Since the beginning of the semester, the children have been exploring with flowers and the many ways to use them. We have been so lucky that so many families have been willing to bring in flowers for us to use (Thank you!!!). The children have been using their senses to explore the smell, color, and texture of them. The children especially love using their sense of smell! With these flowers we have created collages, flower soup, and paintings.
Flower soup was a huge hit! The children loved the smell the flowers created in the water and also the idea of cooking with the materials. They also showed a strong interest in water and the water table. This has also led us into many other sensory explorations. We have explored a variety of fabrics, solid shapes (circles, cubes, spheres), how water moves (water mills, ramps), and transporting water. By participating in these sensory explorations the children are creating their own theories to explore the variety of materials, they are expanding their fine motor skills, gaining social skills, and partaking in cause and effect. The children are starting to question, explore, generate, and modify their own ideas about the world around them. The children are also gaining an understanding of their natural environment by exploring all of these materials.
Early Childhood Standards of Quality for Infant and Toddler Programs
(from: https://www.michigan.gov/documents/mde/ECSQ_IT_approved_422341_7.pdf)
Goal 4: Infants and toddlers experience environments where they
develop a growing sense of social relationships, the natural
environment, and the physical world.
a. The ability to question, explore, generate, and modify their own ideas
about the world around them.b. Familiarity with a variety of materials (e.g., sand, water, ice, bubbles, blocks, paper).
d. A knowledge of the natural environment in the outdoor area of the program and the local neighborhood (e.g., the neighborhood park, grassy field, a wooded area).
We later explored with the flowers in dirt. Ms. Rana wanted to extend upon the flower soup exploration and wanted the children to be thinking about the garden and the outside area. The children were very interested in exploring the dirt, as well as filling and dumping. With this exploration the children are learning about capacity and the movement of materials (dirt in and out of the cups). The children are also exploring with an unfamiliar sensory material, which acts in a different way from sand and water. We will be continuing to explore and hope to engage the children in some planting explorations in the near future.
Thanks again to all of our families who have, or will be sharing flowers for the classroom. They are much appreciated!
