Colanders, Pipe Cleaners and Freedom to Create

Another one of those things I come across that suddenly seems like a good idea... The children were a little rambunctious and it was a rainy day. I was busy with the babies and trying to get them to sleep, so needing the bigger ones to settle down. 

Out of my bag of tricks, I silently pulled the pipe cleaners from the crafts closet and the various colanders from the kitchen. I took a pipe cleaner, poked into a hole and walked away. 

It got very quiet.

In my mind, I envisioned them doing just this...

But then, I get a visit from someone wanting to show me their spider web...

 And another...

That's NOT where I thought they might go with it. 

And then, to my amazement, I hear them working together to JOIN their colanders together with the pipe cleaners. Unfortunately, I couldn't see it and I didn't get a picture, because I was feeding a baby at the time, but their quiet negotiations floored me. I can't wait to see what they do the next time.

If I would have said, "This is what we are going to do today. Now poke the pipe cleaners into the top of the colander, like this, and make a spiny creature," then I would have SO limited their play. Sometimes as teachers and parents we just need to give them stuff and let them go. Their creativity is very often much greater than mine.

SKILLS

Fine Motor

Social: team work, asking for different colored pipe cleaners to be passed

Math: logic, reasoning

Art: creative expression

Tags: childcare, daycare, preschool, pre-k, prek, pipecleaners, colander, art, craft, fine motor 

Noodle Blocks, More Than Play

A dollar store laundry basket $1.00

3 pool noodles from Walmart at $1.88 each

Equals about $7.00 [with tax] and five minutes of effort 

for a surprisingly basketful of fun learning

Measurements are by choice, but I tried to go on units related to the diameter of the noodles. The smallest are about 1/2 the diameter tall, the middle ones the same height as diameter, and the larger ones double height to diameter.

Using a finely serrated bread knife, simply cut through at your marks. No need to be exact.

These three noodles were enough to fill up the laundry basket and provide adequate blocks for 2 children to play with at a time peacefully, three at the most. When all four got in there, there were really some issues of sharing and snatching from each other due to a lack of resources.

Some noodle blocks were a little more wonky than others. I tuned up a few, but left most. After watching them play with them, I wish I would have left the others alone.


These can only be stacked vertically, so there isn't a ton of architectural opportunity here. They aren't very heavy, so no gross motor muscle building like with regular blocks. So what good are they besides being a novelty play item for a few minutes? I was surprised.

It helped to have two different sized noodles. In their wonkiness [lack of perfection, listing drunkenly to one side due to imperfect cuts causing slight angling], I found the children carefully assessing and adjusting their placement to maintain balance, or changing out noodle blocks for others if they just couldn't get it to work on the particular one they were placing it on.  


Due to their lightness, they lacked the weight that regular blocks can utilize to provide counterweight even when off center if stacked correctly. These noodle blocks required a great deal more finesse and thoughtfulness than other blocks.  The children were absolutely determined to stack them as high as they possibly could. Over and over and over again. This was much more of a mental exercise and physics lesson than block play. 

I liked it. A LOT.

Also, because of their lightness, the children had to be VERY careful to not knock them over. While the blocks themselves didn't provide gross motor through weight, the physical effort required to move so carefully around towers and fetch and place the blocks, did.

What else do I like about these noodle blocks? 

They are a big hit with the toddler crowd.

They are soft, but not too soft, and easily held and stacked by toddlers. I imagine they could be a choking hazard for ones with teeth, so watch that, but she's a late bloomer and doesn't have any yet. Actually, for her teething, this provided a nice soft yet firm surface to gnaw upon.

They are also weather proof! 

Heading with them outside now. They will make a great addition to our outdoor block area.
A piece of rope will be provided for lacing them.

These have been all over Pinterest, but I have no idea who the original creator was. I will happily give credit where it's due if I find out. I'm thinking it may be the staff at Family Fun magazine.

SKILLS:

Math: logic, reasoning, height, same/different sizing, counting number of blocks high

Science: physics

Fine Motor: manipulating blocks

Gross Motor: getting and placing blocks, especially as they get higher; not knocking over towers

Social: sharing resources, requesting a size or color, turn taking, group dynamics

Tags: block, blocks, block play, preschool, daycare, childcare, pre-k, prek, outdoor, playground, fine motor, gross motor, pool noodle, noodle blocks, noodle, boy, girl, toddler, infant

Shapes FREE Printable Worksheet

I made a shapes poster that we utilize during circle time, using the twelve 2-D shapes and twelve colors that I teach. 

I combined it with my shapes flashcards that can be cut apart for matching, added a sheet of black and white shapes cards and color name cards for matching, and included a shapes pre-writing worksheet, that can be used with the poster for coloring by matching the poster colors. 

When laminated, the shapes cards can also be used as playdough mats, dry-erase boards for tracing/pre-writing activities, or as salt or sand tracing cards.

It is for sale for $1.50 in my TPT store.

 For my blog followers, I'm making the pre-writing worksheet available to print for FREE. 
Tags: shapes, worksheet, printable, free, cards, star, triangle, square, crescent, oval, heart, diamond, rectangle, pentagon, hexagon, octagon, pre-writing, pre, writing, 

Young Children and Lying

It pains me to see adults come down on small children for "lying" when they are not developmentally at an age to "lie." I had one father, normally a very easy-going person, get irate with his three-year-old for lying to him. He said that was the one thing he wouldn't stand for from his son. 

I let him know... 

Lying is not cognitively active until the age of 8! 

At age 6 you can begin to start your child questioning their statements, such as "Is that real or make-believe?" This is the time to begin discussions of honesty, truthfulness, trust and respect and why those behaviors and values are important.

Parents and caregivers need to ensure they do not place a child into positions where the child is basically forced to lie to escape harsh punishment or humiliation. Once the cognitive ability to knowingly lie is in place, children will quickly learn how to do it well if they are placed into positions where it is beneficial to do so. A calm, thoughtful discussion is usually able to produce the truth if the child is not immediately placed on the defensive. A child old enough to purposefully lie, is also old enough to understand that inappropriate behaviors have consequences and can usually come up with a suitable disciplinary measure and accept it as their due.

Until the age of 6, lying is simply wishful thinking/story telling. 

"Young children (ages 4-5) often make up stories and tell tall tales. This is normal activity because they enjoy hearing stories and making up stories for fun. These young children may blur the distinction between reality and fantasy." 

American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

The child does not have control over it. They do it because they truly want it to be the way they say, to keep out of trouble, or to make someone happy by saying what the child knows the person wants to hear. They will also alter their thought processes so that they ACTUALLY BELIEVE that is what happened. Once again, you can not punish a child for something they have no control over. "Lying" is NOT LYING until age 6-8. Let it go. 


However, there does need to be an appropriate response to inappropriate behavior. 


"There are crayon marks on the wall, so the crayons have to be in time-out for a week." - The child denied writing on the wall. 


"Your friend is crying because they got hurt. You'll have to play over there for a while. She doesn't feel like playing now." - The child denied pushing/hitting/taking toy from another child. 

Story telling, "I got a pet elephant for my birthday," should simply be encouraged. "Really! Is he very big? Does he eat a lot? What did your mommy say?" Imaginary friends, etc. should be thoughtfully encouraged as your child explores their emerging imagination and learns the intricacies of using it in all it's many colors. One of these is the black and white thing that adults view as lying.
Tags: childcare, daycare, preschool, pre-k, prek, kindergarten, lying, lie, make-believe, storytelling, bahavior, cognitive, development, child development

Number Cards - Activities and Printables

Here are some activities I use with my number cards. 

Notice that odds are red and evens are green. This is one of the activities that I do that preps them for later learning. They learn which numbers are red numbers and which numbers are green numbers. When teaching them later about odds and evens, they will remember this. When we start splitting things into groups to learn about odd and even, I will say, "Yes, GO it's even," or "STOP, it's odd and can't be split evenly." By them already being exposed to the red and green numbers, they will already have a foundation of knowledge to fall back upon for this concept. It is a type of learning that is absorbed through exposure, rather than taught.


These are 2 1/2 year olds. They can rote count 0-10, recognize 0-10 and are getting down method counting 0-10 objects. Method counting involves the child figuring out a method of counting objects that are not in a linear format. Before we move on to 11-20, I am working with them on the 0-10 number line. 

The first activity involves the children simply picking out the correct number and placing it in the number line position. Note that the cards are faced AWAY from the childrens work area, so their visual discrimination is worked to assess the numbers in an upside down capacity, or their logic/reasoning is tested as they move to better view them from the other side. There is also turn taking at work, and peer assistance.

The second activity has the numbers in order and the child does SEE & SAY before s/he steps forward onto the number. These are wonderful activities as they use so many senses at one time, reinforcing learning to the max. Sight, speech, hearing, feeling are all used. And yes, in learning, I consider speech a separate sense for children. It may be a feeling, but it encompasses so much more at this age. 

For the little ones (18 month to talking well), I'll have them pick up a card, and I'll tell them what it is. I'll also do the second activity, but hold their hands and walk through it with them, saying the number.

By clicking through my blog, you are granted permission to view, print and download my "Private Documents."

Number Cards 0-11

Number Cards 11-20

I have these cards laminated and stored in a clear plastic hanging zippered storage bag that a curtain panel came in. I think the size of the cards is just perfect for these hands-on physical activities.

 Tags: childcare, daycare, preschool, pre-k, prek, kindergarten, math, numbers, counting, count, number recognition, number games, games, activity, activities, printables, printable, number cards, cardsAGS: preschool, teaching, numbers, counting, number line, odd, even, math, rote counting, number recognition, childcare, daycare, pre-k, prek, kindergarten

Ladybug Movable Paper Plate Craft

These ladybugs turned out ADORABLE. It's a rather involved craft, creation and teaching wise, especially with a mixed-age group, so the instructions are pretty detailed.  

A materials list is at the end.

I used this activity to really work on the concepts of PAIRS and SAME/DIFFERENT.


Write names on the back of paper plates first if more than one child is doing the craft!


1. Paint a 9-10 inch paper plate red 
So we actually did black first, and even though I thought I had THOROUGHLY cleaned the brushes, there were still traces of black that got into the red, so I recommend painting the red first, or using different brushes.

 They were very concerned about getting paint on the table, as I've trained them well, but it didn't take much encouragement to get them to paint to the edges. It did, however, make a mess. I'll be glad when I get an actual crafts table that is easier to clean.

The youngest at just-two worked on the concept of painting the white areas, rather than just globbing in the middle.

2. Paint a 9-10 inch paper plate black

We discussed how the plates are the SAME size, and the SAME in that they are both painted, but they are painted DIFFERENT colors. We now have a PAIR of painted paper plates.


LET DRY THOROUGHLY!


3. With the child fold the red paper plate in half, open and let them cut on the line
We talked about halves, symmetry, both sides being the SAME size and that now we had a PAIR of wings because we had two that are the SAME and they go together.


4. Using a hole punch, overlap the two red halves and punch through both
This was more difficult than I thought it would be. Even the three-year-old didn't have the strength to punch through the two layers of paper plate by herself with the hold punch I had. So each child lapped their pieces and attempted to punch, but I ended up doing each one in the end.

5. Line up the red halves on top of the black plate. The outer edge of the red wings should be at the edge of the inner ring of the black. Punch a small hole with a pencil into the black

You can just make out the inner ridge of the plate below the hole. My hole punch wouldn't reach in that far, so I used a pencil to make a small hole for the brad to go through.


6. Place a brad through the holes and open on the back.
The children did this excellent fine motor skill. If they had trouble spreading the back tangs, I opened them just a hair to facilitate.

[Why do ladybugs have wings?]

7. Punch two holes into the black center in front of the brad 
You can see the holes punched for the antennae are about 3/4 inch on either side of the brad [center] position. The older girls were able to do these single-layer ones and I helped the younger ones.  

8. Thread a pipe cleaner up through the holes for antennae, twist ends around finger tip
The children chose the pipe cleaner they wanted and threaded it up through the holes. We talked about how they needed to be the SAME length, and I pointed out when they were DIFFERENT. The older girls were able to twist the ends, and I twisted the ends around the fingers of the younger ones. We discussed how they had a PAIR of antennae. We discussed how ladybugs are DIFFERENT from us, because we do not have antennae.

[Why do ladybugs have anntenae?]

We left the antennae loose and movable like the wings. If you don't want them flopping about, then they can be glued, taped or stapled in place.

9. Trace around a round container with a white crayon or chalk onto black paper and cut out, quantity to be determined by child

[Why do ladybugs have round spots?]

We used the center of a tape reel. It made rather large dots, suitable for this younger group. For older preschoolers you could use something smaller. The 3-year-old was able to do this independently from tracing to cutting the circles. I held the hands of the younger ones as they traced and we used teacher-assist scissors to cut out. They chose how many dots they wanted before we traced.

The children put glue dots on one side of the ladybug, then I helped them to put the dots on the other side as we discussed that ladybugs had symmetry and the sides needed to be the SAME. We discussed how the dots were in PAIRS across from each other. We also counted the dots a few times in the process.


10. Accordion fold a piece of black construction paper along narrow edge about 1/2 inch wide to create cutting lines for legs. Cut 3 strips, cut those 3 in half.

I found it easier to fold one sheet all at once and cut apart at the 3-section interval for each child to then cut apart, than to try to accordion fold a smaller piece for each child.

Again, B was able to do independently and we used teacher-assist scissors with the younger ones.


11. On back side of black plate, mark glue positions for legs at clock positions 3 and 9 with the brad at 12. Leaving 4 open scallops between, place additional dots above and below.

I found this to be the best positioning. I did move the one on the right over after realizing it wasn't over far enough. The dots gave the children enough direction to glue on the legs independently, even the little ones.


We discussed how ladybugs had six legs, three PAIRS of legs and talked about how we have a PAIR of legs as well. So we are the SAME in that we have pairs of legs, but we are DIFFERENT in that ladybugs have MORE PAIRS and we have LESS. We also counted 1-6 while cutting, gluing and placing.


12. Glue on legs

13. Glue google eyes on either side of antennae
We have many different sizes of google eyes. As they looked them over, I asked if they wanted big, medium or small ones. Then I asked again if they wanted large, medium or little ones. They were all able to tell me the size they wanted.  I instructed the children to find a PAIR of google eyes that were the SAME size. They did. Even the younger ones were able to select and glue on their eyes independently. 


We discussed how we are the SAME as ladybugs in the we both have a PAIR of eyes.

NOTE: Google eyes are a choking hazard. While some of these children are under 3, this was a carefully supervised craft and these are going up on the wall. They really wanted the google eyes like the big girls. If these were going to be down and played with, I would have had the younger ones make fingerprint eyes with white paint. 


B wanted to know if ladybugs were the SAME us and had a mouth. I said they do. She wanted to know where. I said its right at the very bottom edge of the plate between their eyes. She wanted a mouth for her ladybug, so she, along with the rest of the children, chose to draw a mouth on their ladybugs with crayons.


Materials for each:
(2)  10 inch paper plates
red paint
black paint
brad
glue
pair of google eyes
pipe cleaner
1/2 sheet black construction paper
round container to trace


SKILLS:
Language: ladybug, insect, antennae, same, different
Math: circle, rectangle, line, symmetry, pairs, counting 1-6
Science: insect anatomy and functions, hypotheses 
Fine Motor: placing brad, punching holes, tracing, cutting, advanced circle cutting, gluing, placing legs and dots, sorting and choosing and placing google eyes, threading pipe cleaner and twisting ends, manipulating wings and antennae
Art: cut, paste, dot placement choices, pipe cleaner color choice, google eyes size choice, symmetry
Tags: childcare, daycare, preschool, pre-k, prek, kindergarten, first grade, insect, ladybug, bug, paper plate, craft, moveable, cut, paste, glue, symmetry, art, pair, math, science, fine motor, shapes

Garden Theme/Unit Books

Some of the books we are using for our GARDEN unit. We start off with The Carrot Seed and a general discussion the first day, then break it out by seeds, gardening procedures, plant physiology, and plant lifecycles and pollination. There is, of course, a lot of cross-over between these. For older preschoolers I do this as a week unit, transitioning into a worm unit, insect unit and food unit for the month.

The copy of The Carrot Seed that we use
is actually my childhood one from 1969.
It's a little love-worn.

With this younger crowd, we are doing garden over two weeks, hitting on worms and food along the way. But they are too young for most of the information and activities for those subjects. We will cross-over and transition into insects for another week and pond for a week. Hopefully the tadpoles will be ready around then.


And YES, when I talk about books, they are ones we are truly using. Here is this week's book display.

I will add additional review information for each when I have time later this week. A couple of my favorites are unfortunately out of print.

The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle has received some mixed reviews. Some say that it is too dramatic for young children. I have found, though, that while I may find it disturbing from my adult perspective and life experiences, young children do not have that same baggage and are just fine with the trials and tribulations that befall the seeds. They simply do not have the emotional stake in adversity that we do...yet. Most preschoolers also lack a concept of death. Girls gain that around age 5 and boys not until 6-7, so their view point is very different. If some are working on that concept, I think this book is a perfect teaching opportunity, as it doesn't deal with animals or people, thus lessening that emotional connection for young ones learning about death.