Downstairs:
Runaway Mushrooms

Thank you so much for joining us for our Fungi Friends Storytelling Extravaganza! We had so much fun crafting this experience for you but we want to peel back the curtain and show you just how this culminated all together. It was a labor of love from both children and teachers collaborating on all aspects of this multi step process.

Research

Next, using various research materials (books, pamphlets, computer with a teacher) each child was asked to choose a mushroom that was visually the most interesting to them. More indepth research was done to identify each mushroom name. Children were absorbed in learning the various names and how different mushrooms can look and grow. 

Practice

Thirdly, teachers wanted to expose the children to a material similar to clay but with the give and take of messing up and trying again. Salt dough was measured and mixed and with cookie cutters and other tools, various shapes were designed, baked then painted with watercolors.  

Sculpting

Nina provided us with clay and with the help of our printed out mushroom pictures each child molded their clay to best represent their own mushroom. Using their photos for adding details like spores, gills and a stem. The sculptures were dried and fired in the kiln to solidify their shape and structure.

Glazing

Once fired and cooled we were given a tutorial on glazing from Nina who talked about how glazes look one way but when heated up again in the kiln their color changes and becomes more shiny and glossy. Again using their pictures each child collected the colors they would need to replicate their mushroom and got to work. 

Hiding

Once our mushrooms were complete The Fungi Friends thought of various places around campus where our mushrooms could hide. Ideas were written down and we compiled the list to 5 different places that were special to us. Teachers worked on clues and tested them on the Fungi Friends to make sure they made sense and were accurately describing each space. Finally the mushrooms were hung and the Fungi Friends were buzzing with excitement to invite their families to school for this scavenger hunt experience! 

Family Adventure

We were so happy to have our families finally on campus! We started by singing one of our original songs, "The Mushroom Song," and then families headed off to follow the five clues on the program (see below). At each clue, there were four mushrooms hidden that could be checked off on the program. The last clue led us all to Love, our maple tree, for an all-school amphitheater gathering. We sang with Michael, listened to stories with evan, and drank hot chocolate. What a wonderful way to end the week!