Monthly Archives: October 2013

During the week of October 21st we brought out pumpkins for the children to explore and also use them in different ways. Here a few picture of the children using pumkins to make pumpkin prints with ink pads, hammering golf-ts into the pumpkins, exploring the pumpkins outsides and inside, and drawing them. Lots of learning was involved while we explored the pumpkins. The children praticed using words such as heavy, light, rough, bumpy, big, and orange. They also had to practice waiting for their turn to hammer the golf- t’s into the pumpkins.  We hope you enjoy looking at the pictures.

The children became so interested in Miss Michelle and Ms. Maria’s hats that as a team we decided to add hats to our dramatic play area. Hats seems to be a new interest and we are thinking of ways in which we can tie it to our Music and Movement project. Hats are used by musicians and we will soon add pictures of musicians wearing hats as well as people out in our community. If you have hats you aren’t using, please donate them to our classroom. Today we brought some hard hats and sombreros and spoke to the children about the textures, size, and who wears them. The children had a blast wearing all the hats we brought out.

One day after a rainfall, there were large puddles on the pavement in our yard. The children were enjoying themselves splashing and jumping in the water. One child had the idea of bringing a marker to the puddles and trying to color in it. The colors spread through the water in a very interesting way; however, the action had to be redirected so that our marker would not get ruined. This idea inspired me to think of a way that we could follow the children’s interest in an appropriate way.

In Extended Care, during the week of October the 7^th, we created sidewalk chalk paint! The children helped to fill the squeeze bottles with corn starch, water, and watercolors using funnels. I talked to the children about how we used a mixture of dry and wet ingredients to create something new. This simple recipe provided an opportunity for the children to experience cause and effect through observing the mixing of ingredients and colors.  The children were able to use their fine motor skills and eye-hand coordination while carefully pouring the ingredients into the bottles and then squeezing it out onto the sidewalk. Here is the recipe if you would like to try making it at home:

 

• Cornstarch and water in equal parts
• Liquid watercolor
• Squeeze bottles (can be found at Family Dollar)

 

 

The children enjoyed squeezing the paint and stepping on it with their bare feet. Some children began to carefully squeeze out shapes and name letters. We watched the colors mix together and were able to find some colorful footprints!

“Scribbles may not make any sense to an adult. The look like a lot of lines, loops, and squiggles. But these marks are very important to a  young child. They are a child’s way of writing her thoughts. Drawing and scribbling are the first steps in using the skills children will need later for writing.” Mincemayer,2013