Fun with Light: Overhead Projector

Sweet Pea is about to turn 2 later this month!  Where has the time gone?  As she continues to grow, I have been researching more and more about Reggio Emilia and Montessori methods of teaching. I taught public school for 8 years and that is what this blog has mainly been about.  But now as I have been stepping back from public school teaching and learning more and more about motherhood, I am getting just as excited as Sweet Pea in learning how to best approach teaching her.  

Some things I know about my girl... 

• she is quite cautious- she won't really try anything new unless she's seen someone do it or someone is playing along side her
• she is very neat- she likes to put everything back in its place.  It is very rare that she will just leave stuff out.  (she did NOT get this from me)  
• she likes to stay clean- smash cake?! I think not... she just poked a hole with one finger in the same spot the entire time.  

I say all that because I thought playing with light would be right up her alley!  She can experiment without getting dirty, things aren't going to spring out of no where, and she has control of the play.  Anyone else have a little one like that?  So here's what I did...

Firtst, I cut some dividers I had just laying around in a binder.  I cut the pockets off so that I could cut shapes from them and use them on the projector.
             

I first set out the projector and let Sweet Pea explore the machine while it was still off.  I asked her if she knew what I should do with the plug and she walked over to the outlet.  After turning the projector on, she explored a little with being able to adjust where the light went, but she was all about putting something on the light.

I remembered that I had purchased some colorful circles for light play a while back, found those and placed them on the light.  Sweet Pea's response: "Whoa, Momma!" Gotta love it!

 She grabbed some of the circles, ran to the wall, and matched them to others!  So much fun!   But then she remembered that she could adjust where the light went, and then she really had some fun. Sweet Pea giggled as the colors were on the ceiling, crawled and danced with the colors on the floor, and played with them against the wall.  My heart melted the entire time.  

Hopefully, we will continue to explore playing with light throughout the rest of this week.  I can't wait!  What are some things you have done to play with light?

This post has been linked to The Gathering Place week 182 on 1+1+1=1 and amazing site for all things to do with Tots and Preschoolers!