Sun day, Fun day!

In line with our beach theme, we've been exploring topics of the sun and light this week.  As a modifaction to yesterday's light table, I repurposed the corn starch and made a little beach scene.  I love the little wooden/felt people that I got from Zooble and with our sun house, pieces of driftwood, shells, and small ball jars (to refract the light), we have a very complete beach hut scene.

Next up in the sun category was our sunprints. Each child chose two objects to place on construction paper which was left in the sun for a few hours.  As my 14-year-old niece put it, it is a "negative tan".

We also painted through light, inspired by Teaching 2 and 3 Year Olds.

At circle, we sang a modified version of "This Little Light of Mine".

This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine!

This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine!

This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine!

Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine!

I'm gonna put on some sunscreen, and then I'll let it shine!...

I'm gonna put on my sunglasses, and then I'll let it shine!...

I'm gonna put on my sun hat, and then I'll let it shine!...

Now that the kids get the flow of the song, I'll let them come up with ways to prepare for the beach and sing their ideas. I love modifying songs according to kids' ideas.

Next it was time to introduce the solar oven!  Simply a shoe box with a closeable hole cut in the lid, lined with foil (and the hole in the lid lined with saran wrap or wax paper)...our cheesey open quesadillas melted nicely!

Lastly, a paper mache sun. Sorry no photo of the finished product yet (because they'll make it in the afternoon!) Here are the ingredients, minus the foam soccer ball and/or balloons, tbd!

The thing I totally forgot to do but plan on it was to make a Sunflower Sundial using milestones in the day, like circletime, lunch time, story time, nap, snack, etc. Considering how much of our day is spent outdoors, this can be a very interactive timekeeper!