This week in playgroup, we opened with clay again.  But, this time it looked different.  It was nice to see many friends plunk down and enjoy exploring clay again this week.

Our second week of Fun With Junk camp ended with some clever creations as well as some beautiful work.

Our friends worked on sculptures of creatures.  We looked through books for inspiration and drew the animals, looking carefully at the shapes that made their parts.  These drawings became a plan that we referred back to as we sculpted.  

We also did some sewing: paper cards with beads and monogrammed pillows.  We used upholstery samples and scraps of fabric to create letters for the pillows.  We also used a variety of stitches: running, couching, blanket and the French knot.  Our friends were very pleased with their work.

More Fun With Junk

Thanks for sharing your children with us!

How fun it was to meet new friends and have new experiences!  At our first playgroup, we gathered around natural clay.  Some friends were hesitant to touch the clay at first, but almost everyone became involved.  Many of us commented that the clay felt cold.  We grabbed chunks of clay off of the block and worked to change it.  We rolled the clay into coils and balls, and we pinched and poked it.  We stepped on the clay and touched it with our feet.  We flattened the sides of a ball by dropping the clay repeatedly.  And, we worked to put the hunk of clay back together. 

Then the room was open for exploration.  In our workshop, friends rolled balls through tubes and tunnels.  We were curious about where the balls went, and we noticed the sounds they made as they moved in the tubes.  Other friends poured materials and put them into containers.  We also made sounds with the containers.     

We made marks with tape.  Many friends "stuck" with tape: unrolling, cutting, ripping, and sticking it on reclaimed posters and themselves.

Many friends were "focused" on the bin of eyeglass lenses.  We looked through the lenses, made comparisons and sorted them.  We also enjoyed scooping and stirring the lenses.  We noticed that friends were satisfied with both the sight and sound of this experience.

Our color collection box was open and friends created designs on the wall.

We would like to share an article with you about constructivist learning and productive questioning:  Productive Questions:  Tools for Supporting Constructivist Learning, by Mary Lee Martens.  We will be talking about how we can guide our children's play in ways that support and extend their learning.

See you next time!