FACEBOOK

A couple of months ago I got an email from an Australian fellow named Alec Duncan from Child's Play Music, an excellent blog about bringing music into schools using homemade instruments. He strongly encouraged me to create a Facebook page for this blog.  He offered a lot of good information about setting up a page and for that, and the nudge, I have to thank him.

I have been mulling the prospect of setting up a Facebook page ever since.  My tech-savy daughter is visiting this weekend, so I asked here to help me set it up.   She did---thank you, Ester--- and as you can see from the new gadget on the right, the Sand and Water Tables blog is now on Facebook. Check it out here: Facebook.

And if you like it, Like it.

I will be back next week with a legitimate post about play and exploration at the sensory table.

WHY?

When I look over pictures and videos I have taken of the children working in and around an apparatus at the sensory table, I often ask: "Why is the child doing that particular operation?"  I found myself doing that a lot with the new apparatus, Pegboard Platform.

Why does a child feel compelled to methodically cover the platform with sand even though that takes a lot of time and work?

It may be hard to see from the picture, but almost the entire pegboard is covered with sand. The child's arm is in the foreground as she pours from a scoop onto the platform.  She only has a small bit left to cover just above the blue of the scoop.

Why do some children feel compelled to completely clear the pegboard of sand by sweeping it with their hands?  Or pound on it?  Or pour sand down the tube?

Sweeping the Pegboard from Thomas Bedard on Vimeo.

Why does a child transport rocks and sand from the bottom of the table to a measuring cup on the platform?  And why does he decide to pour the contents of the measuring cup down the nearest tube?  

Transferring the Sand from One Level to the Next and Back Again from Thomas Bedard on Vimeo.

Why does a child start at one end of the table to scoop sand into a tiny scoop and then walk to an adjacent side of the table to empty the tiny scoop into a measuring cup?  And why does he do it two more times?  Why does he decide to check the red scoop and then empty the contents into the measuring cup?  Why does he start spinning the cup after checking the level of sand in the cup?

Using a Tiny Scoop from Thomas Bedard on Vimeo.

Why is it possible for children to work so effortlessly together on a mutually agreed project that involves multiple steps?

Chugging the Bottle of Sand from Thomas Bedard on Vimeo.

Why?  First we need to understand that children think by doing.  One action seems to lead to another action which in turns leads to another action and so on.  The result is a flow of operations that is an interplay between the actions(thoughts) of the individual child or group of children, the available tools, and the features of the apparatus.  That flow changes the nexus of the question from me to the child.  It also changes the question from me asking "Why?" to the child posing the query "Why not?" 

PEGBOARD PLATFORM - LEVEL 2

Last week I introduced a Pegboard Platform.  After building this, I still had pegboard and tubes left over, so I decided to take the apparatus to another level---literally.  By that I mean, I added a second platform over the first.

Because the top platform is narrower, a piece of wood is attached to the bottom to make it more rigid so it can bear the weight of the sand.  This top platform is propped nine inches above the first platform by two longer tubes. One of these longer tubes sits between two shorter tubes at one end of the table.  This tube has a notch for each platform and is taped to the end of the table for stability.  Because the top platform is longer than the bottom platform, the second tube stands alone in the middle of the table and only has a notch for the top platform.  To make the second taller tube stable, it is taped to a piece of wood that spans the width of the table.  

Here is another view of the apparatus that better shows the difference in width between the two platforms.  It also gives you an idea of how the top platform and the bottom platform are wedged into the taller, middle tube on the end.

And a view from the other side shows the hole cut in the bottom of the larger tube.  Again, that provides an outlet for the sand the children WILL feel compelled to pour into the tube.

By the way, the red bucket hanging from the lip of the table is a recent find at a farm and fleet store in town.  It is a feeding bucket for animals.  It also works great as a pail into which the children can transport the sand and other objects.

It is useful to analyze this apparatus in terms of the dimensions and elements listed in the right-hand column of the blog.  Number one talks about orientation.  This apparatus actually has two orientations on which the children operate.  The platforms are horizontal and the tubes are vertical. Number two states that levels are important to children to understand space.  In this apparatus, there are at least three levels: the top platform, the bottom platform, and the bottom of the table. Number three talks about spaces that are open or closed.  This apparatus is a very open and airy. Number four talks about creating spaces.  The apparatus creates many spaces over, under, around and through.  Number five states that children need to put things in holes. This apparatus has two types of holes: the small holes of the pegboard and the larger holes of the tubes.

The purpose of analyzing is to see how complex the space is.  The space is only complex upon analysis.  What a child sees is an inviting place on which to operate.  More complex spaces foster a larger variety of operations that are both more complex and are particular to the apparatus.

Children can operate on spaces that are on different vertical and horizontal planes---all at the same time.

The simple act of scooping sand from the bottom of the table now becomes an exercise in working around obstacles and barriers.

The simple act of pouring is becomes a cascade to follow with your eyes and feel with your hands.

Pouring through two Platforms from Thomas Bedard on Vimeo.

And some operations are fostered directly by the apparatus.  For example, a horizontal plane promotes a different type of operation than a vertical plane.

Rubbing the Platform with a Tin Cup from Thomas Bedard on Vimeo.

Children do not shy away from complexity if they can physically explore it.  For them it is a stage for experimentation that frame a continuing sense of wonder.

PEGBOARD PLATFORM

I was walking through a big hardware store in January and saw some pegboard on sale.  I have never made anything with pegboard, but I was fascinated by all the uniform holes so evenly spaced.  The fascination turned into a desire to make something with the pegboard.  The result was a Pegboard Platform.

The Pegboard Platform consists of a piece of pegboard held up by four cardboard tubes that serve as legs. As you can see, the dimensions for the platform are slightly narrower than the sand table and half as long.  The tubes are cut so the pegboard rests nine inches above the lip of the table. Notchers are cut near the top of each tube so each corner of the pegboard fits inside.  The pegboard is sturdy enough that there is no need for support across its length or width.  There is also a hole cut in the bottom of each of the tubes so when children pour sand down the tubes---and they will---it has an outlet.

As you can see from the picture above, the tubes are duct taped to the sides of the table.  The pegboard corners, however, are not duct taped in place.  The notches are narrow enough so the corners fit in snugly.  To tell you the truth, I was a little surprised at how well this stayed up with a minimal amount of taping.

The Pegboard Platform transforms the sand table in at least three ways.  It provides a surface above the table on which the children can work.

It also creates a space under the platform for the children to explore.

(If you are very industrious, you can work both above the platform and below the platform at the same time.)

Finally, the tubes provide holes for the children to put things in.  The tubes make deep vertical holes that are an irresistible draw for children.

I do not use the word cool very much in this blog, but after setting up the apparatus and then pouring sand onto the pegboard, something really cool happened on three levels.  On the top level, the level of the pegboard, sand slowly sifted through the holes and left a pattern that we all thought looked like a waffle.  On the sand in the table, another pattern was formed consisting of little mounds of sands of differing heights.  Mirror patterns?

The third level of cool was the space under the pegboard.  What happened that was so cool in that space?  The pattern of the sand as it fell through the holes.

The children thought it looked like rain.  Did I say it was cool?

p.s.  Greg at Males in Early Childhood interviewed me via email and posted the interview.  We all like to tell our stories and Greg gave me a chance to tell a little bit of my story.  Thanks Greg. And while you're there, check out his other posts.  He is a dedicated early childhood teacher from Australia and cares deeply about children.

ROCKS, STICKS, LITTLE DINOSAURS, AND CLEAR PLASTIC TUBES

I like to bring natural elements into the classroom.  Here are four previous posts that feature natural elements: Wooden Tray and Rocks, Sticks and Stones, Swamp II, and Gems, Sticks, and Stones.  I present to you another post that features natural elements: rocks and sticks.  Since I had just finished with Snow Tubes, I decided to keep the clear plastic tubes in the table plus add some little dinosaurs.

The thing about loose materials like the rocks and dinosaurs and various utensils is that they often all get dumped into the table at once.  I guess there should be a second corollary to Axiom #1 on the right-hand column of this blog.  That corollary would read: Children will transport all the loose items provided for play into the table---in very short order.  Actually this operation is important to realize because often we put our own aesthetic on what is really the children's endeavor.

The children, of course, filled the tubes with sand.

Dinosaurs also fit into the tubes nicely.

Rocks did, too, but not all of them.

Three very interesting pursuits from the week are worth noting that demonstrate the ingenuity and wonder children can experience during non-scripted play at the sensory table.

The first was a realization that sand can flow like water making what looks like a waterfall.

SAND FLOW from Thomas Bedard on Vimeo.

Did you hear a second boy say there were three [sand flows]?

The second pursuit happened when I asked a child to move the tube so when he poured sand into it, the sand that missed would not end up on the floor.

I thought it was a reasonable request.  He tried pouring the sand with the tube over the table.

For some reason, though, he did not like the tube in that position.  I think it cramped his pouring style. So he insisted that the tube face the original way.  To my surprise, he also had his own solution for the sand dropping on the floor: put the bucket under the tube.

This episode reminds me of the boss who told his employees that if they came to him with a complaint, they also had to come with a solution to the problem.  This young three-year-old is way ahead of the game.  Imagine the difference in the outcome if I had insisted the tube stay over the table.  We were both happy with the solution and I am sure he felt empowered.

The last pursuit was really an experiment.  A child stuck his hand and part of his arm into one of the clear tubes.  He examines his hand in the tube and then decides to use the tube as an extension of his hand by scooping up the sand with the tube and lifting it in the air so the sand would fall down into his hand.  He was a little surprised at first and proud of what he discovered. Then he proceeded to take a larger and larger scoop of sand with the tube before removing his hand from the tube.  Watch especially how he tracts the sand as he lifts the end of the tube up and the sand falls into his hand and imagine what he must be feeling both in terms of physical sensations and sense of agency. 

HAND IN THE TUBE from Thomas Bedard on Vimeo.

Looks like a future engineer to me.

Early in the post, I mentioned the chaos in the table when everything gets dumped into the table. I also said that adult aesthetic is not a child's aesthetic.   I did not mean to imply that they do not have a sense of aesthetics. The children get the last word today with their sense of beauty using natural elements.

   

CONFLICT AT THE SENSORY TABLE - PART II

I did a presentation on sand and water tables at the Minnesota state early childhood conference two weeks ago.  The questions that surfaced during the presentation were good and have forced me to reflect on my practice.

The first question was: "How do I regulate play at the sensory table?"  The answer is that I do very little regulating of play at the sensory table.  A more detailed account of my thinking on this issue can be found on a post entitled: Self-Regulaton at the Sensory Table.

The second question was: "How do I handle conflict at the sensory table?"  When I thought about it, I thought the question had to be broken into two parts.  The first part has to do with prevention. Instead of calling it prevention, though, I think of it as setting the children up for success. Basically there are three components to this.  1) Create an intriguing space that allows the children to feel like agents in the play and exploration.  2) Before any intervention, listen and observe the children in their interactions and don't be afraid to allow some physical contact between the children.  3)  Encourage and recognize acts of kindness among the children.  To read more, go to last week's post: Conflict at the Sensory Table - Part I.  By setting the children up for success, conflict is greatly minimized.

Believe it or not, sometimes conflict still arises.  Looking back at previous posts, I actually found one that addressed part of the issue.  Again it arose from a question at a conference presentation about what do I do about children who hoard.  The gist of the post is that adults have this thing about asking---usually demanding---that children share.  The problem is that an adult using this language does not mean share. The adult is really asking the child to take turns.  What it sounds like to a child, though, is give the other child the thing he is playing with.  In other words, give it up.  Is it any wonder that children do not want to share?

The problem is not one of hoarding, but one of having some control over one's work.  If the child feels in control of his actions and his materials, he is perfectly willingly to be kind and generous to reasonable and courteous requests.   I am constantly amazed at how kind and generous they are given the chance.  The original post was entitled: Question from Conference about Hoarding.

There is one conflict I will always remember at the sensory table because of its intensity and because of the eventual solution.  Let me set the stage.  A child with limited English language is at the sensory table and has collected all the vehicles.  We will call him Greg, which is not his real name.  Several other children are asking to have a vehicle.  As the children become more insistent about wanting a vehicle, Greg becomes more protective of all the vehicles and even starts to scream when others try to get one.  The assistant teacher tries to mediate by asking Greg to share.  That does not work.  There is a teaching intern in the room and she also tries to get Greg to share.  Both the assistant and intern are very reasonable pointing out that Greg has so many vehicles and the others have none.

Things are now very loud and the situation is escalating.  I am in an adjacent area of the room with children working on an art project.  I ask the assistant to take over for me and I decide to have a go at resolving the conflict.  As I am walking over to the table, I have no idea what I am going to do because the things I usually try have already been tried by the assistant and the intern.  I would usually say to the children who wanted a truck to ask Greg for a truck.  I would then coach Greg saying so-and-so would like a truck and you have so many.  Which one do you think he could have?

As I get to the table, I see a boy with his arms wrapped desperately around all the vehicles ready to defend them with his life.  In a way, he looks like he is cornered and scared.  In a split second, I decide to organize the other children into a pouring and mixing activity.  When I do that, I position myself between Greg and the other children and we give Greg some room and forget about the vehicles for the moment.   What happened next astounded me.  Within a minute of starting this new activity, Greg came over to each of the children and gave them one of his vehicles.

I have thought about this conflict and its resolution often in the intervening years.  As the adult power figure, I could have made Greg give up a vehicle or two and he still would have had plenty. By not making him hand over vehicles, though, he felt less threatened and willingly gave away his vehicles on his own terms in a way we all appreciated.  We felt good and he felt good.

Conflicts in the classroom are inevitable.  For me and the children, they are learning opportunities. Some conflicts are more intense than others and need more adult intermediation.  In my experience, some conflicts do not get resolved and will live to surge another day.  One of the objectives always has to be to protect the more vulnerable and give them a voice in the solution. Even those who seem less vulnerable need to feel a part of a mutually beneficial solution.

There is no formula for resolving conflicts.  There is only respectful engagement from which we all learn to negotiate, accommodate, and cooperate.

CONFLICT AT THE SENSORY TABLE - Part I

I did a presentation on sand and water tables at the Minnesota state early childhood conference a little over a week ago.  One of the questions that arose was: How do I regulate play at the sensory table?  My answer can be found on a post titled SELF-REGULATION AT THE SENSORY TABLE.

That question was followed up by another, related question:  How do I deal with conflicts at the table?  I said---a little too flippantly---that there are no conflicts at the sensory table.  Of course, that is not true, so what do I really do?

The first thing I do is set up the environment.  That means building the apparatus. What that does is create complex and intriguing spaces that invite many types of play and exploration.  That allows the children to be agents in their most important endeavor: transporting.  (See axiom #1 in the right-hand column.)  And since they can do it constructively in a variety of ways, they negotiate and accomodate with others with little or no prompts.  Take a look at the video below showing children interacting in a complex and intriguing space and pay special attention to the three boys at the beginning of the video who, without conflict, are essentially operating in the same space.

PLAYING IN THE BOXES from Thomas Bedard on Vimeo.

Here is an example of three children taking from the same tray almost at the same time with no conflict. The spaces---and levels, in this instance---allow them to take from the same tray and transport to another space within the apparatus.

If I have not convinced you to this point, maybe a comment from a teacher who attended the presentation I did at the Wisconsin early childhood conference in the fall of 2011 may sway you.

The Happy MongooseJanuary 2, 2012 at 11:37 AM

I was fortunate enough to see your presentation at the WECA conference last fall and you have completely changed my approach to sensory tables! My sensory table (in a small space) now incorporates an elevated bin, a floor bin, and a five gallon bucket. I've started building outside of the table with boxes, tubes, and copious amounts of duct tape. It has drastically improved my classroom! I no longer limit the number of students playing there and it always works great with very little arguing and lots of teamwork. I will be taking the idea of branches since they have been having so much fun building with plastic tubes!

The second thing I do is make sure I am not misinterpreting instances of physical or verbal contact between children as conflict.  I wait, observe, and try to read the children's faces and body language. Watch the video below to see what I mean.  Children are transferring pellets from a section of the table partitioned by Cardboard Dividers.  The boy in orange will give the boy in stripes a couple of body shoves.  

Pellet Pouring from Thomas Bedard on Vimeo.

I watched and waited during this little incident to see if it would escalate.  It never did.  In the process, these children were learning about negotiating space, which is not always done verbally, but can also happen physically.  I do not subscribe to the rule I often hear in early childhood classrooms that children need to keep their  hands and bodies to themselves.  At this age, children are all about hand and body contact.   They learn to regulate their contact in real time in real contexts.  If I try to micro-manage all the physical contact that happens in the room, the children would not learn and I would drive myself crazy.

The third thing I do is to encourage and recognize Act of Kindness.  How is that done?  When I see a child needs help, I will ask another child if he can help him.   In the video below, I have asked the bigger child to help the younger child get the spoon out of the table.  He readily complies and even says: "Here you go."  The other child does not have much language, but his nonverbal reaction sure says thank you.  

HELP GETTING THE SPOON OUT from Thomas Bedard on Vimeo.

Also, when I see a child being generous to another child, I make sure I let her know that what she did was very kind.  In the picture below, one child gives another child a water bead the second child has been coveting.  I made sure to tell the giver that it was really kind of her to find---and then to give---the coveted water bead the to other child.

With those three things, 95% of contact and interaction around the table is a non-starter in terms of conflict. 

So what about the other 5%?  That is Part II for next week's post.