decided I wanted to add a bit of more variety in our sensory activity so I found quite a few rice recipes and after reading a few reviews settled on Kool-Aid and food coloring to color the rice. I did not take photos of the the process I figured there are tons of them on the web. But this is what we ended up with:

2 sensory boxes for under $7! You can't beat that with a stick! Uninterrupted moments of play, priceless!

My New Blackboards!

It started when I visited our local cupcake shop! I fell in love with their blackboard menus and decided this was impact I wanted for my info boards. I also realized I had never used the chalkboard paint I bought from when we first moved into our house three years ago. I initially bought the blackboard paint to use in the kitchen but never did anything with it. So after telling my hubby what I wanted to do off we go to Home Depot for supplies. I knew he wouldn't want the paint directly on the walls and I wasn't too wild at the thought either. So we ended up purchasing plywood that I had divided into three large boards and turn into three large chalkboards.

 

We also decided to buy magnetic primer and an additional can of chalkboard paint just in case the paint we had was too old, which I believe it was or would have taken an enormous amount of stirring and shaking to combine it again. Three primer coats later this is what we had. 

Since the clerk in Home Depot told us that the paint would crack if it was disturbed and need to be in its final resting place before being applied, we attached all three boards to wall and applied three coats of chalk board paint. I have to say that even after one coat of chalkboard paint we could not get a strong enough hold with the magnetic primer so I don't think I would purchase it again without doing a bit more research first.  

After lots of waiting, (three days after the final coat and conditioning I finally have my chalkboards! I love it!)

What in the World???

It has been a while since I've blogged. So many things have happened in two months. We've just begun our fall enrichment class and transistioned into a full fledged enrichment center! Our facility is now known as Planet Preschool as we've taken on more than just kindergarten readiness. Our children can now attend classes in sign language, cooking and beginning with the winter semester, art! I'm so excited about being able to offer more classes! We have also added Preschool Playdate which allows children to reserve space and join us on Wednesdays for open play activities.