same but different

I'm sorry for the blurry photo but really wanted to show you these two paint palettes as poured by two different kiddos. Both were three at the time, one a few months shy of their fourth birthday, the other a few months into their third year. What a difference a few months make! I love this so much.

the little tweaks we do: an observation

When you work with a lot of children you will find that some really like to get into the materials. They are the ones that always seem to have paint on their bodies and play dough in their hair. They are whole body explorers and boy, do they explore. 

You will also find a good number of children who prefer to not get their hands dirty and while it may look like the whole body child is playing more and getting more out of the process it only appears that way.  The child who prefers things orderly, or perhaps is sensitive to different textures is also playing...and learning. It just manifests differently. They are both playing fully and processing as they work.
 

These two photos were taken moments apart on the day I first introduced baking soda and vinegar to the children. All of the children were engaged and excited in the investigation. As the fun grew louder and um...bigger, one of the children began to back away. This child often enjoys getting elbow deep in paint but the noise level during this activity was a bit too much. I did not want this to be a defining moment where this child might abandon investigative activities due to noise and perhaps carry that around with them so I asked if they would like their own tray to work on in a different area of the classroom. They nodded that they did and a happy child trundled off to a quiet corner to investigate at their own pace.

Much of my work as a teacher is simply observing. To an outsider it might appear that we aren't really doing much at all but we stand or sit and we watch. We constantly make mental notes as to what works, what doesn't work. Who prefers quiet, who loves to sing. Who likes to build, who enjoys puzzles. We watch and observe and take photos and document all that is going on so that we can prepare an environment that meets the needs of all of the children. Some children need to be challenged in their play, others need to build confidence. As we observe we figure out who needs what and it is truly a joy to be a part of it all. Each day brings new discoveries and each group of children makes the classroom feel brand new.

impromptu scissors work

 

On the day I had planned for us to begin our sprouting jars I realized I had forgotten to bring tulle to use on our jars. Standing in our classroom kitchen I spied our container of bath scrubbies I had an a-ha! moment and pulled one down. I sat myself down at one of our wee tables and was about to begin cutting when the door opened and the first kiddo of the day walked in. He immediately walked up to me and asked what I was doing. When I told him what I was doing and why he decided he wanted to do it too and so off to the art center he went in search of scissors. He sat there quietly cutting and exploring the plastic mesh for more than 30 minutes. So involved was he that he attracted the attention of another student who wanted to do it as well and so we brought down the scrubbie container and set up a cutting station at the art table. I love it when things like this happen!

a little light table fun with Crystal Connectors and Constructive Playthings

Not long ago I was approached by Constructive Playthings to do a product review and I of course agreed. Being able to peruse their lovely catalog of developmental playthings, making a list, and sending it off  was a lot like writing a list for Santa. Each and every item on my wish list is something I think would benefit any child-full exploration time. I wasn't certain which I would get but I wasn't picky. When it was revealed I would receive a box of Crystal Connectors, I may have danced a wee jig as I do love an open ended building toy almost more than my kiddos do.

Back in April, before we got our own light table in the preschool room, I was able to borrow one from our Jr. K. I was very excited to see what the children would do with it and even more excited to add a little pizazz via Crystal Connectors as they are made of a sheer acrylic, perfect for light table play.

I plugged in our table and arranged a small portion (the box comes with a whopping 300 pieces) of the connectors on top and waited to see what would happen.

 

 

There were a lot of "ooohs" and "aaahs" as the children scurried to the light table to investigate. I teach threes and they are really into asking a lot of questions. "What are these?" "How you do it?" "I did it!" "I made green!" and "It's a flower!" were just a few of the exclamations flying around the room.

 

The children began by connecting a piece into each crevice on a large piece which resulted in the above mentioned flower. From there they began planning the colors they wanted to use, some using all of the same colors, some using one color for the center and another for each outer part. There was even a fair amount of patterning going on!

 

They built dragons that looked like dragons! They made a garden. They used the smaller pieces as magic coins to buy fairy food, and they stacked them up as tall as they could.

 

We talk a lot about color mixing and rainbows and one of the children discovered that she could mix the colors and make a rainbow. Which she did. It was all so really fun and cool.

The one thing I found was that while I was really excited about the light table and the connectors, the children were more excited about the connectors and I would often find the whole pile of connectors on the carpet amongst a wee pile of children building and planning their newest design whether it was a space ship or my favorite, a bicycle with no pedals.

My mind is swirling with all the fun developmental ways you can implement Crystal Connectors into your day. From math and engineering, to art (a few connectors ended up in our stamp pads and our play dough) and dramatic play, I think Crystal Connectors are a fantastic investment for your classroom and/or your family!

Thank you to Constructive Playthings for the opportunity to play with something new, the preschoolers at our school had a grand time! You can visit Constructive Playthings via their website and their Facebook page, have fun!

more stitching with kiddos

 One of my students was so into our mitten making that upon his next school day he brought an ENORMOUS needle with him. His mother told me that he would not stop talking about sewing so we brought out the wool basket (which is full of pieces of felted wool sweaters I pick up at the thrifts) and selected a backing. We placed it into the mini hoop and got to stitching.

When we stitched up our mittens we practiced by only poking the needle up from the bottom. UP being the operative word. Some parents might prefer down when working with a pokey needle but I found that three-year-olds really need to see the needle and poking it down is a bit confusing for them as they have not yet mastered grasping for something they cannot see. I know there is a specific word for it and I am driving myself batty trying to retrieve it from my noggin! It is not object permanence but that too has a lingering effect on this process. For sewing onto fabric in a hoop we practiced stitching IN the circle. Using words like IN, UP, DOWN, help a child with directional organization. Later when we read books such as Hop on Pop the words and actions in the story have a kinetic value to them. Whenever a child is doing an activity and looking for my attention and approval, I comment by using placement words as often as possible..."I see you are placing your green cubes on TOP of your blue cubes" , "You are using red paint INSIDE your circle", "The green dinosaur is UNDER your left foot".

This piece sits in his cubbie so that he can revisit and add colors as he wishes. He knows where the embroidery thread is as well as scissors. He has not yet mastered threading the needle but he will with time. We practice a lot by beading pony beads onto pipe cleaners. I love watching the children carry ideas and skills home with them. It is an exciting thing to see their little minds expanding. I hope you try sewing with children. Here are a few of my favorite pins; paper plate lacing, a first sewing basket for children, printable animal sewing cards, making a felt caterpillar, and stitching on a large burlap 'table'.

on sorting and set ups...

I teach threes in a literature based school. We focus on one book for the week, pulling out theme and curriculum ideas from the book. No matter the theme, I will always have one or two sorting activities out along with fine motor fun, our sticky easel, maybe a felt board, a story basket, the mystery bag, a sensory bin, play dough, and art stuffs. Repeating these projects and actions using different materials is a great way for children to learn and stretch their growing minds and fine motor skills. The success and anticipation of knowing how to use the materials builds their confidence and autonomy while allowing for creative play when they engage with the materials in ways of their own choosing. Each time they succeed or stretch those thought processes connections are made in the brain. It's really cool! So whether or not the children put the correct amount of pom-poms on the corresponding gingerbread person there is still development happening. If the children color sort the poms (like one did in the picture) while another simply throws them all in the air, that's okay, the brain is still working and growing and the child is learning about the world around them.

 

The pretty set ups in my classroom are to engage and invite the children in and create a pleasing environment for myself and their parents. The set up is the photo-sell of a classroom but the real magic happens when the children arrive and create new ways of playing and manipulating their environment. Those photos don't really show the magic but it is there in super leaps and bounds. It is the main reason I work with children, that magical moment of learning that happens when nothing seems to be happening at all.

These gingerbread people were picked up from the dollar section at Target. I'm not a big foam fan but thought these could last a few years. There are numbered dots on one side with the number written on the other. One of my children immediately ripped a leg off of poor number six. After we discussed what was suitable for tearing, we figured out a way to repair the leg and then grabbed some tin foil and construction paper  to create a tearing station. For the sorting pieces you could use pom-poms, stickers, punched pieces, small counters, beans, or even wrapped candies though with a room of three-year olds you may find one hiding out in the gingerbread house with their cheeks full of peppermints...ahem.

art on their own time

 We have a window ledge reserved for drying artwork. My threes know to put their artwork there and I often find wonderful creations like these just sitting there. I'm lucky enough to have a very small class so that I can tell whose art shows up and I am happy that I keep out the different types of glue, paper punches, stampers, and a variety of papers and scraps  waiting for little hands to be turned into art.

going with the flow....

I set up some shaving cream and a couple of primary colors for some color mixing fun. The plan was for some shaving cream exploration with the children using their hands and sharing a piece of paper. One of my kiddos did not wish to touch the shaving cream and so the paint brushes came down and everyone was happy.

doing what a raccoon does...

Well...sort of. The school I teach at is a both play and literature based. We feature a book a week and build our lesson plans around the various themes within. The children I teach of young threes and our first book was The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn. We learned about the different habits and traits of raccoons, one of which is the washing of their food. To add a tactile experience to the learning, I created a fruit washing bin.
 

 The children loved this activity and spent much of their free exploration time washing away. A few weeks later when I dropped my apple on the floor and headed over to the sink to wash it, on of my kiddos piped up "You wash it just like a raccoon"!

weave a little house...

 

We had a donated playhouse in our classroom that had a cloth cover in various shades of pink. We couldn't decide if we wanted to keep the house or not. I discovered the cover came off quite easily and so we whipped the cover off and then I found some yarn....

 

My thinking was two-fold. The house was now open but still houselike so that the children could play inside it and turn it into whatever kind of structure they wanted while we could still see them and what they were up to.

So I wrapped the walls of the house in yarn to give it a smidge bit more visual stability...

And added the basket of fabric scraps so that they could weave some magic into the walls.

Some children work carefully weaving the fabric in and out. Some work very hard to hang a length of fabric over a piece of yarn that rises far above their heads.

Lately I have spotted many of our scarves from the scarf basket tucked, tied, and woven into the house. It is always changing and I love it.

snip! snip! hooray!

In the three-year-old class we are practicing with scissors.  Construction paper is fairly easy to tear and even easier to cut. I tear strips of paper and mark lines across the width and ask the children to practice cutting along the line.

My aim mostly is to familiarize the children with how scissors are usd and held. We often practice our "thumbs up" mantra when using the scissors  and have more success tearing that last bit than actually cutting it.

Even if the children do not manage to use the scissors all the way through the width of the paper ir even anywhere near a line, the excitement they show when they liberate even the smallest scrap of paper has me offering up a scissors station every day.

Once they cut their pieces they can then choose a section of our paper box to put them into. The same pieces are later incorporated into painting and gluing projects. The sectioned acrylic box came from Target in the dollar section. I have a blue one as well and the children prefer to match their paper with the box and so we cut yellow, and green paper for the green box; and blue, and purple for the blue box.

Snip! Snip! Hooray!

sometimes you just need to squeeze

If you have ever worked with small children you may be familiar with their fondness for glue. They will use as much as you give them and then some. Often, you will have an idea for an art or craft project that involves liquid glue and pretty pieces of paper or other colorful bits and pieces. You have a gleam in your eye as you imagine all the beautiful arting and crafting the children will do and then you hand them the glue and well.....everything changes.

And it is all good. Adults present an art opportunity to well...create art but really what happens is the magnificent exploration of the supplies at hand. Be it beads, colored pasta, strips of paper, play dough, or glue, children need to figure out how it all works on their own.

My three-year-olds had their first art project that involved liquid glue in a bottle. I wanted to give them an opportunity to use a variety of adhesives and so we worked with glue sticks first, then our white glue that comes from a brush bottle where a paintbrush is built into the lid, and then the squeeze bottles came out and sure enough, all other adhesives were abandoned.

The very act of squeezing that bottle is so enticing and exciting, how can we really expect a young child to stop and why should we? Art with young children really is about the process and squeezing a bottle of glue silly is one fantastic process.

I do have a trick involving the glue however and that is that each child receives their "own" bottle of glue. They can use as much or as little but when the bottle is empty and all squeezed out, the glue shop is closed for the day and we move on to another project of their choosing which often involves the washing of some classroom item with oodles of soapy bubbles and plenty o colorful sponges that need to be squeezed out.

Earth Day: paint chip and found stick plant markers

I have to admit, I love paint chips, LOVE them. I however have stopped hitting up the paint store to stockpile said chips. It makes me feel guilty for the energy used in making the chips and for the gas consumed to drive to the store for something I really do not need (oh but all those colors are so lovely). So when I found this old stockpile of paint chips just in time to mark my seeds I thought it would be a fun idea to share for kiddos to use in creating their own plant markers.

The nifty thing about this project is that you can a little developmental goodness to the mix. There is color naming and recognition along with understanding tints, shades, and hues (hey look, new vocabulary words)! You have a smidge of literacy with the reading of the colors used and the writing of the seeds planted. There are fine motor skills involved with the punching of the paint chips and the ripping of the tape, and last but not least, you can add an environmental element by using sticks found on the ground and not picking or pulling from any plants or shrubs.

My sticks came from my front lawn. There is a very sad and sick carob tree in front of the tiny casa that is continuously losing it's branches and bits. The small lawn in from of our apartment is often covered in them. I picked up one longish branch and snapped into five pieces for my planting. 

The larger the punch the easier it is for your kiddos to punch, write, and affix to sticks. I use an extra large butterfly punch that I score with a 40% coupon at Michael's Crafts. Your kiddo can also cut out squares using a kid friendly pair of scissors. 

To affix to the sticks you can use masking tape or washi tape. Before you use washi tape, make sure your tape has stick-to-it-tiveness. Many washi tapes are not very tacky and come unstuck quite easily. If you are without tape, a dollop of glue will do ya just dandy.

bring out the egg cartons!

An egg carton is simply not an egg carton to a child. It can be a boat, a spaceship,  a dragon, a habitat, and a treasure box. Cut it up and you can create caterpillars, owls, dragons, flowers, and seed pots. No, an egg carton is not simply an egg carton to a child.

I wear a lot of hats and some of them I think I wear better than others. One of them is as an observer of people, an observer of children. Lately I have observed a lot of something that prickles at my brain. Admittedly this is a bit of a peeve of mine so maybe it stands out more than other bits but I have seen far too many young children with their heads stopped over mom's cell phone or dad's tablet. I'm talking young children...toddlers even and I have to say please stop. Sure there are apps all over the place declaring their creativity but nothing is more creative than your child's very own noggin. Don't you remember digging in the dirt to create cities for ladybugs or moats for castles? Do you remember getting your hands on a stapler and creating your own books full of scribbles and scratches? Or how about using a flashlight as a microphone or an empty oatmeal container as a drum?

I know that our new days are filled with technology and I know it is important for our children to learn how to use it. I know we are busy and need tricks up our sleeves for distracting our children so we can run our errands and such but remember, our parents did it without. There are cultures all over the world that do it without. The best way for a a little brain to develop is to let it develop. On its own. In its own time. Children need to problem solve on their own. Thy need boredom. Absolutely need it so that they can get those neurons in the brain jumpin'.

At work, when I set up our outside play area for the children, I toss a lot of wildcards into the mix. I wonder what will they do with these pipe cleaners or these beads. What will these little pillows become? How will the children engage and will this be enough for their play time and learning this week. Every single day I am floored by their creativity. By the games they create around the oddest of objects. Dinosaur aren't just dinosaurs, they are a dinosaur family. Traffic cones become party hats, shredded paper becomes pom-poms, and pipe cleaners become airline tickets. A beaded necklace isn't just a necklace it is pirate's treasure or fairy coins, and a blanket becomes a shield or a fortress or a cape.

Before you pop a dvd into the television, or hand your kiddo your ipad, or set up a video game on the computer, why not hand them an egg carton, a roll of masking tape, and a handful of markers? Even the youngest tots can art up an egg carton with paint or washable markers. If there is one thing I have learned from working with children is that an egg carton is not simply an egg carton...it is a world of wonder.

taking the time...

 I work as an assistant teacher at a preschool that teaches children 18 months to 5 years of age. Much of my job is scurrying about escorting tots from one area to the next and being an extra pair of eyes when needed. The cool part is that I get to work with all the kiddos. I spend time in each classroom observing, teaching, playing and I enjoy it immensely. My favorite part is the observing. It is where I can apply all my fancy-pants education and see which theories may apply or not. It challenges me to reassess whether or not what I believe has value or not. Also, it is never dull.

As I wrote up above, my favorite part is observing. I like to set out supplies with one goal in mind and see what the kiddos do. I make predictions in my head as to which kiddo may actually use it in the manner it was intended and which will clutch the supplies and horde them. There are no incorrect ways to play, this is how they learn. When given enough time, a lot of learning can develop in their little noggins, even if it appears all they are doing is pouring water or gathering dowels...or playing with my watch.

I wear an inexpensive slap watch at the school so that I can get myself onto the next transition in a timely manner. It has gotten left behind on numerous occasions, as well as dropped and buried in sand. I have to admit, not only does it get me to the next transition on time, but it works at bribing the kiddos when a good bribe is needed. When I write bribe, I don't mean if you do this now, you can play with my watch. I use it more as a tool for coaxing a kiddo to transition.

"Hey Bella, when you finish in the water table can you hold my watch for me and make sure it doesn't get lost as I wash my hands for snack? Come with me so I can hand it to you at the sink."

Stuff like that.

Now the kiddos often ask if they can try my watch on. The toddlers especially like it. It works great with an antsy tot that needs a diaper change.

"Oh, can you hold my watch while I get yer diaper on?"

Last week, one of the toddlers asked if she could sit on my lap during outside play. I said sure and she climbed up and immediately asked if she could take my watch off. I sat there with my wrist elevated as she took it off and put it back on, over and over again. As she did so, I talked about what my watch does, how it helps me and what time it was. At one point she asked me what time it was and I told her it was upside down and that I could not read it. She took off my watch and attempted to turn it around and put it back on upside down again. So she went through the process of trying to correct the angle of the watch and I watched and saw where she flipped it so that it was upside down. Rather than say anything, I just watched and after a great many tries she exclaimed with a huff that she couldn't do it. I simply said you have to turn it around. So she turned my wrist around and kept trying. She spent much of the outdoor time flipping the watch over and around until finally she got it and when she did she beamed. BEAMED! As I looked at my wrist I exclaimed "Hey, it's not upside down!" And so she asked me what time it was and I told her.

Later that day, after lunch, she climbed back up on my lap and took my watch off. She put it back on upside down on purpose and had a good laugh at the joke she played on me. She took it off and put it back on right-side up. I write about this to encourage you to allow your child all the time she or he needs to master a task, be it minutes, hours, days or weeks. Kids don't need the next big thing to keep them entertained or busy. By allowing them time to master a task or skill you are helping them build confidence, strengthen autonomy and master relationships. If you get a chance and if you have the time (so to speak) slow yourself down, get out the blocks or fill a tub with water and some cups, sit back, take a breather and observe. It's when we are quiet and not a part of the playing the magic happens.

**okay, can i just say that it must have been the antibiotics that i am on that made me think it was a good idea to title this post slap happy? seriously, i was thinking of the slap watch which made me happy and i thought slap happy would make sense but now i see that well...that wasn't one of my better ideas. i do hope yer still sticking with me.  happy July!

use your noodle

 While the idea of purchasing a long tube of styrofoam gives me a bit of an eek out, I do have to say that the product is quite adaptable for the preschool and kiddo world. From car washes to garlands to light sabres the possibilities just keep astounding!

I picked up two noodles from the dollar store plus two jump ropes. Sliced 'em up with a not so great serrated knife and dumped them into a pair of tubs. The jump ropes were unknotted then tied to one noodle-bead each/ The frayed ends were given a once-over with an open flame and set to cool.

I set the whole she-bang outside for the kiddos and watched. There was some great hand-eye co-ordination going on as the toddlers attempted to thread (and horde, we have a young one who LOVES blue) beads onto the rope along with math as patterns and sequencing happened. Science appeared as some of the beads made their way to the water table...they float! And dramatic play ensued as the older tots turned the two ropes into ENORMOUS fancy necklaces.

This took me all of 15 minutes to prep so what are ya waiting for, it is pool noodle season don't ya know?