All of our science and nature books are in a nearby basket. Baskets of blocks and Legos are housed under the table.
This table rocks! Gerrick's Granddaddy built it for him two years ago; it's original use was as a train table. The top is made of laminate flooring and so far has proved to be indestructible!
Here are some ongoing observations: berries in a jar are molding; a plant is rooting in water; and the newest...a banana peel, which we are going to watch decompose.
This is another experiment Gerrick is currently conducting. He put all this stuff in water and is watching what is happening over time. He's going to be getting some Prismacolor pencils and a notebook for Christmas, and I'm going to encourage him to keep them at this table and start documenting his projects.
He was so excited when I pulled all this together a couple of weeks ago and has spent a lot of time there every day since. :) What other ideas do you have that might complement this area?
Does Gerrick come up with his experiement ideas all by himself or do you guide him or does he get ideas from books and stuff? This is an area where I have really done pretty much zero with our kids, but they like this kind of stuff. I am just so much more into reading and singing and doing arty stuff with them.
ReplyDeleteProbably about 2 1/2 yrs ago, I suggested he have a nature collection (which he was allowed to keep in one specific area in the house). This idea took off with him like wildfire. Anytime he was outside and found something (stick, rock, pretty leaf, caterpillar), he would almost always say, "I want to put this on my nature table." Live things we would observe for a while and release (at least that was the intent; sometimes they did die first). He did a lot of sorting through this--sticks go in the stick can, rocks in the rock box,...I allowed him to play with all these materials (at the nature table or in the floor near it--NOT all over the house). He would, through his own play, sort the rocks by color, sticks by length,...
ReplyDeleteHe has been to the WcWane Science Center in Birmingham several times--and LOVES it! This is where he realized the term "science" and I think associates it with playing with light, sound, nature, etc.
This all has set the stage for where we are today. He comes up with his own ideas through play at his science center. For example, just yesterday I saw him spinning two halves of a silly putty egg on the table. One had the putty in it, one was empty. I could just see him thinking and noticing how they spun differently & why. :) Sometimes when he is doing something like this I will comment and ask him questions, sometimes not.
Sometimes I will suggest simple things--the ol' "What do you think would happen if we..." technique. If he shows interest we procede. This is how we came about rooting the plant in the vase on his table.
If something just happens to happen, I try to always point it out. The molding berries in the jar on his table were accidental. They were one of my fall "decorations" gone bad. So now we are making the most of it to see just how disgusting they can get. :)
Also, (and I CAN NOT believe I'm suggesting TV)Gerrick has gotten a lot of inspiration from Sid the Science Kid lately. This is where he got the idea to watch the banana peel decompose.
Well, I tried some of that this summer. I gave the kids each a bucket and told them they could collect stuff in it when we were outside. But Norah would want to boss Silas about what to put in his and then only put a million of one thing in hers (pinecones for example). She was also never willing to touch anything like a bug skeleton or caterpillar. Silas wanted to pick up handfuls of gravel and dump on Norah or the dog. And anything living, like a caterpillar, he would just smash b/c he couldn't understand to be gentle. Anyway, thanks! That still gives me some new ideas to try.
ReplyDeleteI forget how much more complicated things can be with multiple children. :)
ReplyDeleteThat also reminded me that Gerrick would initially sometimes want to bring in 400 sticks at a time. :) I handled this by letting him collect and play with as many as he wanted outside, then picking 1 or 2 of them to keep for his indoor collection.
Yeah, I guess I could clarify. Norah was not interested in actually looking at 25 pinecones. She was hoarding them (she is a big hoarder). Then she would leave them in the bucket on the porch for days. She didn't want to anything w/ them, but she didn't want them dumped out. But I know that can be typical 2-3 yo behavior.
ReplyDeleteShe does the same thing with toys. She will stuff as many as she can into a little purse or backpack, but then she won't get them out and play w/ them, and she has no idea what's in there. Every so often I make her dump them out and go through them, and she is always surprised at what she finds in her "stuff."
Neat - in both senses of the word. Does it really stay that neat?
ReplyDeleteI should institute a nature table too because the leaves and rocks and sticks are all over the living room, and if we also start experimenting...
I'm keen to get started with
nature study - Amie is so interested in birds. They don't do much of it at her preschool, I'm afraid. But her afternoons and evenings with me are free.
Keep us posted on the banana!
lol...
ReplyDeleteOf course it isn't always this neat; science is messy business! :)
It only looks like this when I'm photographing it for the blog and when we know we're having company.