The Conveyor belt Project

The twins were playing with their tricycles yesterday and suddenly they put their trikes upside down and started rotating the pedals giggling heavily.
"What are you doing?"
"We are moving the ducks."
"Ducks? What ducks?"
"Like George!"

I thought for a second and then it struck me. They are mimicking Curious George from TV. In one of the episodes, Curious George builds a conveyor belt system to help his friend Allie to get better at a bean bag throwing game at a fair.
The conveyor system looked like this.

Looking at their enthusiasm, I asked "Would you like to build the system like George?"

They got very excited.

I provided them with a elastic band I had in hand and they threaded it around the wheels. 

"How are you going to join the ends of this band?"

"TAPE!!" 

Scotch tape has been our universal go getter to bond anything in our house nowadays.

So I gave them the tape and they taped the ends of band.

Now for the ducks, Shrini tried to draw ducks and Sid cut small pieces of cardstock claiming them as ducks. They stuck the ducks to the belt with tape.

Now, time for testing. We faced many problems.

1. The tape to join the ends of band didn't work. We had to think of plan B. When asked what other option they have Shrini asked me to pin the ends. It worked better.

2. The ducks didn't stick well to the belt. But it didn't bother them much. They kept on taping it again as they fell.

3. The belt(band) did not stay on the wheels. It kept sliding out so much that the frustration levels were increasing. Shrini then taped the band to the wheels and it worked better.

4. They were moving the wheels when rotating the pedals and it caused the band to come off.

Here is a short video of the conveyor belt working.

Such a seemingly simple system and yet so much of trouble shooting and fixing. They also explored different ideas like 

What would happen when you rotate both wheels in different directions?

Can you keep the system going by rotating only one wheel?

Though the idea is not original, I loved that they learnt persistence, patience, trouble shooting and of all a big idea that you can build something by watching TV!

Their eyes were gleaming with a sense of accomplishment and mine with pride :)

Our Music and Sound Inquiry continues...

In Inquiry based learning, the learning is not steady paced. Instead, it ebbs and flows along with the interest of children. Our Music and Sound exploration has been our favorite and longest running inquiry till date. How do I know if the kids have temporarily paused an interest in a topic or they have completely moved on to a different subject? I observe their talks and play to know their interests.
I set up provocations like the xylophone exploration, water xylophone exploration or making musical instruments to see if they are willing to take their explorations further.

We have been listening to Vivaldi's Four Seasons Violin concertos frequently.

"How do you feel when you listen to this music?" I asked. They responded with feelings of happiness and sadness. They could relate the tempo of music with emotions. The faster the tempo, Sid said "I feel happy". With slow tempo he said he felt sad whereas Shrini said "I am happy but I think the Violin is sad!".

We have started discussions on compositions and composers. Sid asks "Is composer a conductor?"
I am trying to find right kind of resources to explore more on this topic with them. This inquiry may be slow paced but I love that the interest sustains and hope to update more on this soon. 

Integrating Music and Pattern Inquiries

" Even the youngest children have the potential to inherently respond to music and the mathematical constructs it contains."

I recently came across this article on The Patterns of Music which talks about importance of exposure to music at early years to support developing mathematical concepts in children from infancy to 5 years of age. Coincidentally the twins' teacher also suggested to get them a xylophone at home to practice music. So I did and took this as an opportunity to let them make the connection between music and pattern inquiries.

Xylophone exploration:
    I presented the xylophone with color coded music sheet for playing "Twinkle Twinkle little star". To my surprise, Shrini very quickly caught on the concept of playing according to the notes. Very soon she started singing along "Red,Red, Blue,blue, Indigo,Indigo,Blue" to the tune of Twinkle Twinkle little star. Then she observed "Look Mom, it is like AB pattern 2 times".
Here is a short video of her playing the tune the first time.

She also observed that the xylophone had rainbow colors and decided to paint one by herself.

We are now planning to explore what patterns we can find in "Baa Baa black sheep". What fun!!

Can you make Musical Instruments?

Provocation : Random objects

Can you make musical instruments with these objects?

I set up this provocation to check if it would provoke an interest in the mechanics of musical instruments. Here are pictures of what they tried and explored.

Does it make sound when I blow through a ring?

"Hey! This looks like a Tambourine but doesn't make sound when I shake it?"

"This bowl is just a drum."

"This is Not a Straw! This is a drum stick!"

"This foil makes sound when I fold it!"

"Stringing couple of rings makes a chime"

"Look mom! I filled this shaker with water and now shaking it makes sound!"

Number Sequencing

Provocation : Glass gems numerals and a muffin pan
What can you do with these numbers?

I set up this provocation yesterday asking the kids "What can you do with these numbers?" I also presented a chart from 1-20 hoping to give a hint on number sequencing. Sid instantly picked up on the hint and started to arrange the numbers in sequence in each muffin cup. Shrini also helped him pick the numbers he wanted out of the bowl. Soon, they had sequenced numbers from 1-20.

 Then they encountered a gem marked with zero. They both had a brief discussion on where should zero go.  It was not in the chart I had given them.I was curious to see what they conclude and they both agreed to place it after 20.

So much of thinking, team work and decision making process behind such a simple open ended question!
Next, it was Shrini's turn.She quickly filled the muffin cups with a gem each in random order. Then she counted the empty cups and said "Mom, I need 3 more of these (gems) to fill this tray." Yup, that's another way of doing this Math! :)

Simple Provocation: Household Objects

The idea behind this provocation is to encourage the twins to view the world around them in 3D. At first I thought of presenting them a few pictures of buildings such as the Louvre museum, Pisa tower, Egyptian pyramid. However apart from identifying the shapes of those structures, I wasn't sure how far they will take the inquiry further.

I also wanted to present to them the fact that most of the structures are made of multiple three dimensional shapes.

So I printed out a couple of castle images and presented it along with a few household objects.

Here is a snapshot of the provocation that was presented.

Simple Provocation - Household Objects

"Hey! Look at all those shapes!" exclaimed Shrini. I am glad she could perceive those objects as shapes rather than considering them as is.

I showed them the castle images and asked them what do they see. They listed all shapes they could identify. 

"Can you build your own castle?". They happily obliged and here are the snapshots of structures they built.

In the background, Shrini carefully studying the castle image before starting to build hers.

 Tada! Look at my castle!

"No Sid! This castle has a cone. You don't have one"- Shrini. "OK, Here's one with a cone"

Sid trying to balance a cube on top of the funnel. 

"Look Amma! Here is the gate that opens and closes"

"Will it stay or fall?!!" It stayed!

This was the most complex of all structures they could build.

Of course, blowing away the structure is more fun than building it.

Sid and Shrini started enacting the scene from Three little pigs - "Iam going to huff and going to puff and blow your house down!"

They discussed about different shapes, balancing them and wondered why it was easy to blow the cardboard tubes but not wooden cubes. Without a doubt, they had a blast!

The Shopping Project

"I want to go shopping" said Nidhi, "Me too!” joined Sid carrying their Halloween baskets. They just wanted to pretend play. An inquiry on shopping is filled with early learning opportunities. Here is the conversation that happened next.

Me: What do you want to buy?

They: Fruits and vegetables!

Me: Do you have any money?

They: No!

I suggested them to make some money and Nidhi volunteered happily.

She cut paper, drew circles on one side and the corresponding numbers on the other side. She wanted to write the numbers by herself and to my surprise switched to tally marks whenever she couldn't draw the numeral. Sid joined in to paste some stickers for the circles.

Making money

I provided them some fresh fruits and vegetables to set up shop.

"We want shopping list". I wrote a couple of grocery list.

They wanted me to play the role of shopkeeper which I happily accepted. Then they counted, collected the items as per the list, waited for their turn for billing. I billed them and gave receipts. They identified the currency for the amount in the receipt and paid me. This went on for many rounds till I got exhausted and had to announce that the shop is closed.

Collecting items- selecting right amount of money- billing-checking receipt

They also figured out that 'Tomatoes are squishy', 'thin carrots are breakable' and 'Chayote squash is heavier'. In my opinion, they could not have figured these facts out if they were given play food and vegetables.

I was amazed at the amount of learning that happened in the hour of this pretend play. I am listing the learning outcomes below.

1.     Counting practice- counting the items as per the list, counting the dots on money to identify the right amount etc.

2.     Subitizing - speedy recognition of number representations.

3.     Writing skills and reinforcing tally mark.

4.     Fine motor skills - cutting, sticker activities.

5.     Identification and categorization of fruits and veggies.

6.     Learning grace and courtesy - we modeled courteous conversations such as “Thank you for shopping with us", "May I help you!" etc.

7.     Taking turns and learning to wait in line patiently.

Perhaps these outcomes can be achieved by making a real trip to the grocery store but this role play gives chances for repetition, widens their imagination, deepens their confidence and gives a chance to sharpen many skills that may not be part of real life experience.

I can see this project extending in many dimensions like 

1.     An art project to design name and logo for the shop

2.     A math project where simple additions, concepts of pricing, weighing etc. can be introduced

3.     A science project in which various fruits and veggies and their nature are discussed.

What's my learning outcome as a guide/facilitator?

Don't ignore kids when they pretend play. Engage and aid them and be amazed by finding out how much they are capable of learning.

Loose parts play and creativity

"Creativity is the key to success in the future, and primary education is where teachers can bring creativity in children at that level." - Beloved Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam

"Our task regarding creativity, is to help children climb their own mountains, as high as possible. No one can do more" - Loris Malaguzzi

Well, now with these quotes we have established that creativity is important in a child's life, and it is our responsibility to help him/her.

But, how can we help them get creative?

Let them PLAY.

"Almost all creativity involves purposeful play" said Abrahm Maslow.

Just play?

 Yes, just open ended play using open ended materials.

What are open ended materials?

Open ended materials are those which young children use in any way they like within safety limits. There is no “one way” of playing with them. Some examples are crayons, paint, clay, play dough etc.

What are loose parts?

 Loose parts are materials that can be moved, carried, combined, redesigned, lined up, and taken apart and put back together in multiple ways.

For example, twigs, seeds, buckets, buttons, fabric, stones etc.

They can be natural or synthetic.

Looks simple right? It's what our kids play with day in and day out. Here I’m sharing a few of Sid and Nidhi's creations with loose parts. We can see their perception and understanding of some objects (primarily construction vehicles for Sid). 

A flower

A Digger

A Dandelion

A front loader with back hoe

A loader

A Firetruck

A coconut tree

A crane

Tally marks

Scissors (made from bridge parts of wooden train tracks) 

Loris Malaguzzi said in The Hundred languages of children “They(children) are autonomously capable of making meaning from their everyday life experiences through mental acts involving planning, coordination of ideas and abstraction..."

How true!!

Patterns Inquiry - Exploring AB patterns

When I searched for ideas to explore patterns with preschoolers I found many activities using objects in AB pattern and asking questions such as "what comes next?"
I feel such activities lack the big picture. I like these cute activities and they are useful for reinforcing the concept of patterns but not to introduce patterns. what would children think while doing them? My guess is that they are thinking "why do I have to use only these objects? Why do I have to even line them up? Why do I have to follow this particular pattern?" Do these cute activities have an answer for these queries?

These activities miss the big picture! The exploration should answer questions that will make sense to their little minds.

How can we introduce patterns? Through the world around us. Point out when you encounter patterns in real life. Here are few examples
Up/down motion of swings or teeter totter
Opening and closing a faucet/ door
Tick tock of clock...

This thought process got me the idea of utilizing Sid and Shrini's excitement about Halloween celebration. Everyday this week they have woken up with anticipation of it being Halloween.
So I set up a simple provocation.

Simple Provocation - Day and Night picture cards

I laid out a few photo cards of day and night images. The idea was to let them predict Halloween day. I setup the provocation on Thursday.

First, the kids sorted the day and night pictures.  I asked some questions to assess their prior knowledge such as Why do you think this is day/ night? Why are nights dark? What difference do you notice in the sky?
Soon I figured out that they were confusing time of day with day of week. So I simplified the questions.
What comes after day?
What comes after night?
Quickly they figured that day and night alternate forming an AB pattern.
Now they look out for patterns almost everywhere. This evening Shrini coughed in rhythmic hi/lo fashion and exclaimed "See mom! My cough was like ABAB!" :)
Here is a short video of Shrini working with the picture cards.

Can you share your ideas for real life pattern exploration?