Lately he's been playing really well on his own. He can go for a long time without needing me - which is good for sooo many reasons but also a sign that he is growing up too fast! So, I give him space but I sit down with him for a few minutes here and there to talk and give him a chance to tell me what he's doing, and maybe work through any problems he's having.
In my Kindergarten classroom I've really embraced the idea of loose parts. I know it's something that teachers have been doing forever - spare buttons, popsicle sticks, corks, stones, etc - but now there is a ton of literature that really supports loose parts being a daily part of the classroom. Since there is no prescribed way to play with these objects, it's really up to the kids to use their imagination and creativity.
The dollar store is a great place to start if you're looking to make a collection of loose parts. That's where I found the materials we used today. Personally, I like my loose parts to be made from natural materials, but if I come across something really great I make an exception.
Supplies: colored popsicle sticks, colored wooden blocks
In my classroom I only have the plain wood sticks and blocks but I thought Monkey might like these better.
Monkey immediately started stacking up the blocks. Blocks are something he is familiar with so this didn't surprise me.
It's harder when the blocks are the same size as his finger tips. But he started to get the idea.
I sat down with him for a few minutes and encouraged him to continue with the combination of blocks and sticks that he had built in front of his knee in the photo above.
Here's what we came up with together.
As we built I used vocabulary like sturdy and stable. Also, I love him so much when he wants to colour coordinate things. He gets that from me :)
After we built the tower he wanted to make a race track for his cars. (Big surprise - oh wait, no.) So I told him to go grab one of his Lightning McQueen books so he could look at the race track and build it.
With some help, this is what he made.
And he added some of his cars for a race.
This part of the activity kept him entertained the longest. He moved his cars one by one around the track in their race over and over again.
We've pulled out the popsicle sticks a few more times already to build his race track, which he can now do by himself.
Mar
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