11.18.2008

Cornstarch, Watercolors, and more Visitors!

Highlights of our day

I'm SO pleased with how well the children are doing with our 'structured' handwashing routine now (since licensing will require them to be with me at all times). The children sit nicely in the hallway and wait for their turn, while I'm guiding in the restroom. After they wash their hands, they each go back and sit in the hallway, until we're all finished! If you haven't seen them already, take a look at the pic Melanie took yesterday of them waiting (posted a couple below this post).

Gwen brought in a book, Bunny's Noise Book, to share with the group today. Today was also Gwen's first day to transition to a full day at Casa T. She took nap here and did wonderful!! If you haven't seen it, there's a pic full of sweetness below this post.


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Visitors
Che and his Mama, Gale, came to visit the Casa today and were able to enjoy and partake in our art exploration. Thanks for stopping by to play!


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Art
In this exploration, the children experienced the magical creation of color. I introduced the children to the materials. The eyedroppers, we've used before, yet, several of the kiddies are still working on figuring out this tool. I demonstrated putting the eyedropper in the water (red, blue, and yellow). Squeezing--and letting go. Showed them how the water goes in! Then lifted it out of the cup and squeezed again--the water comes out. Demonstrated and coached the children to move the water from the cups to the mixing tray. Then the children dove into their experimentation. It wasn't after long that one kiddo realized it would be easier for him to pour the entire cup of colored water into the tray, rather than using the eyedropper. Several others followed suit soon after!

After they explored the water for a good stretch of time, I brought cornstarch in bowls. Some children used spoons to add cornstarch to their mixing trays, others used their hands. We talked about the texture of cornstarch (smooth, silky, lush and soft), and noticed some of their trays had thick, lighter colored liquid than before. Before long, we had a big glob of cornstarch on the table. We noticed that yellow and blue make green, and blue and red make purple! There are many more experiments we're going to be doing with cornstarch. Who would have known such a simple ingredient would lend itself to many opportunities of discovery.


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Gratitude
We now have 2 new puzzles--the Leaf and the Tree puzzle! Our botany puzzle collection is complete now.

A *heartfelt* thank you to Mama Melissa for donating these to the Casa!! The children LOVE them! =)

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P.S. *YOGA*

Yoga starts next week! Krista had a conflict on her calendar for today, so our official start day is next Tuesday.

2 comments:

gingeronni said...

the cornstarch and colored water is so simple -- and yet so smart!

Melissa said...

Love the cornstarch experiments. The colored water is a masterful addition! It's such a weird, cool material to mess around with.

Gwen was so excited that ya'll read Bunny's Noisy Book. On the way home she told me all about it. "Mama T READ book. Bunny book! Bunny no open eyes." It made quite the impression, I can tell you.