Bubbles!

"Wonder is the beginning of wisdom."            ~Greek proverb

One of the best things about working with young children is the wonder they have about things that we barely give a second thought to as adults.  

The week before spring break I put bubble solution (water, dish soap, glycerin) in the water table with several bubble making items:  slotted spoon, canning ring, plastic berry basket, several small random toys that have openings to blow bubbles through, etc.  I thought to kids would enjoy exploring bubble making with these unique bubble wands.  However, they instead enjoyed stirring the mixture with the slotted spoon and spatula, creating a frothy lather that no one could blow bubbles with.  

At first I was disappointed and explained that if they made the froth (new vocabulary), they couldn't blow the bubbles.  Even as the words were coming out of my mouth I was regretting them.  I've been trying to do better following the children's lead, rather my own agenda.  However once I said them, I decided to see what happened on day two of water table bubbles.  Free play started out with some of the older children going to the water table to explore the bubbles.  A younger child came over and began the mixing and froth making.  One of the older girls got after her, telling her not to make the froth.  The younger child left.  I took that opportunity to explain to the group that there was more than one way to play with the bubbles, but if anyone wanted to blow bubbles they should come to the water table early, before someone else makes froth.

It turns out most of the kids needed the opportunity to explore the making of froth before working with the bubble-making toys.  So we made froth.  My student with autism enjoyed the sensory exploration of feeling the froth with his hands, arms, face, and hair.  He would have liked to have climbed into the table, I think.  He was playing at the table with two other children, which has been a challenge for him.  So bubble blowing was not a success (at least how I envisioned it), but froth making was a huge success!

After a week of spring break, we returned to find bubble blowing at the science table.  This was a simple activity with cups of bubble solution on trays and straws.  I stationed myself at the table for most of Monday and the beginning of Tuesday's free play time.  I had each child who came to the table demonstrate to me how to blow out with the straw.  (In the past I have had some children who could not do this and ended up sucking in a mouthful of soap, not a huge deal, and quite a learning experience, but  a bit of trauma that is avoidable with a bit of instruction.)  

Once the child can show me how to blow out (onto my hand), they were given a place to work and instructed to make lots of bubbles in their cups with their straw.  The look of delight and wonder in their eyes was priceless!  They made mounds of bubbles which spilled out over the cups onto their trays.  We talked about blowing hard and soft, making big and little bubbles, and other concepts.  One child pointed out that his bubbles had rainbows in them and showed other children this.  We noticed that bubbles popped when you touched them, unless your hands were wet.  We made lots of clean messes!  This area was the most popular area early in the week, but interest waned as the week went on.

I'm taking another week off of bubbles (so that it doesn't become too mundane) then I will re-introduce the bubble blowers that I tried out in the water table before spring break.  This time I plan to use a smaller tub at the science table, rather than the water table.  Hopefully it will be nice enough to take the bubbles outside too.

By the way, bubble blowing is a science activity.  Children explore change in matter, practice their observation skills, make inferences, learn new vocabulary, interact with materials in new or different ways.  As they interact with these materials, they will create memories that will become prior knowledge to build future learning upon.  This is physical science at its best.

There's No Business Like Snow Business

Sometimes we have snow on the ground but either it's too cold, or not enough kids have proper winter gear, or there isn't enough time to get the winter clothes on and then back off again (20 minutes round trip...) so we don't get the opportunity to get out in it.  I believe that we need to offer kids opportunities to experience the world, so I try to bring some snow inside at least once each winter.

We have a sensory table (I call it a water table, even though it only has water in it occasionally) in the preschool, but this could also be done at home with a plastic tote.  Simply bring in some clean snow.  Provide scoops of various sizes (spoons, shovels, go through the kitchen drawers...) and some cups or bowls.  

I have the kids wear their mittens/gloves and their winter coat zipped up to play in the snow.  Not only does this protect them from the cold, wet snow (and sitting around in a wet shirt all day), but it provides for some practice with putting on and zipping up that winter gear.  Our hope is that everyone can get themselves dressed in winter gear by the end of the winter.  Independence is important when you have a dozen kiddos to get ready.  It's also an important skill for the kiddos to learn.

Usually the play starts out with simple sensory play.  Digging, feeling, sprinkling the snow through their fingers.  As the snow warms a bit, it becomes mold-able.  Those cups and bowls are great molds.  Or with a little help small snowmen can be made (might want to have some ideas for pieces to make the face, but let the kids lead you).  

I have the snow out over the course of 4 days.  By the third and fourth day the newness has worn off and I try to come up with something to add to the snow to make it fun and new again.  This year I used liquid watercolor in a spray bottle (food coloring and water would work just as well).  The spray bottles we have are not very child friendly, so I sprayed the snow prior to bringing it into the classroom.  It was blue one day and orange the other day.  (I opted not to use yellow...)  Only the top layer gets colored, but it was enough to spark some interest and revive the play.

I have also used eyedroppers and colored water for the kids to explore mixing colors in the snow.  The gloves have to come off for this.  

I just saw a post yesterday on one of the blogs I follow, Frugal Family Fun, that may call for a second round of snow in the water table this winter.  Valerie and her daughter made an ice cream shop with snow, an ice cream scoop, and cups.  We also have some cone shaped spools that were donated years ago that would make good ice cream cones.

We always allow the snow to melt and encourage the kids to talk about the changes they notice and make a hypothesis about why the changes occurred.  This year's group initially said it was because of the sun.  When I pointed out the water table did not get any sun where it sits in the classroom, and besides there is still snow on the ground outside, they thought the lights did it.  We noted the change before and after rest time (no lights, but still melting occurred) and then they did reach the conclusion that it was the fact that it was warmer inside than outside.  It is also interesting to see how dirty that snow gets and discourages the snow eating.

We are awaiting the arrival of this blizzard, and plenty of new snow.  We might just have to put snow in the water table again next week.

This post has been shared on No Time for Flashcards.

Ice Play for Preschoolers

This week in preschool we studied winter.  I wanted to include some inquiry science activities at the math/science table and remembered seeing some ice-play activities on a PBS Kids show, I think Curious George.

So prior to Monday's class I froze water in various containers (pie tin, divided tray, rubber glove, two sizes of cups) and with various objects inside the ice (pennies, small plastic toys, glitter, grapes).

I brought out the ice during our free play time and removed the ice from the containers with the help of the kids.  They especially liked the ice in the shape of the glove initially, but the fingers fell off fairly quickly.  Some children were very interested in the objects inside the ice.  Slamming the ice onto the table to watch the cube shatter.  Others were laughing as they tried to pick up the slippery melting ice.  And others were sliding the ice around on the layer of water like hockey pucks.

We found that paint shirts were needed as we got pretty wet.  I left it up to the kids to decide if they wanted to wear gloves to protect their hands from the cold, most did not.

I remained close by to observe the children's play and encourage discussions.  I noticed that Brogan was making a concentrated effort in removing the pennies from the ice.  He saw them as a treasure that he got to keep.  At one point he asked me how the pennies got into the ice.  I answered him by not really answering him.  "I put them there."  He, of course, wanted more of an explanation than that.  I left him to think about it while I talked with other children.

Emma was also at the table and could tell me that ice melted into water and that water turned into ice.  I asked what I would need to do to get the water from our sink to turn to ice.  After much thought she said I could put it outside.  I agreed I could, since it was very cold outside.

After a few minutes I posed the question, "How else could we get the water from the faucet to turn to ice?"  I didn't want to give them the answer, as I knew it would mean more to them if they made the connection on their own.  I also knew that with time, Brogan would be able to piece together the facts to figure out how those pennies got inside the ice cube.  No one could give me an answer.  But they were so focused on the ice play that I didn't want to push the question and answer time.

So I used the rest of free play to gather some props for lesson time.

I did scrap the planned lesson on feelings for another day so that we could talk more about our discoveries at the ice table.  At the large group discussion Emma was able to tell what she knew about ice forming outside.  I posed the question, "What about in summer?  Do you ever have ice in your drinks in the summer?  Where does it come from?"  When I wasn't getting the firm answers I expected, I brought out the ice cube tray prop from the dramatic play center.  I asked if they had seen one of these before.  Aaaahhhh.... connections were being made, facial expressions turned from confusion to recognition.  Now they were able to tell me that they had ice cube trays at home and they went in the freezer.  I helped them to state that the freezer and our outside temperatures were both cold enough to turn water into ice.

I brought out the tray with a cup of water for each child I had prepared.  Each cup had a child's name on it.  I called them one by one and they got to pick one small toy to insert into their water cup.  I then labeled the tray 'Preschool Science' and they went to the window to watch me place it in the snow where we could observe it from inside our classroom.  Within an hour the children were able to notice a layer of ice beginning to develop in the cups.

We got a bit of a winter storm and did not have school on Tuesday.  As children came in on Wednesday, they asked about their ice.  Kendrick went immediately to the window and wanted to know where the ice was.  He couldn't see it due to the snowfall.  I told him and the others that I thought it was probably buried under the snow, but wanted to wait for them to be there before I went to look.  Once everyone had arrived I bundled up and took out a small shovel to see if our science experiment had been disturbed.  It was there!  It was buried in a drift of about six inches of snow.  And the children cheered when I dug down far enough to find it.

I brought the ice inside.  Each child got to examine their cube.  Kendrick's water froze with a bit of a bubble in it and he was able to break it easily in two, with the toy stuck in one half of the ice cube.  He was so thrilled with that and showed it to everyone.  Some children slammed their cube down on the table to shatter it and remove their 'treasure'.  Others just messed around with the ice cubes until they melted enough to remove their toy.  No matter how they removed their treasure, they were so proud and excited about it.

We all really enjoyed the simple play.  I feel that some connections were made that the children would refer to later.  What a fun and easy experience for all involved!

This post has been shared at No Time for Flashcards.