VERTICAL TUBES IN A BOX - MORE EXPLORATION

If you look at last week's post you will see two boys making accommodations so both can play in the same space.  They were not cooperating, but each allowed the other to play in the exact same space.  There is a certain beauty in that coexistence that we far too often overlook.

In this post, let me give you a few examples of more cooperative play fostered by this apparatus.
In the video below, one boy is pouring sand into the top of the tube through a small plastic base that has a small hole on the bottom so it acts like a funnel.  At the bottom of the tube, another child is arranging a sauce pan and scoops so the sand flows just right into the sauce pan.  I was asking Gabriel to clarify where the sand was going and he said: "Owen is collecting it down there."  In the meantime, Owen is saying that he "...can't get it to go right."  He removes one of the scoops and says: "There we go.  That's good."

(Just a quick note about YouTube videos.  I have trouble uploading videos longer than 15 seconds directly to Blogspot, so I upload longer clips to YouTube and then embed them in the blog.  The quality is better, but with any YouTube video, there are suggestions for related videos.  The suggestions for related videos do not have anything to do with this blog.  Please be aware of that if you decide to browse the suggested YouTube videos.)

In this video each child's action is an extension of the other's.  One is pouring and the other is collecting---and they acknowledge it verbally.   

Here is a another video in which the children are working together.

These boys are making a concoction.  Each is adding an ingredient.  One child has taken the lead and the others are following and even echoing the named ingredients. This is rich role play which often gets more and more imaginative.  Near the end, they are adding lobster heads and medicine. Role play by its very nature requires cooperation.  They take turns pouring and naming what they are putting into the concoction.  Take turns is used loosely, because there is no order and at times they are all pouring  almost simultaneously.  As the activity progresses, you can also notice how the excitement of one feeds off of the excitement of the other.

Another play that takes cooperation is one in which the children give themselves a task.  In this next video, some of the children at the table have decided they want to fill up one of the tubes.  That is no easy task because the tube empties into a tray. Watch.

Three boys have indeed filled up the tube, but then the sand drops as if it was a sink hole.  It takes only a short time before one of the boys figures out why the sand level drops: another child is scooping the sand from the tray underneath causing the sand to drop in the tube. The drop seems to nudge them to refocus their efforts to fill up the tube again.  This cooperative play is a little different than role play because the task is a physical task for which the completion has more to do with the properties of the sand, tube and tray than on their imaginations.  

What is amazing even in these videos of cooperation, you can see individual play right along side the cooperative play.  For instance, if you look at the last video again, you will see four other children operating with no conflict in much the same space as the group of three. Accommodation, coexistence and cooperation are all things children do well---and we should give them their due credit.

VERTICLE TUBES IN A BOX - EXPLORATION

If you give children holes that they can pour stuff into, they will do so with absolutely no prompting.

To do that with this apparatus, though, a child first has to scoop the sand from the table .  In the process, he is developing large muscle skills to coordinate reaching down, scooping and lifting up.  And since he really wants to get it in the hole,  he is laying down the muscle memory to do it with some degree of accuracy.  When you add a little stool, as seen on the right, you are adding balance to the skills the child is working on.  Who says children don't work in an early childhood classroom?

For some children, it is at least a two-stage process.  First they scoop it into a container before they will pour it into a hole.

The video shows a very simple scheme, but some schemes get more involved with more steps.  And as they go through this process, you start see they have worked out a plan of what works for their purposes.



They will use scoops, cups, spoons  or whatever.  If children want to pour, they will make almost anything functional for that purpose.  They are true inventors.

They all pour differently, too. Some will pour with gusto and some will pour with great deliberation.  The act of pouring is so natural for children that it feels like a need.  By accommodating that need, they get to express themselves motorically, all the while working on their large and small muscle development.

Of course, if you put something in a hole, you HAVE to see where it goes.

With this apparatus, funnels foster even more play and exploration.

I always have funnels close at hand at the sensory table.  Some of them fit nicely over the holes of this apparatus. When a child pours sand into a funnel, what happens?  It no longer disappears immediately, but the narrowing of the funnel regulates the flow so it gradually disappears.

And if you look closely enough, it gradually disappears from the center.  With a coarser sand, the flow may stop altogether.  Then you have to figure out how to get it moving again.
Do you wiggle the funnel or do you poke something down the hole?












If you have a sand with a fine grain, you will not have to worry about the flow.  If fact, you can use a smaller funnel.  If you want, you can experiment with the flow of a smaller funnel into a larger funnel placed over two other funnels over one of the holes in the apparatus.  That's a whole lot of fun...nels!

Part of the exploration with this apparatus happens on one of the levels mentioned here.  The level in this case is the space under the apparatus.  Take a look.

There are a couple amazing things happening here.  One, the boy pouring the sand into the funnel knows it comes out at the bottom.  He pours it and then immediately squats down to watch the flow.  He seems to be fascinated by the stream of sand emptying through the bottom hole.  You have to understand that the sand flows in a stream because of how the funnel is positioned in the tube.  If the funnel is a little crooked in the tube, the sand will not flow in such a nice stream.  Instead, it will disperse as it hits the side of the tube.  Does he know that?  Has he experimented? Maybe his focus on the stream is a spacial thing: the narrow stream flows from the middle of the much larger hole at the bottom.  Maybe it is the pure enjoyment of observing an even stream of sand.   In any case, he is focused and quite purposeful.

The second amazing thing is that it does not bother him that another boy on the other side is inserting himself into the action.  Or from the reverse side, look how effortlessly the other boy places a second metal cup to catch the streaming sand. They know each other is present in the activity and both have made some decisions about their actions to accommodate the other.  This is not sharing. Two children are operating in the same space with different agendas.  This may not be so amazing if they were hard-and-fast friends in the classroom, but I would have to characterize this as a spontaneous encounter between  two children who play together only now and then.  I must say, they handled the activity with a grace many of us can envy.

VERTICAL TUBES IN A BOX

Here is an apparatus that is characterized by the following dimensions.  The tubes are horizontal and closed and there are plenty of holes into which the children can pour. This apparatus also adds one obvious level of play: the top of the apparatus.

If you look closely, you will also find a couple of other levels.  There is the floor, which is the same as the bottom of the grey plastic container into which sand drops out of the tube. This arrangement of the tube over the edge of the table expands the area of play around the table, adds another physical level of play, and offers an interesting spacial arrangement that is attractive and allows for a different view of the sand as drops out of the tube.

A second level that is not so obvious is the level created by the tray that supports one end of the apparatus.  And the level created by the tray adds at least two more spaces to explore: the bottom of the tray itself and the space under the tray.  And if you really want to parse the spaces, there is a space formed by the area under box over the tray.

This apparatus was made with a long, narrow box and six tubes of various sizes. One tube was a clear and rippled, four were pvc pipes of two different diameters, and one was a cardboard tube.  I did not cut any of them for this apparatus.  I used them as is.  The two longer tubes were placed on the ends of the box so they could be placed over the end of the table.  The four others were placed in the middle.

I traced the the tubes on top of the box and cut out the circle with a utility knife.  I flipped the box over and repeated the same tracing and cutting.  I inserted the tubes into the box.  The two longer tubes were inserted so only one end extended beyond the box.  I then duct taped the tubes both on the top and on the bottom so they would not move.

As you can see, some of the tubes are flush with the top and some are not.  The two end tubes extend downward out of the box.  The picture above shows the setup from this year.  The box is reversed from the previous year's setup; the long white tube is now the one that extends outside the table.  And there is no tray in this variation.  That was not planned.  I thought the apparatus extended over both ends of the table.  It did not, but I had left the tray at home.  When I wanted to set it up, I had to improvise with something I had at school.  (I find myself doing that a lot---improvising, that is.)  One of the first things I found looked like a little ladder.  It fit across the table so I taped it onto the table and then the box onto it.   I fully intended to bring a tray the next day, but the ladder support introduced an airy space providing the children with a new area to explore over, under, around, and through.

Here is another version of the apparatus that actually extends beyond both ends of the table.  This was easier to attach because all I had to do was to make notches in the box on each end and set the box over the ends of the table.  The bottom of the box sits above the bottom of the table so the material can empty out of the tubes. Notice, though, that this configuration does not have the tubes that empty into a container outside of the table.

One further difference is that the space between the bottom of the box and the bottom of the table is quite a bit narrower than the one pictured first in this blog entry.  That is ok, it just means the children will figure out how to work in a different-sized space.  That is a challenge they are always up to.

It's all about spaces, levels of play, and holes.  

PROFILE PICTURE

I would like to explain the picture I chose for my profile.  The picture does not speak directly to sand and water tables, but rather my view of children.  That in turn, influences my practice which includes building apparatus for the sensory table.

This picture was taken in 2008 in a park in Los Banos, Peru.  Los Banos is famous in Peru for the thermal baths used by the Incas and is next to the city of Cajamarca in the Northern Highlands of Peru.  My daughter was living and working there at the time, so I went to visit her.  My daughter worked for DiscoverHope, a non-profit organization that gives mircroloans to women.  This particular day I had gone along with my daughter as she met with some of the women.  As she was talking with one of the women in the park, I noticed the woman's two children playing.  Before long, they were bringing me flowers.

What story does this picture tell?

It began when the children noticed that I was watching them.  Children are always looking to make connections and form relationships.  They reciprocated immediately.  It was then my turn to reciprocate.  (By the way, often times it works in reverse: a child will initiate and I will reciprocate.)   Notice two things in the picture.  First, I am down on their level.  To truly understand a child's perspective, you have to be able to get down on her level.  A colleague once related a story of a little girl who kept telling the teacher to look at the bunny in the snow.  The teacher could not see it no matter how hard she looked.  The child was insistent and finally the teacher got down on the child's level.  It was only then she saw what the child saw: the snow had drifted into the shape of a rabbit.   Second, we are focused on each other.  Our actions are our shared language even without words.  This is doubly true in this instance because my Spanish was only a few words more than their English, which was nonexistent.  There was no script to our interactions, so we made it up as we went along.   We were living in the moment: both sides initiating and responding; both sides reading each other's cues.

When I build an apparatus for the sensory table, I am using it as a provocation to begin a mutual dialogue with the children.  For any given apparatus, there are no scripted directions to follow.  Children bring their own set of abilities, interests and ideas to the table---literally. When those things are noticed and recognized in the context of our interaction, we build a respectful relationship in which we are learning from and teaching each other.

One last point about what the picture says to me.  The act of giving flowers is an excellent metaphor for the beauty all children have to offer if we are primed to notice their cues, prepared to receive them, and ready to reciprocate in kind.

THINGS FROZEN IN ICE - EXPERIMENTATION

Experimenting with things frozen in ice highlights the unique characteristics of ice. First of all, there is the elemental change of state the children experience as ice turns to water.  Ice is also solid and hard while water is fluid.  That sounds a lot like science education.

Another interesting characteristic is that ice takes the form of the container in which it is frozen.  As a consequence, when the girl on the right pulls the ice out of the cup, it is the exact shape of the cup.  If she wants to put it right back in the cup, she can with ease.  Putting the ice in the container in which it was frozen now becomes a 3-D puzzle.

And some of those shapes can be very interesting, such as the little ice cylinder the child is pushing into and taking out of the plastic tube on the right.



















Yet another unique characteristic is that it is cold.  Children find out how cold it is and their tolerance for cold in different ways.  They will usually use there hands, but some find other ways to experience the cold.

Gregory decided to feel it against his face.  "Yes, it's cold." he said.  In addition, he also found out how smooth it was on his face.

Of course, many children will taste it, too.  It is a sensory table after all.















Speaking of smooth, Hannah found a superball that had been frozen in ice and decided to use it to make an ice ball smooth.  I am not sure how she held the ice so long, but she was intent on making sure it was smooth.  You can see the pride she feels about her accomplishment of making the ice ball so smooth.

Tysen was the child who extracted the ball from the ice in the first place.  In the process, he discovered a couple of things:  1) The ball fits perfectly into the spot from which it was extracted and 2) the ball rolls nicely in that spot.  Look how carefully he replaces the ball and then rolls it in its form-fitting space.  What does he think about his discovery?  Will he be able to more quickly grasp the purpose and motion of ball bearings in some later encounter with them?    

There is no limit to what can be frozen in ice.  Jamison looks pretty intrigued with the string frozen in ice.

Another challenge is presented when things are frozen in bottles.  

As you can see, these two are up to the challenge.  And for them it is a two-person job.  Who jabs when?  Can we jab together?  The beauty of this shared activity is the social interaction that includes language and an exchange of ideas for getting things out of the bottle.

To illustrate what this activity meant to one child, let me tell you a little story from three years ago.  A five-year-old was spending a lot of time trying to get a small dinosaur out of the ice.  After much work and persistence he got it out. He held up the dinosaur much like the boy below is holding up the chickens.  

The boy who extracted the dinosaur could not contain his sense of accomplishment. As he held up the dinosaur, he said:  "I've always wanted to be a paleontologist." He raised his dinosaur above his head and exclaimed: "And now I AM a paleontologist!"

That's one dream that came true in an early childhood classroom.

TRAY AND THINGS FROZEN IN ICE

It Minnesota it is cold in the winter.  Things can get frozen in ice easily.  That may be where the idea came from to freeze things in ice and then see if the children would try to get them out.  Well, they do and they do so with very little prompting. This is one activity that works well with a tray.

Children are able to place  a chunk of ice with something frozen in it on the tray above the table so they can work on it more easily.

Of course that is only one level.  There is also a second level: the bottom of the table itself.

So what will the children use to try to extract the things frozen in ice?  In the top picture, the child is using tongs.  In the picture on the left, each of the three children is using something different: a hand, a spoon and a table knife.  Why do I allow children to use the table knives?  I think the children have the ability to regulate themselves to use the knives in a way that they do not hurt themselves.  If I thought I had a child who could not handle a knife, I would do the teacher thing and monitor the child closely and guide the child's explorations so he and the others were safe.  I have been doing this activity for more than fifteen years and I have not had a child who has needed overly intrusive supervision.  Some monitoring is required at the beginning no matter who is at the table, but with minimal direction the children quickly get to work.




Here are a couple of videos that show how the children use the knives to get things out of the ice.  They work hard and have to be persistent.  Those are good skills to work on.

These two children are chopping away on each side of the table with vigorous overhand strokes.  The goggles were added to the activity just last year and they are not a requirement for working at the table with this activity.










Unlike the first video, this video has three children and six sets of hands on one side---and there are a lot of different things happening in surprisingly fluid fashion. One of the boys has been trying to get the blue dinosaur out of the ice for several minutes.  He has managed to get it out of a bigger block of ice, but there is still some stuck between the legs.  He uses his hands to try to pry it out.  That is not working and it is cold so he picks up a knife and tries chipping the ice while holding it in with his hands.  In the meantime, the girl is chopping the ice off the little dogs in the tray in front of the boy in the middle.  That boy has been trying to get the dogs free of ice for awhile, too, but his hands are cold---they are red---so he is resting them on the sides of the trays.  The middle boy goes to pick up the dogs again even as the girl is still chopping.  As he picks them up, she steps back and waits for another opening.  Not a word is exchanged, but the girl has clearly gotten the message that he wants the dogs again.  The first boy has moved his dinosaur on to the tray and starts to chop it on the tray.  The girl see her chance and steps up to help him chop.  The boy in the middle puts down the dogs again---that's cold!  He again rests them on the sides of the tray. The girl now reaches over into the middle of the tray and gives the big block of ice some good jabs.  The first boy still hasn't freed the dinosaur, but he starts to inspect one of the dogs that is free of ice.  (Though you don't see it, he eventually frees the dinosaur.)  You can hear from the video that there is a whole other set of actions happening simultaneously on the other side of the table where one child talks about how the ice melts when the sun comes out.  Wow!  All that fluid action and all those hands around the chopping knives.  Can you believe it?  I guess it is a case of knowing the children and trusting their ability to handle the implement.


Here is one more technique for chopping the ice.  The child in this picture is using a clay hammer with the table knife.  That takes more eye-to-hand coordination.  It also takes longer.

Here is a word of caution.  Children like to drop/throw the ice chunks when they want to get things out of the ice more quickly because they realize chopping will take a long time.  When they start to do that, I always encourage them to drop/throw it in the large pail I always set next to the table.

A QUESTION FROM A CONFERENCE ABOUT HOARDING IN THE SENSORY TABLE

This past weekend, I gave a conference presentation on ways of expanding play and learning in and around the sensory table.  During the presentation, someone asked me how do I handle the situation when a child is hoarding the materials or objects in the sensory table.  My answer to the question was not very good.   In fact, I can't remember what I said.   I can only remember the question because I have been thinking about it ever since.

To be honest, the reason I first built the Cardboard Dividers over 20 years ago was to cut down on the conflicts between children over the materials.  Today, though, those dividers are not used to separate children from each other or to reduce conflicts.  Rather, they allow children to focus on what they are doing in a small, walled-off area and at the same time to make novel social connections between the small, walled-off areas.

Today, I expect conflicts in the classroom.  I do not shy away from them.  When they arise, I use them as opportunities for learning how to handle emotionally charged situations.  Take a look at this picture I took just two weeks ago in my classroom and then posted on my blog on Closed Cardboard Chutes.

Someone might think that Caleb is hoarding both the pellets and the containers. When I saw Caleb filling and arranging the containers, though, I thought he was engaged in some serious work that takes all kinds of skills such as persistence and balance.  Another, younger child came along and started to take one of Caleb's containers.  Caleb did not like it and he yelled out: "Hey!  don't take that."  Of course, that did not deter the other child.  Viola!  We have a conflict.

My first reaction was not to tell Caleb he had to share.  Nor was it to tell the other child to stop taking Caleb's containers.   Before I was to lend my weight to help resolve the conflict, I wanted to make sure that they each had a part in resolving said conflict.  I also wanted to protect Caleb's work because I was impressed by his industriousness.

The first thing I did was to tell the younger child to ask Caleb if he could play with him.  Since the younger child was not as verbal, I helped him ask Caleb, but Caleb was having none of it.   For me, that is ok.  The younger boy then took another one of Caleb's containers.  Again Caleb yelled at him to stop.  Then I told the other child to ask Caleb if he could have a container.  Again, since the younger child was not as verbal, I immediately turned to Caleb and told him the other child wanted a container and asked him if there was a container he could have.  Almost immediately, Caleb looked over his store of containers and actually handed one of them to the other child.   Viola! No conflict.

If I were to tell Caleb to share, he knows exactly what that means and it does not mean share.  Rather, it  means give it to the other child.  Through experience with adults telling him to share, the child knows the adult is now telling him to hand it over.  It is no wonder children put up a fuss when adults tell them to share.  Sharing is an action that comes from the inside, not an action that is forced from the outside.  When I pointed out that the other child would like one of his containers, Caleb now had a real choice.  Given the choice, he accommodated to the other child's wishes and willingly shared---in the true sense of the word.

Not all conflicts are so easily settled; some take much more work and negotiation. By going through the process of each child having a part in resolving the conflict, they begin to gain the necessary social and emotional tools to settle conflicts on their own.  Not a bad skill to have in life.