Sea shells, plaster cast / Odlivci školjki u gipsu

Here are some sea shells that we collected when we were at the beach the last time. Both V and baby Z like to play with them a lot. And they are great for learning different things as well - about sea creatures, shapes, textures, we can count them, sort them in different ways, use them as coins, treasure, food, etc. in pretend play, just to name some.

Ove školjke smo sakupili na plaži poslednji put kad smo bili na moru. I V i beba Z vole da se igraju sa njima, jer se s njima mogu igrati na različite načine i što šta naučiti: npr. o morskim životinjama, oblicima, teksturama, mogu se brojati, sortirati na različite načine, mogu se koristiti kao novčići, blago ili hrana u igrama pretvaranja, da navedem samo neke.

A few days ago V and I made some plaster casts from them. It may seem as a difficult process, but actually it is very very simple.

Pre nekoliko dana V i ja smo naparvili odlivke (kopije) školjki u gipsu. To zvuči kao komplikovan proces, ali zapravo je vrlo vrlo jednostavan.

You will need some plasticine or clay to make the molds, and some plaster powder. 
To make the mold you simply make a plasticine or clay tile that is about 1 cm thick, press the shell in it, and take the shell out. The mold is done.  
Biće vam potrebno malo plastelina ili gline da napravite kalupe, i malo gipsa u prahu.
Da biste napravili kalup jednostavno napravite pločicu od plastelina ili gline debljine oko 1 cm, utisnite školjku, izvadite je pažljivo i to je to - kalup je gotov. Ja sam sa spoljne ivice pločica stavila "ogradicu" od plastelina, kako se gips, koji je tečan, ne bi prelivao sa strane.

After that you have to fix the plaster. Fixing plaster is very easy: sift the plaster powder slowly into the container with water until it forms a mountain above the water surface. Then mix it and pour it into the mold. Leave it for 15 minutes, and take the plaster cast out. And that's it.

Nakon toga se priprema gips. Priprema gipsa je vrlo jednostavna: sipajte gips polako u posudu sa vodom sve dok se ne pojavi "ostrvce" od gipsa iznad vode, a zatim promešajte.

Dobijena smesa treba da bude gustine malo gušćeg jogurta. Sipajte smesu u pripremljene kalupe. Ostavite da odstoji oko 15 minuta, ili dok se gips potpuno ne stvrdne, a zatim izvadite gipsane odlivke iz kalupa. I to je to.

 

Treasure Hunt / Potraga za blagom

Collecting small pieces of green glass that was polished by the sea became our main activity (and obssesion) these days at the beach. V and baby Z call them treasure. And even though it is not treasure at all, but ruther pieces of trash (broken glass bottles) they do shine and shimmer in the sea and sun. And if we realy want to see the beaty in all the small and rejected things around us, we can close one eye - and pretend that these small pieces of broken glass are some kind of magic on the beach. And so I joined this treasure hunt as well. 

Sakupljanje malih komadića zelenog stakla koje je more ispoliralo i uglačalo, je postalo naša glavna aktivnost (da ne kažem opsesija) ovih dana na plaži. V i beba Z ih zovu - blago! I iako to uopšte nije blago, več komadići smeća (slomljeno staklo od bačenih flaša) - veoma lepo svetlucaju i sjaje na suncu i moru. I ako baš hoćemo da se uživimo u lepoti malih i odbačenih stvari ali i da zažmurimo na jedno oko - primetićemo da pomalo deluju kao neka mala čarolija na plaži. Tako sam se i ja pridružila ovoj opsesivnoj potrazi za 'blagom'.

After collecting some amount of treasure we make cave structures in the sand to hide it inside. After that - we dig the treasure, and sprinkle with water to make it even sparklier. We count it, we measure it's weight. All sorts of things. But what's most important of all is that it always inspires the play act of Peter Pan, captain Cook and his pirates that go for treasure hunts! You can guess - what is our favourite book these days!

Nakon što sakupimo određenu količinu blaga - pravimo pećine u pesku da bismo ga sakrili unutra. Zatim iskopavamo blago i posipamo vodom da bi postalo još sjajnije i svetlucavije na suncu! Ređamo ga, brojimo, merimo težinu, itd. Ali ono što je najvažnije od svega to je da ono uvek inspiriše neku vrstu kao-da-igre Petra Pana, kapetana Kuke i njegovih gusara koji idu u potragu za blagom. Pretpostavljam da možete pogoditi koja je naša omiljena knjiga ovih dana!