More Shenanigans

 Because of course they never really end, do they?

This week I am not working except for some planning and prep hours.

I'm doing some punching of flowers and circles and other items for collage art, figuring out some experiments and things to do over the next couple months, and trying to get things into a coherent plan so it's easier to know what we're up to daily.

It's the ADHD thing for me (not an excuse, an explanation) and I can't seem to plan stuff far enough ahead. We aren't ever bored, there are too many choices of things to do, but there are days kids come to me wanting to know, "What's the project?" and I have to grab one of the go-to things that are ready to do with minimal effort from me.

What are those go-to items? Coloring sheets. Of course.
But also....
We have scratch art, pony bead animals, stuff to make bracelets, fuse beads, watercolor paints. The art cart has several drawing books and different ideas about being creative. There is also air dry clay in about 50 different beautiful colors.
Weaving projects. Four or five different ones, depending on what I'm up for/what they ask for.

For those kids who aren't into arty stuff, we have a lot of other choices.

I have some 'rattlesnake egg' magnets.



 

They love playing with those, making them spin, picking things up with them, seeing what sticks. We have a couple experiments to do with them, too.

Many construction toys. The usual, blocks and LEGO and magnets and Lincoln Logs.

About 300 dominoes to do chain reactions.

A ton of games. I have some cardboard dividers and ping pong paddles and balls, we make one or two of the long cafeteria tables into a ping pong table about once a week.

Oh! Music. A speaker we can pair with the computer or the phone.
Dance party or get out the limbo stick. 

They love it. Also in the construction zone (as an extra)  a bin with somewhere around 400 red plastic cups. We had more, but they get broken. The rule is that if a cup has a split or a tear, it gets tossed. We don't want anyone getting hurt with them.

We have a bin full of fake food and cookware, a little kitchen, a bin full of babies (we have six now, different skin tones and eyes.) The kids notice, believe me. More than one delighted, "Hey! This baby looks like me!" makes it worth the money I spent. The boys AND the girls have both said those words. In case you wanted to know.

Four of the babies were new this year, I brought in two I already had from Goodwill, I bought one new one, the company bought two, and a friend I've never met bought one. (Thanks, Jill!!)

We don't have doll houses at this location. I had several of them at my last placement, but I could not leave the kids and take all their favorite toys with me. Yes, I know I paid for them, and I know the company crapped on me until I had to quit, but at the end of the day, it's not about who they are. It's about who I am, and I am not a person who will hurt a child's feelings if it's in my power to avoid it.

I have a dollhouse stuff bin, though. A bunch of dolls and dollhouse furniture that I've scrounged up here and there. Drove up to Camas at the beginning of the school year and gave this really nice lady 50 bucks for a huge box of dollhouse items. Goodwill has produced a bit for us, too. So instead of doll houses, I have two plain white tri-fold boards that I cut in half horizontally. Standing on the table, one of them makes a 3 sided room. Having four of them is just about perfect.

I bring in books and extras sometimes, too. This month we had a family open house and I brought in all my Seuss books and some of the stuffed animals.

And because I do all these things at my site and they're not offered at the rest of the sites, I have now been asked to make at least some of that happen for other sites.

So they've given me a budget (it's not large enough, but it's not bad) and basically told me to come up with ways to use it.

Haha. Never too old to learn.
I've found it's a lot easier to stock my own site than it is to make choices for an entire company.
I've also been asked to speak at tomorrow's director meeting about what I'm doing.

They want portable programming. For example, a dramatic play box. So the kids can do a restaurant or make their own little houses or ???

It needs to be open ended, as in take off the lid and let the kids use it, and all of it needs to fit in a tote.

I'm considering a puppet show tote, a restaurant box, a dollhouse box and a dress up box. Masks and capes and wands and feather boas and stuff like that.

I plan to ask the other directors to email me their ideas, too. This is an opportunity for input from everyone.

Then, this fall we're talking about making a full rolling shelf cart for each program with items all combined for dramatic play.

When I was asked to do this, I said yes.

Do you ever wonder to yourself, 'what was I thinking'?