Book Activity: Magpie Crafts

We're into our first week of Waldorf-inspired homeschooling for 3 Year Old Kindergarten.

I like to use our books that we are reading as springboards for our play and learning activities.

This week we have been reading Waddle Giggle Gargle by Pamela Allen.

The magpie featured in this book is the Australian Magpie. A very different bird to the British Magpie! Although they share the same colouring, the Australian magpie is twice the size and has a nasty habit of swooping anyone that comes near it's nest during nesting season.

As a child I came to know the terrors of magpie nesting season, getting swooped often on my way to school. We had a variety of defences for keeping a magpie at bay, my favourite being the empty icecream tub on the head with eyes decorated all over it (we discovered they wont swoop if they think you're looking at them)!

The children have loved hearing me tell this tale from my childhood for storytelling :) For more on the place of storytelling and books in our Kindergarten Curriculum have a read of ABC's of a Waldorf Mama: Letters F-J.

Inspired by this gorgeous and fun book we used a magpie in flight drawn onto card. I then cut the magpie out so I had a frame and I had a magpie for another project.

You can download the template here.

Magpie Craft.pdf by Triple T Mum

I attached contact paper to the frame picture to be used in a collage activity.

Strawberry and Ooffa joined in on this activity.

They really enjoyed touching the stickyness of the contact paper and were excited by the Create Trays that I placed on the tables with the collage materials. I needed a tray each for Strawberry and Ooffa as sharing at two is a foreign concept!

They also enjoyed putting pom poms on the sticky contact and taking them off again :)

The magpie picture was used in a glueing and glitter activity. I gave chook a small bottle of white glue. He then 'drew' lines and squiggles with the glue.

Once he had completed the glue 'drawing' we placed the magpie into our glitter tray. Using our egg shakers Chook shook as much glitter as we could all over the magpie revealing the gorgeous way he had decorated the wing tips.

 I just love putting their art work on the door :)

Chook - 3.5 years old

Strawberry - 24 months

Ooffa - 24 months

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Links to the Early Years Learning Framework for Australia:

• Children are connected with and contribute to their world: begin to understand and experience sharing of materials, explore relationships of magpies living in an urban environment with people
• Children have a strong sense of identity: express their ideas, willing to discover new textures and materials, confident to try new things
• Children have a strong sense of wellbeing: use their senses to explore the world around them, use art materials safely, experience sharing as a 'feel good' activity
• Children are confident and involved learners: explore and participate in art activities, make predictions about what will happen next in the story, learn about the Australian magpie during nesting season
• Children are effective communicators: express ideas, use language to ask for what they want