Bunny and Duck rooms explore balls

Since the rain kept us in today we went to the gym to play with some balls! We bounced, kicked, rolled and carried the balls around the gym.

Outside time with the Bunny 2 room

With the sneak peek of spring we got on Tuesday the bunny room to advantage of some extra outside time

The Purpose of Open-ended Materials

In the High/Scope curriculum, we speak a great deal about using open-ended materials with the children.  But why?  Open ended materials are any objects whose use is not predetermined or narrowly defined, rather, they can be used in many different ways.  A set of blocks, for example, is an open-ended material because they can be used for many different purposes -- to stack and/or topple, to build an endless variety of structures, as tools to help accomplish a task (such as pounding or climbing), to bang together to make noise, to represent another object in pretend play, just to name a few.  Open-ended materials encourage young children to come up with new uses for familiar objects, to use imagination and ingenuity, to solve problems, and to engage in more in-depth and meaningful play.

One small group we did in the Duck Room this week illustrates these uses, purposes, and benefits of open-ended materials.  We offered the children a variety of cardboard boxes of different shapes and sizes -- some big, some small, some rectangular, some square, some long, and some short -- and simply encouraged them to explore.  The resulting play was rich, varied, interesting, and productive.  Gross motor skills were developed as the children pushed, pulled, lifted, turned, and carried the boxes around the room.  Other children engaged both building and balance skills as they stacked boxes atop boxes, as high as they could reach (and of course, enjoyed knocking them over after!)  Some children explored the concept of space by putting different boxes inside one another, and by figuring out how to climb into and sit in the boxes, and which boxes were shaped and sized to fit a child inside.  Children also discovered the various sounds they could make by banging on the boxes with hands and feet, or knocking the boxes against the floor or other boxes.  Finally, problem solving skills were practiced as children focused on figuring out how to open and close the interlocking flaps on the boxes.

People often joke that you can buy a child the most expensive toy on the market and all that child wants to play with is the box it came in.  As we can see, however, not only is that box tons of fun, but full of engaging and fulfilling learning experiences as well!

For more information on the High/Scope philosophy, visit www.highscope.org

Sleep Transitions

At the ECC, infants may use a sleep sack in their cribs.

     At the beginning of the school year, some of the infants had to adjust to sleeping in an empty crib during nap time. If a child is used to sleeping in a bassinet or co-sleeper with a blanket or a "lovie" (toy/stuffed animal), this can be a major change. Due to child care licensing requirements, we follow the Safe Sleep steps which include placing infants on their backs to sleep and using sleep sacks instead of a traditional blanket in the crib.

An infant explores with his mattress on the floor.

     However, as our infants are getting older, some of them are beginning the transition from sleeping in the crib to sleeping on a crib mattress on the floor at age eleven months. This will help them to prepare for sleeping on a cot. Today in the Baby Bunny room, the eleven month-olds slept outside of their cribs for the first time! Some of the infants sat, crawled, and climbed on their mattresses. Teachers provided support and comfort as the infants adjusted to their new (but temporary) sleeping location.

Our Tu B'Shevat Celebration!

Exploring fruits

Tasting fruits

Nature walk/Visiting the Trees

Planting

This week in the Duck Room, we did a variety of activities to celebrate the holiday of Tu B'Shevat! We began our week by exploring with a variety of durable fruits -- oranges, grapefruits, lemons, limes, coconut, and pineapple.  The children held, carried, rolled, and threw the fruits.  They explored with the smell, sight, and feel of these familiar and unfamiliar fruits.  We then experienced the taste of these fruits as well at our classroom's Tu B'Shevat Seder.  The children were able to taste many different fruits, some of which they had eaten before, and others that were new.  Almost every child enjoyed and asked for "more" of at least one new food!  Later, we also explored the idea of planting on Tu B'Shevat by giving the children an opportunity to work with potting soil and grass seeds.  The children "planted" by scooping and dropping both the soil and the seeds.  Finally, we took a nature walk in the ECC nature trail.  The children visited the trees and identified different trees (large and small), ran from one tree to another, touched them, hid behind them, and even sang "Happy Birthday" to the trees!

Bunnies celebrate Tu B'Shevat

Wednesday morning snack the Bunny 2 room sampled several fruits.... Star fruit, mango, apples, bananas, kiwi, grapes, fig and many more

Drawing fun with the Bunnies

Tuesday morning our large group was drawing with markers we put paper on our floor and let them go .... The finished product is on our wall.... Their legs, hands and faces:)

Baby Bunnies explore trees and fruit for Tu B'Shevat

Charlie reaches for a fruit from the basket. So many choices!

Today, the infants in the Baby Bunny room had an opportunity to learn about trees and fruit in their own way for Tu B'Shevat.  Although many of the infants are not ready to participate in the fruit tasting that occurred in some of the older classrooms, the Baby Bunnies learned about fruit using their senses of sight, smell, and touch. They explored with apples, oranges, avocados, bananas, limes, and kiwi which they will use for a painting activity later in the week.

A teacher placed an apple, a lemon, and a kiwi in front of Donatella to see which one she would pick. Donatella chose the kiwi.

Later in the day, the children took advantage of the beautiful weather and went outside to look at the trees surrounding the JCC. Some of the children touched the tree bark and held pieces of wood. At the end of the day, there were no tears!

Anna holds a piece of wood in her hand.

What is Small Group Time?

Gathering and crumpling the foil into a ball to throw!

Small group time in a toddler room is about introducing new and interesting materials.  During small group time children have an opportunity to explore different materials and learn about their unique properties.  In this small group the children worked with tinfoil and discovered the different ways they could manipulate their foil sheets.  Children crumpled, threw, waved, folded, and ripped their foil.  They learned that smooth foil sheets feel different than wrinkled foil sheet.  They also discovered the sound the foil made when they crumpled, shook, or stepped on it. 
KDI: Cognitive Development -- Exploring Objects (Children explore objects with their hands, feet, mouth, eyes, ears, and nose).

Discovering the feel and sound of the folded and wrinkled foil.

Bubble bubble!

Today the Bunny 2 room played with soapy water and paint brushes