Children of Life Childcare Centre were very excited to start the Creation C.A.R.E. project this year, especially because they observed their parents bringing recycled materials (old newspapers, cardboard, bubble wrap, milk tins, magazines and metal wires) to school and putting them into a box marked with “For Creation C.A.R.E. 2024”. The children wondered what would be like to use all those recycled materials!
In the school garden, the K1 children observed a small plant in a pot and then helped as their teacher transferred it to the ground. There were some interesting thoughts shared by them during the process. One of them said, “It’s really hard to do planting but good that we’re doing it together.” Another child exclaimed, “Wow, will it grow taller than us if we take care of it properly?”
After learning about the different parts of a tree, and the benefits of having trees, the K2 children tore off the ‘skin’ or outer layer of cardboard to reveal the rough corrugated part of it on the inside. Some of them painted and then cut them into leaf shapes, while some wrote short messages of appreciation about trees on hand prints made by the infants. They wrote things like, 'Thank you for giving us oxygen' or 'thank you for the paper'.
The K2 children also went for a walk in the school garden to observed all the trees and plants growing there, before they proceeded to rub the tree bark with paper and crayons. They commented that the surface was very rough, thus kept dropping their crayon as they rubbed on the uneven surface. Nonetheless, they enjoyed it and still had a good laugh during the experience together. Back in class, they plunged into a ‘serious’ discussion about how to take care of trees. Some suggested, "we should plant more trees", while others thought it was a good idea to “hug a tree every day”!
The Nursery children tried something different - they went to the school garden to collect items such as leaves, twigs, tiny pebbles and more. They let their imagination run wild and used these materials to make a portrait of themselves in class. They turned out so quirky and adorable.
The children also started an experiment to compare how differently plants would grow if they were placed in different conditions. First, they planted seeds into 2 small pots – one that they would look after and the other that they would neglect. In just two days, they saw the results! They saw the seeds sprout in the pot that they had watered and placed near the window for sunlight; but nothing happened in the other pot.
“Wow, the leaves are so small and so green.” “I think we have to tell the plant, “I love you!" then it will grow.”
Even thought they are young, the Pre-Nursery children know how important the trees are to us. One of them exclaimed, “When it is hot, my mummy takes me to stand under a tree, then not hot already!” They realised that trees give them shade and shelter, and the shade of the trees can help cool them in hot weather. The whole school was mobilised to start their production of leaves made out of recycled materials. Why, you may be wondering? Because this is their first step to building up a tree sculpture to tell others to love trees, and not to cut them down, otherwise even the birds will have no place to live.
Thus, to add on to the K2s' cardboard leaves, the K1 kids fashioned some out of bubble wrap, while the nursery kids took leaf shapes that their teacher cut from magazine paper and added colours to them with their paintbrushes. Even the little ones from Playgroup helped to design leaves by using sponges to paint the whole piece of mahjong paper in brown, light green or yellow. The teachers then helped them to cut it into leaf shapes. This tree will be a testament of teamwork amongst the children across various levels, with each child contributing their own unique creations to the final product!
Be sure to drop by the Creation C.A.R.E Art Showcase @ One Punggol from 16-19 May.
Check out the Creation C.A.R.E progress of other preschools too:
Comentários