Hi, there.
A few weeks ago, we introduced “pretend snow.” Teachers mixed together water and a powder that grows fluffy and slushie as it absorbs the liquid. Kids found the snow in four bins (acting as trays) at our tactile table. During the first week of having this snow, kids had imaginary play ideas with small dinosaurs, scoops, cups, and small paddles and spoons for stirring. The next week, kids noticed the dinosaurs were gone. The scoops, cups and paddles remained. In each container there were now clear containers of red, blue and yellow liquid watercolor. Each container also had a pipette to use for extracting the color. Kids very quickly noticed that they could squeeze out the color and apply it to the white snow! For some, it surely felt magical! All of a sudden, their blue snow was turning green, turquoise or purple! Throughout the week, many kids returned for more experimenting, wanting to refine their shades of color or remember how they made that lovely peachy orange color they concocted the day before. And what happens when you pour snow directly into the cup of color? Kids were then serving up snow cones and slushies! After a few days, teachers added more supplies to support that play: small plastic ice cream cones, ice cream scoops and silicone cupcake molds. As kids were done mixing colors onto their snow, teachers set aside that snow. The bin was rinsed and a fresh set of watercolors and snow were added for the next person’s turn. On the last day of this week, kids saw the blue, yellow and red watercolors go away along with the white snow. Now they found teal and lime green watercolors with colored snow from earlier in the week. As they mixed these colors onto the snow, some kids created oceans for the sea creatures set out on the table.
This past week, that snow was transferred into two larger bins in our water table. All of that colorful mixed up snow is now serving as a swampy area for snakes, reptiles and rocks!
In other news, teachers also changed up our gym configuration this week. We moved our mats and jumping area to provide a large space to play hockey. During these first few days, we’ve had 4 turns at a time and have created a sign up list for anyone waiting. Each child has a stick and a puck, and there are 2 nets set up. This offers each child some time to explore the sport and practice on their own. In upcoming weeks, can then touch upon other concepts such as passing the puck to others.
Best,
Anita and Sarah