Friday Group - Painting with Blue

Sebastien was again the first to dive into the painting. He tried again to get that paint brush into to the container but first he finds a new way to get the tempera cake in his mouth buy only after he figures out how to get it out of the container.

Theo again found the paint on another child's face extremely interesting and tries to engage Sebastien who is only mildly amused by Theo's attempts.





Bryce manages to open the spray bottled used to wet the tempera cakes and creates a mini lake to splash in.





That blue puddle was attractive and drew Isa in for a closer look.





Where's Kaia? Kaia chose not to paint on this particular day. She liked hanging out on the bed that appeared in our living room where she practiced her free standing and snuggled with her mama!

Paint Brush Montage

The children are still trying to decide if they like the paint brush!

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!

Friday Group - Pom Poms with a Twist

This week I continued with the pom-poms but added a few surprises. In the bin I taped mirrors on the bottom and sides to see if the children would notice. I also placed a variety of balls in with the pom-poms to further expand the children's repertoire of round items. I also kept the format, where the children could choose when to interact with the experience. What strikes me is that some go for the experience right away while others wait and yet everyone eventually engages with the materials. The addition of the balls was a big hit but the mirrors didn't have quite the affect I had hoped for. This was the first time Zadie was introduced to the materials and she impressed me with the thoroughness of her exploration. I think she touched and manipulated almost every different container and ball offered.

Kaia has been working on her B sounds and came to the pom-poms ready to practice. Watch as she says ball...simply amazing!




Kaia, my musical one, also found a way to use one of the containers as an instrument to project her voice. Notice she uses a completely different sound than her previous exploration of "Ba".


Sebastien finds himself facing an interesting challenge. One of the balls is stuck in his favorite container...hmm, how will he get it out? In the Reggio Approach the "teacher" is seen as a provocateur, providing interesting dilemmas for children to ponder and uncover. This was my intention when I placed the ball inside the white container. He tries to grab, bite, and shake it loose!

Bryce is so close to crawling and he has such a desire to get right into the bin but he settles for a partial immersion in the bin as well as tasting any of the items which are close by.

Bryce is one of the few chidren who actually likes the texture of the pom-poms in his mouth. Most of the other children give it a few tries and then decide they don't like it very much but Bryce will continue to try one over and over again!