Playing in the Mud

This week we were able to get outside for the first time in forever.  For the last few weeks it has been really, really wet and cold (so wet that it would soak through their pants and/ or their snow pants in a matter of minutes) so we have not gotten outside! With a glorious high of 65 on Thursday, however, and a nice stiff wind, it dried out nicely.  

When we got outside I started picking up the clumps of mud that somehow invade the playground every spring, and put them in a bucket;  Several children took interest in what I was doing and started to help.  We brought the bucket (which was at least a 3 gallon pail full of wet dirt), put it in the sensory bin and added about a gallon of water.  Of anything that I have ever put in a sensory bin they only liked water this much.

I know this is not an inventive concept no one is going to read this and say "playing in mud?  Brilliant! I never thought of that!" but really, there is something so organic about playing and digging in the mud and dirt, something that is so natural and essential to children.  

Often you can see pictures or watch videos of "progressive" schools, or "cooperative preschools" doing things on a huge scale like this- just letting kids dig in the school yard, flooding it, making trenches, just PLAYING IN THE MUD.  Unfortunately for many of us we don't have this luxury.  The property owners or the school doesn't allow this kind of "destructive" play.  Children can not dig holes, pull up the grass, climb trees, or anything else of the sort.  (I have heard horror stories of places that have also gotten rid of swings, teeter- totters, and slides because they are too dangerous, so in this respect I count my blessings).  I am not necessarily in favor of turning the entire playground into a mud pit, grass is nice too, still I think that there is so much children can learn and appreciate from getting to dig and play in the earth; If there wasn't, why would they want to do it so badly?

As a child I grew up on a farm (and I am only in my twenties, so don't accuse me of writing a "back in my day" blog :)! ) I had tons of toys as a child, and indeed was probably spoiled, but aside from playing with my personal cassette player, my favorite doll, and my tea set (filled with water and food coloring for me by my grandmother), most of my memories of play as a preschool aged child involve playing with the earth.  

I remember that there was a huge table size rock at one corner of our yard that was used to cover an old ground well that was no longer in use.  I used to take sharp smaller rocks and dandelions and "draw" on that rock for hours.  I learned that I could make white scratch marks with smaller rocks on that rock and yellow marks with dandelions; I could wipe it all away by rubbing some of the dusty- dirt that our driveway was made of over the surface and could start again.  

I also have vivid memories of playing in the creek.  I remember going to it with my dad in the summer and sticking my feet in.  I remember taking my stacking duck boats and putting various things in them to float down the stream (okay, yes, those are toys).  I would put worms in them or dandelions or stones (I learned if I put too many stones in or if I put water in they would sink), to go for a ride.  One time I was really excited because I was playing by the creek (or "crick" as I used to call it) and my dad, who was working on some sort of a wood project near by, used scraps of wood to make me a sail boat.  He asked me for a sail and I ripped a page out of one of my coloring books, which he fashioned the sail out of.  I still have that boat, the wood is the same, but the page has turned yellow almost brown and is curled up with age.  

I picked berries and wild mushrooms (I knew not to eat them, but they served well as pretend food), Ate black cherries off the tree, made daisy crowns, and "moss sculptures."  I captured bugs in jars, raised stripy caterpillars into butterflies and a hundred other things.  

I was also an avid rock collector.  My mom would take me for walks up the hill to a dirt road where there were always an abundance of different rocks.  I found white quartz, granite (in pink, black, and white, and sometimes in combinations), different types of slag and basalt, slate, and obsidian.  I didn't know the names at the time, but you can bet that it was easy for me to learn them and remember their names in Earth Science (having examined an collected rocks I also easily understood types of rocks).  Another great place to learn about rocks was at the lake; Keuka Lake was only a few miles away and was full of rocks.  Going here I found smooth stones and drift wood- learning about the power of water. I also found a great many fossils on these walks and trips to the lake as well as in creek beds.  

The point of all of this is to say that as preschoolers some of the most important things for them to learn are the things that they learn naturally, just by doing the things they like to do out in the real world.  We do not think about it but there are so many rich experiences for them just waiting out the window.  So many of the things that a good program offers- sensory experiences, gross motor (digging) and fine motor (cutting) skills, not to mention just the observations that they make about nature, life, the planet, weather, animals, insects, plants, and many many other things are available from this type of outdoors learning.  

This is not to say I am discouraging other important aspects that can't be learned by running around outdoors like a wild animal; I am not discouraging art or literacy work or anything else that happens in classrooms, rather, I just believe that more and more children live in small Suburban or Urban developments with little or no yard, and certainly no creeks, ponds, lakes, rock piles, dirt roads or drive ways, or giant rocks.  The truth is that children are really missing out by not having these experiences to just play, and well learn (subconsciously) on their own in the great outdoors.  As a teacher I think it is my job to recreate as much as I can experiences like these that I had as a child, and the experiences that most children even 50 years ago were having.    There's a lot to be learned when you are playing in the mud.  

Winter Fruits Sensory Bin

This bin is nothing incredibly novel, just some odds and ends I had lying around, but a lot of my class really enjoyed it, so I thought it worth sharing.

As I said, the contents are nothing shockingly inventive, although perhaps surprising for a sensory bin, which I think is what attracted so many of them to it.  There are some mixed (in- shell) nuts, cinnamon scented pine cones from Christmas, and pine cones collected from outdoors.  There are also a few coffee beans that somehow made their way in the bin as well.  I provided them several wooden containers/ scoops to use, two of which are shown in the photo.  The room smells great between the cinnamon and the coffee beans! 

Shaving cream play without the mess!

I am the kind of teacher who is not afraid of getting messy, but sometimes it is nice to have a two- paper- towel- job instead of a five- beach- towel- job; It is especially nice if in many respects it is every bit as fun.

 

Today we played with shaving cream in a bag- I had to pre- ration the shaving cream first because if there is too much in the bag then the bag will pop and second because I only had a can and a half of shaving cream left.  

 

The project is simple- set out a few containers of food coloring in primary colors and plastic ziplock bags full of shaving cream.  Allow the children to add food coloring to their bag, squeeze the air out of it, zip it, and allow the children to play with the bag.  Some of them squish it, some roll it around, and some push it around on the table.  This is still a great sensory experience for them, and as an added bonus they learn about mixing colors! 

For other fun shaving cream activities check out these blog entries:

Fabulous Shaving Cream Art

Building Experiences (scroll down to the bottom for a cool building project with shaving cream)

B is for Baking Blueberry Banana Bread

Most of my class is at an exciting phase of phonological awareness.  They are starting to put things together; starting to understand how letters make sounds and those sounds make words.  They are on the verge of being able to stretch out words to make guesses as to how to spell them.  They love to look for letters everywhere- on posters, on signs, in books- everywhere.  They are starting to recognize words or guess at words; just yesterday a child saw the word "Same,"  and said to me that has "S- A, like Santa!"  It is an exciting, exciting part of their learning.  They are absolutely fascinated with letters and words printed and written.
Today,  we made Blueberry Banana Bread to cover many bases.  I started by making a sign with the recipe on it and hanging it up on a board where we were baking.  Before we started baking we examined the recipe- I read them the ingredients and the instructions and then they pointed out things they noticed.  They noticed all the "B's" at the beginning and launched into a partial recitation of the "Berenstain's B Book,"  they told me about all the numbers they could "read" that talked about measurement, and some other things like the "T" for "tablespoon" is like "T" for "Tommy" in our class, etc.
Then the best part- making the blueberry banana bread!  Baking really does hit so many bases in preschool- there's measurement, motor involvement like pouring and stirring, literacy, and sensory! For mashing bananas, (and in other recipes for mixing),  I give them gloves and let them get right into it with their hands.

Here's the recipe we used (if you are interested).

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 medium ripe bananas, mashed
• 1 cup fresh blueberries (or 1 3/4 cup of frozen blueberries, thawed) 

Directions

1. In a bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and salt. In a large mixing bowl, cream the shortening and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla; mix well. Beat in bananas. Gradually add the dry ingredients, beating just until combined. Fold in blueberries.
2. Pour into a large, greased loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees F for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks.

We ate our bread for snack, (it came out really well!), and I sent them each home with two pieces of the bread in a ziplock bag with the recipe.  This class often asks for recipes- even for things that are prepared by the cook in the kitchen for their meals to take home to their parents! 

Incredible, Indulgent Sensory Activities

Here are a few fantastic smelling sensory activities that both you and your children are bound to adore!

This first idea is from a Bev Bos conference, and is absolutely fantastic!  Set out a few heavy duty mortars and pestles with various delicious smelling things to smash or grind up.  Today we used coffee beans, dried rose petals (which should be easily found after Valentines Day), whole cloves, whole hazelnuts, and cinnamon sticks.



In general I let them use as much as they want, but today I had to ration the cinnamon sticks a bit so that everyone could have a couple (since there were only a few left).  Without fail every single child does this activity whenever it is presented.  It is quite popular with the children and the parents as well.  The parents always comment on how great the room smells after the kids have been working on such a project.                                

After they are done smashing or grinding up all of their treasures I bag it up and label it "a special scent made by Susan" or whatever that child's name is.  Some parents have put it in a cup or a dish and left it somewhere in the house as potpourri.

During the holidays this year I put somethings that they smashed up (cinnamon sticks, whole cloves, whole nutmeg, all spice berries, star anise, and other "holiday smells") in little tiny white paper bags, folded them over and put a string through two holes punched in the top and had the children give them to their parents as car air fresheners.

 It was a cute and easy Christmas Present for them to give their parents and I had a lot of positive feedback about them.    There are a lot of other things you can give them to grind or smash- including cocoa beans, lavender, fresh or dried herbs, and much more! It seems so simple, but the really adore it and it smells fantastic.

When we were done with the coffee beans I added some coffee beans to the beans in one of our sensory bins!  Again, the smell was delicious! This bin contains a visually mesmerizing assortments of beans and dried vegetables some of which include pinto beans, black beans, kidney beans, white lima beans, split peas, yellow split peas, red lentils, black eyed peas, giant fava beans, indian corn, and coffee beans!  The kids love running their hands through it and I have often spotted adults who can't help themselves from doing the same!  They also love the sound of the beans running through the mill, or being poured in the wooden or metal containers we have.  For more sensory bin ideas that include coffee beans check out this post by Teacher Tom or this post by Mary Lea (aka Pink and Green Mama).

The next idea came from the the Ooey Gooey Tooey Book by Lisa Murphy aka the Ooey Gooey Lady.  For years I have put Oatmeal in the sensory bin, but had never thought to add cinnamon (even though I EAT it in my oatmeal on a regular basis).  In any instance I put two large containers of oatmeal in the bin and added a half a cup of cinnamon, a half a cup of salt, and a little nutmeg because I had some and love the smell.  Thus far it has had rave reviews.

They have enjoyed playing in it and smelling it, and one poor little fellow even ate some.  Today, (of their own designs), they got the clip board and "wrote down"  the ingredients for oatmeal cake and then "baked it,"  putting a little literacy in the mix.  The first day I put it out, I caught some of them putting their faces almost down in it to better take in the smell!

Another hit recently was putting babies with soap, water, and sponges in the sensory bin for "baths."  Any soap can be used, but to infuse your room with a pleasant smell baby shampoo is nice to use or Lavender baby shampoo (by Johnson and Johnson) like we used today.  It smells absolutely beautiful.

Some other things that might be useful include cups (especially ones with spouts) to pour water over the babies and rinse them off, and little hand towels for them to wrap their babies in when they are done bathing (these were after thoughts, so I will use them next time).




If you liked these sensory ideas, here are some links to other posts:

5 more sensory bin ideas
Ooblick


  

Some fun painting from the week

At school, we paint almost everyday.  Usually there are either water colors or tempera paints at the easel (although sometimes I will switch out paint for oil pastels or I will tape something textured to the easel and give them peeled crayons to make rubbings). In addition to this, several days a week I will put out some "art materials" for painting, collages, or other art opportunities on the table.  Sometimes they are minimally teacher directed, other times they can just walk up and start working.  In any instance, while they seem perpetually interested in painting on the easel, it is still important for them to have a wide variety of art experiences.  Thusly, I am always searching for new ways to paint (and perhaps you are too).


Here are two hits from this week:
Ice cube painting

to create these paints just use half liquid water color and half water in ice cube trays and freeze with popsicle sticks

This class did not like this as much as classes in the past.  A few of the children grew impatient with waiting for the ice to melt so that they could paint.  In years past, however, the children typically would paint until we were out of ice! Every class is different, though.  At the end of the day they asked if we could do it again, so maybe we will have a second go of it on Monday.








We have been experimenting with ice for the last few weeks, so this is another cool way for them to experiment with ice.

Painting on aluminum foil

I truthfully have not done this in the four and fives class before, although I did do it almost four years ago when I was teaching the threes! Fours and fives seem to enjoy this just as much, however.

Even children who are not usually remotely interested in the art area, (except occasions when we are painting with cars), did a few paintings on foil like this one to the left.  You can see a "stage of scribbling" in his painting.

Some of the children also created some really cool textures when painting this way, although they were as much interested in the sound that the foil made when the hit it with the head of the brush, as was required to make this kind of texture.  Some of them also liked the sound of the foil when they went around and around the sheet with their brush, while others were simply fascinated by painting on the shiny surface- making this an overall interesting sensory activity as well as art.    

For some more ways to paint see these entries as well:

thing painting

painting six ways

If you have some suggestions for painting, I'd love to hear them!  Feel free to leave a link to your blog post about painting in the comments section! 

A important lesson from Ooblick (and how to make it)

I am almost ashamed to say it; I have never used Ooblick in my classroom before! I know, I know, everyone and their neighbor has used Ooblick in preschool but I never have.  Terrible.  Maybe it is because all of the descriptions I have red of it have been non discrpt and somewhat blasé to say the least.

(the yellow color is from food coloring)

The Basics
If you have not used it before, do not underestimate the awesomeness of this substance.  Ooblick is part corn starch and part water a good batch is comprised of about equal parts corn starch and water but it can vary.  The batch above needed  You will read here, and virtually everywhere else, Ooblick (sometimes spelled Oobleck) is a non- Newtonian fluid;  This means that it exhibits characteristics of both a solid and a liquid.  When there is pressure applied to Ooblick from any angle it acts as a solid, but when there is little or no pressure applied it acts like a liquid.  When using your fingers or a spoon to scrape the bottom it feels like playdough (sort of) but there is no trail left behind your spoon or fingers, no indent made, because the portions of the liquid that pressure is not being applied to move freely just like water.  It feels, with your hand submerged, as though you could grab a clump of it and shape it into a ball, but as soon as you pull it out it runs through your fingers! Children find this fascinating and I am not ashamed to say that I did as well; I perhaps enjoyed it just a tiny bit more than they did.

What can be learned from Ooblick
Let me warn you that the next part is wordy and lengthy, but I beg you to stick with me so that perhaps this rant will be useful to you:
This project was really an eye opener to me about the importance of having EXPERIENCES FOR CHILDREN TO ATTACH WORDS TO (a premise that I was first made to understand completely by Bev Bos).  Now,  am I doing this to teach children who are four years of age to walk around talking to other adults about "non- newtonian fluids?" No. Although, I am not loathe to the idea of throwing that word out to them, still, I do not expect them to pick it up.  BUT, more importantly I am CONVINCED that having this experience will be valuable to them down the road.  When I took chemistry in high school, (which seems like ages ago although it has not yet been a decade),  I remember learning about Non- Newtonian fluids and in theory I suppose I knew what they were, I knew by description what they were and I even knew to give the examples of quick sand and something called Ooblick that I had never touched.  By experience I somewhat knew what quick sand was like; I grew up on a farm so I knew that in the spring when I stepped "mud," (which on farms consists of water, dirt, cow manure, pieces of cow feed, and other odds and ends that the cows have stomped together),  that was very wet and ankle deep (sometimes deeper),  my boot would often get stuck in a "vacuum" which could be quite difficult to navigate.  I also knew that when shoveling this substance that it fell off the shovel easily.  However, I never played in it (for obvious reasons) and hence never took time to examine or ponder these qualities or associate them with the term "non newtonian."   I never understood until the other day (THE OTHER DAY WHEN I PLAYED WITH OOBLICK!) the complete meaning of a non newtonian fluid;  I understood more characteristics of non- newtonian substance and had an expanded understanding of the meaning of viscosity (I will spare you definitions in interest of relevance) and finally was able to equate non-newtonian substances with a colloidal suspension (something I should have been able to do by simple memorizing, but neglected to memorize...).  However, experience would have saved me memorization and ultimately how much do we retain that we simply memorize anyway?
This brings hope to people like myself and I am sure other teachers who are looking a research on brain development and saying to themselves "and if I didn't get enough of this kind of experience as a child, will I ever be reconciled to the missing piece?" In this instance, yes, it is not too late! However, we, generally are looking to give our children a "head start," and what better way to do this than to lay a foundation for future learning.
Have you ever seen the shows where they have to transfer the weight of an entire house so that they can create a strong foundation because the original one was ill built and is crumbling?  How much easier would it have been to built a strong foundation in the first place?
This is one activity and one example.  It is only one, and yet that is something.  President Obama, in his State of the Union address, recently called and expressed concern over the need for a better education system to yield brilliant scientists, mathematicians, and engineers to better serve our nation and society; This is where it starts, in Early Childhood Programs;  It starts by giving children EXPERIENCES that are real to them and that set a foundation for their learning NOT by teaching them to learn and memorize things that they have no real understanding or experience with, but lasting experiences.  

And besides all of this, it's fun!


Some pointers for using Ooblick in your class
1.  Don't cover it, if you are keeping it.  Just leave it open and add more water in the morning.  If you cover it, then it will mold (Lisa Murphy, Ooey Gooey Handbook)
2.  This makes some children's hands very dry- I had a little bit of baby oil on hand that we usually use for sensory play that I gave them on their hands to rub around to help moisturize them.  I had parents bring in lotion for little hands that dried out after the first day, and gave gloves to kids whose hands were severely effected by it.
3.  I plan to need at least 5 cups of corn starch for this project.

Five Uses for Muffin Tins

One of my favorite "things" to use in the classroom is a muffin tin (or five).  There seems to be no end to the uses for a muffin tin in a preschool room and you can often find them for just a dollar!

Use #1:  Sorting or holding beads or other small craft items:
We used them for this just today.  A couple girls sorted the beads by colors, one of them spent the entire time just sorting! The other children used the tins and other containers to hold the beads so that they could pick through them and get the ones they wanted. 
I also often use these in the sensory bin when things like mixed beans are in it because they encourage sorting (and dramatic play) and they also love the sound of the beans hitting metal. 

Use #2:  Palates for painting and mixing paints:

See this post for more about paint mixing.

Use# 3:  Ice mold for sensory bin or ice painting

Use #4:  Molds for crayons

I first heard of this from Bev Bos's book Don't Move the Muffin Tins.  The instructions are simple; take peeled old crayons in muffin tins and put them in a 300 degree oven.  Keep an eye on them and when they are completely melted turn the oven off and let them set for a few hours (I usually just let mine sit overnight) and when they are completely cool break them out of the tins then color away!  

Image from Triangle Mommies

Use #5:  Make bath bombs 

These are great for sensory tables or to make with kids (probably not a project for toddlers, but three and up would work) to give as gifts.

There are great directions for this from the Science at Home site.  

Image from Science@home (site link above)

"If it hasn't been in the hand, it can't be in the brain"

"If it hasn't been in the hand, it can't be in the brain."  Bev Bos

Here are some ideas to accomplish just that.  Most of these things can be used multiple ways- in and out of sensory bins, at home and in schools.  

#1: Mixed dried beans 

Last week we had beans in the sensory bin (actually there were peas and corn as well). This isn't really anything special, but it it really pretty and promotes sorting.  They were specifically fascinated by picking out the huge white lima beans. 

The mix of kidney beans, pinto beans, white lima beans, black beans, black eyed peas, split peas, and left over indian corn kernels make up this mix, but really any mixture of beans/ etc will do.  Below you can see there were spoons scoops and cups in the sensory bin but also sometimes ice trays or muffin tins can encourage sorting as well.

#2: Goop (also known as "Cloud Dough")

Last week we also made what my kids call "goop"- a concoction borrowed from Lisa Murphy, the Ooey Gooey Lady.   This mixture is made up of only two ingredients flour and baby oil- so you have double sensory smell and touch.  (I love the smell of baby oil).  

I let them help make the goop, they decided to have just slightly more runny than doughy.  

They also wanted to add a little blue.  

After a while they asked if we could have more goop in the sensory bin, so we made more- this time the "goop" was much more like dough.  

#3:  Moon Sand

Recently, a parent donated four small bags of Moon Sand with "Moon Sand toys" to our classroom.  While, yes, you can make really cool sensory things on your own or use just wet sand, Moon Sand is pretty cool, and versatile.  For anyone unfamiliar with it, it holds shape like wet sand and never dries out.  This Moon Sand came with some houses, a swing, some cars, and some people molds. They didn't care much about the swing or houses, but they (of course) loved the car, and also really loved the people molds. 

I put it out on box tops, (that we seem to have an abundance of), for easy set up and clean up.  They seem to enjoy it as a quiet activity.  This is also really great for any children that require sensory input. If he or she starts losing control I can just pop the top on the table and ask the child if he or she would like to play with Moon Sand (the answer is always yes).  For an "on the go" option, I can put it in a ziplock and stick it in my apron pocket, then when I need it I just hand the bag to the child and let him or her squeeze the bag.  It works for sensory input or as a transition activity.  


#4: Water, ice, snow

See entry here about water play.  There is really no end to what they can do playing with water in any form.  






#5:  Colored Noodles, Scented Rice


I took full advantage of the snow day today to create some new things for collages, mosaics, and our sensory bin.  


The scented rice idea came from this entry at teachpreschool.org. I modified it slightly, however.  In a bowl I mixed 2 packets of Koolaid with 3 teaspoons of boiling water and a teaspoon and a half of rubbing alcohol, until completely dissolved.  Next I put this liquid into a ziplock bag containing six cups of dry rice.  I mixed the rice and liquid completely.  Then I laid it out for four hours on wax paper before putting it in an air tight container. 

For the pasta I started with the instructions found here, but, again, modified it.  I used only a teaspoon of food coloring, and three teaspoons of rubbing alcohol, then added it to a ziplock bag containing 3 cups of pasta.  The instructions at the website above suggest that there should be more food coloring and less pasta, but as you can see below the pasta is quite dark and while they will lighten a bit when they completely dry, it will not be a lot.  

Purple mini rotinelle (wheels)

Green mini farfalle (bow ties)

mini orecchiette (shells)

Hot pink mini radiatori (nuggets)

Have fun and enjoy; I know we will. 

An awesome creation

I say this a hundred times, but the thing about teaching is, the kids teach me all the time.  For the last few days we have had water in the sensory bins in my room.  This is nothing unusual.  Water is a pretty common sensory bin filler.  In it I placed many scoops, funnels, sponges, spoons, etc.  I also had a wheel in it (always fun for the first ten minutes), an old fashioned hand mixer,  and two turkey basters.

In this water table there are several things that they explored.  I added soap yesterday so they spent a lot of time creating many bubbles using the mixer and sponges to whisk up and squeeze out bubbles.  I added ice and they scooped and melted ice.  They also put the the funnel wide side up over the turkey baster end so that it extended the length.  

The Discovery

The greatest discovery, however, came a half an hour before lunch.  One little girl, we will call Brenda, was occupied with the idea of getting the turkey baster to squirt straight up in the air.  She couldn't because there was not enough water in the bulb to go up the length of the tube, not even to just pour and dribble over the sides.  Seeing this, a friend, we will call Georgia, attached a right side- up funnel to the upside down turkey baster and began pouring water into the funnel.  It took a while for her to realize that she had to squeeze the bulb of the turkey baster to get the water to run down into the baster and not remain in the funnel, but once she did it was fantastic.  They would shoot water  out the top of the funnel by squeezing the bulb of the turkey baster-  taking turns being the girl to stabilize the device, and the girl to squeeze the bulb.  They would refill and do it over and over, now adding another friend, Tina, to the mix.  It wasn't long before the entire room was watching these three girls.  Sometimes it shot out with a kind of coarse mist and other times just a thin stream.  Sometimes they would add too much water and it would just bubble over in the funnel.  Sometimes the water shot out only a few inches, other times it hit the ceiling (about 9 feet high)  and traveled a few feet across the room!

What they learned

So what was the point of this?  Was this just "another day" at play?  No, no, this was something big.  At lunch most days I go around the table and ask each child what they liked about today.  Every single child said that the thing they liked best today was when Brenda and Georgia were shooting the water out of their creation, even the ones who were just watching.  They learned something that day, they learned about the power of water, the power of suction, and the power of air.  They may not know these words yet, (although I probably mentioned them during the course of this activity) but when they encounter the word "suction" they have a concrete experience to attach it to.  

More than this, they learned about team work.  They could never have done this without an extra set of hands to stabilize the device.  

They also created, on their own, a simple machine; If that does not empower a child, if that does not build self esteem, if that does not inspire them to build and create, if that does not create passion for them, I don't know what does.  

This will be a lasting memory for many of these children, and sometimes positive memories that contain them doing GREAT things, is what it is all about.  

A lesson for you, a lesson for me

Like I said at the beginning, these children teach me all the time, and boy did I learn something today.  Three and a half years ago when I started teaching this discovery NEVER would have happened.  I would have been too wrapped up in getting them to keep the water in the sensory bins on the table.  Yes, I had a lot of cleaning today, and yes, one little girl slipped and fell, but that same girl refused ice because she wanted to get back to the activity as soon as she could.  They had so much fun today, and they worked so hard, and took turns and worked together.  I could never teach that by showing them how to do this, (though truthfully I never would have thought of using those two tools that way- my imagination is limited as an adult, not to mention my inclination to explore or try something that doesn't make "sense"), they taught themselves how to make it.  I also could not teach them something like the necessity of sharing and team work.  I could tell them "if you share, if you take turns, and if you work together, it would be more fun,"  but they never would have believed me, or really even internalized that statement.  Yet, they were sharing, not because they knew that "good" girls share, but because if they didn't share the other friend would stop helping, making it impossible to do, and because it is more fun to experience  something like that with a friend.  Joy shared is joy doubled, (I think that is how the saying goes),  and indeed the sheer delight those girls experienced was contagious.  I know beyond a doubt that this was better than any "teacher project" they could have done.  Preschoolers are not designed to sit at a desk and listen to a teacher teach AT them.  Sitting around and talking about water, about snow, about rain, is not really learning for them.  They have to see it, touch it, play with it, manipulate it, and do what perhaps some overly discerning adult would tell them not to do.  Children can harness potential, passion, and creativity in a way adults only dream they could.   

It is times like this that I wonder how many times I am holding them back from a major discovery by putting unnecessary limits and boundaries in their world.  By telling them not to do something or even by telling the TO DO something- am I hindering their natural instinct to learn and explore their environment?  More and more I realize that, as silly as it sounds, my role should be a "facilitator of learning, "  not a "teacher" in the traditional sense.  It is my job to know what they NEED to learn and to bring them the tools, the space, the time to learn it.  Everyday we as teachers, (or sometimes we as parents), have to create the environment and circumstances for children to learn.  These children teach me how to teach them everyday, and sometimes they teach me how to make a fountain/ shooter/ geyser/ out of a turkey baster and funnel.  

Painting six ways

#1: Drizzle painting: for this I gave them three containers of tempera paint with pipettes.  I used powdered tempera mixed to a consistency thick enough to stick to the paper towels, but thin enough to run down the paper.

This girl was particularly interested in how high up on the paper she could put the paint and get it to still drip on the floor.  (Process!)

The girl who made this painting was persistently trying to make vertical lines; she said to me, in only a slightly exasperated voice, "even when I make lines across, they still drip down." 

#2: Color mixing. This activity is pretty self explanatory, but I cannot say enough about it.  They loved this activity (boys too) and created some fantastic shades.  See at the end of this section for a Bev Bos video that inspired it.  

video:

#3:  Dough Paint:  I found this in the Science Arts book.  The paint is made of equal parts salt, flour, and water, with a little paint added.  The book calls is "Sparkle Dough Paint," but I wouldn't say it actually "sparkles."  None the less it is a fun art activity.  They helped me funnel it into squeeze bottles and off they went.

Most of them chose to do "fold over" paintings, I did not suggest it, but one child did it and it caught on like wildfire.  (The term "Fold Over Painting" is borrowed from Bev Bos.

I love the one above.  It took forever to dry (three days) but I thought it was such a creative use of the materials. 

I love how this one (above) was folded at an angle to make an interesting shape.

#4:  Salad Spinner Art: This is one of everyones' favorite ways to paint at school.  All it takes is some precut paper, some liquid water colors, pipettes, and a salad spinner.  Like most of these painting options- no instructions are needed.

Add as much or as little paint as desired.

Spin for as long and and as fast as desired.

Ta- Da!

#5: Bubble Painting:  Some children a little older than my class did this project and was fascinated by making really cool designs on their paper with the over flowing bubbles but my class wasn't really interested in what was happening to their paper.  They were interested in what was happening in the cup: the bubbles building, the bubbles overflowing, the bubbles popping.  This being said, we switched from paper to paper towels so we could do more bubbles faster and clean up faster.  

#6:  Incline Painting (with cars and marbles!):  This activity was inspired by one of my favorite blogs:  Teacher Tom's Blog.  Now, mine was not as complex as Teacher Tom's, but I am not a builder, or a "tinkerer" or anything of the sort.  

My simple solution was to adjust only one side of our adjustable table.  I put a sensory pan at the bottom to catch the cars and left the roll of paper on the floor by the legs, pulling the paper over the top and cutting it off for the next group.  

This was pretty fun, and kept the boys interest for more than ten minutes!