Black Paper, Pastels, and Chalk

Hoping to mix things up a bit, I decided to present a black drawing surface and different writing utensils; pastels (both Wednesday and Friday group) and chalk (just the Friday group). Just as the children experiment with the items I present to them, I too, experiment with what and how I present the materials to the children. The experience I set out sometimes has variations from group to group but my ultimate goal is to have the children experience the materials in a multitude of ways which takes individual expression into consideration. Each child is unique in his or her development and might see the materials as being useful in exploring what happens when the pastel rolls off the table or how it can be transfered from one spot to another.

Having the easel ready and waiting offers the children another option to suit individual interests and exploraitons. I notice that the easel makes for more vertical and separate marks when the children choose to use the different drawing utensils there.



What I love about pastels and chalk is that they look similar to each other but make very different marks. Chalk feels hard but quickly dissipates as you use it while pastels are soft to the touch and feel like they melt into the paper. Watch as Theo very briefly looks at the pastel after using it. Hmm...what is he noticing?

Thursday Group - More Items that Sink and Float

This session of playgroup continued with water play, combining some familiar and new items to the water table. Some of these items sank and some would float on the water. I included large stones and shells, metal napkin rings, cellophane, mylar, silk fabric, ribbon, square tin platter, bubble wrap, plastic eggs, a slinky, wood blocks, musical shaker eggs and hollow oval foam pieces. Splashing is still a popular activity at the water table and once one gets going the others can't help but join in.

Zadie rejoined group this week after a few weeks away. When she first came to the table she brought a ball that she had found with her. This limited her explorations because she wasn't ready to let it go. She used one hand to explore the other items until she finally let it free. Every item in the water table had many different ways a child could explore it. The plastic eggs, for example when put together would float but once taken apart would fill with water and sink. One could also place items inside a half of the egg. Zadie discovers this a little while later.



Sebastien explored many of the items orally (he even showed me a few items needed to be removed... leave it to my son to bite off a piece of bubble wrap). He also interacted with a wood block once he noticed how it moved when the water was moving, he watched it bob up and down before he picked it up. Then he pushed it down in the water, like he was slashing and finally he threw it. Another aspect of his exploration was to find an object and then walk away from the water table to take it elsewhere, almost like the water was distracting him from the object. I can't help but wonder what his plan was.



I could tell that Max was a little disappointed that the water table wasn't full of balls. He began his exploration by very methodically taking each item he came in contact with out of the water and dropping each one on the floor. The metal napkin ring made a great sound as it hit the floor and then rolled around which made Max happy. As Max mad peace with the fact that the water table was minus his favorite item he soon found a wet piece of fabric particularly fun to whip around.

Thursday Group - Do balls sink or float?

The video I shot during this group was so full of discoveries and jubilant moments that it was hard to choose what to share on the blog. Max was immediately drawn to the ball aspect of the experience whereas Sebastien started in on some wild splashing. While Sebastien gets the water into motion, Max has a hard time deciding whether to continue exploring the different balls or join in with the splishing and splashing, ultimately he does a little of both.

While Sebastien is busy enlisting his taste testing skills with all the different balls and the water is somewhat still, Max tries an experiment of his own. What happens when I throw a ball in water?



This next video is a progression of interactions that leads to a very sweet moment between Max and Sebastien. It begins with both boys noticing each other chomping on similar balls. Then Sebastien wants one of the balls that Max finds and finally Max finds a ball and offers it to Sebastien to taste.

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.

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!

Thrusday Group - 1st Clay Encounter

Besides Sebastien, the other children in the group took some time to warm up to the clay and even then they weren't too sure about it. When it was first put out for the children you can see Sebastien trying to get the other children's attention to come over to the clay.

It really took me getting into the clay myself to draw the children closer to the clay. This made it more difficult to document their experiences since my hands were covered in clay. However, once the children engaged more with the clay I was able to step back and observe their interactions with the clay more thoroughly. I was particularly struck by the introduction of a tool by Xavier, which becomes a sought after object and then adds a new layer to the experience allowing the children to explore the clay in a different way.

Max ran through a multitude of ways to explore the clay. Watch as he pinches, scrapes, pats, tastes, scratches, grabs, shakes and tries to wipe the clay. He even gives up a ball to get both hands into the clay.

Although the clay doesn't quite have the wow factor that painting does, I feel like this first encounter was appropriate for the children and I have a few thoughts on how to change up the clay to highlight it's presence and entice children to interact more with it.

Thursday Group - Painting with Blue

This week marks the return of the Thursday Group to Painting. Zadie and Xavier were the first to dive into the painting. Watch as Xavier knows exactly what to do with the brush and involves Zadie in his exploration.

The children are all actively taking more notice of the paint. Observing, how it feels on their bodies, how it looks on each other's bodies, on the canvas, and on the plastic tarp.

Sebastien makes an interesting discovery. He comes to the painting a little later than the rest as he was finishing up his nap and he finds the materials have already been in use. He notices a round blue spot on the plastic tarp and tries to grab it, thinking it is a tempera cake. He then locates an actual tempera cake in a container. After feeling it, he returns to feel the spot on the plastic tarp. He finally decides which is the real thing. It doesn't take him long but it amazes me how little brains figure out the world.

MUSICAL MAX

One thing I know about Max is that he can make sound with any item. He will find the ball that makes a loud boom or the pot that makes a great ting on the wood floor. In Max's previous painting experiences I always thought that when he picked up the container holding the tempera cake and dropped it on the floor, he was trying to get it out of the container. Amy, his mom, said something during group that made me rethink this idea. I don't remember her exact words but what I interpreted was that Max explores many materials through sound. Could throwing down the containers be Max's attempt to discover through his hearing? The following are two pictures remind me that touch and taste are not the only senses at work while painting.

Max attempts to bang the tempera cake against the shelf but couldn't get the right angle (his fingers were in the way).

So instead he bangs the tempera cake with the ball. Now this made a sound.

Thursday Group - Drawing and the Bin of Balls

It's been amazing to watch the children really explore the environment and make new discoveries. This week I again offered the beeswax crayons and changed up the sensory bin by placing many different types of balls in to explore. What I am finding most satisfying is the children are choosing to be closer together as they explore and are beginning to interact more with one another. At one point Sebastien, Zadie, and Xavier were all "hiding" behind the peek-a-boo curtain having a great time together (Max just couldn't tear himself away from the sensory bin!). Here's a brief snippet of their joyous encounter.

There are so many discoveries that the children are making that it is hard to keep up. Max explored every ball and container with such depth and careful inspection.

He even discovered that the wooden balls made a very gratifying sound on the floor.

Every child at some point during the group session made his or her way over to the drawing area. Sebastien has been observing Xavier's writing skills because this was the first time he held and made purposeful marks with the crayons.

Xavier practiced his drawing motion and not just with the crayons.

Adding containers to the ball sensory bin gives the experience another dimension to explore. Watch as Sebastien fills and then dumps a container while Zadie deals with a wooden ball which isn't so easy to pick up.

Later Zadie tries to extract a ball from a container.

In the spirit of togetherness I had to include this last video. The "boat" is of particular interest to a few of the children. Sebastien especially likes it when others want to join him in or around the boat. As Xavier explores the boat and has a lot to tell everyone about it, Sebastien's excitement is uncontainable. He's just not quite sure what to do with himself.

Thursday Group - Drawing with Beeswax Crayons

No matter when Crayons or drawing utensils are introduced to young children, there will be a period of exploring the tool with one's mouth even if they are able to purposefully make marks.

Xavier figures out right away how to use the crayons. Anna (his mom) indicated that he hasn't used crayons before but he holds objects with the tips of his fingers and makes a writing motion quite often.



I found Max's exploration of the crayons quite interesting. He would pick up one in each hand, look closely at them, and then drop one and chew on the other. Every time he spotted another crayon he would repeat the process. Amy (his mom) called this "the grass is always greener" syndrome. I just found it fascinating, like he was really thoughtfully choosing one over the other. Max also kept offering his crayon to Sebastien. Watch in the following video as he tries to tempt Sebastien into taking his crayon not once but twice...is he trying to make a trade or just get his attention?



Zadie tries out some banging and back and forth motions with the crayons.

Thursday Group - Painting with Red

We returned to painting and Sebastien couldn't have been more excited about it. Max and Zadie are still warming up to the material. This was the first time that Sebastien made a purposeful attempt to use the brush to get paint and then proceeded to try and paint on the canvas.

Max really wanted the tempera cake out of the container and kept dropping the container on the ground to get it to pop out. When it first made a loud bang Max leaned in really close to see if the cake was still in the container. This was a clever way of trying to get the cake out without having to get paint on his hands. Although when he drops it on his mom's lap he does put his fingers in it before he picked it up and lets if fall yet again.






Zadie was particularly drawn to the liquid red paint that came from wetting the tempera cakes with water. A drop of red paint initially drew her close to the paint. Then when she picked up the paint container, she noticed the red paint that dribbled out. While she explored the container the tempera cake fell and rolled out. Once this occurred she decided to give it a taste. In Zadie's signature style she explore every part of the painting experience. No item was left untouched!

Thursday Group - Exploring Pom-Poms

This week Max officially joined the Thursday Group and was lucky enough to get to know the environment with only Sebastien as the other child in the group. I knew that since it was going to be the first time Max was at my house the pom-poms would be good beginning material to explore as he was going to be familiarizing himself with the new surroundings more than anything else. Max showed a lot of enthusiasm but also payed close attention to what was happening around him. Watch closely (it is only a split second) as Max loses one of the pom-poms and shows displeasure but then quickly finds another one.

After Max spends some time holding, grabbing, and shaking the pom-poms, he begins to explore the containers. He really wants to get the pom-pom stuck inside the wooden box out but can't quite figure out how to do it.

During this exploration Sebastien makes an interesting discovery about the containers as he explores them on or near the wood floor. By accident, Sebastien finds out that the clear container rolls away from him, the white container rolls and moves in a circle while making a noise, and the flip lid container can be pushed or rolled over. This challenges his physical abilities and also begins a game of chase that he now plays by himself using all kinds of different objects.

Thursday Group - Painting with Black at Max's House

This week the revised Thursday group met at Max's House to experience painting. We set up on Amy's kitchen floor and let Max, Caleb, Sebastien, and Theo enjoy themselves. I always love to watch as children experience something for the first time. Whether it was total emersion like Theo who ended up drooling black, careful exploration like Max who intently watched others while still manipulating the materials, or playful exuberance like Caleb who in the midst of all the painting took a break to nurse smearing black paint all over his mommy. Watch as Max, Theo, and Caleb discover paint for the first time!

Sebastien's exploration of the paint is changing, during this experience he spent most of his time using the cup and brush together. Whether it was tasting, banging, or waving them he kept one in each hand as he explored both items. In the series of photos below you see Sebastien first try a taste of the cup, then he looks at them both, and finally tires the brush. He did this over and over again.

What struck me about this exploration with the paint was that there was quite a bit of social interaction between the children. This could be due to the face that three of the four boys were crawling. I think young children's ability to engage one another is fascinating and the ways in which they will negotiate materials, take note of one another and mirror certain movements. In the following video, Caleb sees Max waving the tempera cake in the air and finds it intriguing. Taking it from Max he gives it a taste while Max moves on to the brush in front of him. Some might feel that Caleb needs to give it back to Max but I see this as an early exercise in give and take. If Max really wanted the tempera cake he would have protested either by sound or action. Max is also trying to understand Caleb's intentions. If adults take their cues from children then they will let us know when they need us to intervene (Max did get the tempera cake back a little later in the exploration and he continued his discovery).

In this next video Theo notices something on Caleb and gets his attention. Then almost simultaneously they reach out to touch each other. When Theo tries to grab Caleb three adults lunge to make sure Caleb doesn't fall but the children manage the interaction without needing the adults to intervene.

Other Favorite Captured Moments:

Max curiously looks at Theo...Is he thinking "what's all over your face"?

Theo finds some black water droplets...could it be drool?

Caleb shows Kathy his black tongue!

A bit of a traffic jam. Theo and Caleb both explore Sebastien.