I started with this sensory bin full of junk. Among some of the contents: plastic and metal spoons, child proof scissors, an eye lash curler, metal bottle tops, twist- ties (for produce from the grocery store), holiday tin, paper clips, golf tees, plastic and metal cookie cutters, shredded gift paper, key rings, plastic and metal buttons, and much more. Obviously there were both magnetic and nonmagnetic objects for their discovery.
I provided them with three options for magnets:
these ancient classroom magnets,
these magnetic pin cushions,
and these gloves that I attached adhesive magnets to.
When the children first started in the center they were more interested in playing with the objects in the bin and didn't even touch the magnets. When I collected items for the bin I wanted to give them as many things to use magnets on as possible. I didn't consider the fact that, to a four year old, an eye lash curler and a coiled whisk are fascinating objects; so much so that they can stand as toys on their own. Luckily, after about 10 minutes they started to experiment with magnets and I could breathe a sigh of relief that the activity wasn't a flop.
After about 5 minutes they asked me if they could have a container to put all the things that "stuck" to the magnets in. I gave them one and soon they decided that they needed another one to get the things that didn't stick out of their way.
After they finished sorting them they dumped all the objects back into the bin and resorted them. A few children came and went to and from this area but they repeated this project several times.
One of my boys tried to tell his friends that when he put the gloves on he had magic powers because he could pick up the metal things in the bin. When they argued that they could just pick up the metal things with their hands (without gloves), he put the glove on backward, proclaiming "you can't pick things up with the back of your hands, I have super powers!"
I never even thought of making magnet sculptures (they called it a magnet statue), with the pin cushions. I had assumed that they would just use the pin cushions like the horseshoe magnets. They amaze me everyday.
One of my boys tried to tell his friends that when he put the gloves on he had magic powers because he could pick up the metal things in the bin. When they argued that they could just pick up the metal things with their hands (without gloves), he put the glove on backward, proclaiming "you can't pick things up with the back of your hands, I have super powers!"
After quite a while of playing "magnet super heroes," one of the girls took the magnetic pin cushion and made this:
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