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.

Friday, November 26, 2010

CARDBOARD CHUTES - 1

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A nice thing happens when someone takes note of the apparatus I build in the sensory table. A few years ago, a mom brought in pieces of car...

Sunday, November 14, 2010

BEYOND THE GIANT SPONGE

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The giant sponge, like almost any other apparatus in the sensory table, is not simply about the senses. It is about science, too. Children...

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Sunday, November 7, 2010

GIANT SPONGE

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Children like to use sponges. They especially like to squeeze them. With that in mind, why not have a giant sponge in the sensory table s...

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Sunday, October 31, 2010

THOUGHTS ON THE BOX TOWER

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Boxes to me are like a slab of marble to a sculptor. Well, that might be overstating it a tad. When I see a box, though, I immediately ass...

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

BOX TOWER 2

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I make a box tower every year. One year when I was ready to make a box tower, I did not have a long, rectangular box. Instead, I found th...

Friday, October 22, 2010

BOX TOWER

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Orientation of an apparatus offers the children foundational experiences with space. A long fan box placed upright produces a very nice vert...

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

CREATIVITY AND TONGS

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Newsweek had an article in its July 10, 2010 issue referencing the decline in creativity scores of children in US since 1990. The article c...

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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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