(First, I really apologize about the picture. The day I took this EVERY single picture came out this way. I don't know why. I think I only have one other school picture I'll share that's of this bad a quality, but you can get the idea from the shot even though it's not in focus.)
It's fun to put dirt in the table. Here it's with flowers, pots, and shovels, something like the coffee grounds we had awhile ago.
The trick with dirt is to find safe dirt. If you just dig it up from outside it should be safe. But if you buy dirt you'll find that there are usually chemical additives that warrant the "Keep Out of Reach of Children" warning. You want plain, old dirt, not potting soil.
Cleanup is a breeze. You can store it to reuse (I'd recommend storing it in an open container until it is completely dry or you'll get stuff growing) or you can dump it outside. At our school we have a small gardening area for the kids so we sometimes dump dirt there if it's not going to be kept inside.
In my 2s class we're doing some low-key gardening things right now, so over the next few weeks there will probably be a few more gardening posts. I'd love to hear your indoor gardening ideas. We can't leave things out in our classroom overnight because another class uses the room on alternate days, so it's been challenging.
I watched a teacher yesterday who used a bag of beans when teaching. The bag contains all sorts of dry beans. He uses them to compare size, shape, color, etc. The bag is always full and in the classroom for mini lessons. He also puts the beans into plastic bags with moisture, hangs them on the windows, and the kids get to watch them grow.
ReplyDeleteAhh, beans! They are so fun, aren't they? We don't usually keep beans in the classroom, but it's a good idea. Many of our teachers do the bean-in-the-window thing, but for some reason it never occurs to me even after seeing all those bags show up about this time of year. This year my co-teacher and I decided to plant a mini-garden with the kids that will require regular watering. I'll post about it eventually. I sort of want to find out how it goes before I say anything!
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