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.

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.

The Rope Bin

The Rope Bin was inspired by two events. The first being Sebastien loves when I wrap gifts and this is because the bin full of wrapping accessories, bows, ribbon, string, tissue paper, etc. is left open for him to explore while I quickly try and wrap a gift. He will pull out, drag about, and swing around any of the ribbon, yarn, or string that is in there. During our most recent gift wrapping session he pulled out a long piece of purple rope ribbon and began dragging it around the house and putting it in his boat as well as other containers. I decided to let it say out of the bin to just see what he would do with it. Well, it became a popular item which tipped me off that these types of materials might take over the discovery bin after we move on from the balls. The second inspiration came from watching Sebastien pull around his caterpillar on a string. He loved having it follow him around and he was so happy to look back and see that it was there.

I scoured the house for any rope/ribbon like material to add to the bin. I also bought some climbing rope of different sizes and lengths. Within in the bin there were also a few balls of yarn. I also made sure there were some short, long, and every length in between items in the bin. In the end it is full of things to pull, drag, wrap, swing, shake, and bite.