Fire Trucks, Fire Dogs, Fire Safety Crafts

Is there anything as exciting as a fire truck in the eyes of a young child? 
Monday of this week was the annual visit of the fire department 
to our youngest WonderPeep's preschool out in CO. 

There was excitement in the air! 

October has the theme of "Fire Safety" 

and that's significant to the lives of young children. 

Here are some crafts and art response to this important topic. 

This may well be one of my favorite bulletin boards of all time! 

It goes a *L*O*N*G* way to helping parents of young children grasp the importance of PROCESS to the creative spirit. 

Rectangles. Squares. Circles. 

Simple shapes are transformed in the eyes of young children to become the firetrucks that they have touched and explored. My favorite aspect of this exercise is that obviously the children have been allowed to do the work of constructing their trucks ON THEIR OWN. Given access to the same materials, each young child has created their own vehicle. Wheels and hoses! Hoses and wheels! And in some cases? LOTS of wheels! 

HURRAH for teachers who allow children to explore and create unfettered! 

It is so important for children to create 'authentic' work!

These next couple of photos were from a display at "I Teach K" out in Vegas. 
Kindergarten to the rescue! 

Nothing works quite like a paper plate to be the vehicle to a larger issue. 

How cute are these paper plate Dalmatians for the fire station?

Now take a look at these easel paintings created by preschoolers in WI!

Talk about OPEN-ENDED! 

Talk about creativity! 

Talk about original!!!

Back to Kindergarten. 

This time in Cincinnati! 

The Kinder photos complete with hand-painted tshirts adorn the hallways all year. 

The seasonal embellishments change and get updated periodically. 

Here we see the whole Fire Battalion.