the week of messy : day one
So for those who may have missed it, we're building a new school.
Back up. I work at a charter school for young children with and without disabilities. Up until last year, we went up to pre-k ; last year we added kindergarten. We're currently located in a storefront facility that's really, really tiny.
Really tiny.
We currently serve around 80-90 kids ( plus outpatients ). Our waiting list was more then double that. So we've been raising money and writing grant proposals and capital campaigns and blah blah blah and anyway -- we finally built a brand new, shiny and lovely school about five minutes from our current location, that they just finished building and will be open for the new school year ( August 24th ). We're doing setup/ training for new teachers/logistics for the past week, and will continue doing so for the next two weeks. It involves being at work at 9AM and not leaving until 5:30PM, but I'm looking forward to a really nice paycheck this Friday. ( For the record, I usually come in at 1:15PM ) The sleep deprivation will eventually wear off =D
Anyway, since this is our last week at the old center, and I'm still working with the toddlers in the afternoon, and I've run out of themes for my kids.... I've decided to make this week ' messy week '.
So today, I let the kids make goop/slime/ooblook/ a non-newtonian-fluid. I told them it was 'icky sticky slime' -- it's what you get when you mix cornstarch and water ( for anyone who hasn't done it before, you get this very cool substance that stays solid as long as you keep moving it, but becomes liquid the moment you stop. That is, you can roll it into a ball, but the moment you stop rolling it'll 'melt'. Very fun, very cool, and I've never met a person who didn't think it was the most awesome thing ever ).
For the record -- it is very messy. The only way to get rid of it is to dilute it with enough water -- which means you must use running water to wash hands ( not baby wipes ), and several runs with a soaking-wet sponge to get it off the table, and judicious application of a heavy-duty mop to get it off the floor.
The kids, however, absolutely loved it.
Tomorrow's project -- allowing the kids to paint with their feet. I don't know how long it'll last, or how well it will work ( I think that if I have a full 30 minutes to kill, I might turn it into a combo of dancing and painting, but we'll see what happens =D ). After that we're going to make playdough ( only semi-messy ), then do shirt painting ( I'm going to let them put on t-shirts and do handprints on one another-- possibly outside? With bandanas to protect their hair? I'm thinking of how to do it... ) , then balloon/texture painting ( letting them paint with balloons ).
But don't despair. Next week the theme will be 'cleaning it up'. It's only a 3 day week, so I'm going to let them wash the windows and the chairs and the tables, and paint with water. =D