Wednesday Group - Reacquainting and Collage

Knowing it had been a month and a half since the children have been at playgroup I thought it would be nice to return to some familiar materials and begin to use them in new ways. When the children were about 8 months old we explored contact paper sticky side up. At that time the experience was more geared toward understanding the material with one's whole body. During this next 5 week session we will be exploring collage first through using contact paper and later through glue. I presented the children with some materials to stick on the contact paper that were familiar (cellophane, strips of ribbon and mylar) and a few new materials (tissue paper and pre-cut paper shapes). I displayed the materials in clear containers with them each grouped together by type of material.

With the addition of some fun, new Christmas gifts I thought the environment might engage the children's interest more than the collage experience. This was the case for Max, while Sebastien, who lives in the playgroup space, spent some time working with the collage materials. Sebastien also made an surprising connection while sticking the materials on the contact paper. In the beginning he was content to stick the different materials down, even practicing the word "stick" with each piece of mylar he put on the contact paper.

After a few minutes, it was like a light bulb went off and he walked, very purposefully, over to his easel which is also magnetic. He then picked out one of his magnets, brought it over to the contact paper and stuck it down. He did this several times. Of all the items in his play space to choose from I wonder why he chose the magnets? Did he make the connection that magnets also stick to certain surfaces?

The exploding language development and daily development of new skills makes working with toddlers fascinating. One of the skills toddlers are developing is the art of negotiation. In the next video clip you will see Sebastien ask Max to push him in the stroller simply by saying Max's name and patting the handle of the stroller. Max isn't so sure so he offers him a ball. Then Max gets a chance to explore the stroller by himself. A little while later he does give Sebastien a short ride but Max decides he wants a turn of his own.