January 20, 2015

Daily Provocations:

1. Cloud Art with cotton balls, blue paper, and glue sticks.
2. Water sensory bin with glass beads, scoops, and pipettes.
3. Painting with various types of paintbrushes, wooden geometric shapes.

Today we welcomed our old friend, C, and our new friend, J, to our class.  We began by reading the book, Sometimes it Looked Like Spilt Milk, and employed our imaginations as the children helped describe what items the cloud images reminded them of,  “a bird”, “a tree”, or “a rabbit” were just a few of the items they recognized.   The children were invited to make their own cloud creations.  By incorporating literacy in art-making we were able to observe the children make connections and strengthen both their cognitive and language development skills as they made deliberate decisions and talked about their artwork.   After observing their mamas using the glue sticks, all of the little artists decided to try out their fine motor skills and use the glue sticks on their own!  As always our water sensory bin was a big hit and we began by watching the watercolor swirl in the bin as it turned the water purple.  We revisited vocabulary words such as scoop, pour, dump, squeeze, splash, sink, and float as the children explored the scientific properties of the water with various tools….both inside and outside the bin!  Our third provocation of the day, invited our artists to explore painting three-dimensional geometric shapes made from wood.  C decided to bring the pipettes over to the painting station and created some interesting designs with water and paint on the surface of his geometric shape.  W demonstrated his new knowledge of paint as he eagerly manipulated the media with his hands and the paintbrushes.  S described his cloud art as, “looks like a bird”….but only after the class ended and we were cleaning up! J was thoughtful as he investigated his new surroundings and seemed to be particularly drawn to the glass beads and the water bin. Throughout the class, I witnessed our young two(ish) year olds becoming more and more social with each other as they shared paints and paintings, climbed into the sensory bin together, and talked to each other about their actions and discoveries.  What a delight!