Videos for play and inquiry-based learning in the early years.

Magnetic Surfaces – Part 1.

November 4, 2011

Don’t your children just love “rearranging” the magnets on your fridge, filing cabinet, or door?

In this three-part series, let’s look at how some children use magnetic surfaces to develop thinking to solve problems. In Part 1, we offer one simple set of materials: cove molding of various sizes and marbles. They don’t take much space and when this set-up is available and accessible, children will always interact with the materials at their own pace and in a variety of ways. They will use parts here and there, go through trial and error a few times and come back to it later, with revised ideas or a fresh approach to the new problems. In small groups, or by themselves, they are engaging in the ability to think deeply about a problem and how to solve it. After a problem is solved, another one comes along in the form of a classic children’s question: “What if I do this instead of that?”

So what are the options here? Well, there are a few that I can mention and more that you will find out with your children: they can start over, add to, take out, change directions, use more or fewer pieces, control the number of marbles, compare drops from heights, flip the pieces, develop aims and directions (i.e.: making the marble fall into the yellow bucket).

In this case, a magnetic board offers several ways of creating models that work. In the video, you saw at least twelve different ways of making the marbles run from point A to point B. And it is this process of solving a range of simple to complex problems using open-ended strategies that engages children in learning about how’s, why’s and why not’s to solve problems. These thinking skills are so important when children are trying to solve a mathematical problem, learn to read, or simply chat with a peer. Being available to help them sort out misconceptions through the rich conversations that they have is certainly a plus. In their wonderings, they also become more articulate in explaining their ideas to others. For example, at some point while I was filming these boys, one of the children wondered about escalators and how they worked, tried to simulate a rough model and the conversation kept going for a while. Their brains are equipped with built-in circuitry that is ready to help process their curiosity – we just need to set the stage : ) Enjoy!

Set-Up for Episode #36:

  • Cove molding
  • Magnet strips
  • Magnetic Board
There was a great deal of trial-and-error to get to this point!
The little yellow bucket sure added to the design.
Experimenting with the different levels sure raised a lot of questions…
Another design:
Putting ideas into action:
New direction with new orientation of the board…
You can use stick-on magnetic strips on the wood. I used magnetic business cards from our local office supplies store.
Pic
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Paper Engineers – Part 2!

October 20, 2011

Paper, scissors and more!

In Part 1 the focus was on paper and scissors, exploring ideas, inverting paper folds, creating new cuts, and open ended play with patterns. Children are generally eager to take risks, because they are naturally curious. They come into this life ready to touch, create and re-create as they interact with their immediate environment.  It’s really wonderful to see the hands and scissors trying new directions, new ways of incorporating three dimensionality to a flat material. All this information is not only enriching the circuitry in the brain but also expanding their problem solving repository. In the course of these explorations children learn how to think, negotiate and develop depth in their knowledge of the physical world around them. It’s not only about learning what works but what *doesn’t* and why.

The benefits are, once again, innumerable: fine motor coordination and strengthening, planning and evaluating plans, and a lot of practical math: measuring, comparing, creating shapes and fitting them together. The opportunity to use familiar and unfamiliar vocabulary to create stories in a pressure-free environment helps children approach story writing playfully.

Enjoy creating new stories with paper and scissors – junk mail and old magazines are great (and free!) resources.

Set-Up for Episode #35:

  • Paper of all colors and sizes (copy paper and/or origami paper work best for small hands)
  • Scissors
  • Glue (best to use use either a quick-dry liquid glue, or glue sticks)
  • Markers, colored pencils, etc.
This came up around the fourth of July!
The boy and the tree.
Froggy is a storyteller that reminds me of Gorf, from the Willy Claflin stories!
Pop-Up Man.
It’s that time of the year…
We also tried to include versions that are familiar to us: books!
Turn the pages and… We are now taking pictures and will add them to this book later. Then, we will interview each family member and find out what makes them special (i.e.: favorite color, birthday, etc).
This one had an interesting trajectory: the boys started making up different scenes with plain paper and junk mail. We then put them in order and I asked one of them if he could write a story that made sense. It was a great experience!
Here is what he wrote:
Page 1
Page 2
Page 3
Page 4
The End
A book made from a collection of pictures that we had in the house. This was a book about seasons. Summer:
Fall:
Winter:
Spring!
Enjoy and send us pictures from your projects – we will post them here!
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Paper Engineers – Part 1!

October 13, 2011

Who has not grown up with a paper airplane or two, or some sort of paper folding game?

And how many of you remember doing all sorts of things to make those airplanes work? Remember those “four leaf clover” origami games that often predicted the future for you? And when your children were really, really little, and you got them a toy in a big box, they would play with the empty box rather than the toy itself?

Well, all of these activities have a lot in common: they help children develop cause and effect, which in turn helps them organize thoughts and solidify new learning. First and foremost, children could spend some undirected time with paper and (safe!) scissors – a world of possibility awaits. For example:

Others are quite detailed with full stories to tell:

Starting with only paper, scissors and nothing else, I discovered what a group of eighteen six year-olds could do: they created two and sometimes three-dimensional ‘paper sculptures’ that gave us all much food for thought. The process of exploring paper with scissors taught them about problem solving, an important concept to develop reading, math and science knowledge. Children are beginning to take risks and leap into the world of reading at this age and the experience of cutting and shaping paper gives them a chance to playfully describe their sculptures (vocabulary), to connect their new learning with previous experiences (they make connections), as well as to construct narratives based on the images that they create (storytelling). Paper engineering also requires much effort from the small finger muscles and coordination to fold, cut, punch, and twist, helping them to develop their fine motor skills.

This brings to mind the classic by Laura Numeroff, “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie” circle story: “If You Give a Child Paper…”

…they will ask for a hole puncher to go with it:

And when they get a bit older (six and seven years old), this is what their explorations look like (a double cut pop-up):

A single cut pop-up:

Both, going every which way:

Generations:

I love how all the exploration turned into such beautiful paper sculptures!

And one last one:

I found two great book gems in that department (listed in the BookTip section of this vlog). I highly recommend that you sift through your recycling bin and find as much paper as your children’s imaginations will need (you can always use the extra paper for collage projects anyway – coming shortly after paper engineering!). We used the “worksheet pile” that comes from school every week and junk mail from our mailbox. It will be time well spent together and their brains will be forever changed : )

Depending on interest (leave a comment, or send us an e-mail), I’ll produce short clips for you and your children to learn four basic techniques that we show in our videos this week.

In part 2, we will look at different ways of using paper engineering with children, including trioramas.

Set-Up for Episode #34:

  • Paper of all colors and sizes (copy paper and/or origami paper work best for small hands)
  • Scissors
  • Glue (best to use use either a quick-dry liquid glue, or glue sticks)
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The Salamander’s Playground Design.

October 5, 2011

“Aren’t salamanders so lucky to be born into an automatic playground?”

This is what Luc observed after a few minutes of taking mental notes on how to replicate the salamanders’ environment. Well, the truth is, kids are, too!

In “What Are Kids Up To When They Go Outside?”, you were reminded of how rich it is to enjoy the outdoors regardless of the season. The natural environment is constantly changing and with every transformation come new and creative ways for children to find a world of make-believe, and great opportunities for improvisation and problem solving.

Luc and André love running into the woods after the rain to look for salamanders, frogs and worms, and to see how high the creek has gotten. They also check the rain gauge levels. All this information is stored in their “nature database” as they go on to find a new adventure every time. When they find animals, they use sticks to mark the spot so they can bring them back to where they found them – they especially look under logs. They take walks along the creek and before the first snow fall they’ve usually acquired a collection of bugs whose lives get spared by spending a few months inside.

We believe that the information that they gain through engaged, playful and interactive experiences like these becomes more permanent than that from other, more superficial forms of acquiring knowledge. Children also learn a great deal from taking risks – healthy risks that empower them to solve problems and develop learning strategies that will prove useful later on in their lives. If it takes them ten showers to finally get the dirt from underneath their nails, so be it.

We are fortunate to live around so much nature. Nonetheless, we have lived in more urban places, too, and when that was the case, we planted all along our window sills (find more tips on “What’s In The Beans?”), and enriched our concrete surroundings with reminders of a variety of colors, textures and smells.

Set-Up for Episode #33:

  • Salamanders, worms, ants, frogs, crickets, or friendly creatures around the house
  • Nature
  • Drawing materials (paper, crayons, colored pencils, markers, watercolors, etc)
The replica to help the salamanders feel at home.
This leaf was quite intriguing: it is impermeable!
A close-up picture to find out more about the leaf’s surface: no clue!
André took a picture of this Sally here.
Both kids spend time observing salamanders to learn how they move.
Observational drawing that represents one of the salamanders.
The blue spotted sally:
And the source of water:
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Have fun and Go Beyond The Classroom!

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