Blue Soap

I was going through some old school papers the other day, and found one where I related this story about blue soap. It was a great reminder about the power of allowing kids to make their own learning discoveries.

A preschool student had been painting using blue paint. I observed her as she went over to the sink to wash her hands. The soap in the dispenser came out as white foam, and as she began to rub her hands together with it, it began to turn blue. I watched as she suddenly became interested in the blue soap, and then also noticed how the water running down also began to turn blue. She said:

"It's all blue. I can even make blue soap. It changes the soap!" 

Her apparent excitement was the direct result of a discovery about the world that she made all on her own. It is my belief that this kind of learning is much more meaningful and engaging to a child than if I had stood up in front of the class and turned the soap blue. She didn't need me to do that to learn what she learned-- I didn't even have to say anything to her as she stood at the sink. She was able to learn from her own experience. 

Sometimes I think that teachers get so stressed out about everything we need to teach that we feel the need to control every aspect of the learning environment. We are so worried that students learn the material that we miss out on moments like this one because we jump in and do all of the talking or even the interacting with materials. There is a time for direct instruction, but there is so much more that children can learn from doing it themselves. 

Puppet Play

Playing with puppets is a great form of dramatic play, where kids can act out stories or social situations. It can be a great way to promote the development of social and emotional skills, as social interactions can be modeled by adults using puppets, and the kids can then use them to practice those social skills or to express and work through different emotions. I feel they are a valuable part of the classroom.

(these puppets found on amazon.com)

As such, I attempted to make this hanging puppet theater for my classroom. My grandma has this one hanging in a doorway using a curtain rod, and the grandkids love it. I am not much of a seamstress, but my aunts and sister were willing to make it with me and we thought we could figure it out together.

It turned out to be a much bigger project than anticipated, but we were all really happy with the end result. I am going to make a stand out of PVC pipe to hang mine on, since there aren't really any usable doorways in my classroom. 

My aunt and sister getting ready to sew.

The (almost) finished project. I still need to sew on some velcro and ribbon so that the curtains will stay open during the show. :)

If I were really talented, I would be the kind of blogger to post the patterns and step-by-step instructions for how to make one yourself. But, we didn't have a pattern and we just kind of figured it out as we went along. Maybe it will inspire you to find or create something similar!

Happy Puppet Play!

Playdough Recipe

One of my classmates shared this awesome recipe. The dough was a great texture, and smelled so good!

Perfect Playdough

2 C. flour

1 C. salt

4 tsp. cream of tartar

2 C. Water

2 Tbs. oil

2 Kool-Aid Packages

Combine all ingredients except Kool Aid over medium heat. Stir continuously until it forms a ball. Cool and knead in Kool Aid packets for color (and smell!)

Playful Learning Resource

I recently stumbled across this website that promotes creating playful learning experiences and spaces for children. There is a link for learning experiences that has different ideas for areas such as math, literacy, science, etc. I only had time to look at a few, but here are some ideas that I loved: alphabet pebble magnets, leaf family, and everybody needs a rock.

There is also a link for resources that contains a plethora of websites for different subject areas. This website looks like an excellent resource for both parents and teachers! I will add it to the learning resources section for future reference.