Hanging with Santa

On December 3rd, the kids made Santa Claus doorknob hangers to kick off the holiday spirit. There were classic Santa hangers made, as well as some creative twists to the Old Man's outfit. This little art activity was a great way for the kids to start their decorating for the holidays.

"Santa workshop", not "Santa's workshop"!

Emily decided she would be Santa for the afternoon.

Katrina & Nat

Dance Party

To cap off some days, we have chosen to throw the children an interactive “dance party”. The dance parties are frequently requested from the children and we try to execute them as often as possible. The parties allow the children to express themselves through dance and boost their confidence. They also allow the children to blow off any spare energy at the end of the day. The dancing facilitates learning and development of gross motor skills and cognitive stimulation, as well as laying the foundation for cooperative organisation. Many songs are requested repeatedly, but by far the most popular at the moment is "Gangnam Style". We've had children riding imaginary horses for many an afternoon the past few weeks...

Katrina

Dungeons and Dragons

Two days earlier, Lady Moonfire of Loudwater dispatched two guards to investigate the development of Coppernignt Hold. Kavalar Coppernignt, a dwarf prospector, had begun mining operations several months ago west of Loudwater. The two guards did not return and all communication from Coppernight Hold has since ceased. Summoning our young adventurers, Lady Moonfire requests them to travel to the mine and uncover what has happened.

Upon arriving to Coppernight Hold, Kyo (Bryce), Kaldeo (Alden), Geno (Adrian), Thompson (Cole), Skeletor (Niko), Jackie (Shaan), and Ash (Hugo) discovered the entrance to the mine crawling with goblins. The companions quickly attacked, but the goblins were ready. Goblins, cowardly in nature and realising they were outmatched, ran into the mine or were defeated by our band of heroes.

Once inside, our heroes once again met resistance from more goblins occupying the caves of the mine. Fighting their way deeper into the hold, the warriors were in for a surprise. In the deepest part, they discovered a red dragon had taken up residence. A raging battle ensued, but our heroes emerged victorious.

Our weary adventurers found Kavalar Coppernight, some dwarves, and the two Loudwater guards behind an iron door, chained to the wall of a small room. Once unchained, Kavalar thanked our heroes and explained that the dragon may have only been a precursor to what may come. The stench of evil is in the air. Kavalar sends our heroes hastily back to Loudwater to report the terrible events to Lady Moonfire.

 

Kevin

Eruption of Art

For a couple of weeks in November, we decided to get the kids engaged in a mini-volcano project to enlighten them about this fascinating geological feature. Using paper mache techniques, we gathered a plastic cup, newspaper, and glue to build our volcano. For the first week, we built our volcano by piling glued newspaper around the plastic cup, trying to create a dome-like shape. On the second week, the kids painted their creation with tempera paint. On the last week, we took our volcano and headed out to our patio to watch it erupt. To make our volcano erupt, we assembled our supplies, which consisted of vinegar, red food colouring, and baking soda. The kids each had a turn to pour a little bit of vinegar into the "volcano crater". Monica had poured in a little bit of food colouring to make our "lava" red before asking the kids to pour in the baking soda. The kids poured the baking soda into the cup and we watched our volcano's bubbly explosion. We managed to get our volcano to erupt a couple of times before it became dormant.

This was a relatively easy but very engaging project for kids of all ages. It's a very hands-on and informative craft to take up. Our children had fun and requested to do this project again in the near future, which was very encouraging to hear! Hopefully, this could be the start of implementing more intriguing science-based projects.

Cheers,

The Kennelee Club (Gemma and Monica)

Adding the baking soda.

She is going to blow!

A river of flaming hot magma.

The volcano simmering down. 

Christmas City

As I’m sure you all have noticed, it seems as though as soon as November 1st comes around, it’s out with the Halloween decorations and in with the Christmas decorations. Ridiculous, right?! Well, Hillwood and I decided to succumb to this and get the kids to construct their very own Christmas Village! Each week the kids make a different part of the village and, by Christmas time, it should all come together to create a very festive piece! For the first part of this project, the kids were all aboard and constructed a very vital part of any Christmas village…the Polar Express. Each one of them was able to help build and decorate one car and everyone was thrilled with the outcome!

 

Decorating the sides of the Polar Express.

A very festive looking train.

All Aboard!

Last week, the kids were very hands-on with the continuation of our Christmas Village. We decided the village needed some greenery, and what is Christmas without a Christmas tree? They started out by creating a giant tree for the centre of the village using cut-outs of their hands for the branches. The kids, of course, started to get really excited about things they find under their trees at home and so we decided to write a Christmas wish on one of their hand cut-outs that wasn’t a present. “I wish for it to not rain on Christmas so Santa won’t get wet!” was Logan’s instant response. After the big tree was finished, they each made a smaller freestanding tree to bring the feeling of the outdoors to the village. The kids were already asking to build the stores and houses, but we’ll have to save that for another week.

Getting messy with some glitter and glue.

The final product.

Tada!

Kirsten