SAND AND WATER TABLES

This is a blog for early childhood teachers looking for ways to expand and enrich play and learning in and around their sand and water tables with easy-to-make, low-cost apparatus. It may also be of interest for anyone who appreciates children's messy play.

Thursday, September 30, 2010

ANOTHER USE FOR TRAYS

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Besides being apparatus themselves, trays can serve another important function in the sensory table. For me, they also form the base on whi...

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Friday, September 17, 2010

MULTIPLE TRAYS

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So if one tray is good, then two must be better. There are now two trays, but how many spaces? Two trays multiplies the spaces in which t...

Sunday, September 12, 2010

TRAY #2

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One of my favorite activities in the hardware store is to look through all the ailses to see the pipes, gutters and tubes, etc. I am always...

Monday, September 6, 2010

The Swamp

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The is an activity that uses the wooden tray mentioned in the previous post. With the tray crossing the middle of the table, I have put fall...

Monday, August 23, 2010

TRAY

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One of the first things I built for the sensory table was a tray. I cut and nailed scraps of 1X8 pieces of wood I had around the house. I ...

Friday, August 20, 2010

IMPORTANCE OF PLAY

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One of the books I read this summer was a book by play scholar Stuart Brown. His book is called: PLAY; How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Im...

Monday, August 16, 2010

Pails and tubs

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Pails and tubs come in all sizes and shapes. Here is a simple five gallon pail set next to the table. Note that here it is not attached. ...

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About Me

Tom Bedard: Early childhood education has been my life for over 40 years. I have taught all age groups from infants to 5-year-olds. I was a director for five years in the 1980s, but I returned to the classroom 22 years ago. My passion is watching the ways children explore and discover their world. In the classroom, everything starts with the reciprocal relationships between adults and children and between the children themselves. With that in mind, I plan and set up activities. But that is just the beginning. What actually happens is a flow that includes my efforts to invite, respond and support children's interface with those activities and with others in the room. Oh yeh, and along the way, the children change the activities to suit their own inventiveness and creativity. Now the processes become reciprocal with the children doing the inviting, responding and supporting. Young children are the best learners and teachers. I am truly fortunate to be a part of their journey.

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