This is an offering to the children and families of the infant classroom from the infant teachers. The ideas and questions contained within are applicable for many age groups.
Who better to offer some inspiration for working with materials than the children!? Children are creating schemas about the world around them & their impact on this world. When given a multitude of materials and the time to experiment, children will build upon existing schemas and construct new ones: learning!
The following are examples of things the children explore and what we have observed the children doing when absorbed in explorations around light. The observations listed are both from the video as well as myriad other explorations. Next, we propose ways you could offer light to provoke continued construction of their developing schemas.
Who better to offer some inspiration for working with materials than the children!? Children are creating schemas about the world around them & their impact on this world. When given a multitude of materials and the time to experiment, children will build upon existing schemas and construct new ones: learning!
The following are examples of things the children explore and what we have observed the children doing when absorbed in explorations around light. The observations listed are both from the video as well as myriad other explorations. Next, we propose ways you could offer light to provoke continued construction of their developing schemas.
What we observe: Looking for light source, tracking light, moving light/watching light move, hiding light (e.g. putting a light source in and out of a certain area), finding light on wall and on floor, grabbing at light (both natural and artificial material), putting materials in the sun rays that come through the window.
How you could offer material:
How you could offer material:
- Securing a light to the bottom of a colander (this will create patterns like in video above)
- Hiding lights in boxes (different sized boxes are great)
- Putting lights (old holiday lights, porch twinkle lights, flashlights, etc.) behind or above something new in your house your child can see
- Track natural light in your house and notice where/when it comes in
- Offer translucent and/or transparent colored materials (e.g. colored plastic vase, a colored translucent plastic cup, etc.) near the sun rays that come through the window for child to manipulate and/or notice
- If you have some, put crystals hanging down from your window to create rainbow