Wonder Arts: 9am Class Clay, Golf Ball Painting, Chalk and White Paints, Sand Art, String Painting

Looking back at this week's blog, I really enjoyed seeing the different ways the children approached each experience. My favorite though was definitely the sand! I put out a few materials, not really even knowing what would happen. Originally I thought it would be nice to have some colored sand. But, the children saw lots of possibilities in these materials. Shaking the powdered tempera onto the sand was fun but it quickly disappeared when stirred with the rest of the sand. While the adults may have found this to be faulty, the children found it magical! They repeated the experiment over and over again.

The children really deeply engaged in their play... it reminded me of my hero teacher, Bev Bos, who said in her book: "Tumbling Over the Edge A Rant for Children's Play" p.xi

"In the midst of play, with its apparent disorder, chaos and mess, is a very deep-seated drive to establish order which makes sense to the young child. Children may persist at one activity for a long time or they may flit from one action to another with apparent random energy. Adults may interpret this behavior as a waste of time. They feel this time could be more profitably used in formal, teacher-directed instruction in the mastery of reading, writing, and arithmetic skills. However, attempts to divert children from their self-directed play shuts down the drive to explore and to experiment."

"Play is the finest conduit that we have to develop divergent thinkers. A characteristic of curious, creative people is the predisposition to do things in different ways. All the intellectual giants have been problem solvers whether they were out on the horizon of physics or in the midst of a search for historical theory."

The trays seemed to lend themselves as a canvas for the sand and many different lines and shapes emerged!

As they played next to one another, observations were carefully made and that led to certain refinements and new ideas!



The longer they played and tinkered around with the sand, patterns and designs emerged. With careful intentionality, one of the boys began using the clear plastic cup to pour piles of sand next to one another on a tray. It resulted in a very pleasing and symmetrical work of art! Mom was carefully paying attention and as his tray filled, she emptied and provided a new surface to begin again.

Following your child's lead

It can be very frustrating when our little ones don't want to participate in the "prescribed" experiences. I know this from much experience!!! However, I love to see parents who are patient and willing to explore with their child outside of what's going on in class. So often when we give them time, understanding, and a little one on one, they eventually come around and join in.

I love having parent role models! As I watched these 2, I couldn't help think of my daughter and all the coaxing I do with her to follow the group, do what others are doing. Certainly there is tremendous value in taking 5 minutes to read a book or even to sit and observe what the others are doing!