Spring Nature Study 146 Dramatic Play • Turn your dramatic play center into a pet store. Create a simple sorting and classifying section by labeling two areas in the dra- matic play center: “Oviparous Animal Corner” and “Other Ani- mals Section.” Include many stuffed toy animals in these two areas. Bring in identifiable oviparous stuffed play animals, such as ducks, lizards, frogs, snakes, and various birds. For the Other Animals area, provide stuffed play animals of cats, dogs, mon- keys, and rabbits. Also supply items the children would need for the pets, such as water dishes, beds, and grooming brushes. The children will enjoy sorting and classifying pets based on their newfound vocabulary word, oviparous. Art • Model for children the art of egg decorating. Books from the library about egg decorating will be helpful. Slavic styles of egg decorating include Polish pisanka egg decorating, Ukrainian pysanka, Czech kraslice, and Croatian pisanica decorating. Mexi- can decorated eggs, called cascarones, are made by hollowing eggs and filling them with confetti. For a true artistic Polish pisanka egg, draw with wax on a hard-boiled egg. Then submerge the egg into a dye. • As an alternative method of teaching children about art made with resists, have them cut out oval shapes that have been cop- ied onto heavy white construction paper or, better yet, heavy white watercolor paper. Explain to the children that they will be making resists. Model and explain how crayons are made from wax. Have the children use crayons to draw designs on their cutout oval papers. Provide watercolors so the children can creatively paint over their wax designs. The design shows up because the drawing is made from wax, which repels, or resists, the water. Children will be amazed by their scientific and artistic creations. Celebrate Nature_4th pages.indd 146 2/18/11 6:24:52 PM