Today was a beautiful day...we went outside, and as usual, I made a trip to the "outdoor" bin, which I use to keep instruments, chalk, watering cans, Frisbees, balls, squirt bottles, bean bags, streamers, the parachutes, garden tools, plastic dress up clothes, and more. I rotate the items in no particular order...Sometimes things come out with a special request, other times the children seek out their favorite items on their own.
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| Fun with recycled packaging materials...as you can see, the children used it to create a train! |
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| Role playing is just as important outdoors, as in. |
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| Here you see a glimpse of the one of our outdoor bins in the background. |
Last week was
Box week, and after the box had finally fallen apart, the children pulled it over the slanted tree, and made a "tree fort!"
Inspired, today I brought the parachute out to drape over the slanted tree as a tent, but it was just too windy. The parachute started to fly, and I attached it to a branch to stabilize it. Naturally, the children couldn't resist running and jumping underneath it.
I started asking some open-ended questions...
"What's do you think is making the parachute fly?"
"Which way do you think the wind is blowing...how do you know?"
...and then I let go of the parachute, making it flatten into a pencil shape as it was blown by the wind. The children yelled out, "Oh no!" It was the perfect opportunity to have them work those problem-solving skills. I said, "Uh-oh...the parachute fell. I wonder how we can make it fly again...?"
I watched in amazement as the children worked together, solved the problem on their own("We have to pull it!"), and played cooperatively. Marvelous!
Happy playing!
