Adult Initiated Provocations for Inquiry

In a developmentally appropriate, play-based learning environment children are encouraged to explore areas of self-directed interest. Sometimes these provocations for inquiry occur quite naturally (e.g., finding insects outdoors) and other times they are introduced by adults.

I thought it would be interesting to liven up a grey winter day by putting out a mystery object for my children to explore. I had them guess what they thought these were....

...and then compared them to artificial ones!

 
It was interesting to hear the children compare the two kinds of sponges. This was an opportunity for rich oral language as we described attributes and I introduced new vocabulary. Their engagement lead to the wonderful question of where real sponges come from. We spent some time researching this online before playing with both kinds of sponges in the tub!

The children were intrigued with how hard the natural sponges were when dry, and how easily they became soft and pliable when wet. They noticed that the artificial sponges seemed to float more easily and held more water. There was an interest expressed in how these sponges would compare as painting tools, so the next day we conducted an artistic experiment in order to find out.

The children help me create the experiment. We decided to choose three colours of paint and use one type of each sponge in order to compare the kind of marks they would make.

Although both sponges appeared to work in the same way, we noticed that the natural sponges were easier to smear and lightly dab on the paper when they had less paint on them.

 

The sponges are now a regular feature in our bathroom and the children can use them during water play or art creation. This inquiry lasted a few days and I'm now on the lookout for more interesting mystery objects to use as provocations for wonder and excitement in the house!

Magic Potions

What better day than a cold and blustery one to engage children in some water play indoors! I step up this 'magic potion' station for Caleb to explore.

I set up our portable water table and placed a long wooden board on top to act as a shelf which would enhance the play by adding a level to explore further. We used the three primary colours (food colouring in water), pipettes, and many clear plastic cups of various styles and sizes.

I encouraged Caleb to experiment with the colours and create his own 'potions' by mixing the primary colours together.

Manipulating the pipettes was also excellent fine motor practice, something that will help him with his future pencil grasp.

He created some amazing shades, which were placed on the wood shelf to be admired. It was interesting to discuss the various shades of colours with him.

Holiday Carnations

It's been so nice to have so much time with the kids over the holidays. I picked up a bouquet of carnations to have as decoration on our table and thought it would be fun to do a mini experiment with them. We placed four carnations in their own small vases and coloured the water with food colouring - red and green to celebrate Christmas.

After leaving them overnight we woke to find them beautifully coloured after they 'drank' the water from the vases. They look so pretty in our window and the experiment led to a great conversation with the children about how flowers get nourishment, specifically water, in order to grow in the garden. This experiment would be fun to do with any colour combinations!

Portable Water Play

Water play is usually a big hit around here, with bath time being a favourite. Last year I actually brought the water table from the backyard in our kitchen for the winter so that the kids could still have water play. It was cumbersome and got in the way. This year I decided to try something different.

We have a small wooden Ikea children's table. I placed a very large, clear plastic storage bin on top to create a portable water table. The bin is just the right size to hold enough water to sustain lots of creative, exploratory play, and I love that it's clear so the water and materials can be seen from the side. This would be a great solution for anyone wanting to encourage their children to engage in water play but do not have or want to spend the money on large wooden water/sand tables.

I love adding colour to water play by using food colouring. It adds another dimension to the sensory play, and it's great for mini lessons on colour mixing. Caleb decided he wanted to make green water, so I encouraged him to add yellow food colouring to the water.

He then added some blue food colouring...

...and was amazed as he mixed the colours and they turned green!

Although I have brought in some of our outdoor water table toys, I added in every day tools from around the house like spoons, cups, and funnels. This was a great way to introduce new vocabulary by naming the tools (e.g., graduated cylinder, funnel) and engaging in a discussion about how they might be used.

Painting with Frozen Water

We added food colouring to our ice cube trays and froze colourful ice cubes in order to encourage some scientific art making outside in the warm sun. Using a long piece of white paper and the ice cubes, I encouraged my children to spend time 'painting' with the ice. 

They noticed as the warm air melted the ice, the colour was left on the paper. By moving the ice in different ways, the markings on the paper were like those left by a paintbrush or other art making tool.

My children wanted to know why the ice was melting and this lead to a great discussion about the properties of matter and how water can be a solid, liquid, or gas.

 

I was amazed at just how beautiful this artwork was when the kids were finished. The colours bled into one another and created new colours. Coloured ice cubes are fun to paint with, but also great when incorporated into water table play or used for fun in the bath tub!

Paint Drips

The children participated in a really interesting painting activity that required them to use droppers to drop diluted paint onto a vertical paper. The children were fascinated by how gravity affected the paint. 

Depending on how much paint was dropped and how the colours were dropped on top of one another, some really interesting artwork emerged from the experience!

The children also worked to create some amazing communal pieces of artwork. 

This activity also allowed children the opportunity to experiment with the thickness of the paint - they realized the more water added to the paint, the thinner it would become and the faster it would run down the paper. 

Using the droppers is also great for strengthening children's fine motor skills!

Marble Mazes

The children made some amazing marble mazes with Mrs. Bombardier today using recycled materials from around our classroom. They used stick tack to attach the materials to a cardboard box - this way it was easy to move the pieces around and experiment with the marbles until the maze was just right!

Exploring Shadows

We enjoyed some of the rare moments of sun by heading outside to try and find shadows. The children discovered themselves on the pavement and we encouraged them to try and trace each other's shadow.  

As they worked, we engaged them in conversations about how they thought shadows were made.

"It's when the sun evaporates," explained one of our children. "It's like water when the sun comes out. It disappears. Shadows are when the sun disappears."  What an interesting hypothesis!