Here are a few recent happenings around the classroom.
Blocks are a wonderful open-ended material, which kids can use in a variety of ways. Just the heft of lifting the large blocks is an exciting challenge, and children like to haul them out, even if they don’t have an initial plan. Often they do. Sometimes a couple of kids make something big all across the rug; other days several structures are assembled by different kids. They can be a house, a stadium, a road and more.
One day, after doing a large fire engine floor puzzle, kids started to build a fire station to house it. A lot of strength, coordination, imagination and collaboration filled a large part of our morning.
Some kids placed kitties on a roof to be rescued.
Some wanted to build a house where a fire could happen, to provide another reason to call 9-1-1. They also created a magnatile road, and barriers to keep people away from the house.
At our open-ended art table, we offered a new fine motor challenge and introduced a variety of hole punches. It takes a lot of coordination and practice to get the hang of sliding the paper into the slot and then pressing hard enough to create a hole. They each create different shapes, which kids like to retrieve, and some kids are using the paper shapes with glue sticks to make new pictures.
In the gym, we invited kids to rescue soft animals from the climbing wall. With strong arms and careful balance, they climbed to retrieve them, or replace them again, creating challenges for themselves and their friends. Teachers were on hand to spot them, place some of the animals, and marvel over their persistence, strength and stamina.
