Create and Play at Goldfinch Nov/ Dec 2024

December 18, 2024

Hibernation!

Week One: Colours of the night sky

With Bonfire Night falling in the first week of term, we celebrated all of the colours of the night sky. Children could make their own bright moon and star collages and ‘shoot’ different pastel colours into clear jelly to create vivid colour mixes and patterns. A range of mark making tools and utensils – including pine cones, cardboard tubes, mashers, sponges and straws – were used to create wonderful painted shapes on black card. Swirls and patterns were formed in black salt to replicate fireworks, aurora displays, shooting stars and planets and there was plenty of scooping and pouring going on too!

Week Two: Autumn leaves

This week we were celebrating all things autumnal, such as the beautiful coloured leaves on the trees. Children could make multi-coloured leaf rubbings with melted wax crayons enabling them to make really detailed rubbings. They could also construct mini trees from recycled cups, lolly pop sticks and paper leaves. One tuff tray contained red playdough to mould autumn flowers, such as poppies, and make leaf prints. In our other tuff tray the children could scoop autumn-themed small parts out of yellow and orange rice and have fun filling up different sized bottles.

Week Three: Murmuration

Starling murmurations are one of winter’s best spectacles! Murmurations are huge groups of starlings that twist, turn, swoop and swirl across the sky in beautiful shape-shifting clouds. This week, the children could create their own woven bird wands using fabric, wool and wooden sticks. They could also add their own paper bird to our largescale wall murmuration display and create their own murmuration pictures with starlings flying on a rainbow sky background. Bird soup – complete with worms, frogs, beetles and spiders and berries – could be mixed, stirred and poured in one tuff tray and, in the other, bird houses could be created using mini bricks, sand and shaving foam for some building fun!

Week Four: Squirrels

Autumn is a busy time for squirrels! In one of our tuff trays, we had acorns and other autumnal riches for the squirrels to find then hide again amongst the green rice and mini wooden trunks. Squirrel dreys (nests) could also be created from leaves, feathers, sticks, moss and pine cones, with mini boxes decorated for squirrel homes. Large acorn collages were made from recycled wallpaper, cellophane and threaded wool, and mini squirrel puppet families were created from brown paper bags, tape, stickers and fluffy fur for thick, bushy tails.

Week Five: Hedgehogs

This week we explored hibernation and how hedgehogs start to hibernate at this time of year to save their energy over the winter. In one tuff tray, the children could mix yummy hedgehog food to encourage the hedgehogs to eat as much as possible to build up their fat reserves! In our other tuff tray, children could mould their own hedgehogs from air drying clay, using pasta, pipe cleaners, lolly sticks and wooden sticks to create spikes. Mini hedgehogs were created from paper plates, recycled paper and paint sticks with mini pegs for spikes, and hedgehogs could also be painted using forks to create a wonderful spiky effect.

Week Six: Dormice

This week we continued with the theme of hibernation…with a Christmas twist! Children could make origami mice corner bookmarks using Christmas paper and pipe cleaners. Each mouse was given its own cute Christmas hat! Mice puppets with jingle bell embellishments and colourful winter scarves could also be made and children could create a cosy mouse scene by drawing around mice templates and adding stickers and pens/paint stick markings. They could help the mice to make cosy nests with leaves and sticks, away from the cold ‘snow’ in one tuff tray. In the other tuff tray, they could help to source mice food in our gloop to help fatten up the mice before their winter hibernation.

Week Seven: Robins and Reindeers

In our final week of term we went all out CHRISTMAS! Children could mix and scoop glittery, rosemary-infused reindeer food to take home and leave out for Rudolph and his four-hooved pals. Winter animals and foliage could also be discovered hiding in the sparkly snow in our winter tuff tray complete with snowman balls to collect it in. Rocking robins could be created using orange tissue paper and robin-covered Christmas card, and large collage baubles could be made using a variety of sequins, tissue paper, stickers and Christmas wrap. Finally, Christmas-themed sponges were used to create Christmas paintings on large scale paper on our magnetic wall. Each session was finished with a rendition of ‘We wish you a merry Christmas!’.