Salad Spinner Art!

It's been raining here....constantly.

For 3 weeks, I think we have seen the sun twice.

That's not normal Texas weather... not that Texas weather is ever normal I suppose.

When dreary days keep you stuck indoors, you have to find some activities to break free from the gray and bring some sunshine back into your day.

Salad spinner art is the perfect rainy day activity!

Thank goodness for Mother Goose Time and this STEAM activity, because it put some much needed color back into our gray day.  And it was all stuff I already had right here at home!

All you need is:

• salad spinner (check thrift stores)
• paint (we used fingerpaint)
• small paper plates (or cut paper)

We learned so much through trial and error during this STEAM activity.

We learned where to place the paint to get the best coverage of the plate and about color theory.

Here's my girl in action:

Plate 1

Plate 1 Results

Plate 2

Plate 3- starting the paint in the center produces more plate coverage.

Are they not beautiful or what?!

The bottom is plate 1, the middle is plate 2, and the top is plate 3.

We did about 17 more plates that day.

Then more the next day until we ran out of paint.

She (and I) loved this activity. 

Not only did we experiment through trial and error about where to place the paint, but we also went over color theory- seeing what colors made what.

Avaleigh could observe how brown was made or green! 

I should have done this with my high school students when studying color theory.

I know kids of all ages would have fun doing this and the results are never exactly the same.  

Older students could even write about their learning and attach the plate to back up their writing.

If I only knew then what I know now.

Seriously....so much fun!

Happy Art Making!!!

   

Preschool Math: "Rocking" Out

We journeyed to Ayers Rock this week.

Have you ever heard of it?  I hadn't until our Mother Goose Time curriculum introduced me to this stunning red rock in Australia.

Using our monthly manipulatives, Avaleigh "rocked" out her math lesson on Ayers Rock day :)

Check out this 20 second video and catch some highlights of our day!

So much of math is understanding abstract concepts.

In order to make it concrete, especially for young learners, you need to use manipulatives.

Each month, we receive a new set of manipulatives in our box, and this month it was little colored game people (with smiley faces!)  Avaleigh used these people and a bowl turned upside down to help her reenact what her math card stated.  

Each card was about hikers doing something with the rock.  Some hiked, some went around, and some even left.  By reenacting the scenario on the card, Avaleigh was practicing adding and subtracting just through playing!

By incorporating the rock (bowl), Avaleigh also practiced prepositional phrases 

(around the rock; to the top; ect) and moved her game pieces accordingly.

Below you can see how she started taking her  manipulatives and making them go home.

I was really impressed with her math skills!

The manipulatives make such a difference.  

If I asked her what 5 minus 4 was, she would NEVER be able to tell me 1.  However by bringing out the manipulatives and actually acting out the problem, she could tell me 1 and understand why.

At this age, it's all about teachers and parents making math concrete and 

kids can do so much if we just give them the opportunities.

What are some of your favorite manipulatives?

Have fun learning this week!