Wood Pellets

Because I am often asked what materials I use in my sand and water table, I am writing a series of posts about those materials.  I started to introduce some of those materials in posts about two of my favorite materials: sticks and rocks.  I also wrote about a couple of the most elemental materials I use in the table, namely, water and sand.  (By the way, water comes in different states and there are several different types of sand.)  In February, I wrote a post on feed corn.

In this post, I write about wood pellets.  Wood pellets are made of compressed saw dust and are burned in pellet stoves to heat a house.  They are also used for grilling.  There are softwood pellets and hardwood pellets.  I generally used pellets made from pine saw dust.

Before I write about the pellets, there is a story behind how I discovered them.  One year I had a child in my classroom who had so many allergies to food that the parent was introducing one food at a time to see if the child could tolerate it.  I had been using feed corn because I really liked its unique properties for children's play and exploration.  Even though feed corn is ostensibly for animals, it was close enough to food that I removed it as a medium from my sensory table.  Thus began a quest to find a medium with similar properties.  I found what I was looking for in a big box hardware store in the form of wood pellets.

So what are some of the unique properties of wood pellets as a medium that are similar to feed corn?  First, the wood pellets come in small, light bits much like feed corn.  Those properties invite children to collect the wood pellets and corn kernels to fill their containers 

My point is well made with two pictures from my archives.  In the picture above a child fills multiple containers with pellets.  In the picture below, two children fill whatever container they find with a mix of pellets and feed corn.  

Like the kernels in feed corn, pellets require the children to use their pincer grip to handle the individual pieces. 

The child above has found a hole in a small stand next to the sensory table.  Using her developing small motor skills, she proceeds to drop individual pellets into the hole. 

Another similarity with feed corn is how the wood pellets flow down an incline tube. Water and sand flow in a continuous stream, but with the pellets there is a discernible dispersion pattern as they drop out of the tube.

This is a setup in which a big box is partially embedded in the sensory table.  Children at the top of the tube pour pellets down and the child in the box plugs the lower end with a small plastic pail. When the tube is full, the child in the box pulls the plug and the pellets come gushing out.

Much like the feed corn, the pellets seem to invite and even encourage children to totally immerse their hands and arms as they explore the medium.

In one cubicle, the child in orange has buried his hands and arms in the mass of wood pellets.  He is helped by the child in the stripes who gathers more pellets from another cubicle to add to the mass of pellets and further bury the other child's hands and arms.  The middle cubicle is already empty so you know this is a joint endeavor that is taking time and persistence.

Yet another property that wood pellets have in common with the feed corn is the popping sound they make when they are poured into a tub

 

 

This child carefully pours pellets into the tub next to the sensory table.   The sound of the pellets popping as they hit the bottom of the tub is an integral part of her endeavor.

There are at least two properties that differentiate wood pellets from feed corn.  One is the smell.  Wood pellets smell like wood and feed corn smells like, well, corn.  This is the sensory table and smell is part of the experience.

Another difference between the wood pellets and the feed corn is the shape.  The feed corn has flat sides; the wood pellets are little round cylinders.

 

Because the pellets are round they roll and can make quite a mess. However, said mess is a great opportunity for children---given the right tools---to help take care of the room with real work.

When that family left the program, I brought back the feed corn.  However, I do owe a debt of gratitude to the mom and child who set me on my quest to find a substitute for feed corn.  And because of that, I gained a new medium with unique properties that I could rotate from time to time into the sensory table.

Corn

Because I am often asked what materials I use in my sand and water table, I am writing a series of posts about those materials.  I started to introduce some of those materials in posts about two of my favorite materials: sticks and rocks.  Last October, I wrote about one of the most elemental materials I use in the table, namely, water.  And last month, I wrote about another elemental material, namely, sand.

In this post, I write about corn, specifically feed corn.  Many years ago, I found myself in the feed section of a big hardware store.  I eyed a 50lb bag of feed corn and decided to try it in the sensory table.

Children are experts at exploring the materials in the sensory table.  Below, the child's exploration adds a little bit of knowledge about what is corn: how does it smell; how does it feel as she immerses her arms in the corn.

 

The corn in the sensory table is made up of many individual kernels.  Leave it to a child to find a hole in which to drop individual kernels.

 

Not only is this child exploring if the individual kernels fit in the small hole, he is also honing his fine motor skills by using a pincer grip to handle the individual kernels.

 

Below, the children experience how the corn exits the cardboard chute.  The child trying to catch the corn with the pink cup begins to understand that the corn does not exit the chute in a stream much like water or sand, but disperses helter-skelter.

 

It makes it a little harder to fill his cup, but or so much more fun.  And speaking of fun, how great it must feel to enjoy a "corn rain."

 

 

In their operations, the children are able to make a lot of good noise.  In the short video below, the children are creating a total aural experience as they all dump the corn down the big wardrobe box incline

 

 

Sometimes, I like to add actual corn cobs to the corn in the sensory table.  It may be hard to see, but below the child is using the handle of a small measuring cup to dislodge individual kernels of the corn.

 

Not only is she honing her fine motor skills, she problem solves to create a tool to help her extract the kernels from the cob.

Last year I wrote about strategies I used to make changes in the sensory table.  One strategy was to change the material in the table.  Below the children are using a dump truck to deposit a material into a hole.  The child on the left is dumping sand and the child on the right is dumping corn. 

 

Even though the children are doing the same exact operation, they are learning about the properties of each material.  That includes things like the difference in sound, weight and smell.  It is not that the children set out to find the differences.  Rather, their actions with the different materials add to an embedded knowledge about those differences.  

 Up next: wood pellets.

 

 

 

 

 

Sand

Because I am often asked what materials I use in my sand and water table, I am writing a series of posts about those materials.  I started to introduce some of those materials in my recent posts about two of my favorite materials: sticks and rocks.  Last October, I wrote about one of the most elemental materials I use in the table, namely, water.

In this post, I will write about another elemental material, namely, sand.  Like water, sand can take different forms. 

First of all, there is generic play sand.  I always get my sand from a big box hardware store in bags that is labeled "play sand."

 

Never underestimate the power of plain old sand to foster all types of play from scooping, pouring, filling and dumping.  The one aspect of generic sand that I do not appreciate is that it tends to be dusty, especially when children pour it even from a small height.  To counteract the dust, I use a spray bottle to slightly spray the sand with water.  When I change the material in the table, I always make sure the sand is completely dry when I store it in a bucket because wet sand gets musty.

I appreciate different kinds of sands so I was excited one when one year I found a white play sand.  The beauty of this sand is that it is dustless so I do not have to spray it with water.  An added plus with this sand is that it was very fine and soft.

 

Children in the picture above are pouring sand over a pegboard platform.   Even though the sand is dropping a couple of levels, there is no dust.

 

Another feature that enhances the children's play with the sand is that it is so white.  In the picture below, one child pretends it is snow and explains to the other child how a blizzard buried all the vehicles.  (You have to understand that I write this blog from Minnesota where we can have snow on the ground for up to six months.)

One year, I found a beige sand that has many of the same properties as the white sand.  It is very fine, dustless and quite soft to the touch.

There are other fine sands at hardware stores that are often used for sandblasting, but avoid them because they have what are called free silicates.  Free silicates are bad for the lungs.  In fact, avoid any sand that contains them.

Another type of sand that is in my inventory is Moon Sand.  Moon Sand is not a sand that is pourable. Instead it is moldable, which is great for making things like cakes. 

 

Notice that the two trays make it possible to display the cakes above the bottom of the sensory table.

 

Since Moon Sand sticks together and can form a solid shape or block, the children can use real tools to cut it.  Below, four children have filled the wooden tray completely with Moon Sand and are all using different size putty knives to cut and jab the block of Moon Sand.  Serious work requires serious tools.

I know there are recipes for making your own Moon Sand.  I have never tried to make it.  I always ordered a commercial version.  By the way, there are other kinds of specialty sand such as kinetic or slimy sand, but I never tried them.  They do look interesting.

 

I saved my favorite sand until last.  It is called Jurassic Sand.   It's color is striking while being dust free, dye free, chemical free and millions of years old to boot.  It is also expensive; I always joke with the parents that it is so expensive because it is "antique" sand. 

Over the years, I have kept adding to my stash of Jurassic Sand until I now have enough for two tables which is over two hundred dollars worth, but worth every penny.

Since it is Jurassic Sand, I often times I like to include little dinosaurs to enrich the children's play.

When people asked me if I ever mix sand and water my answer has always been: no!  That was true until the spring of 2016 right before I retired from the classroom.   The reason why I changed my mind was because of another feature of Jurassic Sand: it is washable.  If you want to read more about why and what happened when I mixed water with Jurassic Sand, you can find the answers in the following post entitled I dare you.

If you have been following this thread about what I put in the sensory table you may be getting the idea that I like materials from nature.  You would not be mistaken.  So what is up next?  Stay tuned!