It has been a busy week in JK! Children have worked on a large-scale painting with tempera cakes at playtime. This type of paint is similar to watercolors in that one must dip a brush in water before swiping it across the tempera cake and then transferring that color to the paper. With multiple colors available, it then becomes important to rinse your brush before trying a new color. Tempera paint is thicker and more opaque than watercolors and creates a different effect. Since the rinse water can quickly get dirty, children sometimes have the inclination to paint with the rinse water and need a reminder that first putting their brushes on the paint cakes will yield stronger colors. It can also be a challenge to remember to rinse the brush when changing colors. Children managed these procedures well and have been excited to see the beautiful mural-sized paintings that we all made together.

In our sand table, we added small wooden chests with gold coins and gems. Children began to collect and bury treasure and mark the spot in which they buried it. When they began, each child started by making his or her own hiding spot, but as the play continued, they started to notice each other’s ideas and collaborate. When someone decided the blue bottom of the sand table looked like water, they worked together to create islands on top of the water.

Dry brushes aided in clearing sand off the bottom of the table. Then, they decided they needed trees for the islands and fish for the water, so teachers got some trees out and helped make some paper fish. There were countless discussions about where to place items and why. Some had ideas about highlighting the places the treasure was buried while others wanted to better define the islands or make the scene more realistic. Several children created maps of where their treasure was buried and eagerly explained them to classmates. We are excited to see how this play evolves in the coming days.