light and shadow study in the block area

I took our projector out of the light studio and set it up in the block area for a change of pace. 

The children went to town, literally! Buildings, and towers and castles went up right away, though they had to work on getting out of the way of the projector light to see their structures and figure out the best distance away from the projector to put their work.

They were moving so fast I didn't get a chance to document their words. Although I do remember lots of gasps of, "It's beautiful." I also remember someone calling the rainbow blocks "reflection blocks."

adding a chute to the sensory table

A few posts ago, I blogged about the dividers in our sensory table. This week we added a chute to the mix which added pitch and a level change.

The children enjoyed watching the rice and beans pour down the chute:

and watching it come out the end:

The children enjoyed this very much. Usually they worked in tandem, with someone scooping the mixture into the chute and someone catching it at the other end.

The end!

Scrabble alphabet matching game

An activity for the manipulative table. The children matched the scrabble tiles to the letters written on the plastic container (y&z were lumped together). I set out some tweezers to make it more challenging:

The end!

The Throne

The Throne is a sculpture that resides just outside of our center as part of the Nathan Manilow Sculpture Park. The artist allows the children to sit and climb on the piece so the chidlren really relate to it's dimension and form.

I wondered if the children would be interested in making various representations of the Throne so I projected it up on the wall:

      

I also put a transparency on the light table for the children to draw as well:

I think we will take a "field trip" out there when the weather warms up a little more so I can document more of their words and throughs on the Throne.

The end!

patterning with natural(ish) materials

I was just reading Dialogue with Places, a Reggio Children Publication. I was inspired by the way they organized the materials for the children to use to create a gift for the Loris Malaguzzi International Center (similar to the photo below).

I thought materials organized like this would be enticing to the children so I set out a box of mostly natural materials for the children to pattern with along with some flat boards.

Here is a close up of the box which included wood chips, scrabble pieces, buck eyes, acorns, florist jewels, shells, rocks, sand dollars, tile spacers, mosaic tiles, and slate :

I encouraged the children to make patterns with the materials and to read them out loud to check their progress.
E(4):

M(3):

I also encouraged them to build vertical patterns as well:
K(4):

S(3):

T(3) with help:

They really enjoyed making patterns with these materials. E kept repeating how he loved making patterns. They were intrigued by the idea of vertical patterns. I think for the next experience we may try making curvy patterns as well.

The end!