Five Currant Buns

One advantage of working as a casual on call for a large organisation is the inspiration you receive from your fellow educators at each of the centres.

In the past weeks I have had requests for currant buns from a number of centres and I decided to take up the challenge.

After researching the net I found a free pattern on Ravelry for current buns.  This pattern was created by Chloe Blunn and is designed for intermediate knitters with experience knitting on 4 double pointed knitting needles.  The pattern can be downloaded at the following address: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/bakers-dozen-currant-buns

There were some row number errors in the pattern that caused some initial confusion.  These are listed below (I have added a comment to Chloe’s blog complementing her on her wonderful pattern and listing the corrections.}

Changes to the Current Bun Pattern starting from row 14.

14-19.  Knit 6 rounds

20.  Join in Cream/Icing Colour and follow chart carrying colours at back of work until end of round 22 when you can break off the Brown and weave the end in now, the chart is repeated 6 times around.
23.  K
24.  *K4, K2tog repeat from * (40)
25.  K
26.  *K3, K2tog repeat from * (32)
27.  K
28.  *K2, K2tog repeat from * (24)
29.  K
30.  *K1, K2tog repeat from * (16)
31.  K
32.  *K2tog repeat from * (8)
Break off yarn, leaving a tail to thread through all the stitches
Stuff the bun
Thread the tail end through all the stitches, draw up tight and stitch shut.

 

The original pattern has red cherries on top of the bun but I added different coloured berries to each bun to add the additional educational dimension of colour recognition.

 

Lyrics - Five currant buns

 

FIVE currant buns in a baker's shop,
Round and fat with a (insert colour) cherry on top.
Along came a boy with a penny one day,
Bought a currant bun and took it away.

FOUR currant buns in a baker's shop,

Round and fat with a (insert colour) cherry on top.

Along came a girl with a penny one day,
Bought a currant bun and took it away.

THREE currant buns in a baker's shop,
Round and fat with a (insert colour) cherry on top.      
Along came a boy with a penny one day,
Bought a currant bun and took it away.
 
TWO currant buns in a baker's shop,
Round and fat with a (insert colour) cherry on top.
Along came a girl with a penny one day,
Bought a currant bun and took it away.

ONE currant bun in a baker's shop,
Round and fat with a (insert colour) cherry on top.
Along came a boy with a penny one day,
Bought a currant bun and took it away.
Bought a currant bun and took it away!

I also created pennies using a picture of a kangaroo Australian penny found on Microsoft Word.

I cut these out and laminated them so that the children could gain a cultural understanding of the coins historically used in Australia in the |”olden” days.

 By adding holly to the buns this variation can be used closer to Christmas.

 

If you utilise this resource or have other resources that you use to engage children, please leave a comment. The children in our care can only benefit if we discuss and share our experiences

 

Bubbles Bubbles Everywhere

Hi all,

This week’s topic is bubbles.
Blowing bubbles has always been an exciting experience for all children.  Usually there are bubble blowing resources available at most centres, but this cannot be guaranteed.
As a casual I want to ensure that I have all the resources that I need and with this in mind I have been shopping for bubble blowing devices.
I was amazed at the variety of these devices that are available.

• Small wands of all shapes and sizes
• There are large wands of all sizes from 10cm to (my favourite) 45 cm with 24cm extension.
• Mechanised bubble blowing machines and
• Bubble pans that make it easier for children to make giant bubbles.

Lastly there is the home made bubble blowers made with pipe cleaners and cookie cutter to mould shapes. These and other ideas can be found at http://babyparenting.about.com/od/activitiesandplay/tp/bubble-wands.htm

I have settled on two giant bubble wands, one hundreds of bubbles wand, small individual wands and soap bottles bought in bulk for weddings and the pipe cleaners and cookie cutters  for the older children.

Next came the selection of the bubble soap that I call bubble juice. This ranges from the most inexpensive dishwashing detergent to commercial preparations.  There were also 7 home made recipes at http://www.babysavers.com/how-to-make-bubbles/ worth a look.

Generally I use the commercial soap for the older children and a recipe using baby shampoo and glycerine for the babies.

But why use bubbles as an experience for pre-schoolers and early learners?

They enjoy the experience and are engaged during that time. Yes!  But what else? Are there any developmental outcomes from this experience?

I will start you off:

Fine motor skills; early learners: popping the bubbles (poking with index fingers, grabbing bubbles with whole hand or using two hands to clap the bubbles). Pre-schoolers: opening and closing the bubble juice bottle, coordinating two hands; one to hold the bottle and the other to dip the wand.  Twisting the pipe cleaner when creating the wand.

Gross motor skills: Reaching up high, standing on tippy toes, squatting down, running, jumping, stomping and kicking.

Please leave a comment outlining your experiences with bubbles and the developmental outcomes that you achieved.

Welcome

Hi all and welcome to my first blog.

Working and engaging with children was always my passion.  Starting with my own three children and then as each one left the nest and started big school I found that their teachers needed child care and my daytime 'family' grew.

After a number of years a different pathway opened up. In 1978 my husband bought this new and fascinating gadget called a computer for the family.  I, of course, commandeered this wonderful machine. I saw the educational potential for engaging children and this led to a full time career in youth and adult education.

I have recently come full circle, completing my Cert III in Children's Services, studying the Diploma in Children's Services and commencing casual work as a child care worker.

One thing that stood out throughout my life as an educator of all ages is that in order to make learning productive, you must make it fun and engaging.

The purpose of this blog is to share my passion for developing creative teaching resources, the skills to develop them yourself and stories about the children's reactions to these resources.

My first resources, (a monkey puppet and a cat puppet costing $2 each) came from Kmart and (a small mouse) knitted from a pattern found in  a book called Knitted Nursery Rhymes by Sarah Keen.

On the day of my first shift as a casual childcare worker for a large not for profit organisation in the Illawarra area I was excited and nervous. As I walked into the outdoor are the children were arriving for the day.  I walked to the sandpit where two children were playing, sat on the edge, placed the monkey puppet onto my hand with the mouse in it's arms under my thumb.  I cradled the puppet and started making very small movements. I did not speak at all.

The children came over and asked my name.  I told them my name and they told me theirs in returned.

They asked why I was holding the puppet.  I smiled and explained that this was the first time that my little monkey friend had come to this preschool and that that he was feeling a little shy.  I moved the monkey to my ear and I then told the children that monkey also said the he was also a little scared because he did not know anyone here but his little mouse friend made him feel safe.  This started a number of discussions including:

• How they felt on their first day at preschool.
• If they have a comfort toy and how they feel when they cuddle their comfort toy.
• The activities that they liked the best.
• Who was picking them up today
• My friends are......

Within ten minutes twenty children had joined the conversation. They all wanted to play with the puppet and especially the mouse but after a discussion with the monkey and the children it was agreed that monkey might be able to play with the children and even share his special mouse a little later in the day. 
What a wonderful introduction to the children and the new centre!

Resources do not have to be expensive nor elaborate.  We need to be comfortable, to be silly, to believe that a monkey puppet can talk to them and that we need to talk back!  We need to sell the illusion to the children and believe that every child deserves to be heard and included in the illusion.

Until next time,   by Leonie D