Thursday Group - Exploring the Rope Bin & Animals in the Clay

The Thursday group gathered together after a short break and everyone dove back into the environment. The rope bin, the boat, and all the materials were fully explored. Before the children visited the clay they made sure to revisit familiar items. With all the materials I present to the children during playgroup I also try to incorporate them back into the environment so that the children have the chance to continue their exploration during other sessions. For Max it is usually finding the balls (this is a favorite stop for him) and during this playgroup Xavier joined him in his exploration. The following is a short clip of Max & Xavier both interacting with the balls. Xavier claps the balls together while Max watches him and then a short time later Max finds two different balls and does the same. I love how children watch, learn, imitate, and mimic each other but the discovery still feels new as evident by Max's face.

The clay was was just a quick stop for the children during playgroup but the visits are always interesting to observe. I really liked having the animals and clay together as it added an interesting element to the exploration and so I repeated the experience for the Thursday group. Sebastien rescued a lion and then found a new way to taste clay, this time offering a taste to his buddy Xavier.



Exploring clay brings about an interesting dilemma - what to you do once you get it on your hands? Do you shake it off? Add more? Xavier tries to figure this one out.



Max also tries to figure out what to do with the clay he finds on his hands. He enlists his other hand to help out with the situation.

Friday Group - Clay Animals

I decided to add another element to the clay to see how it would change or enhance the children's engagement with the clay. I playfully placed animals all around the clay. A gorilla climbing up the side, a hippo taking a bite, a deer with an antler stuck... it amused me and did draw the children in for a closer look. Sebastien was the first to make his way over. He freed the lion perched atop the clay and continued with his taste testing and offerings to others duties.

Theo spent a long time with the clay. Not only did his mother, Annelise sit close by making clay balls and other creations, but his grandmother was also there observing. At first, when Theo would touch the clay he would shake his hand like he was trying to get it off. Later he found a liquid filled test tube that he used as an extension of himself to interact with the clay. He would use it to push, bang, and move both the big mound and pieces of clay. He also found out that it made interesting marks when he moved it on the mylar covered in clay. As time went on, he became more comfortable touching the clay and even tasted it a few times. The video is long but I couldn't help myself, Theo is just so into it and doing such interesting things with the test tube.

Bryce brushed by the clay and came over to it momentarily but both he and Kaia found the rope bin especially exciting this session. I had added some large wooden beads to the rope bin, sporadically placing them on different ropes. Bryce located a few right away. He manipulated and moved them while taking in all that was going on around him.

Kaia has been loving the sparkly ribbon. For a few sessions now Kaia has been concentrating her rope bin explorations around the cylinder containers and the sparkly iridescent ribbon. Trying to get the ribbon back in the container has been a particular challenge along with getting it untangled from her little feet.

Friday Group - Warming up to the Clay

This week there was a small breakthrough in Kaia's interaction with the clay. She found a small piece that had wandered away from the clay area and brought it to her mother. Kasey then prompted Kaia to take it over to the the big clay mound. On her first attempt she came close but didn't want to add it the block of clay. The following is her second attempt at bringing the little piece of clay over. I offer her something she can place it on and as she is in the vicinity she considers touching the clay.

There are no words for this next video. This is Bryce's first experience with the clay. It simply reminds me of the ever popular commericals...Clay $30, Tools $15, Look on Bryce's face as he touches the clay - PRICELESS!



Sebastien has now become the official clay taste tester. He is intrigued by using tools on the clay and getting them to "stick" but ultimately it all comes down to the flavor of clay...he even offers it to others to try.

Friday Group - Imitation

With the exception of Sebastien, the Friday group steered clear of the clay. Kaia did circle the clay a few time but never touched it and Theo sat near by but never approached it. Sebastien swiped one of Theo's spoons and brought it to the clay to gave it a taste but seeing his playmates were not into the clay he decided to join them in their play.

From very early on babies imitate the adults in their lives. I remember "testing" this natural imitation reflex with Sebastien when he was just 2 months old. I would stick out my tongue and then wait for him to do the same, he would always mimic me. As children grow they begin to do more sophisticated imitations or what Piaget termed "practice/functional play". During this type of play "children repeatedly practice their schemes for actions with objects or their own bodies" (Play at the Center of the Curriculum, pg.28). In the following video Theo practices the scheme of what it means to use a phone. Watch carefully as he slings the phone up toward his ear at the beginning. He is answering the phone, of course.

Piaget described practice or functional play as "a happy display of known actions". Kaia knows how to care for a baby, watch as she holds, walks, and talks to baby Lukas.



Many times we don't even realize that children are replaying what they have seen us do. Watch as Sebastien practices putting a lid on a pot. This functional play caught my attention because our regular pots and pans are in a place where he can reach them and get them if needed. He watches us use and put them away daily. They are very heavy and hard to manipulate but Sebastien still tries to get them out and drag them around. His most challenging experience with these these pots and pans is to fit the lids on and then carry them around. He is trying to do the same with his wooden pots and it is still a little tricky. Theo is extremely interested in what he's doing as he works with the pots.

Thursday Group - More Clay Explorations

After reading about a group of toddlers exploring clay in the book Pinching, Poking, & Pretending I decided to jazz up the clay experience by covering the floor in mylar. I hoped the mylar would add a different perspective to the exploration, attract the children to the clay and provide another material to interact with either using the clay or on it's own. I also set the clay on the smaller side so it stood vertical and had more height.

Knowing Xavier engaged more with the clay when tools were involved his mother brought some different wooden spoons for him to use on the clay. Xavier used the tool and his own hand to explore the clay. In the following video, Xavier explores the clay but in spurts. He uses the his hand to grab and feel the clay and the tool to pat the clay. He also discovers the tool makes a sound when tapped on the ground but not so much on the clay. I love how he simultaneously feels the clay in his left hand and uses the tool in his right.

Clay has this amazing quality to respond to every touch or impact a child makes upon it. Manipulating clay also works both large and small muscles. Max really digs into the clay. First he uses just one finger but soon works to grab more. He also takes notice of how the clay spreads on the Mylar.



Sebastien runs the spectrum of exploration techniques. He checks out himself in the Mylar, grabs, scrapes, pounds, tastes, and brings some new tools to the clay. He even brought over my shoe from the shoe bin to place it in the clay!

Friday Group - First Rope Bin Encounter

The clay eluded the Friday group with the exception of Sebastien. Theo eventually made his way over to the clay, felt it and then moved on. We hadn't seen Theo in a few weeks and he spent a lot of group time exploring the environment and materials around the play area. This is one of the challenges I face in playgroup. It is hard to simply focus on the material I present because I only see children once a week and for such a short period of time. That is why I try to have several material choices out for the children in addition to the other toys to explore. Kaia came close to touching the clay that was on my hands but decided against it. I, again, dove into the clay hoping to entice the children to explore the clay. This, again, made documenting via video and photography difficult. With only Sebastien interested in the clay I spoke with a colleague of mine and she reminded me that sometimes children this age need to be introduced to a material eight or nine times before they will take interest in it. I'd like to have the clay out a few more times to see how the interactions with it may evolve.

Theo checks out Sebastien and a clump of clay.

Kaia thinks about touching my hand and comes very close to doing so.

The rope bin, however, was a favorite stop. I was excited to introduce the children to rope. I find rope and other fiber art materials (yarn, string, thread) amazing discovery tools and as they get older valuable skills such as threading and sewing can be introduced. When I worked with two year olds I documented their discoveries around rope, how they used used it and the skills they developed for two years. Starting with a young group of children I was surprised at the many different ways the children explored the rope.

TASTING - As with most discoveries at this age, Sebastien and Theo orally explore the texture of the rope.

WAVING & SHAKING - The fluidity of movement in rope is exciting and fun. It responds to a child's every movement. When a child changes tempo (moves fast or slow) and direction (moves right, left, up, down, back and forth, round and round, etc.) the rope happily follows suit.

TRAILING - Another wonderful property of rope is that wherever you go it follows. This is very satisfying for a young child, who is usually trailing after a parent. To move around and look back and see that the rope is following you creates giggles and excitement.

PULLING - Rope also gives children some resistance. Depending on length and diameter it can be heavy in it's own right as well as create resistance when another hand is holding an end or as it wraps around objects and gets temporarily stuck. This tests out children's strength and challenges them in a new way.

I can't wait to see what discoveries they make next.