We are SO pleased to have “junk” back in the setting now that COVID restrictions have eased. We have missed this resource a lot!

Playing with open-ended resources such as boxes, cartons, plastic tubs, wrapping paper and cardboard tubes give us a lot of freedom to think, design and create. This is excellent for developing our imaginations which we need for literacy and numeracy. We have used junk to create many different things this week including boats, rockets, essy-kerts, dinosaurs, crocodiles, diggers, monsters, animals and planes. Junk modelling challenges us to use and develop problem solving skills as we investigate how to bring our ideas to life, often through trial and error as well consider how we might change or improve our models.

As you can see exploring junk modelling helped us to express and develop our creativity and innovation a lot which was also true of our paint mixing experimentation this week. Mrs Williamson brought in some real cacti for us to talk about, learn about and use as inspiration as some of us have shown interest in this plant recently. On Wednesday we used primary colour paint to create our own green cacti.

We developed our scientific thinking and curiosity as we wondered “What colour will happen?” “Can I make yun green like yun cactus?” “Do I need more yellow?” We developed our language skills too as we used lots of descriptive language such as “prickly green”, “desert colours”, “red flower lips” and we learned some facts about cacti such as “some irnoo prickly, like dis one, it’s saft” and “they grow in deserts and hot hot places.”

As you can see we really are a creative and imaginative bunch! Thanks for joining us this week. We look forward to sharing more of our learning with you next week.