STEAM in the Garden - Constructing Insect Houses using Natural Loose Parts

"Look deep into nature and then you will understand everything better."

Albert Einstein

The children were gathered around a large landscaping rock, working together to arrange twigs and flowers they had picked from the ground nearby.

"I think that this side should be the living room and the bedroom can be over here," Jack gestured as he spoke. "The living room will be next to the bedroom and the ladybug can crawl across by using this little bridge."

"So what are these little sticks here for?" Mary pointed to a little row of twigs placed next to each other.

"Oh, those are going to be the bed." Olive answered.

"But that's way too big to be a ladybug's bed," Mary responded.

"Oh," Olive pondered. "I didn't think about that.

 

"That's okay," Mary smiled. "We'll just find more than one ladybug and then the bed will be the perfect size for them to share." 

Spring was in the air and the children were excited to discover that many little creatures were venturing out into the warm sun. Ladybugs, rolly pollies, and ants were abundant and this sparked the children's imaginations. Eager to 'help' the insects the children set to work building little houses for them. They searched the yard to gather materials they felt would be best suited to this task. 

 

Each day the children would return to the mini houses and continue their work, focused on creating the most aesthetic and functional space for whatever creature they had found that day.  

   There are four steps to the design process for young children. When I reflect upon the children's garden engineering of the habitats I observed these steps in action:

Identifying a Problem - the children felt the insects needed a home
Imagining and Planning - children brainstormed that natural loose parts could be used to design and construct a habitat and engaged in conversations about what this might look like
Creating - children spent time over many days creating different homes for different living creatures
Improving - children revisited their creations each day and revised their plans when necessary after they noticed new things about the insects or had engaged in conversations with peers

  

What might seem like a playful activity outdoors has the potential for much rich learning using an engineering mindset. When children create habitats outdoors they are participating in rich math exploration in action including:

 

-discussing, designing, and refining a plan

-classifying and sorting materials by common characteristics

-considering proportion as they build for specific insects

-using spatial reasoning and design as they manipulate materials

-thinking about measurement as they incorporate area and perimeter into their 'house' or discuss the attributes of materials (e.g., the heaviness of rocks, the length of sticks)

-counting materials gathered and used in the design process

-naming colours and shapes that emerge in their work

-using positional language to describe their creations

-thinking about balance and stability as they assemble materials 

-incorporating patterns or symmetry as they create aesthetic structures

 

It's amazing to notice and name the rich math learning that emerges in children's self-directed play outdoors. Taking photos and videos of the work, engaging in discussions with kids about their play, and reflecting upon the experiences can help educators make this rich learning visible to others! Sometimes nature is the most effective math teacher of all!

Book Review

"Exploring trees outdoors is an enjoyable experience that children love to do! Swinging from a branch, exploring leaves and bark, and observing gnarled roots are all favourite activities that also integrate rich learning. Heading outside to explore the yard uses children's excitement and enthusiasm for sensory and nature experiences to inspire rich mathematical and scientific inquiries about what they are seeing and experiencing."

 

I was excited to see a review of my book Tree Math in the MAMT Spring Journal! You can access the review here!

Eight Way to Encourage Math Learning During Risky Outdoor Play

This month I have a blog post featured on the National Association for the Education of Young Children's (NAEYC) website regarding how to engage children in math learning during risky, outdoor play. You can read the article here: Eight Ways to Encourage Math Learning During Risky Outdoor Play.

Using Outdoor Discoveries to Inspire Rich Math Talks

"It's the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen."
John Wooden

Now that spring is emerging muddy conditions are common in our school yard. Although some educators shy away from messy spots, I find they are often one of the best places to notice and name rich, authentic math.

One morning the children were exploring the yard and noticed interesting tracks on the path. They took their time observing the different prints they found. They wondered who had been visiting the space and how the markings were made. They noticed that the prints appeared to be dried in the dirt and preserved in the thick mud. 

 

 

The tracks that fascinated us the most were those made by animals. Our school is located near a wooded trail and our yard is frequented after hours by coyotes, deer, geese, wild turkeys and dogs. The children compared the different tracks and used their prior knowledge to try and identify the animals. We also used a handy animal tracks identifier to help us as the difference between some tracks is minimal.

 

               

The children were also very curious about the shoe/boot tracks that they found alongside the animal tracks. Within each we noticed intricate shape and line details that differentiated them from one another. We identified many shapes including circles, diamonds, hexagons and squares. There were also many different lines in each - straight, wavy, and zigzag.

 

      

     

We wondered if our footwear matched any of the tracks. The children examined each other's feet to see if they could find a match between their shoes and any of the tracks. This inspired rich observation and discussion as small details were noted and comparisons were made. 

 

In order to capitalize on this interest I printed large photos of a shoe and animal print and brought them to our whole group discussion. I asked the children to consider what was the same and different about each print. I also used the thinking routine 'see, think, and wonder' to facilitate math talk and help the children mathematize the photos. 

We also brought this interest in prints to our art center where children were invited to paint our spare classroom boots and stamp them to see what kinds of prints they made. 

Once the tread prints were dry the children brought them to our whole group gathering time and we continued to observe and discuss the shapes and lines we saw in each. The children grouped the prints according to similarities and also compared the size of the marking to their feet in order to see which was the bigger foot. 

 

As spring weather continues to bring rain, the children's interest in tracks endures. The children are now curious about how long an entire track path is, how deep the prints are in the mud and how much space is in between each print. They wonder about how far and fast the person or animal might have been travelling and use these clues to help them hypothesize the speed and distance. Each time a discovery is made in the yard I carefully document the findings using photos and videos so we can bring the information back to our whole group conversations and build our collective knowledge about tracks. 

Our next step will be to record ourselves making tracks in the mud using digital tools. We will use the different recording options on our smart device including time lapse photography and slow motion recording. These will be interesting to watch and will hopefully help us understand more clearly how the distance, pressure and speed of movement will affect the way a print is made in mud. Stay tuned! 

Looking for a resource to support mud play? Check out my book Muddy Math available on Amazon!

Risky Play Inspired Math

"This stump is kind of wobbly. The first two are strong but when I step on the last one it wiggles when I stand on it." 

"I'm a little nervous to step on it. I'm not sure if it will tip, but I want to try and see if I can do it."

 

"Watch me! This stump is so tall that it helps me go super high when I jump off."

 

"I'm the tallest in our class when I stand on the big stump. I'm even taller than Mrs. McLennan!" 

The children were playing outside. I was fascinated as I watched them bravely climb onto different sizes of stumps lined in a row. The first two were solid and level but the last was visibly uneven. As children stepped onto it, it teetered and moved under their weight. Because it was much taller than the other two stumps, it was difficult for children to step onto, making it a challenging physical feat. Children lined up and attempted to balance on the uneven stump, jumping higher and farther from it with each subsequent attempt. By the end of our outdoor play time there was a line up of children waiting patiently for their turn - each eager to see if they could outperform their last big jump. 

Risky play, like climbing and jumping off stumps, is incredibly important for children. They feel empowered as they engage in difficult tasks, building their physical and mental endurance. Children persevere through difficulties, building their grit and stamina and feeling untouchable in their moments of triumph. When children are successful in risky tasks, they take pride in their achievements and feel unstoppable. They feel inspired to tackle new opportunities and go further in their explorations. This helps build their confidence and sense of self. They feel like they can do anything!

As a big believer in risky play I recognize the many personal and social opportunities for learning that exist in challenging activities. However watching the children explore the stumps, I recognized that risky play also provides multiple opportunities for authentic and engaging math learning. Children are often eager to mathematize their achievements by calculating how fast, how far, or how high they have moved. As the children climbed and jumped, they were discussing balance, height, length, and time. They counted how many children were in line for a turn and discussed their place within it. They created a system for measuring the height and distance of each person's jump, and tracked these to compare growth. They strategized for how to improve their performance and planned for creating a more difficult obstacle course using additional stumps for future outdoor play times. A simple natural object like the stump created opportunities for rich STEM learning that were highly motivating and meaningful for the children. The math they explored was child-centred and authentic, and deeply connected to their immediate world. 

It's easy to understand why educators (and families) shy away from risky play. We worry about children getting hurt and the consequences of these actions, especially in a playground or school setting. But depriving children of risky play sends the message to children that they might not be capable of achieving a goal. They may misinterpret our fear of the experience as a mistrust of their abilities. These hidden messages may result in children wondering about their own interests, strengths and needs, and fearful of taking other risks in their lives at school and beyond.

Encouraging and supporting risky play sends the message to children that as adults we trust and support them in difficult tasks. We acknowledge that they might be nervous or apprehensive to try something new, but let them know we are here to help them through the experience. Children develop a growth mindset and embrace mistakes and missteps as learning opportunities when they overcome an obstacle. 

Co-creating shared understandings and expectations for children regarding the play is a great way to get started. Have an honest conversation with children about the benefits and risks of the activities, and brainstorm how to keep everyone safe throughout the explorations. As children gain experience in the activity they can add ideas to the overall expectations for play. Encouraging sharing afterwards can help children articulate how the risky play went - what worked well, what needs to be improved, and what can be done differently in the future.

 

Over the course of several days the children continued to play with the stumps. As I observed them I continued to notice math emerge in their work. Joining as a play partner helped me notice and name the math I saw, and scaffold and support their inquiries. I'm curious to see how their obstacle courses continue to evolve as we enjoy the lovely fall weather and spend more time together outside.

A Playground for Mr. Big Legs - STEM in the Outdoor Classroom

"Look! Look at this spider! His legs are so long! Let's call him Mr. Big Legs!"

The children found an interesting spider in the garden one day. Curious, they gently picked it up and let it climb up and down their arms. It was so graceful in its movements that even reluctant children came for a closer look.

"He's so cute! Why was he in the garden?"

"Maybe that's where he lives."

"How do you know he's a boy?" 

"The garden is so boring for him - nothing is growing right now."

"I know! Let's build him a playground!"

Curious about the children's ideas and how I could use their interest in spiders to enrich our outdoor space, I took photos and mentally planned for how we might proceed next. I considered what curriculum expectations might be met, and anticipated the math that might emerge. Such a simple and quick interaction with nature sparked a rich mathematical inquiry in our outdoor classroom that lasted for several days.  

Our first step was to conduct some research. What did children already know about spiders? What did they wonder about Mr. Big Legs specifically? How might they design a playground that he would like? What could they use to help them acquire more information?

We read a number of texts together to gather information that might help enrich their understandings of what exactly a spider was and needed in order to survive. We organized our ideas on a large chart paper and referenced this over the course of our inquiry.

                 

While exploring our school yard for more spiders, we noticed a really interesting tunnelled web just outside our window. The location was the perfect place to set up a 'spider observation window' where children could safely check on the spider during play time and carefully watch it in its habitat. Not only did this give children an additional opportunity to research, it provided children who weren't comfortable holding a spider a safe way to observe one up close without needing to handle it. (We wondered if the spider had eaten two others, or if this particular one shed its skin.)

 

The more the children learned about spiders, the more determined they were in their quest to create a playground for Mr. Big Legs. They designed spaces for him - a garden, house, slide, swing, and bridge - by drawing blueprints on their clipboards. They considered the size, shape, and materials needed for each creation.

     

 

During the next outdoor play time, the children brought their drawings outside and referred to them as they worked in the garden. Some children enhanced their drawings and others started anew. They looked to the materials available outdoors, and planned for how to build using only natural materials found in our space. 

 

                           

Their work was stunning; the level of thought put into creating the tiny structures was incredible. Children considered measurement and proportional reasoning as they built to scale. Here are some of their creations:

A bed - notice how the sticks point upwards in a circular direction and there are leaves to cushion the center. "The leaves will be so comfortable for him! It will be a soft place to sleep, and the sticks will keep other bugs away."

 

A swing - notice how this child has balanced the top section of the swing onto two sticks. Later on he would add a long, slender leaf in the middle for Mr. Big Legs to swing on. "I hope that he can balance because this isn't very stable right now."

An obstacle course - notice how Mr. Big Legs will have to climb through the structure, along the stick, hop on top of each of the stones and land on the leaf. The child who build this sequenced the steps in her course and articulated exactly what the spider would need to accomplish along the way while playing here. "This would be so much fun to play on - do you think he will know where to start and where to finish?"

 

A bedroom - this child created a circular structure so that Mr. Big Legs could weave a web near his playground using the rocks as anchors. She knew that many spiders used webs as a home and place to catch prey, and wanted to be sure he had this in his new area. "Spider webs are circles, so I put the rocks in a circle."

A garden - this child dragged his fingers in the dirt to make rows for Mr. Big Legs to use when planting rows of vegetables. "They need to be evenly spaced, because they need room to grow. That's what my dad does in our garden."

A slide - this child placed two sticks together on a slope resting in the corner of the garden. "I wonder if he will know to lift his legs. If he doesn't then he won't go down as fast because they are long and will bump against the slide."

A bridge - this child broke twigs so that they were approximately the right fit to be placed in the narrow hole in the garden. "I couldn't find any sticks that fit, so I broke them. I think Mr. Big Legs needs a bridge in case this hole is too deep for him. If it rains maybe he can pretend it's his pool.

Towards the end of the week the children found another Mr. Big Legs climbing on the brick wall. They eagerly picked him up and placed him in the garden so he could explore everything they had created. Proud of their work, they pointed out each structure and explained to him how he could use the equipment.

"This is your slide and here's your swing. You can play on those!"

"I made you a garden in case you don't catch any bugs in your web."

"And when you get tired, here's a bed for you to sleep on!"

I couldn't help but smile at their enthusiasm. I was amazed that something as simple as finding a spider in our yard could inspire such authentic STEM learning.

Interview with CBC Afternoon Drive

 

It was a pleasure to chat with Chris dela Torre about my award winning paper 'The Beautiful Tree Project" on CBC's Afternoon Drive! To listen to our interview check out the link:

One LaSalle-area kindergarten teacher took her math class outside

 

Printable Activities to Support Open-Ended Mathematics

I continue to be inspired by the rich math learning I have been offered in my recent professional development. Research shows that early math experiences are key to a child's future math success - both in their confidence and math abilities. We know that having a strong partnership between home and school can enhance this mathematical mindset in the early years.

This year I will be pleased to continue to send home math 'take home bags' to our children, beginning towards the end of September. Each of these bags is numbered. On Fridays your child will bring a new math bag home to explore with you. In each bag are activities that are designed to refine math concepts from the Ontario Kindergarten Curriculum, with a special emphasis on number sense and numeration, specifically subitizing and composing/decomposing numbers. Please send the bag back to school by the following Wednesday so that we can send a new bag home with your child.

Inside each bag will be an instruction card and any applicable materials you will need to play the game together.

I am excited to see how the children's math mindset and abilities are influenced by these activities. We will continue to focus on math rich tasks at school as well. Any feedback regarding these bags is greatly appreciated.

If you would like a sneak peek at some of the activities, or are a fellow educator interested in printing a set of these activities for use in your classroom, please click this link: Family Math Bags

The Power of a Puddle

Our children are drawn to water. This past week we had a lot of rain and it created a giant puddle in the playground. The children were curious about how to cross the puddle. It was too big and deep to skip or jump over and they needed to cross it in order to get to the other side where their stumps and other favoured areas were.

One child decided to try using some of our loose building parts. He gathered many pieces of wood and laid them starting from one edge of the puddle. As he placed them side by side he observed the edges of the wood to see if the puddle was deep enough for the wood to sink into.

"I don't know if the wood is high enough. If the puddle is deeper than the wood, then this won't work."

I observed him as he placed the wood and then stepped on each piece, watching to see if the water rose higher then the wood. I noted the complex math and problem solving that had emerged in his work. He was considering the depth of the water and whether it was deeper than the wood was tall.  After a few minutes some friends joined him.

 

As each piece was added the children continued to test their design to see if their feet stayed dry.

"We're making a bridge so we can cross!" 

The children continued to lay the wood side by side. When it ran out, they were perplexed.

"We don't have enough to finish the bridge!"

They stood around for many minutes, stepping on their bridge, counting the pieces that were side by side, and then looking around the yard for any loose pieces of wood they might have missed.

"I know! Let's take half of the pieces and move them so that we can make the bridge longer! We'll just have to walk one at a time instead!"

The children realized that if they narrowed their bridge they could double the length by moving the pieces in different positions. The amount of wood they used hadn't changed but their problem solving allowed them to complete a workable way of crossing the water.

 Success! The children children spent the majority of their outdoor time racing one by one across the big puddle. They even tried driving the tricycles across it - the process of experimentation in doing so led to some amazing conversations about the weight of the bike and if the wood would hold it, the position of the wood pieces and if they would stay in place while being driven on, and how fast the bike could be driven across without the pieces shifting and becoming ineffective.

The outdoors is full of possibilities for children to mathematize their play; this authentic experience of crossing the puddle motivated the children to engage in robust math that incorporated measurement and problem solving!