Light Table Playscape

We have been eager to continue to capitalize on the children's fascination with the new light table. On Friday we set up a mini farm playscape for the children to explore. We hoped that by using farm props, the children would recall various stories we have read so far this year, and use this background knowledge to support their cooperative play ideas. We especially wanted our children to practice their oral language skills, and engage in conversations with one another.

One child added a mud patch for the pigs to use. He looked around the room and decided that brown construction paper would work best.

The horse family decided to walk along the pond so they could get a drink together! Notice how the blue  stones have been placed together to represent water on the light table!

Marker Experiment

What happens when you put markers in cups of water? We asked our children what they thought and then experimented with markers and water on our light table.

The children were fascinated by what they observed - the water turned the colour of the marker almost immediately!

Wanting to extend this activity and encourage children to engage in a writing experience, we put out white paper and white crayons and encouraged the children to write 'secret messages' to one another. Children wrote on their papers with the crayon...

And used the coloured water to decode the secret message!

What fun!

Exploring Numbers and Quantity at the Light Table

We thought we'd make an ordinary math activity exciting for the children by putting transparencies with numbers, words, and quantity at the light table. The children were invited to decorate the numerals or count out the correct number of gems for each number card. It was quite popular!

Some children made patterns when decorating their numerals too!

Finger Printing on the Light Box

We were eager to use our light box for a literacy purpose today so we decided to cover the table with a plastic bag and invite the children to finger print on the top of it.

The children were immediately drawn to the activity - as they made letters and designs in the paint, the light from below would illuminate their creation, and cast a colourful glow over their hands and faces. If you think finger printing in paint is appealing to children, doing it on a light box magnifies the appeal!

What a playful and engaging way to encourage children to practice writing skills!

Story Sequencing and Retells

Our children engaged in some interesting ways to sequence, retell, and extend familiar texts today. 

A favourite is Where the Wild Things Are by M. Sendak.

After reading it, we had photocopied pictures from the text (copied on overhead transparencies) available with our mini light box so the children could sequence and retell the story orally.

The children liked how the light box illuminated the pictures.

The story was available at the center and the children referred to it often for help in sequencing the pictures.

Another big book we've been reading all week (and that will go home in blue shared reading duotangs) is "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner".

In this story a spider tries to trick different insects into coming to dinner so he can eat them. He ends up being eaten by a bird. We decided to set up the sand table so that it was a spider playscape.

The children began to spontaneously retell the story, which lead to a search in our animal bins for the right characters for the story.

What fun! We can't wait to see what adventures await spider tomorrow!

Look Who Came to School Today!

One of our children brought a few interesting creatures to school today. We placed the live grasshopper in our terrarium and the dried dragonfly and worm on the light box.


The children were fascinated by how the grasshopper was able to hang onto the top of the terrarium's lid without falling off.

The dragonfly and worm were illuminated by the light box, which made them very easy to see. We could even see inside the worm's body!

Some of the children drew pictures of what they observed.

We used science tools like magnifying glasses to help us out!

Mrs. Bombardier:  "How can the grasshopper hold onto the top of the container?"

Child: "When I turned the light [box] on, I saw the sticky part on the legs. That's where he grapples it [the container]."

Mrs. Bombardier: "What is a grapple?"

Child: "That's what holds stuff."

What a beautiful creature! The children noticed the details on the dragonfly's wings!

Box Art

A box is NOT just a box! Check out this collaborative creation!

(We gladly take any large boxes for our children to use when exploring, experimenting, and creating. We are especially grateful to receive large appliance boxes if you have them. Thank you!)

Our New Light Box

We've noticed that many innovative schools use light boxes to help children explore materials. Light boxes are just that - a box with a light inside and an opaque top so that the light shines through in a subtle manner. Thanks to Mr. Mills we were able to purchase a light box for our classroom!

The children are intrigued with the light box and used coloured stones and clear plastic 2D shapes with it. It was interesting to see them explore and experiment with the various materials - they looked for materials that were aesthetically pleasing as well as those materials that were translucent or transparent and let the light shine through.

The children explored colour mixing by placing the shades of coloured plastic on top of one another.

They also built various things out of 2D shapes, fulfilling many of our math curriculum expectations.

As they worked, they told stories about their creations - here is a happy lady and a man with big arm muscles!