Invitations to Play

After my first attempt at an invitation to play, I've been practising. The extra time and money I put in to make it look more "inviting" didn't really pay off. I bought a cheap $2 shop tablecloth, so cheap that when I opened it, it was practically transparent! Along with the tablecloth I bought some little plastic containers for pebbles, they look cheap but I couldn't afford the nice wooden bowls I had imagined on the table, and plastic picture frames because I decided that would provide a nice border for the children to create images inside. I'll start checking out second hand shops for more natural looking things to place on the tables but for now the cheap plastic stuff will have to do.
I think it's working out okay so far. It's only been twice more that I've set up invitations to play, while some of the class are at Sports Academy. The children are loving it. 
I am too, but...
BIG butt, so big it overhangs the chair,
I have to try not stress about the little things! Oh my goodness, I am looking around the room and it's a pigsty, and I'm thinking holy heck, how are we going to get that all cleaned up before the bell?
And the other thing I do is get all upset about "stuff" getting wasted! I try to not say anything, and let them do what they want with what is provided, but where they see just another scrap of paper, or just another vivid marker, or felt tip, or glue gun stick, I'm seeing "useful stuff that well looked after will last" because that's how I was raised. Coming from a background where as children, my sister and I had very little, we treasured everything we did have, and we looked after things. As an adult I really struggle with the whole "disposable society" thing. I save stuff because it either cost money, or took time to collect or gather. To see things being destroyed or wasted does upset me.
Today I put some items out as an invitation to play, and I had two polystyrene trays (which I'd cut into squares) to create prints with. This is going to sound ridiculous, but I was really annoyed when one of my students sat there and proceeded to bend them all in half, so they were no good for printmaking anymore. "It's just a polystyrene tray," I tell myself. But I only had those trays because my husband bought Turkish for dinner for my birthday. We rarely dine out due to his food allergies, and being vegan, we obviously can't collect meat trays.
Speaking of vegan (I'll post photos after so you can see what I'm talking about) I've had this gel printing kit for ages and never been able to bring myself to actually make the gel plate because it's made with gelatine. I decided I'd mix it up last week. Isla, one of my students, is vegetarian, and she helped me. We both sat there, mixing and gagging and carrying on, it truly smelt disgusting and we felt bad for the poor animals who were in there... but again, I didn't want to waste the kit, so we persevered, all the while holding our breath, and the result was actually pretty cool. I'm wondering if we could make one with agar agar.
While walking along the beach, I decided to collect smooth pebbles and driftwood - which ended up taking hours, for another idea I had. At least this cost nothing, and who is going to complain about walking along the beach! I'll post the photos now.

Driftwood & pebbles, a photo of a baby ladybird (ugly little thing) and information about ladybirds. I also had the hot glue gun at the ready, along with paint and frames to create within.

Some students required many pebbles!

Isla decided  this piece looked like a pointing hand

These boys saw... a catamaran!

Shaiyan created a butterfly and painted a background

Ella made ladybirds on a piece of wood

The finished catamaran, but awesome, because they were discussing balance and whether or not it will float. I had to rummage through my "stuff" to find a piece of fabric for the sail. The paint will probably come off in the water, so I told them to wait until I can find the right sealer/varnish for it before testing its flotation capabilities!

This is not an invitation, but you'd think it was! My new punishment! I'm just adding this in because I always wanted to make a sensory jar, and I saw this idea on ....Pinterest of course! I altered the poem a little. Great, now my little cherubs can calm themselves down watching some nice sparkly glitter, which takes 4 minutes 18 seconds to drop to the bottom (the children timed it several times). Unless you give it a little shake up before the last bits land! Everyone loves this, it's not even being used as time out, it's just a nice thing to watch, especially in the sunlight.

The gel plate, made from bits of animals, gross.  Also included were various bits and pieces for print making, and now they all know the rolly thing is called a brayer.

Invitation inspired by artist Chris Piascik. Check out the abandoned design, obviously child did not wish to persevere, but I'm just thinking "wasteful of nice sheet of blue paper"

Before the children got to the table! I did a couple of swirly lines to get them started / inspire / guide their thinking just a little bit!

We moved the chalkboard table that I painted last year and I put out nice new chalk and started drawing a table setting, this was a success, they kept coming up and adding to it, I didn't get a final photo though.

This print looks much more awesome in real life, it was her second one off the same plate.

Prints created so far

I'm thinking black silhouette images printed or painted over these, or maybe zentangle like designs with black vivid, or rip them up and create a collage... limitless possibilities!