Plunger Prints

Ooey Gooey Lady Groupie Alert!

I LOVE the Ooey Gooey Lady. Her ideas for the classroom are developmentally appropriate, messy, and FUN. 

Plucked straight out of the Ooey Gooey books, here is an activity that is sure to please, sure to get messy, and sure to be developmentally appropriate:
Plunger Prints.
Don't worry. These were new. I bought them from the dollar store specifically with this project in mind! :)
Do yourself a favor, and do this one outside!

We did ours on a water day.

This was at the tail-end of our school year, so the only paints left were blues, blacks, and browns. The kids didn't seem to mind at all. They were too busy learning a new skill...

...because it takes some serious muscles to pull a wet plunger from a piece of paper with paint on it!
The plunger suctions to the paint, and you can either slide it off, anchor the plate with your foot and pull really hard, or walk around with a paper plate stuck on your plunger. They figured it out eagerly and quickly. I was impressed.

I used logs to hold the paper down. If I could do it again, I would use even more paper, because this was very popular!

See why it's a good idea to do this one outside?

After the paint ran out, I busied myself with taping the paper to the fence to dry (and be displayed). Meanwhile, the boys had filled up a bucket of water, and began cleaning the plungers...

I need to hire these guys to fix my toilet!

Their WHOLE bodies were involved in this activity

The plungers were sparkling clean by the time we went inside.

While the boys were busy cleaning the plungers, we found out that the paper plates had become stuck to the sidewalk. This is pretty typical in hot, dry climates like Arizona. The paint-soaked paper plates dried quickly, and were glued to the pavement. The girls scratched, scratched, and scratched away to get the paper plates off, while I aided them by keeping the area wet (to soften the paper).

Here's what worked: 

This activity is great for building gross motor skills:   

Arms, shoulder and back muscles are needed to push and pull the plungers, and incidentally, these are the same muscles needed for writing. In a way, this activity was a very effective pre-writing exercise!

This activity is a language booster:

  Here we put real meaning to the words, "plunge," "suction," "grip," and "circles." 

It meets Early Learning Standards: 

Making prints with plungers meets the AZ Early Learning Standards by allowing the children to use a variety of writing tools, materials, and surfaces to create marks.

Clean up time was almost more fun than the actual painting:

Clean up time took more time than the actual painting. However, in this case, clean up became almost more fun than the painting, so it worked out. When we were done, I hosed everyone down, and we continued on with our day.

Here's what didn't:

I only had four plungers available for a class of 13. 

Silly Ms. Gina. I should know better by now! If it's possible, try to have one for each child. If the budget doesn't allow for that (these plungers were only a dollar at the dollar store, but they were a part of a larger purchase), try to have at least enough for half of the kids. 

The Paper ended up being blown down by the wind:

 I thought I taped it pretty good, but by the time we came out in the afternoon, that paper was gone. So much for our cool plunger print display! It's times like this that I have to remind myself, "Process, NOT product." The process was enjoyable, and the product...not that important.

  

I forgot to explain what plungers are really meant for BEFORE the activity.
While I put them away on the bathroom shelf, one of the children exclaimed excitedly, "PLUNGERS! THOSE ARE FOR PAINTING!" 

Uh-oh.

Happy playing!  

Posterboard Ramps in the Block Area

Ellie's mom recently donated boxes of poster board remnants and frame corners. We re-used some of the frame corners as picture frames around the room. We used some for collage art. This provided weeks of play.

We barely tapped into the supply, so I added a bunch to the block center: 

One of the kids said, "Ms. Gina, I wish we could paint these!"

I purposely placed longer pieces out to encourage cooperation, which you'll see later on...

Every time a child paints across his/her body, crossing the midline, it increases communication between the left and right sides of the brain. This practice literally grows brain cells!

Here is that cooperation I was hoping for. Giovanni and Braeden share a small space quite well, and when they finish, they proudly tell me, "This is OUR painting, and no one else's!"

I kept waiting to see when they would start mixing colors.

This is inevitable when painting with children. Eventually, they will start painting their hands and arms. This is okay! The paint is washable, and it's a wonderful sensory experience.

Another shared space.

"Ms. Gina, we're painting a ROAD!"

FINALLY! They started mixing colors! Remember, let them mix and mix and mix until the paint is an ugly, muddy brown. They don't care about the final product. It's all about the process.

More hand painting. :)

Ashley crossed her midline to paint over the black. This is important for pre-writing.

The adult in me cringes at the beautiful colors beneath being covered, but sometimes you just have to (excuse my language) shut up! Let them discover on their own what happens when you mix colors. They don't care. Let me say it again. THEY DON'T CARE. They simply enjoy the process of it all.

"Children are artists.The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up." --Picasso

These will be used next week as ramps in the block center. :)

 Happy playing!