Water Exploration

We added recycled containers, tubing, basters and funnels to the water table. They children explored different ways of making the water move. We noticed lots of interesting planning and problem solving. The children also engaged in rich conversation to describe their work, building their vocabulary.  

Water Run

We added tubing, funnels, cups, and blue water to our sensory table today. The children were very motivated to create their own complicated water runs. 

This center required children to have clear communication, teamwork, effective problem solving, and perserverance in order to be successful. 

Families if you have any tubing or other tools you think would enhance this center we would be grateful! Thank you for your support of our children and program!

Eensy Weensy Spider Retell

The amazing thing about inquiry-based, child-centred learning is that you never know what you might discover along with the children! We've been reading "The Eensy Weensy Spider" big book during our shared reading time. A copy of it will be sent home in your child's blue duotang.

The children were very interested in learning what a water spout was. After much discussion, we agreed that it would be interesting to set up our water table so that we had some water spouts for our spiders to slide down. The children were instrumental in helping to plan and create this! We attached long meter sticks to each corner of the table and the children helped to wind large tubes down and around them. We attached a recycled pop bottle top to the top to act as a funnel.

The children explored how to wash the spider down the spout. It was an interesting measurement opportunity because the children realized that our large spiders either did not fit into the tube, or got stuck half-way through. They searched around the room for spiders that were small enough to work.

 The children created a game where one child would put the spider at the top of the tube and another had to catch it. And it all started with a big book and hopes for a retell adventure...

Exploring Sound

Our children never cease to amaze us with their ideas and willingness to explore and experiment! One of our children was playing with the large paper tubes in the building center and noticed that if he spoke in one end, his voice was amplified and seemed to travel to the other end. Some other children became fascinated and decided to connect multiple tubes together and see if they could create a 'tube telephone' that would reach into the classroom next door.

Problem solving how to connect the tubes efficiently and in a way that allowed the sound to travel and not escape through the openings between the tubes proved to be a challenge.

After each tube was connected the children would speak into it and see if their voices were still travelling to the end.

In the following video clip you can see the children experimenting with whether the tube is working, and you can hear the children on the other end (who are not visible in the video) saying they can't hear the speaker.

One group of boys worked on each end of the tube, which quickly grew in length.

We always love it when the children dress in role for their experience. Some gathered materials like ear protectors from the building center to enhance their role in this play.

Another challenge for the boys was problem solving how to prop the giant tube up. They used tables, chairs, and the ledge against the wall to support it.