How Fun Can a Box Be?
Have you ever heard the statement “they like the box more than what is inside”, when referring to young children? Really, how much fun can a box be?
This week we received some supplies at Friendship Garden Nursery School in a big square box. At first this box was doomed for the recycle pile but at the last minute it was saved from being crushed, at least by my hands. After explaining “recycling” and “reusing” (Science and Language Arts) instead of just putting the box down for the children to discover, I placed in on a drop cloth and gave the children paint and paint brushes. In time the box was covered in pretty colors. (Creative Arts) After the box dried it was time to put it out to play with.
First everyone had a turn to sit in the box, after that they attempted to figure out how many children could fit in the box. (Math) Later we counted how many objects were put in the box. We will do some formal and informal measuring in the coming weeks.
We have spent a lot of time filling and emptying our box using our big muscles. (Motor skills) Young children enjoy.
The box has been a train, a truck, a “jack in the box”, a cuddle spot, a table, a hiding spot and I’m quite sure it will be much more! (Dramatic Play) Unstructured play with a box inspires creativity, resourcefulness and imagination.
Did you know the cardboard box is in the National Toy Hall of Fame?
What can you do with a box?
Sand and Water Table
This is the final blog in the series which takes a look around the preschool classroom.
The sand and water table/sensory table or bin in the preschool classroom is a must. Yes, I will agree that the area can be very chaotic so let’s remember the benefits as they outweigh the “mess”.
First, consider the physical layout of your space, the sensory table should not be placed on a rug or near a heating vent; a dust pan; a broom and a trash receptacle should be close by and easily reached by the children. Young children can and should be responsible for keeping their area clean and safe.
The sensory table helps to develop the social skills of working together, sharing space and supplies and planning for play. The educator will often need to help in the sharing the media and the materials that are in the table. Do to the limited space of the table it is an area that is easily teacher supervised and supported.
Physical development of the young child is supported in the sensory table as eye-hand coordination is needed for scooping and dumping and the fine motor skills of pouring and sifting can be honed as well.
Vocabulary building is another fun result of exploring different sensory materials. Remember to enrich the young child’s descriptive language vocabulary skills whenever possible. Language skills in the sensory table include; planning, questioning and telling stories.
Many basic concepts related to science and math can be investigated in a sand/water/sensory table. Water/sand wheel, water pump, sink/float, gravity, manipulation, and trial and error are several scientific concepts explored during sensory play. Measuring and volume, amount, number, quantity and size are mathematical concepts that can be investigated.
There are many items to place in a sensory table, let your imagination go! Here is a list to get you started:
Flour
Rice
Beans
Colored pasta
Cooked spaghetti
Corn Meal
Oatmeal
If you are opposed to using food items in the sensory table here is a list of non food item:
Bird Seed
Easter grass
Corn
Sand
Water
Shaving cream
Cotton balls
Bottle caps
Ice
Smooth stones
Ribbons and Bows
Soil
Fabric scraps
At home: Safety should always come first when using water or small sensory items. The bathtub and the kitchen sink are logical locations for sensory explorations however a small basin on the floor, with a towel on a plastic trash bag to catch spills will work as well. Supply your child with props such as sponges, basters, colanders, strainers, pitchers, tongs, and so on. Baths are a great place for sensory investigation. There is so much to explore and learn with very little equipment, and clean up is simple.
Block Center Blog
Block building centers are essential to the preschool classroom. Blocks are an open ended material that stimulates the imagination and opens doors for a variety of discovery. One day a block may be a phone, the next day it might be a bus or part of a building. Let’s explore blocks across the curriculum.
As the school year progresses so does the children’s ability to build more complex block structures based on the mathematical concepts that are inherently learning while playing. Children learn many math skills in the block building center. Height, width, depth, weight, shape, size, space and dimension are some of the mathematical concepts children can begin to understand while playing with blocks. Classification and order are two more areas that children will naturally explore and learn as they manipulate blocks. Math goes hand in hand with block building as children can also experiment with fractions, measurement, patterns and grids. Let’s add some rulers and cloth tape measures to the block area.
Children learn language and social skills while exchanging ideas and cooperating, planning for building and cleaning. Respect for the work of others and self control is an area of learning in the block area that is often challenging as it is so much fun to knock blocks over! Children learn to observe and follow safety rules. Children often choose to act out a favorite story like “The Three Little Pigs” where they can build three houses and tell their own version of the story. Paper, writing instruments and clipboards in the block area encourage writing for a purpose when making signs. Add some books with good architectural photos of buildings and bridges and watch what happens.
The block area can be used to promote social studies as children learn about people and their work. Block building encourages mapping skills. How about adding blocks with photos of the children and other people that they are familiar with?
In the area of art, patterns, symmetry, and shape are common concepts children learn while playing blocks. Adding blocks with colored inserts adds another dimension to block building as art. Patterning cards, shells and polished stones and let creativity abound.
Science in the block area involves much trial and error. Young children get a firsthand look at gravity, stability, balance, and the interaction of force. The properties of matter can also be discovered in this play area. How about adding paper towel tubes and small balls?
Physical development. Eye-hand coordination, hand manipulation, and visual perception can be achieved through block building. Remember clean up time can help develop some of these physical skills as well. Additionally, cleaning up teaches young children respect.
Dramatic play, During block play children can build pretend play dioramas and act out roles. Add some cars, trees, road signs, road mats, people, garages, boxes, trucks, and trains and train tracks. Or add doll house, dolls and furniture, fabric pieces, plastic mirrors and carpet squares. You might add trees, animals, plastic bugs or boats. Add small stones, shells, pinecones or acorns and watch your child create.
How about adding dress up outfits, hats and plastic bowls and dishes?
Can you think of anything else you can use to enhance block play?
At home: If you do not access to blocks, boxes can stand in. Add a clipboard, paper and crayons for signs. Your child can create buildings and roads and then make signs to go with what they have created.
Have fun!
Spring Activities for Children
Kendyl Brooks, student intern from Upper Cape Cod Technical School will be adding her thoughts on this blog, here is her first post!
Spring has finally sprung here in Falmouth, MA and we sure are excited about it! Things as simple as riding bikes, sidewalk chalk, or just passing a ball back and forth can get the whole family outdoors moving around. Spring is a great time to have picnics and enjoy time outdoors with your child. Young children love to go on bug hunts, and collect things like rocks (save them for a rainy day and paint them with watercolors!). Then you can use these collections to create your own Fairy Houses!
Fairy Houses at FGNS
Something that may require warmer weather and a lot of patience is a homemade slip and slide! Put a painters’ tarp on the lawn, and run the hose from the top of it; kids will be entertained for hours! A nice walk on the beach to collect shells and rocks (maybe even sea glass!) is a great way to get exercise and spend time together as a family. Bike washes and toy car washes are tons of fun, along with washing an actual car. If you have a garden kids love to help planting things, or pulling weeds. Even if you don’t have a garden, kids will enjoy hours of fun just digging and playing in the mud.
A little imagination can go a long way for those rainy days where you are stuck inside. Although kids love to watch “Frozen” on repeat all day, hearing “Let It Go” for the thousandth time might just be getting old. Something my mother did for my brother and I when we were children was to get a huge cardboard box, and a big tub of crayons. For hours we would lay in the box and just color. It’s a non-messy, creative and inexpensive project. Imagine what the box could be, a truck a boat, a chariot! Another fun rainy day project is making a blanket fort! Children of almost any age enjoy stretching blankets out over the couches, and spending the day in their newly made forts.
Board games are great for sharpening their fine motor and problem solving skills. Getting children to be active inside is as easy as blowing up a few balloons and playing “Don’t Let It Touch the Ground.” A game of indoor hopscotch using painters tape on the floor, and a stuffed toy or beanbag for the pebble is a great way to get the kids up and moving around.
Spring is a great time to enjoy the company of your family both indoors and out. These ideas highlight some simple ways to spend time together.
Happy Spring,
Kendyl
Bunny Treat Bags
What is a fun way to carry your Easter treats home from preschool? How about a bunny bag!
Supplies
A white or brown paper lunch bag (one for each child)
Scissors and construction paper for the following:
Eyes
Nose
Whiskers
Ear (inside)
Glue
Stapler
You will need to cut the paper bag into a bunny shape, use the photograph below as a guide.
Have your child glue on the pieces mentioned in the list above, use the photo as a guide.
Staple the ears to create a handle. Fill with treats.
Enjoy the holiday weekend!
Rainbow Jello for Saint Patrick’s Day
I am excited to share with you a fun St. Patrick’s Day snack.
First a disclaimer, you have to really like having fun with young children on Saint Patrick’s Day as this is a time consuming snack, you will need several days to complete this.
Supplies
One box each of red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple jello
Water
Small clear cups
Start by making the purple jello according to the directions. Pour about a ½ inch worth of purple jello into your pre-counted cups. Make sure that the children watch this process. This is the only step that they should see, so that they are surprised at the end when their jello has turned rainbow!
Next make the blue jello according to instruction and pour a layer on top of the purple jello layer. Continue with green, yellow, orange and last add a layer of red!
On Saint Patrick’s Day surprise your young child with rainbow jello!
If you are into leprechaun tricks, here are a few favorites at preschool.
Turn the milk green. Turn the toilet water green. Turn anything green!
Build a leprechaun trap. During the night leave a glitter trail leading to a lost piece of gold.
Hide gold coins.
Leave a trail of small handprints/footprints leading up to a small tea party.
Leave a tuft of leprechaun hair and a piece of clothing on the window sill as if a leprechaun left in a hurry.
Turn a select few things upside down.
Leave a message from a leprechaun.
Have fun, happy Saint Patrick’s Day!
Penguins, Snow & Ice, Outside Science Explorations!!
As we take a break from the series of blogs about areas in the classroom, we’ll have some fun with penguins, snow and ice.
Since returning to school in January, we have seen some very warm days and some very cold days! This week I’ll share some ideas that help us love the cold!
Young children learn best with hands on activities. This time of year in the Northeast is a great time for outside science explorations.
Who loves an ice hunt? We do. Young children love stumbling upon interesting or puzzling frozen things. Water that has frozen is like a treasure! They delight in a pinecone or other object frozen in an ice chunk. You can seed these discoveries by putting some water out in containers and adding some leaves or pine cones for your preschooler to discover at recess time. Catch snowflakes on a dark piece of paper and observe them with a magnifying glass. Will you find two that look alike?
If it is not cold enough outside, use the freezer to compliment your ice studies inside. We froze some water in ice cube trays and bowls for our penguin habitat play. If you have access to snow, bring it inside in a tub. Preschoolers delight in both water and ice studies, you can have both as the ice melts! Let them discover the properties of water and ice through their own exploration and discovery. If you are worried about cold hands, provide a few sets of mittens.
Have fun with language arts by using arctic vocabulary. There are many ways to say “cold”. When talking about arctic animals, don’t forget to use words like habitat, blubber (layer of fat), paddle, rookeries (big noisy group), chick, predator, hibernate and molt as a few key words. Write and tell stories about animals living in a cold environment.
Social studies may include an introduction to the life style of families that live in igloos and have sled dogs and how they cope with very cold regions.
Match little toy penguins with ice cubes, (real or paper) to practice rote counting and one to one correspondence. These types of math activities make learning fun!
There are many arts and craft activities that revolve around penguins, ice and cold. I will list a few that are fun for young children as a jumping off point for you. Polar bear or penguin paper bag puppets, toilet paper roll penguins, frozen birdseed or cranberries molds to hang out for the birds, cotton ball, sugar cube or mini marshmallow igloos, and frozen paint cube paintings are all fun and easy to do!
Large motor activity can include waddle and belly slide (toboggan) like a penguin or fish and jump from ice flow to ice flow like a polar bear.
Stay warm, next week we will explore the science area in the nursery school setting.
Soon we will post Friendship Garden Nursery School fun and educational activities on Pinterest. You can start following us now at http://www.pinterest.com/funwithfgns/
The Importance of Art in a Pre-School Curriculum
What is the value of art in the early childhood curriculum?
This month I will continue to explore each area of our curriculum. Last month I started with cooking. Let’s look at art.
Art can be enjoyed through all areas of the early childhood curriculum. Art in the nursery school is about exploration. The experience is about the process of creating not the final product though we all know there are limits on some creative behavior for safety reasons!
First, let’s consider art and social/emotional development. Art is for the pleasure and the satisfaction of creating something very personal. The product is very personal and need not be judged by anyone other than the creator. For the young child art provides the opportunity for freedom of expression through color, shape, texture, modeling and design. This can be accomplished with paint, playdough, paper and glue to name a few.
In the art center children learn to respect each other’s work and to accept differences amongst themselves. The practice of sharing supplies and space happens in the art center. Often children might have to take turns, another skill that can be learned in the art center. Art helps the young child build self confidence in his/her ability to make choices and decisions.
Art can build literacy skills as young children tell stories through drawing and painting. Additionally, looking at the art work in children’s books and offering the same materials is a great way to submerse the child in art. Art vocabulary can be very informative and impressive as the young child says “illustrator”, “mosaic” and “three dimensional” to name a few. Listening skills and following directions are important for safety and the setting of rules for using artists’ tools, for example, a paint brush, rolling pin or scissors.
How else is art important for the preschool aged child? In the area of math in the art center children can observe color, texture, size, and shape of objects. Often they may need to count out enough materials to complete a project.
In the art center, making play dough and paper mache are materials through which young children can participate in science. Young children thrive with hands on learning.
The art center can provide for physical development when exercising the small muscles of the hand while drawing, cutting, gluing and painting. Eye/hand coordination can also be developed. The large muscles of the body can be used in art as well, using the upper body when taking broad painting strokes.
Finally, at home provide materials and a space for your child to create. Fill a box, bin or bag with crayons, chalk, markers, pencils, playdough, rollers and cutters, scraps of paper all kinds, child scissors, glue and paint. You need not be fancy, recycled materials work well. Color or paint on old newspaper or cereal boxes. Throw in an old table cloth or sheet to catch the spills. Choose a space for creating and a special place for displaying what your child creates.
Next week I’ll take on the dramatic play area.
Promoting Wellness & Independence for Pre-schoolers
How do routines promote wellness and independence for your nursery school aged child?
There are many ways to promote well being while allowing for independence for your pre-schooler. Let’s look at a few basics.
Your young child can begin taking care of him/herself. This does not mean that he/she should do this alone! A family member should be modeling good self care. The most important and easiest way to promote wellness within your family is proper hand washing using soap and running water. Although hand sanitizer will do in a pinch, soap and water is the preferred method of cleaning. This simple task will keep everyone healthier.
Children thrive when given schedule and routine. There are many fun ways to invite your child to participate in healthy daily routines. Let’s look at cooking and housekeeping chores. Preparing nutritious foods is a favorite task of many pre-schoolers. Young children can wash, mix, and stir. Make sure that the cooking task you give your little one is age appropriate with a bit of a challenge. Use family dinners as a time to provide opportunities for practicing using utensils, non-sippy cups and good manners.
Cleaning up can be fun. How about playing a sorting game or getting the task completed before the music ends? Putting things away in familiar places help children to be self sufficient. Folding laundry provides many lessons in dressing for the weather. As the temperature changes so should the clothing in your child’s bureau/closet. Clothing battles can easily be won when you having a selection of seasonally appropriate clothing that your child can choose and put on him/herself. It is a good policy to choose your battles keeping in mind that some things are “must do’s” and are never left up to the child’s choice. Establish this for yourself and your child early. Remember there is no negotiating “must do’s”.
In keeping well make sure that your pre-schooler has the opportunity for gross motor movement/exercise every day. Climbing, running, jumping, catching, lifting, balancing and reaching. This can be accomplished either at a playground or dancing to music in your living room! Just like adults children should move enough to raise their heart rates.
Young children need routine bedtimes. Allow your child to wind down un-stimulated by electronics before bed to assure a good night’s sleep. After getting into pajamas, washing up, tooth brushing and flossing is another important self care routine that you can do together.
Whatever healthy routines you establish keep with them until your child’s next developmental stage. You will recognize when this happens as your routine will need change, sometimes this is dramatic, as in it just no longer works, but often there is just a subtle shift. Flow with it, remembering the basic well being issues discussed above.
Be Well!
Cinnamon Dough Ornaments- Pre-School Cooking Project
Cinnamon Dough Ornaments
I want to share with you a fun, aromatic, yearly tradition of making cinnamon dough ornaments. On the day we make these decorations the entire child care center smells absolutely wonderful and we love that! We get the same reaction from families when we make popcorn. It is important to our senses to surround ourselves with “good” smells.
To begin gather a large bowl, mixing spoon, cookie cutters, ribbon and the 2 ingredients required for this recipe, cinnamon and applesauce. The amounts are listed below. Since there are only two ingredients in this recipe, cinnamon and applesauce, it is fairly easy to do with young children in a group childcare setting.
Making Cinnamon Dough Ornaments
Recipe
Cinnamon Dough
½ cup cinnamon
½ cup applesauce
Pour cinnamon and applesauce into a bowl. Mix until the mixture turns into dough.
It is so much fun to hear the children try to say “cinnamon” as we discuss and measure the ingredients for the project. Mix the ingredients together remembering to use rich vocabulary as you mix the dough. Give each child a small ball to play with, this activity helps children to strengthen the small muscles in the hand which are used in writing! The dough also keeps the children busy and allows the parent/educator time to work individually with each child to roll out the dough for cutting with a cookie cutter.
Roll out your dough to your desired thickness. We have been rolling out 1/4” slabs. This thickness works well with special holiday shaped cookie cutters and it stays solid for putting a hole in for hanging. We like to make snowflakes, Santa Claus, reindeer, snowmen and stars. After you shape the dough poke a large hole with a straw in the top of the ornament This is for stringing after the ornaments dry.
The dough stores nicely in the refrigerator for several days if you want to return to the project.
It takes about four days for these ornaments to dry, please keep this in mind as you plan your holiday activities. Turn the ornaments daily for best results. We tie ours when dry with a pretty ribbon. Once they are dry they last for years and will retain their cinnamon scent for many, many seasons to come.
What is your favorite holiday tradition?