"We need to use light pushes."

Exploring imprinting with a variety of materials by Ms. Sowa

Throughout the past couple of months, we have explored creating different imprints in a variety of materials.  What we have discovered was how the same object could make different imprints.  We also have learned that the appearance of the imprint visually looks the same in different materials, but can feel different.  

Throughout the semester we explored making imprints in play dough, clay, and cloud dough.  Each of these materials involved using different techniques in order to make an imprint.  To make an imprint in the clay we had to push harder and to make an imprint in the cloud dough we had to use “light pushes.”

 The play dough was our original exploration in September and I brought back the play dough this past Wednesday to see what other things we could learn.  We used the prongs of the comb to poke and to make thin lines.  In our original exploration of the play dough, we spent, much time running the comb prongs back and forth which caused the play dough to look more frayed.   What we discovered was even more ways to create different imprints!

Curriculum Night was a great success!

Thanks to all the families that participated Wednesday night.

 Bubbles in silly putty

The children were very excited to show their families all the different ways to make bubbles in the silly putty. They also came up with new ways to make bubbles. 

 Imprinting

The children showed their parents how to create imprints in the playdough. The parents and the children discovered that each item made multiple imprints.

Kool - Aid Playdough Recipe

1 cup flour

1/4 cup salt

2 TBS cream of tartar

1 pkg Kool aid (generic brands don't work)

1 cup water

1 TBS vegetable oil

In a saucepan, mix all dry ingredients. In a small bowl, mix the water and the kool-aid. (We like to warm the water so the kool-aid dissolves) Stir the mixture over medium heat for three to five minutes until the dough forms a ball in the pan. Knead the dough on a floured surface for one minute. Once the play dough has cooled, it is ready to use! If stored in an air tight container, it should last for several weeks.

 Ramps

The families also explored the ramp with various objects. The children compared objects to discover if they moved faster rolling or sliding. The children also tested two similar objects of different sizes and weights to see which reached the bottom first.

"You got darker brown. I got lighter!"

"I used a lot of colors to make my dark brown!"

An exploration of skin shades

As the children begin to notice similarities and differences among themselves, they have been having lots of conversations about how they look alike or different. We decided to explore this idea as an investigation of skin tones and shades. One of the first activities that we did with the children was to put our hands together and talk about how they looked alike or different. 

 After reading the book The Colors of Us, we decided to try and mix paint to match our skin color. We provided the children with red, white, brown and yellow paint and a container in which to mix their color.

To test their shade of paint, the children put a small dot of paint on the back of their hand.

After the children mixed their skin color, the teachers encouraged them to paint a picture using their newly created color. The teachers talked with the children about how the color could be used to paint a self-portrait. As the children painted painted, many of them mentioned that they wanted different colors for hair and eyes. As a result, we painted again this week using watercolors so the children could add the details that they felt were missing last week.

This week the children painted their self-portraits with watercolor paints. The watercolors gave them the opportunity to add the details that they were previously discussing. We also provided the children with small mirrors so they could accurately represent their facial features.

Notice how Kaia is replicating the blue of her smock on her self-portrait.