Touch
I tried to think of a cutesy title for today’s blog but I got nothin’. Today we explored our 5th sense which was touch. We touch things all day that are hard, soft , smooth , and rough. Littles don’t always have the words to explain what it is they are feeling past hot or cold.
One of the new materials we put out today was a ” feely box.” There were 5 items placed in the box and the children would stick their hands in and try to guess what they were feeling without looking.
We also played a 5 senses BINGO game. The BINGO card had different items on it like a dog, skunk, binoculars or cake and when I would call out a ” sense ” like hearing they would find something on their card you could hear. Is that is clear as mud ? Moving along ….
The exciting part of our day was not embedded in our lesson plan . Honestly, it rarely is. When Pax’s mom came to do a workout with the kids she brought four small tires. She left them here for us. It has been fun to watch the littles interact with them. Even small things like figuring out how to move them from one place to another. At first they would drag them. Eventually, one of them decided to try to roll the tire. They also played a game we will call ” hide the friend” in the tire. They worked together as a group to lift the tires and stack them while a friend patiently waited inside the ring of tires. There were times that one child would have a different idea about what direction the play would go and they would have to work it out. So much learning and problem solving going on with these tires. I am excited to see what they do with them next week.
Activities like this are important outside. Running, jumping, skipping , hopping, throwing are all important to the littles for many different reasons . As they are given more opportunities for free play outside ( where most gross motor takes place ) their competency grows. Just today I wanted Naomi peddle up the small hill on the trike path that she has been stuck on since school started. Early in the year someone would have to push her over the challenging spot. Next she started using her feet to push herself and then today she did it. ! She used the pedals on the trike to move up the hill. She was so proud.
Malia has fallen off the hoppy balls more times that I can count. Today I heard ” Look Debbie, I do it. ” She was bouncing and balancing herself on the hoppy ball all the way around the path. She did it. Watching the littles grow and their gross motor skills strengthen is a wonderful process to watch.
And we did month two self portraits. This is a REALLY good one for a 1st year pre-k boy. 🙂
