Ice & Water
Last week our friends explored Ice and salt, a cube of ice was displayed in the sensory bin. Children were given salt and were encouraged to sprinkle it onto the ice, our friends were amazed when they saw how fast the ice melted! Since then Ice has been such a huge hit in our classroom. This week we’ve fostered their interest in ice by introducing activities and materials.
Frozen Paint:
The 1A classroom is exploring ice and water, this week the students explored painting with frozen paint, this was a challenge for the children since they had to paint as fast as they could before the paint melted. This activity was open-ended, not product oriented, it was the purest sense of exploratory learning. This exploration also encouraged children to manipulate and mould materials, building up their fine motor skills and coordination.
Sensory play uses all 5 senses, but the sense of touch is often the most frequent. Toddlers and children process information through their senses. They learn through exploring these.
Self-esteem: sensory play offers kids the opportunity for self-expression because there is no right answer and children feel safe to change or experiment with what they are doing
Painting with Paint Pops:
Children were introduced to paint pops, it was amazing to see how this activity provoked language during their exploration children used the words “Cold, frozen, cut, cut it.” AT the beginning children used the paint pops to create different lines, swirls and marks on the paper, after several minutes children decided to remove the popsicle from the paint cube. Some of our friends moves the frozen cube with their fingers while others used the popsicle sticks to cut the cube!
Painting on foil paper with shaving cream:
The surface is slick so the paint dances across it, reflecting the light in the room. Using a paintbrush is fun, but when shaving cream is involved using your fingers and hands gives it a different meaning, since of course the shaving cream makes the paint puffy!
When children walked inside the classroom they were eager to get busy, we first observed and talked about the different colors that were displayed and on what they were displayed. When children were given the “Go” to paint they all stood back to observe the paint, shaving cream and foil. After several minutes of observing and analyzing the children got busy to work.
Reminders/Upcoming events:
Tuesday, February 5: School is closed
Friday, February 8th: Picture day Our class will be first (8:30am) please be on time
Please email Laura and I any recent family photos, we are working on a project and would like them as soon as possible, please and thank you.
If you happen to come across any gerber or pret bottles/contianers please save them and bring them in we are in need of these materials. Thank you!