Similar to my post about refilling the bird feeder, I let my little guy play with rice. Children learn about the world through their senses, so I try to provide as many sensory experiences for them as possible. My preschool children love when their sand table has rice in it as well. It just pours so well, and it is great for digging little hands into.
Here is lil man in his typical set up:
Tipping a little over (or creating chaos out of order)(physics: gravity):
Digging hands in (you can tell it feels good by the little smile):
Experimenting to see if he can fit inside the bowl (he couldn't which angered him)(social/emotional)
My lil man loves birdseed. A while ago I let him put his hand in the birdseed container and he cried when I put it away. Today I decided to set up an experience where he could help me refill the feeder.
First, I set a tin full of birdseed into the baby pool (nature). It drew him in immediately.
He really dug his hands in (sensory):
Then he decided to dump the seeds out (hence the baby pool)
After we made the mess, on to the business of filling the feeder (but first we must manipulate all the moving parts of the feeder) (motor)
He helped me put seeds in, and out, and in, and out, and in and out (opposites & fine motor).
He took a close look, just to be sure...(observation)
J then helped me clean up the ones that got away (responsibility):
But then decided it should go back on the deck (independence):
Play-dough is wonderful for children. It's mushy and malleable. It strengthens little fingers. It provides a sensory experience that is both calming and engaging.
I make play-dough every week in my pre-k classroom. It's a great science experiment, figuring out how much water, oil, and flour to add to make it just the right consistency. And once we get it right, we sing a song while we manipulate the dough. The children pick the verb and we act it out.
"insert verb" (repeat three times) the dough...
I sing the song in the video with J. He expressed interest in poking the dough so I sang (and please excuse my voice):
Poke, poke, poke the dough
Poke poke, poke, the dough
poke, poke, poke, the dough
poke poke poke the dough dough dough
I think we spent a good 20 minutes in class once coming up with different verbs (poke, pull, squish, pinch, rip, put it back together, twist, turn, etc). From Bev Bos I learned that it is important for children to be able to manipulate songs and make them their own. Great for creativity. And what is creativity if not critical thinking?
Here is the video of J with his play dough (please excuse my dirty child, I swear I bathe him every night but he sure plays hard during the day):
I like giving lil man natural things to play with. So, after our scrambled egg breakfast I washed the eggshells and set them on the high chair tray. I thought this might be an interesting fine motor/sensory experience. Lil man (13 months) uses a booster chair now so the high chair has become his designated play station. Easier for clean up.
I originally took video of this activity but he was in nothing but a saggy diaper next to a garbage bag on the deck waiting to be put in the trash can. He played really well cracking the eggs into tiny little pieces until he got distracted by some unplugged electrical chords. Watching that was just wrong on so many levels.
Anyway, here are some photos of J playing with the eggshells:
