Hidden Pictures

Here’s one of those great ideas that came from someone else.  Simply put, these are pictures hidden by sand.  A teacher I shared a classroom with on alternate days came up with this idea that 1) used up some of the mixed craft sand that was sitting around in the supply room, 2) let the kids play with hiding and finding, and 3) let the kids practice fine motor skills with a variety of tools.

We have several biomedical firms in town and they leave these huge stacks of plastic trays at the recycling center.  They are incredibly useful, and since they’re free we don’t have to worry too much about keeping them nice.  The trays are over an inch deep and are clear, so there are all kinds of possibilities with them.  In this case, my co-worker cut some magazine pictures out and taped them to the bottom of the trays.  Then she put just enough colored sand in the trays to cover the art and place a variety of instruments (paint brushes, feathers, sponges, etc.) around to use for moving the sand.  I’m sure you can guess that other instruments were brought from all over the room to try, but that’s part of the fun (yes, that’s a toilet paper roll in the bottom picture).  We put the trays in the sensory table to minimize escaped sand, but you can just as easily keep these on a table if you think your kids will keep them upright and not get too crazy with the paint brushes.

If I were making this myself I might take some pictures of the kids in the room or their parents to use as the picture to find.  You could also use other things to hide the pictures, such as plain sand or rice.  What I like about this little project is that it can be done entirely with recycled materials (with the exception of the tape or glue you use) and costs pretty much nothing.  Free is good, people!

Baby Washing

After I took this picture I realized how creepy it looked, so let me explain.

We sometimes put soapy water in our sensory table.  We often wash dishes or just play with the water.  We also like to wash the babies (well, baby dolls).  The kids get great joy out of this activity.  We provide lots of washcloths and large towels so the babies can be washed, dried, and wrapped up in a nice, warm towel.  They usually get fed at some point after this, too, and then put to bed.

Our school has special babies for washing.  Yup, they live in a crate in the supply room labeled, “Babies for Washing.”  Why?  Because babies with movable limbs get water inside that’s difficult to get out and that eventually gets mildewed.  Our washing babies are either sealed or they are old enough that we don’t care much what happens to them.  While we’re washing babies I put our regular classroom babies out of sight so the kids aren’t tempted to add to the collection of bathing beauties.

The tricky thing, whether it’s dishes or babies, is that other things will migrate to the sensory table.  It’s helpful to decide in advance what you’re willing to allow so you’re not caught off guard.  My personal feeling is that if I can clean it up and there’s no harm to be done by letting them try, I let them.  But things that might rust, mildew, or dissolve I don’t allow.  You’ll have to decide if you can stand painty water from hands that were just at the easel; I don’t have a problem with it.  You have to wash and bleach the dolls at the end of the day anyway, so what’s a little paint?

Volcanoes for Preschoolers

You can’t really do a series on baking soda and vinegar without bringing out the volcanoes.  But since most preschoolers have very little practical experience with volcanoes it doesn’t make sense to do any sort of a unit on the things.  Instead, we try to get the sense of one in the hopes that this knowledge helps them learn about them later.

First you need a volcano.  We had made play dough in class with the kids a few days before that had somehow not kept well, so we used that.  The children helped even though they really had no idea what we were going for.  We tried showing them volcano pictures and read a few books but the information didn’t transfer well.  We made two volcanoes and put them on trays that we took outside.  We put a small pile of baking soda inside each model.

Since we’re not going for realism, I let the kids pick the color for the lava.  On the day I took these pictures, they first picked green.  Unfortunately, since the play dough we made was blue, it wasn’t quite the thrill it could have been.  The red lava was much more interesting for the second batch.

As we had practiced with droppers and syringes the day before, that’s what we provided for adding the vinegar to the baking soda.  We were able to do this for quite awhile without reloading.  I was a bit surprised at how little baking soda I had to add for this experience.

Even though we weren’t studying volcanoes we did talk about lava and magma as well as how hot it all would be if they were real.  Some how igneous rocks even got mentioned.

I highly recommend doing this outside or in your sensory table if you can’t go out.  It was spring when we did this, so we all had jackets on and it was still fine.  We had plenty of towels with us but didn’t really need them.  The biggest temptation for them was not to put their hands into the volcanoes.  While that makes for a fun ending, the play dough gets very squishy during the eruptions and can’t support a child’s weight.  Once the hands get in there, it’s all over.  And of course, that’s how it ended!

Allergy Note: We did this with gluten-free play dough.  If you have a gluten allergy in your class, by all means do the same.  It works fine.  If you don’t, regular play dough will work just as well if not better.

Need a refresher on the chemical reaction itself?  Baking soda + vinegar = water + carbon dioxide + sodium acetate (more or less).

Technorati Tags: early science,chemistry,preschool

Baking Soda and Vinegar with Threes

With threes I do a similar setup as I do for the twos, namely on trays.  But instead of squeeze bottles I provide several types of droppers and syringes.  We’re working on our fine motor control as well as investigating how fluids work in addition to our chemistry when we do it this way.  I usually set it out with the droppers and syringes filled so that there’s some instant gratification that encourages the kids to try the droppers and syringes themselves.  Otherwise they sometimes get discouraged before they get success.  Doing it once is usually enough to keep them trying until they get it.

While we’re here, do YOU know how a dropper or a syringe works?  What’s the principle behind it?  Well, I’ll tell you.  It’s a vacuum!  That’s right, you’ve got a little bit of nothing in that dropper when you squeeze out all the air and then put it in the liquid.  When you release the dropper head the liquid fills the vacuum.  For the syringe, you create the vacuum and fill it when you pull up on the plunger.

I put my droppers in a set of watercolor paint cups, but you could just as easily use small cups.  The tricky thing with this setup is refilling the wee cups.  Get yourself a small pitcher and prefill it with the vinegar to make it easy.  But be forewarned: if you put the pitcher in reach of the children you will have helpers!  I’m all in favor of letting kids do the pouring if we’re outside, but our custodian takes issue with saturating the carpet with anything he didn’t do himself so I do the refilling myself when we’re inside.  And yes, I’ve tried to do this with something on the floor to catch the overflow and I’m sure you know how well that worked out if you’ve tried it yourself!  Anyway, I will let the children help me add watercolor to the vinegar, inside or outside.

Threes also enjoy doing this activity in the sensory table.  If you really trust your threes, try putting the vinegar in spray bottles!

Need a refresher on the chemical reaction itself?  Baking soda + vinegar = water + carbon dioxide + sodium acetate (more or less).

Technorati Tags: preschool,chemistry,early science

Why Yes, We Have Indoor Running Water

We often think of the sensory table as holding objects that the children manipulate but are unchanging without the children present.  If you’ve got a 2-year-old in your life you know they are fascinated by running water.  One option is to let them play in the sink.  But sometimes that’s not desirable or you’re looking for something a little different.  So why not add a little running water to your sensory table?

Here I’ve moved our sensory table to be nearer to the sink than it normally is.  We have guttering outside in the sand areas so kids can build water paths, so we cleaned some off and used duct tape to attach it to our classroom faucet.  We tried propping it up, but the kids kept knocking it over when they tried to put things in it.  Our classroom is lucky enough to have a second sink nearby, so we were still able to easily keep hands clean while we had our gutter.

Along with typical water stuff we also supplied different kinds of floating and sinking balls that they could roll down the gutter.  They tried putting just about everything small that was in the room (not just balls) down the gutter and got a good sense of what would work and what wouldn’t.  We talked about floating, sinking, rolling, sliding, friction, size, and weight, among other things.

The tricky thing with this setup is the drain.  We had to keep an eye on the water level to make sure that it got drained frequently.  If you’re doing this outside with a hose, just set your drain to let water out as the water comes in.  Otherwise, an adult with a bucket has to be on standby most of the time.  The kids enjoyed helping to drain the table, so we never reached overflow.  I also recommend keeping the water flow small.  If you’re outside, go for a higher flow or let the kids control the flow.

If you’re at home, rig up something that goes from your sink to somewhere else, maybe the floor with some towels.  You can use a small hose, some gutter, or plastic tubing.  Outside is probably the best place for home water play, but the tub is a viable option as well though not as novel.

Sensory Goo

And now for the second dose of cornstarch goo…

This time I made the goo at school.  It took forever to cool, so partway into class I separated it into three bowls and tossed them in the fridge.  This turned out to be a good thing! 

For the first hour of class kids kept asking me why the table was empty.  I told them there would be something fun to put in it later, which turned into a debate topic among the kids.  Very interesting conversations indeed.

Once the goo was cold I added blue and red to two parts and left one part white.  Then I just dumped it into the sensory table.  It really did feel like hair gel.  Since one boy managed to get splatted on the head with a glob I can tell you it works like hair gel too when it's dry.  Several children spread the goo on their arms.  The fact that it was cold was something everyone remarked on, and I will probably refrigerate the next batch on purpose.

The best part?  Clean-up is a breeze.  It just rinses off.  Even if it dries before you get a chance to clean it, it still rinses right away.  While you could make prints with this you'd have to add a lot more color to it than I did.  When it dried on things the color was very pale.

Allergy note:  Again, because of the cornstarch this is not a good choice for corn allergic students.  If you really like how this feels you could investigate cheap hair gel as an alternative.

Sawdust, Wood, and Woodland Animals

Sometimes kids surprise you. Usually I think of the sensory table as a place to scoop, dig, dump, and build. With 2s and 3s it's easy to forget that some kids are ready for more imaginative play.

The other day I arrived to find someone had emptied out the sensory table. I forget what I had planned, but it was gone. Since I share a room with other teachers on alternate days, this sometimes happens. Looking in desperation for something safe for our student with allergies, I found a container of sawdust. It's actually more like small wood curls than sawdust.

Great, now what? More scoops and shovels? Wait, there were little logs that were part of a natual building set. I borrowed some of those and then headed to the cabinet where we keep animals. There was a box labeled "Woodland." I think it was a stretch to call some of those animals woodland creatures, but I wasn't feeling picky at the moment.

I WAS proud of myself that wood had figured in each element in the table even though no one else would notice (my co-teacher actually did, though). I realized that we'd have to add scoops later because the kids wouldn't know what to DO with animals, logs, and wood bits, but it looked nice to start with.

It turns out that the kids played with that setup all morning. They fed the animals, they build little homes out of the logs. They gave the animals dialogue. It was super to get such a reminder that sometimes they are ready to be more creative and that we don't have to make all the decisions for them.

Cooked Spaghetti

Here's a once-a-year thing for me: cooked spaghetti in the sensory table. We put it in the table with a little bit of warm water, colanders, tongs, spaghetti spoons, plates, and bowls. The kids really enjoy serving up the spaghetti and they get lots of practice squeezing with the tongs. I've only ever had one child taste the spaghetti and by that point it had been touched by so many other children that it didn't taste very good.

Two years ago I put the spaghetti out on trays and it dried overnight. The next day the kids had tons of fun smashing it to little bits. As it dried it made neat shapes. In the two years since it's been rainy when I did this. This year I tried to dry it in the oven. A little paint had gotten into the spaghetti and after two days the spaghetti was still mostly damp and had started to smell. Next year I think I'll try to reboil it before drying it to try to kill anything that might grow while it dries. I also won't pick the rainiest days of the month!

I do have one small qualm about using spaghetti, and it's because we're using food for play. Normally, we teach children that food isn't for play. After all, there are people who don't have food to eat, let alone play with. We have other food that we use in the sensory table, but it's often colored or presented in such a way that the kids don't seem to perceive it as edible. There's just no getting around that with the spaghetti. Also, the other items we use over and over, sometimes for years. I make myself feel better by buying packages that have been smooshed or otherwise damaged that people probably shouldn't be eating anyway, but if you're hungry a little smooshed packaging probably wouldn't bother you.

What do you think about using food for play?

Allergy Note: Clearly, this activity should not be used with your wheat or gluten allergic students. You could make it gluten and wheat free by using rice or corn pasta, but the cost would be extremely high.

Dirt

(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.

Sand

I know, huge surprise! Sand in the sensory table! Since many people refer to it as the "Sand and Water Table," sand is a natural, either dry or wet (we mostly do our wet sand outside, but we have big sand pits where we can do that).

What do you like to put in your sand? Classically, you have shovels, cups, and maybe some scoop-type objects. You could also take the thematic route and put certain kinds of animals (desert, woodlands) with appropriate landscaping props in the table with sand.

Then there are the pouring gadgets with things that spin or dump when enough sand is poured in at the top. Don't forget funnels, small cups, and random things you find around that you think have no purpose until some child finds them to be the perfect things to play with in the sand.

Pom Poms, Clothespins, Cups, and Tubes

What a mess, right? Here's a shot of our sensory table with pom poms, clothespins, and tubes in it. Seems a little strange, but kids like to use the spring-loaded clothespins to pick up pom poms as well as attach them to the tubes. They also like to run the pom poms through the various sized tubes, noticing which size pom poms will fit through which tubes (so have a variety of sizes of both).

I usually do this activity on a table as a manipulative. In that case I often remove the tubes and use recyled containers. Kids clip the clothespins on the sides of the containers and use the clothespins to put pom poms in the containers. Some kids focus on just one of the items, while others may combine two or more.

Allergy Note: If you are using recycled containers, be sure they didn't contain an allergenic food for one of your students. If they did, confirm with the parents what kind of cleaning is acceptable, if any, before you use those containers.

Cocoa Mulch

Cocoa mulch looks a lot like coffee grounds in a picture, so you'll just have to see that post for an idea of what I'm talking about. But it's lots of fun and the smell may make you run for your nearest store in search of chocolate.

From what I've seen, cocoa mulch comes in two varieties. The small kind is the kind that looks a little like a cross between flake cereal and coffee grounds from a distance. It tends to get dusty when it's completely dry but the smell lasts a long time and you can keep it for at least once school year if you put it away dry. You can use similar tools and toys as you can with sand.

The other kind of mulch is really more like bark. It has larger chunks that are too big to scoop. The kids enjoy using it for construction play as well as hiding toys. We did have a problem keeping it from getting smelly in a bad way after awhile. Someone thought this was because it still contained some plant oils in it that went rancid, but we really don't know. In any case, this is the kind of thing you buy on sale since you know it won't last forever.

Dried Beans

Dried beans are great in the sensory table. They don't have any smell, but they do have a nice, smooth texture. We usually use them with scoops, shovels, and containers, similar to what we often use with sand. If you use funnels with beans make sure the hole at the bottom of the funnel is large enough for the largest beans you've used. We keep a large container of mixed beans at school, and it's fun to compare the different sizes and colors.

I don't know about other classes, but my two-year olds this year always add things to the sensory table over the course of a morning. We have an alligator who always makes it in, plus other animals, trucks, and kitchen implements often also join the party. The bottom picture was taken after my little helpers had their way with the table.

Snow

If you've got snow outside, bring it inside! Sometimes being outside for any length of time is too much for the really young set. Let them bring their mittens into the classroom to play with the snow if their hands get cold.

Snow is really pretty if you add color (I prefer liquid watercolor but some like regular paint). You can even let the kids paint the snow with brushes or use squeezebottles to add color. Of course, snow is also pretty just on its own, no color required.

You can investigate temperature by providing small squeeze or spray bottles filled with very warm water and other ones with ice water. This activity can be contrasted with when you do the same thing but with large blocks of ice. Or you can add the large blocks of ice (make them yourself with containers in the freezer) at the same time as the snow to do an instant comparison.

Typical things to put in snow are shovels and small buckets or artic animals. But you could also put desert animals or bugs in the table and build a whole learning day about habitats with that simple contradiction, particularly with older preschooolers.

Clean Mud

Clean mud is interesting. Some kids seem to ignore it, but a few like to use it. I've noticed that sometimes older kids get really into it. Last year one of the pre-K classes turned some clean mud into a volcano. Depending on how you make it, it can behave like clay or mush.

The recipe is very simple:

1. Grated soap (Ivory is typically the brand mentioned in recipes for clean mud)
2. Toilet paper, torn up into small bits (Charmin supposedly is best but I've done it with whatever's on hand)
3. Warm water (warm water helps the soap dissolve better than cold water)

You can add as much of these ingredients as you like. As it dries it will harden. If it gets too hard, add more water. Remember NOT to clean this up by putting it down the drain. The toilet paper will clog pipes.

Rice

Rice is very common in sensory tables, and for good reason. Rice can be scooped and put through funnels like sand, but it also has a feel and smell all its own. Regular white rice as well as rice that you color, brown rice, and wild rice (not really rice at all!) are all great alternatives.

Cranberry Bog

Float a bunch of cranberries in your water table and you have a cranberry bog! Add some funnels, scoops with holes, and nets, and the kids can catch the cranberries. Be sure to include some buckets to store the cranberries in. If you include shovels in the table with the younger kids be prepared for water to be pushed out of the table as they chase the cranberries with their shovels.

Soapy Water

Soapy water is a great thing for the sensory table (aka the sand and water table), especially if the dishes in your play kitchen are looking a little scary. Load the table up with warm water, a swirl of dish soap, and all the dish cleaning items you can find. Make sure your center's kitchen won't miss them if you don't have some set aside just for play. Keep plenty of towels on hand, preferably a separate one for each child given the MRSA scare that's in the media right now. Be prepared to allow children to bring other things from around the room to clean. If possible, remove toys that can't be dunked so kids can feel useful in helping to keep their room clean. Let them use towels to dry off clean things if the table gets too full of stuff, showing them that when you remove some toys they can clean others. The dolls in our room generally get a bath, so make sure they are the kind that can get submerged.

Speaking of MRSA, current health guidelines dictate that children with open cuts on their hands are not to share water tables or other substances. Keep a supply of completely sealing bandages on hand, such as the tattoo-type, so you don't have to tell a child they can't play. If a child appears to have MRSA (a boil-type wound with pus), send him/her home and instruct the parents to take the child to their doctor as soon as they can for treatment.

Coffee Grounds

Coffee grounds make a great ingredient for sensory tables. You can get free grounds at many coffee shops, which give it away as compost. We have a Starbucks on the other side of our parking lot and they are very generous. This time we got espresso grounds, which are very fine and make great pretend dirt without having to dig up the school's garden. It often comes in little round disks which are fun to smash and squeeze. Do a quick sift through the grounds just in case someone's thrown a wrapper or two in the bag.

With coarser grounds you can make coffee ground mud. To the grounds add oatmeal or corn meal and some salt. Add some water, and you have mud. If you use the oatmeal the leftovers can be used to give your fellow teachers facials. If you decide to add things to the grounds, consider letting the children do it by providing small containers of the ingredients and letting them dump or scoop and then mix however they like.

If the grounds come wet they'll be quite fragrant, so you might want to let them sit in your table overnight with the table lid off so they dry out a little. This will also cut down on the strength of the smell, which can put some children and adults off.

Allergy Note: If you do decide to add oats and your classroom is gluten free, be sure to buy gluten free oats or oatmeal. While oats themselves do not have gluten they are usually processed in a plant that also processes wheat. Gluten free oats are available, sometimes even in the regular grocery store. It will say on the box.