Hi, all! Come take a peek into our playtime!
We’ve been quite busy building, painting, scooping, pouring, sorting, hiding and seeking!
Sand table
This week, we took out the turtles and added jewels, beads, and clear containers in addition to our usual sand toy collection (shovels, bowls, sifters, colanders and things found in our bins underneath our sand table). Kids have been sorting by color to make some “treasured” collections they can see in the clear containers, or hiding some jewels to seek, or… loading a bunch of sand and jewels all into one big container, and dumping it all out! Some kids have been using the colanders to sift and watch as the sand pours out and reveals the jewels that were once in that sand. Someone in JK was using the newly added clear containers to concoct baby powder and pour it out through the lids with holes. So many ideas stemming from the same materials!
Water table
“Hey! These were in the sand! Where’s the one hiding its head in the shell? I remember it.” Yes! Kids noticed. We did move the turtles that were in the sand table last week into the water table this week. We do this for a number of reasons. First, some materials seem really interesting or well-loved by kids, and so we’d like to give kids some more time with them. We may bring them back at other points in the year, keep them in the same area for more days, or we may move them to another area of the classroom. Here, we try to invite other kinds of play with the same toys. What will the turtles want to do now that they are in water? We also want to help kids extend their play ideas. Kids may recall any imaginary play ideas they had for the turtles in the sand and carry that over to their water play. They may also observe some similarities or differences and want to continue any experimentation that they were once trying out in the sand. Some kids were burying the turtles in the sand. Is that possible in water? What would help them hide this time? Someone noticed our hollow turtles were now “moving!” (floating in the water.) They surely didn’t do that in the sand! Our heavier turtles were not moving. Hmmm, interesting. Some started to notice other things that the turtles could do, like balance and give rides to each other! We wonder if they tried this in the sand, or if it was a new idea! We’ll have to ask. We also added one more thing to use with the turtles: floating corks. Some kids have seemed interested in this sink/float idea, mmm hmm.
Easel
JK kids are managing their painting at the easel pretty independently. Many are choosing and hanging their own paper, writing their names, and taking their papers to the drying rack when finished. This week, we read the story “Mouse Paint.” 3 white mice find red, yellow and blue paint. They do some mixing to make orange, green and purple. We recalled having red, yellow and blue paint at our easel on the first days of school. Since then we’ve had blue, yellow and white. Kids noticed the various shades of green happening. This week, we have red, yellow and white and kids have seen some orange in places on their papers! Can you guess what we may have next week?!
Open-ended art table
Kids are growing more familiar with accessing supplies from our art shelf at school. They are starting to notice where they can find paper, and how they can go to the shelf to bring over any supplies they are wanting to use. So far, we’ve had various shapes of crayons and markers, stampers, and stickers. Kids have been using these supplies to make playhouse menus (for Pasta Malusta!) pictures for their families, and even tic-tac-toe boards.
Art Project
This week, teachers introduced some watercolor brushes (brushes filled with liquid watercolor.) We demonstrated how to squeeze the brush tube in order to get the bristles wet and let out some of the paint. Then, you can use the brushes to paint on your paper. After some experience, kids are discovering what happens when you squeeze SO hard! The paint puddles on the paper. Some people are pleased. Some people are wanting to wipe it up (good thing we have washcloths nearby.) We are now starting to hear reminders about trying to help us keep the extra paint inside for others to use. Figuring out how much pressure to apply, and when, is good for fine motor skills, and working on self-control! We know it takes lots and lots of practice.
Anita helped show us how to squeeze and what happens when you use crayons on your paper first. If you’re interested, you can ask your child at home!
Here’s our work so far:
Building
We’ve noticed lots of houses (for kitties, puppies and people) being built with our magnatiles. So, we added some garden supplies.
This interesting track was initiated by someone’s train. It became more elaborate as the day went on:
Playtime in the gym
Our mats are set up in a new sliding arrangement. Good for bunny bounces and tumbles.
Kids have enjoyed turns of stacking up our soft cushions and knocking them down. Some want to do this independently (with getting lifted up to stack the final pieces,) and some want help to build and knock it down!
We brought out another building set (white bars that snap into colorful connectors,) and kids worked on making a house and a garden, then called the fire department to come spray out a fire. The yellow tracks are also still out, and we are getting very practiced at configuring lots of different roads!
We’ve also been rescuing animals from high up places. Have you heard about it?!
Kids have been climbing up on our climbing wall to help animals get down. Some kids have enjoyed being the ones to help teachers put them up there (or choosing spots way down below, “Ha! That’s too easy! Isn’t that too easy?!”)
We missed those of us who were not here, but look forward to playing with them again soon. Thanks for peeking. See you next time!
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