A Simple Ladybug Game

Simple Lady Bug Game

Inspired by my friend Tanya of Tanya's Learning Garden who does lots of clothespin games with children!  Andrea brought in the ladybug chart and it was just the perfect thing to make a work out of.

Items needed:

Chart w/4 or more ladybugs with varying numbers of spots

Cards with numerals that correspond with number of spots on each ladybug

Clothespins

Laminator, if needed

Variations are endless depending on the theme:

Bee stripes

Pieces of fruit

Vehicles in groups of different sizes OR

Vehicles with different numbers of tires, passengers, etc.

Can also vary according to developmental abiltiies:

One clothespin per card

No clothespins, just match by placing card on top

Match correct number of dots rather than numerals

Silkworm lessons

Wow.  We have silkworms coming out of our ears!  Our cocoons, like clockwork, have all hatched in the last few days and the silkworm moths are mating and laying eggs like crazy!  The rapid fluttering of wings is both frenetic and soothing, reminding me that the cycle of life and nature is happening, so visible, right in the classroom.  I'm reassured that mother nature writes in a universal code that ensures order and a level of predictability.


Well, I actually forgot that for a moment yesterday.


Before our very eyes, silkworm caterpillars emerged from their silk cocoons as angelic white moths.  Sometimes they are a little bloody and crumpled looking, but within minutes they are white, with wings spread wide, looking for a partner with which to create new life.  Be and Bl watched for probably twenty or thirty minutes as three cocoons in a row hatched beautiful new butterflies.


Well, there was a fourth.  This little one looked like it was having trouble because the hole that it pushed through it's cocoon was facing downward.  How will it ever get out of that tight little space? I wondered.  So I helped.  "Helped".  That's what I did.  I "helped".  I picked up the cocoon so there would be space between the hole and the bottom of the tray.  It just needed a little space.  But as soon as I lifted the cocoon, the silkworm slid out from the hole.


It laid there, red and too crumpled.  It had come out too fast.  I monitored that little guy for a while, but he did not recover.  I had over-helped...and I felt awful about it!


It made me think of the way I help the children.  When I do too much for them, I am doing them a great disservice.  Children need challenging experiences to create inner resilience and a desire to learn, just as the silkworm moths need time and persistence to push out of the cocoon.  A friend once told me that pushing out of the chrysalis is what helps a butterfly's wings to circulate and become strong, and without this exercise they can never fly.  I have to learn to control my own impulse, to inhibit myself, if I am to be of any real service to children.  Watch, listen.  Feel.  Question my motive for "helping".

I have since allowed many silkworms to struggle, and there seems to be a strong correlation between how long it takes to come out of the cocoon and how white and assimilated it looks when it reaches the outside world.  (If you have silkworms, watch and tell me if I'm imagining this!)


This also reminds me of the importance of play.  Children must play.  Childhood is for play.  The longer and more intensely they play, the more ready they are when they reach the "real" world.  Give them time, give them space.  Give them the right environment.  Mother nature takes care of things.

ice water foot bath during the heat wave!

Seed Game

I had extra corn and sunflower seeds so I made a little counting chart, inspired by Counting Coconuts and also by Leslie, who always makes cool little works like this.

Simple, fun, took just five minutes to make, and I learned that Ro can count to fifty with almost no help!

By dividing the chart into rows of ten, I was hoping the kids would pick up on the numeric patterns in the columns.

Some cool stuff: Preschool science and sensory

Blogging has been slow on our end but I wanted to share some of the activities of the last couple of weeks.

 Prints on the foot massage board (acquired from the dollar store)

Cornstarch trays, colored water, a pitcher of plain water, and droppers 

Oil, water, salt, and color in clear containers.  Inspired by Bev Bos.

It was very cool.  I highly suggest making these materials available for children and watch what they do with it.  It was amazing science and sensory!

Cornstarch and water tea time

 Shaving cream trays

 Silly putty (made from white school glue and Borax)

  Silkworm props at the playdough table (white pipe cleaner pieces, sticks, and black pom poms for eggs)

 silkworm eggs w/magnafying glasses

 Condiment bottles with glue colored w/liquid water colors (plus a little cornstarch to thicken).  They were leaky (a dollar from Target, what did I expect) so I added plumber's tape to the rims and they worked like a charm.  We covered the table with white shelf liner and Leslie brought out some straws through which the paint could be blown easily.  This was fun, shiny, slippery, and watching the drops come out of the containers was awesome)

My friend Katy had this great idea: color on tile pieces and white off with damp clothes.  We used highlighters.

A cornstarch bin and an empty bin, with water and droppers

Chair washing...scrub brushes, soapy water, and lots of help from kids.

Autonomy

In order to maximize the children's sense of ownership over their experience at Beansprouts, we try to allow children as many opportunities as possible to practice independence.  Now that they are getting older, these experiences have gotten more varied.  I wanted to share one great example of how the "system" has supported autonomy and encouraged leadership.

Usually before snacks and lunch, we call the kids over to the "soap area" to wait for soap to be passed by a teacher or child.  One day, after I made the announcement for lunch, two children approached me.  One of them wanted to pass out the soap and one wanted to call the names of the person whose turn it was to wash their hands.  I said okay and gave them the soap.  Next thing I knew, a beautifully orchestrated system of passing out soap and washing hands had ensued, with Le and Be gracefully taking on the role of leaders.

The Rope Tree

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Mulberry Tree.  

In the fall, it provides fallen leaves that make worms and creatures feel safe enough to come out of the ground.  That's because we rake so rarely that the leaves begin the composting process and worms just love that.

In the spring, new leaves begin to emerge in preparation for 1. feeding silkworms, and 2. providing shade in the summer.

But my favorite contribution of the mulberry tree yet...it's role as The Rope Tree.

One day, we took about ten minutes to hang some ropes and tie some knots and drill some holes and make some swings.  Later, Brianna (our student teacher from DeAnza College), brought a ski rope and hung that from the tree as well.  This has been  most popular activity area for the children.  When they climb, all of the muscles engage, including the core.

There are a few safety features of the ropes we hang on the trees.  First, the hand holds and foot holds are small enough loops that they don't fit over children's heads.  We also have a rule in place that if they want to swing the swing (which is a large, heavy piece of wood), the children must be sitting on the swing.  Otherwise it becomes a huge solid pendulum ready to knock someone out.  Brianna found a way to feed the children's interest in pendulums as well, but I'll post about that later!

Wordless Wednesday

Cut-and-Color Tables

Bev Bos, one of my inspirations in the field of ECE, always has a "cut and color" table available for the children.  Basically, it's an open-ended art station for kids to create something entirely self-initiated.  Last week I tried implementing a cut-and-color theme in the mornings at Beansprouts.  Here's my formula:

• Paper (any kind, any color, depending on the theme)
• Cutters (scissors, hole punchers, or pre-cut somethings)
• Coloring media (crayons, markers, pencils, oil pastels, or even water colors)
• Something sticky (tape, stickers, glue stick)

Here are some of the cut-and-color tables that I set up:

 Masking Tape, Highlighters, Scissors, and Bright paper

Fish cutouts, glue sticks, triangular crayons, blue and white paper

Shape hole punches, Glue sticks, Letter collage pieces, colored pencils

Open-ended creativity has been so under-rated, especially in my generation.  Coloring books and those paint-by-number pages told me how my art should look, while characters in the media became more tightly defined.  The ability to think creatively and outside the box is so valuable in so many contexts.  When I watch the children engage in open-ended art as well as open-ended play, I am reminded how, and why, Beansprouts is a great venue for the child's natural emergence of the self.  They come up with profound ideas and themes in their play, and because it comes from them, it captures their interest beyond anything I could offer.

Miniature playscapes

It started as a Zen garden, but the tiny dinosaurs were a necessary addition.

As beautiful as it was, combining natural elements like metal, salt, wood, and stone,

Nothing can compete with nature's play scapes,

 Inspired by nature, created by kids, a story behind each rock and handful of grass...

Let there be mud!!!

*Stephanie*

Inhibition

Last weekend, I went to Home Depot and bought a bunch of random plank and plywood pieces for the children to use for building (or whatever they came up with).  In the same trip to Home Depot, I purchased some potting soil and wildflower seeds, which I spread along the gate in the photo above.  If you can see in the photo, there are boards resting on top of cinder blocks over the dirt/seeded area.  The purpose of these "benches" (which have mostly been used as balance beams) was to protect my precious little seeds.  I've been carefully tending to the seeds, watering and protecting them from children's footsteps as well as the wrath of Dexter's basketball.  I have a plan, and it's for those little seeds to transform into a beautiful wildflower garden (hear the determination in my voice?).  I'm on a mission.

Well, on Thursday I saw Be leaning plywood pieces against the makeshift benches.  He had a big project going on, complete with hammering things into place (see the green shovel? It's a hammer.)  My first inclination was to say "Can you please find another place to do that because I really don't want the seedlings to get squished."  But I didn't.  I didn't because sometimes I trust the mysterious force that drives children's activities and curiosities more than I trust my own gut reactions.  My gut told me that those planks and boards would squish the life out of the poor little seedlings.  My brain told me that Be was deeply engaged in a creative and planning process and to inhibit it would inhibit whatever neural growth was happening as a result of the activity.  Equally it would rob him of the efficacious feeling resulting from the completion of his task, whatever it was.  So I bit my tongue.  I practiced self-inhibition.

Twenty minutes or so later, Be asked me if there was any more plywood.  "I'm not sure," I said.  "I'll let you know if I see any.  What's it for?"  His response, calm and informing, almost made me cry.

"I'm building a wall so your flowers don't get squooshed."

*Stephanie*