January 20-22

STEM: Fake Snow for Sensory Play

This week in STEM we made snow! The children followed the recipe to mix the conditioner and baking soda to just the right consistency to make what felt just like snow. It was even cold! This sensory experience brought lots of excitement and conversation about how the material felt and what the children could do and make with it. Sensory exploration is a big part of our classroom and for young children overall. These sensory experiences are a child’s way of examining, discovering, categorizing, and making sense of the world, and it’s beneficial to provide them with opportunities for sensory play. Playing with different types of textures, tastes, and objects helps children build new ways of talking about the world which builds language skills. Sensory play often involves using and building fine motor skills by exploring things using pinching, pouring, and lacing movements. Children’s little hands explore various fascinating materials, allowing their brains to receive and analyze a wealth of information. 

After reading the book "The Snow Thief," the children gathered at the table to create their own snow. They identified all of the ingredients and took turns adding and stirring. As the snow developed they made snowballs, snowmen and snow creations!

This next Exploratory Play experience kicked off another snow exploration in our class. The children used their senses and curiosity to explore, manipulate and sort small and large popsicle sticks. As they worked with the materials, they naturally began to create with them. They were excited to share their creations with each other and explain how they created each one using both types of sticks!

Popsicle stick explorations:

Quinn - a bridge for the people

Lucas - three shapes ~ triangle, square, rectangle

Michael - the letter L

Abby - a bridge

Kyleigh - helping Abby make a bridge 

Violet - a playground

Aira - letter A

Elle - popsicle

Popsicle Stick Snowflakes

Continuing with our snow theme, we read the book "Snow" and examined the different types of snowflakes. We then moved back to the table and used the popsicle sticks to create the different snowflakes on the template cards. This experience required hand-eye coordination and dexterity, and the children naturally incorporated math by counting their sticks and comparing the sizes. As they worked they discussed the look of the different snowflakes and how many small and large sticks were needed. As they finished some began to attempt to create their own snowflakes, translating the task to a more creative and open-ended one using the skills they just acquired and practiced.