It seems like an obvious recipe, and indeed it is, but here’s a picture recipe in case it helps:
Start with the Classic Playdough Recipe.
Whole Child Development
by notjustcute Filed Under: Create, Learning through Play and Experience 2 Comments
It seems like an obvious recipe, and indeed it is, but here’s a picture recipe in case it helps:
Start with the Classic Playdough Recipe.
by notjustcute Filed Under: Building Readers, Learning through Play and Experience, Music and Movement Leave a Comment
You can never really have too many songs and fingerplays, can you? So here’s another one that is kid-tested and approved! Sing to the tune of “I’m a Little Teapot”.
by notjustcute Filed Under: Building Readers, Learning through Play and Experience, Music and Movement Leave a Comment
You can never really have too many songs and fingerplays, can you? So here’s another one that is kid-tested and approved! Sing to the tune of “I’m a Little Teapot”.
by notjustcute Filed Under: Building Readers, Learning through Play and Experience, Music and Movement Leave a Comment
by notjustcute Filed Under: Unit Themes 9 Comments
I was thinking recently about how much I enjoy teaching the topic of seeds and plants to preschoolers. There’s something powerfully gratifying and awe-inspiring about awakening and cultivating life that attracts young and old alike. Planning around the theme of plants and seeds opens up a multitude of learning objectives. Here are just a few:
Plants and seeds fall under the Life Science category, and introduce preschoolers to many of the Life Science objectives. They can learn about the difference between living and non-living things, the needs of living things, and life cycles. (Sunflowers and pumpkins are particularly good specimens for plant life cycles, because their seeds are easily harvested, dried, and planted again.)
by notjustcute Filed Under: Building Readers, Learning through Play and Experience 6 Comments
As a seed germinates and grows, it is hard for children to understand what goes on beneath that mystic cover of soil. Of course you can sprout bean seeds in a plastic bag (just drop in a wet paper towel and presoaked bean seed, seal ‘er up and watch it open up over the course of a few days). That’s a great staple among preschool activities, but if you also want to watch the development of the seed into a plant with a root system, you might want to try this idea.
by notjustcute Filed Under: Learning through Play and Experience 2 Comments
The sensory table is an area of the preschool room that children go to because, as the name implies, they are drawn in by the many appeals to the senses. Few activities I have done in the sensory table have drawn as much widespread interest as popcorn kernels. My guess is that it’s because it draws in the sense of hearing, as few other media do. It literally calls the children over to explore. Every time those kernels fall, they rap against each other, or against the plastic bottom, making almost as much sound as popcorn actually popping!
I began my popcorn-as-a-medium collection with the help of my two-year old, who managed to spill quite a bit from our pantry onto the floor…and mix it with the rice…and the flour. Well, no use crying over spilled milk, or grains, so I sifted it out and added it to the sensory table. Along with the popcorn, I included paper-towel tubes, funnels, clear tubing (from Home Depot) and my sand mill, along with several scoopers (from laundry detergent, dishwasher detergent, and infant formula containers for a variety of sizes). The children loved filling the paper towel tubes to the brim and then lifting them up, letting all the kernels drop to the bottom, rapid-fire like rain on a tin roof. Without even knowing it, they experimented with math principles of size, volume, and circumference, as well as motor skills as they scooped and poured the hypnotic golden grains. I even included a small funnel, which I knew would likely not allow the large kernels to pass through, just to create the questions that would lead to learning. Pour a little popcorn into your sensory table and see what concepts your children tackle!
In early education, there is too much distance between what we know and what we do. I bridge the gaps that exist between academia, decision-makers, educators, and parents so that together, we can improve the quality of early education while also respecting and protecting the childhood experience.
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