Well Planned Idea...in Disguise!

Before our break I tried to gather up and take home our materials from December.  I took down the tree, the lights, the "Santa dog" that played jingle bells and a few other things. 

We actually had been so busy that we hadn't even had a chance to explore our new "moldable" sand in the sensory table with some candy cane tubes and Santa shaped plastic containers. 

Well, imagine my surprise when I realized that I had forgotten to remove the holiday items from the table before break!  The kids didn't mind one single bit!  In fact, they seemed to be extremely happy to see these leftover remnants of holidays past!

The Santas' said "ho, ho, ho" while their tummy's were filled with sand!  The children filled and emptied and enjoyed.  So, there.  What I thought at first was a "mistake" was CLEARLY not a mistake for the children who played at the sensory table! 

Sometimes, a forgetful mistake is simply a well planned way to engage the children in recalling previous events...in disguise!

A Fish Tale!

I decided it was high time to bring back a fish tank to the classroom!  After a little fiasco with a child dumping our previous fish tank (water, rocks and fish included) I am just now mustering up the courage to bring back fish!  (the fish are very, very afraid though :)

I decided we would take the time to have the children involved in setting up the fish tank before we added fish!  I wasn't quite sure how this would go, since I've never had the children actually work to set up the tank!  Before we started the process, we talked about the empty fish tank on the table next to us!  Our morning message for the day was:  "Today we will make a fish home!"   

Later, all of the children worked to rinse the small rocks, blue gems and plants for the fish "home".  As we worked, one child put his hands in the water and actually said, "Fish home."  We had been talking more at that point about washing the rocks, so I was surprised he remembered that we were washing them for the fish home!    

I wish I could post some of the pictures of our little guys' faces here!  Some of us were just THRILLED to be able to splash in the water!  After we rinsed the items (and splashed) for at least 20 minutes, we drained the water and several of the children helped transfer the rocks to the fish tank!  This ended up being a great way to get the kids involved in preparing the fish tank!  I'm sure those fish will be happy to see such a nice clean "home" prepared for them!   Now, if only we can keep that fish home upright rather than on the floor this time!

The Bean "Factory"!

I've been fascinated with the sensory table tubes at Sand and Water Tables, so I decided to try my hand at a very simple structure for the sensory table.  This has been a huge success!  I have one little guy who has spent most of center time each day working at the sensory table since this has been added.

This has lovingly been dubbed our "factory" by our friends from Bumblebee Boulevard who come to visit us in the afternoon.  It is simply a tube from a poster I ordered (I left the plastic stopper on one end so the beans don't fall out the end) and two different sized boxes taped together with duct tape.

When the tube becomes too full of beans, the whole "factory" tips towards the tube end.  According to our friend from Bumblebee Boulevard, this is when the "power goes out"!  We then tip the tube up, dump the beans back into the hole and begin the process all over again!

On the other side, we have a slide for the beans to slide down!  Originally, I had this part hanging off the side of the sensory table with a plastic tub underneath to catch the beans!  This was fascinating...and required lots of sweeping!  The children loved it and helped sweep up all the beans that missed the plastic tub.  However, we decided to make it a bit more manageable so the children would focus more on exploring the tube and slide rather than attempting to shoot them off the table!  (although, we may bring this back again some day!)

We have lots of scoops and cups to explore the beans and the "factory".  The children have experimented with what scoops and cups work the best to transfer the beans from the table to the tubes.   The little guy who loves this area keeps complaining "more, more" when he's put too many beans in the tube and hole and feels that he is losing the beans in front of him! 

Then again, when you want to be able to see the beans and not feel like you are losing them,  sometimes it is more fun to fill up baskets and empty them out again! 

Mud "Cakes"!

Beginning last week with the animals stuck in the mud, I have been introducing the children to "mud play".  Of course, for most children, this would not be a skill that would need to be taught.  Most preschool children would jump right in and explore mud in a variety of ways!

For some children with more significant special needs, play may need to be specifically taught.  While there are times to use scripted play schemes or joint action routines, I tend to try to keep this type of play as similar as possible to what a typically developing child would experience.

In this case, I presented the children with the "mud" in the sensory table, a basket of rocks, a few cake pans, some scoops and some plastic salt shakers filled with blue sand! 

As the children began exploring the mud, I brought out the scoops and cake pans and demonstrated how they could scoop the mud into the cake pans and pat it down.  I allowed them to attempt and then brought out the rocks and showed them how they could push them down into the mud in the cake pan.  I finally brought out the salt shakers of sand and demonstrated how to shake them on the "cake".   (...and then we shook, shook, shook and emptied the salt shakers!)

Later this week, I may introduce a more scripted play scheme using these materials; but for now, I wanted the children to experience this play in the most natural way possible.  While this is a natural play experience, several things are changed in order to assist the children in exploring this and in order to increase the odds that they will then explore this in a new environment (outdoors) and with more children.     

Here are the things that are a bit different for my group than for most preschool groups:

1. Our group size is very small.  I have a total of 5 children in my classroom and 4 adults. 
2. We spend a great deal of time with the same materials- without introducing any new ones (generally a week or more).
3. I control the variables to the play:  we introduce new play in a very controlled environment (the classroom) rather than starting with outdoor play (where there are clearly many more variables).  

Of course, we also provide language and model what is possible with the materials.  We work on using our senses to explore the materials.  After we are a bit comfortable with the materials themselves, we invite children from the integrated classroom to come join us and play.  This offers more peer models and language models. 

The last step in this sequence is to introduce this type of play (with these materials) in a completely natural setting (outside).  Once the children have a few play schemes they feel comfortable engaging in, repeating or watching, it is more likely that the most natural play will go well and will be a positive experience for the children!

NOTE: Even with these adaptations, not all children will participate in this activity.  Many children with sensory processing difficulties will find this type of play very difficult to engage in.  I often find an alternative activity for children who will find this type of play overwhelming or overstimulating.  However, rather than simply allowing the child to avoid this altogether, we work with the child at the level they are at in exploring items with various textures/smells etc. and work with them in a very sequential way in order to explore more items.

Mud, Mud, Mud!

We have been enjoying another great story this week: Stuck in the Mud, by Jane Clarke.  This is a fun tale of a chick that gets stuck in the mud.  Each animal comes to help push and pull the chick, but finds themselves stuck in the mud as well.  At the end, the chick announces that he hadn't been stuck in the mud at all, but was enjoying playing in the mud with his friends!

Well, after we read the book, we enjoyed the most messy experience in our sensory table!  I added some inexpensive potting soil to the table.  We then helped the children pour small cups of water into the "dirt" to make mud!

Well, we added our pretend animals and had a great time exploring what happens to the dirt when mixed with water.  We also experimented a bit with having the animals get "stuck" in the mud.  (I think after a few days with the experience of the book and the "mud", the children will do a bit more experimenting with the idea of having the animals get stuck in the mud.  Today, they simply watched me demonstrate!)

I can't wait to explore this again tomorrow!  We'll add some additional play materials, including some small people and some natural objects to the table!  We figure after a few days of "mud" play those poor animals may need to go through a little animal bath!  I'm sure we'll have some children just as eager to help wash the animals as they are about helping the animals get dirty!

****This has been linked to Nurture Store’s Play Academy****


****This has also been linked to...

All Time Favorite Play-Dough Recipe!

At some point I said I would post my very favorite homemade play-dough recipe.  Since I just have the recipe written down, I don't remember where I got this recipe from, but I've used it many times over the past ten years!  (This is the recipe that got me started on adding olive oil to ALL the play- dough recipes!)

Here's the recipe:

Water - 2 cups
Olive Oil -3 Tablespoons
Food Coloring
Flour -2 cups
Salt- 1 cup
Alum (a preservative sold with spices)- 2 Tablespoons

In a saucepan, bring water to boil.  Add food coloring and olive oil.  Remove from heat and add flour, salt and alum.  Mix well.  Knead the dough when the mixture cools a bit.  Add flour as needed.  Should last up to 3 months if sealed and not allowed to dry.

Playdough Tip!

I just finished making our strawberry sparkle play-dough for the week and thought I'd share my tip to make sure homemade play-dough is smooth and soft!  I found the recipe for the strawberry sparkle play-dough at the Imagination Tree.  (It smells delicious!  Hope no child tries to sample it tomorrow!) 

No "sparkles" yet!  Tomorrow, the children will help add these!

So, here's my tip:  After making the play-dough according to the directions, I knead the dough until all the ingredients are mixed, then I add a tablespoon or so  add small amounts of of extra virgin olive oil to the top of the play- dough and mix this in- then add a bit more and mix it in, until the dough feels smooth to the touch, but not sticky.  (If, at some point, while playing with the dough it begins to dry out, simply place a few drops of extra virgin olive oil on the dough and re-mix!)

Now, if you want REALLY smooth and silky play-dough, substitute extra virgin olive oil for the vegetable oil.  However, I would rather COOK with the extra virgin olive oil, so I just add a bit after I make the play-dough!  And, of course, also keep the dough covered when the kids aren't playing with it! 
*If you are having difficulty with the dough becoming sticky, please read the playdough tip follow up post.  If your dough is sticky and loses consistencey, you've added too much extra oil.  Don't add too much extra oil all at once- a little extra should do the trick!

Birdseed Sensory Table

Towards the end of this past week, I decided to take out our cotton balls from the sensory table and add birdseed instead.  Previously, we had cotton balls and tongs and scoops to explore.  The children enjoyed this, but needed quite a bit of assistance to manipulate the tongs in order to pick up the cotton balls (and probably a better skill to work on at a different time of the school day).  So, I kept many of the accessories: the heart shaped scoops, measuring cups and spoons, the red sifter, the red heart shaped bowls and the pink boxes; and simply swapped out the birdseed for the cotton balls.  

The children CLEARLY enjoyed the change!  Several children have spent long periods of time at the sensory table scooping, filling, pouring, and sifting birdseed!  With past classes, we have seen a great deal of birdseed scattered across the floor when we've done this; but not with this class!  Not yet, at least!  Most of the birdseed has stayed in the table!

The children took the time to experiment with how full each bowl or box could become!  One child experimented with what would happen when he flicked the scoop up in the air very fast!  (This was pretty much our only birdseed on the floor!)  Interestingly enough, he didn't continue doing this, but went back to scooping, filling and pouring the birdseed in the table!

Another child decided holding the birdseed in his hands and slowly letting it sprinkle out was more rewarding than scooping with cups and spoons!  When we are finished using the birdseed in the sensory table, I generally would just sprinkle this outside for the birds. 

However, I'm tempted this time to roll the whole darn sensory table outside and see what happens!  I have a feeling the children may be more interested in watching the birds eat the birdseed directly out of the sensory table!  Then again, I'm not sure I want to CLEAN the sensory table after THAT experiment! 

The Lazy Teacher's Chocolate (Hot Cocoa) Playdough!

I got the great idea of making chocolate play-dough and making pretend chocolate candies from "Counting Coconuts."  But by the time I got around to making the chocolate play-dough, I realized I had NO regular cocoa powder in the house and I really didn't want to take the time to make homemade play-dough!  I know, I know,  LAZY!   (I had already been to the Dollar Store, Target, Walmart, Walgreen's and a craft store....I was NOT about to go out again!)

So, I used what I had!  I had two containers of brown play dough:  Play-Doh brand play dough.  I had packets of Nestle hot cocoa mix (rich milk chocolate).  I basically poured a packet of hot cocoa mix on a plate and kneaded the dry mix into the brown play-dough. 

I used 2 packets of hot cocoa mix for one container of play-dough.  Now, I'm SURE the homemade chocolate play-dough probably smelled better than my version (You know that play-do smell?  It still retained a bit of this smell.)  But, it DID smell surprisingly like chocolate! 

I brought several more packets of hot cocoa mix to school with my second container of brown play-dough so the children could help mix and knead this into the dough themselves.  So, for anyone else who is lazy out there- this really does work!  And basically just takes enough time to knead the hot cocoa mix into the play-dough!

*****This has been linked to...

The Mitten...sensory table experience!

Today we started reading the book The Mitten by Jan Brett.  If you want to see an awesome video clip of the story retold with stuffed animals go to visit Strong Start.  Maureen does an awesome job of storytelling!   We also used stuffed animals and a white pillowcase to tell the story for the children.  Although, I'm not sure my storytelling is quite as good!

After we told the story, we talked about how difficult it was for the little boy in the story to see his mitten in the snow since the mitten was white and the snow was white!  We went to our sensory table to experience this first hand!  Prior to this I had hidden white foam and felt mitten shapes in the sensory table with cotton balls on top.

We used spoons, our hands and tongs to move the cotton balls and find all the white mittens.  We had both big and small mittens, but all were white!  This was great fine motor work with the tongs, math concepts with both big and small mittens and tied in nicely and demonstrated to the children why white mittens were so difficult to see in the white snow!

Of course, this will be available to the kids all week to explore during center time.  We will leave the mittens, bowls, cups, tongs and spoons in the sensory table so the children can recreate this again and again if they would like!

Super Simple Snowy Sensory Table

The last few days we have really enjoyed playing in the snow...in our sensory table!  We added a spray bottle with water and red food coloring to turn the snow pink, several cups and rollers and let the kids explore!

We offered mittens if hands were getting cold, but several children enjoyed playing in the snow without any mittens on at all!

A super simple sensory table, but lots of fun!

Boxed In...A Bear Cave!

After our wonderful abstract art bears we made this week, we have worked dillegently on creating a "bear cave" in our room.  We decided our small stuffed bear may need a bear cave just like the bear family in the book we are reading:  Bear's First Winter. 

So, off we went, box in hand and with LOTS of black paint!  For the last two days we have spent time painting each side of the box.  The children made sure pretty much EVERY single space was painted black!  The bumpy cardboard surface offered a great bumpy tactile experience as well as a chance to make some wonderful bump, bump sounds as the brush went over the cardboard bumps!

Today, after painting, we began gluing some cotton balls to the side of the box. Because, of course, it's winter...we needed some "snow" on our cave!

I can't wait to use our bear cave tomorrow to do Going on a Bear Hunt!  I have a feeling, we might just find our stuffed bear in the cave!

"Bagel Bird and Squirrel Feeders"

OH, we had so much fun today!  We took a 35 minute ('round trip' :) walk around the neighborhood near our school and to a small ravine.  We saw a rabbit, lots of squirrels, birds, a cat in a window, animal tracks, ice on the creek and many different trees.

We stopped several times to be very quiet and hear birds.  One time we heard an unusual bird call.  The children speculated that it may be a woodpecker or...a peacock!  The children were pretty sure there was water under the ice on the creek and and were very excited to see the animal tracks on the sidewalk.  They also found a hole in the ground.  They thought it might be a home for ants, a worm, a snake or an elephant!

When we got back to the classroom we printed out the photos we took and laminated them.  We talked to the children about the animals we saw and heard on our walk.  We also talked about how difficult it is for the animals to find food when it is cold outside.

We decided we would help the animals find some food near our school.  We made bagel bird and squirrel feeders.  

The children spread lots of peanut butter on their bagel, then stuck cranberries, popcorn and sunflower seeds to the peanut butter. 

Originally, the idea was to put yarn through the hole in the bagel and hang the bird feeders.  As you can see, the children loved putting on all the items so much that we couldn't see the bagel hole anymore!  So, we decided we would just lay these flat on the ground around the trees for the birds and squirrels.  As one child said,  "My bird is going to have a FEAST!"

When we finished, we had 2 trays filled with bagel bird and squirrel feeders.  HUGE bagel bird and squirrel feeders...piled high with yummy things for birds and squirrels to eat. 

We went to the front of the school and the children put the bagel bird feeders around the trees.  Several children even found a small crevice in one of the trees and decided to put their bagel bird feeders in this.  They thought the squirrels might live in this hole.  Some of the children even called into the hole:  "Squirrel, Squirrel!"  Apparently, they wanted to make sure the squirrels knew that we had left food for them!

We will have to check tomorrow to see if any food is left! 

Sensory Activity #1...for now! Painting in a Baggie

I must admit that I absolutely love my time away from the classroom, but I still spend a great deal of time working on "school stuff"!  I LOVE spending time creating NEW things to do in the classroom; new activities, new organizational forms, new STUFF!  

No sooner had I placed the Christmas dinner dishes back in the cabinets, stowed the leftovers away in the fridge and sat down to unwind, then I began to drift to "school thinking"!  You didn't?  Well, I DO have this whole week off, so I'll have plenty of time to relax!

So, here's where my mind went:  One of my new goals for the classroom in 2011 is to involve the children in more sensory activities.  This, I must tell you, will be THE challenge of all challenges!  All of the children in my classroom have at least some level of difficulty with eating, sensory processing disorder or general texture avoidance.  For children with sensory processing disorder, touching...or even looking at certain textures can be a huge challenge. 

In my classroom we never ask a child to touch a texture or item they are resistant to touching without a great deal of advance preparation and direct work and consultation with our occupational therapist.  We try to provide lots of fun ways to gain new experiences; whether through texture books, exploring whole foods, experiencing new smells or tolerating touching new items.  We help children slowly desensitize to the texture or item by providing very brief times to touch (or simply allow a food or texture item to be near them).  We work with the child at the point they are at.  This means that if they can tolerate only a brief second of touching or being near a certain texture or item we start here and then slowly move slightly beyond this until they are able to tolerate more exposure to the item.  The idea is always to create the most positive experience possible for the child. 

We have made HUGE progress in my classroom!  I mean HUGE...but we can make more!  After some brainstorming, I have decided to start by introducing painting in a "baggie".  I think, for the children, it may be a bit more acceptable.  I used to use baggie painting and "feely  bags" when I taught the 2 year old classroom, but have gotten away from using them with my current classroom.  Hmmm....we shall see how this works! 

Of course, this is not brain surgery here! The idea of painting in a bag is a simple and well known idea! I just sometimes forget to use some of those simple ideas and occasionally keep trying to jump past the point we're REALLY at! When I spend time at home re-working ideas for the classroom, I often end up really just "pruning" what we are already doing! For the children in my classroom, often less is more. Basically, this is what happened here...I worked backwards!

So, we'll begin with painting in a baggie...and move on from here. Here's the basic "recipe" but of course you could add other things to the bag to create more visual appeal. We'll begin by exploring this in early January, as soon as we're back from winter break. I'll let you know (within the first 2 seconds of this activity) how this works out in my classroom!               
                        Painting in a Baggie


                           *Ziploc baggies
                           *Karo corn syrup
                           *Glitter, sequins etc. or other visual additions
                           *Food coloring
                            *Duct tape

Pour Karo corn syrup and a few drops of food coloring into a Ziploc baggie.  Add glitter and sequins as desired (children may want to assist with this).  Seal baggie with duct tape. 

Children can then explore the texture through the baggie.  Children can also explore pre-writing strokes on the baggie (vertical, horizontal or circular lines) as well as making letters or shapes.