Sunday 18 September 2011

Mini mountain

...weirder than a David Lynch film

I am a little bit embarrassed to post this project and I actually had no plan to post it until a friend of mine encouraged me to. This activity really showcases the importance of 'process not product'. The 'product' is a strange looking thing but the 'process' was loads of fun.

It all started when my partner was pruning our cypress tree and we all thought that the cut branches smelled like the mountains. Cakey then wanted to make a mountain. We had an old party hat lying around so out came the sticky tape and Cakey happily stuck the cypress leaves on it. Next came a conversation about what animals live in the mountains....goats, kangaroos, snakes....so the animal box was raided and on they were stuck. This activity kept Cakey busy for a good half hour and triggered a long conversation about mountains and how they are formed.

This activity also proves you don't have to be into crafts to do crafty things with your kids. Sometimes the simplest things work the best. And really you could create any type of mountain you wanted – a snowy mountain with packing peanuts, a magic mountain with party streamers, a mountain with hikers and flags and so on and so on.

2 comments:

  1. Love it! Especially the scale. Can see us attempting this one, without the indepth geographic discussion of course.

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  2. Teachers would call this "using the teachable moment". So often in our busy lives we just don't find those few extra minutes to talk with children about the things that fascinate them right at that moment. Just look at how much information was exchanged. So often children can actually contribute a wealth of information and you are surprised at how much they actually already know. bloggers, try asking your children questions beginning with " I wonder" and you will be amazed with their answers. This was a great spontaneous activity. Something out of nothing!

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