A CHILD CAN DISCOVER THE UNIVERSE THROUGH SIMPLE PLAY

 

Last month we all were busy in our SCIENCE PROJECT week. And as we were learning some new Geography facts, some children started asking me about the Origin of Earth, planets and Space.So I decided to make a SOLAR SYSTEM project for our class.

I bought few thermocol balls of different sizes. We painted them according to their colour as we have seen in our lesson on the GEOGRAPHY shelf .

 

 

 

The next day some of the children took out the Solar system cards and started Matching it with the planet balls which we have painted  a day before.

I asked them that we need to make a "base or stand"  for the planets to display . And then they all started collecting the thermocol  pieces which we have been  collecting throughout the year , we cut them equally and then its time to paste them together to make a long stand . Under my supervision, they just love to use the Glue gun.

 

While some other children were busy in preparing some other projects with my Assistant , we as a group were working together and helping each other ; here these kids were fixing the Barbque sticks to the balls and then pusing them into the stand.

 

I'v  always witnessed that the process in which children are involved to make or prepare something is more important than the final product itself. A child always learns by  interacting and participating with their hands.

 

So everybody now was making their contribution in fixing the planet balls on the stand. Here they have learned some amazing skills; estimation of spaces between the two objects, balance needed to fix something on the thermopole stuff, accuracy required to make a hole on the stands like this and many more but all unconsciously. Thats the real learning infact.

 

 Its very natural that in these type of group work, always a leader emerges not by  the willingness of others or the authority but through the amount of motivation and willingness one shows, to participate till the end.

 

Hey, you wanna try also.

 

 Once they were done, they started naming the planets , comparing the sizes, noticing the differnt colours, and playing with it imaginatively . I 'v discovered that the amount of concentration, motivation, dedication and exploration have a direct link with the amount of Participation in the project or work which a child does.

 

Sun was really an amazing thing for them, they have discovered its greatness, and so every child wanted to hold the Sun .

 Neptune is my favourite planet , shouted one of my cutest child , and here I play with it.

 

The next day they all were singing the PLANET song ; Sun, Mercury, Venus , Earth and Mars and Jupiter , Saturn , Uranus ,......and the song goes on.

 

Every single day my children teaches me some lessons, on that particular day,I have learned the lesson that "PLAY IS THE WORK OF A CHILD" .MARIA MONTESSORI.

 

MIXING, KNEADING AND THEN MAKING DOUGHS ARE ALL PERFECT FOR A CHILD TO DEVELOPE HIS SENSES , FINE MOTOR AND GROSS MOTOR SKILLS

                   CONCENTRATION CANNOT BE TAUGHT BUT CAN BE CREATED

Last week we were discussing the different forms of SOLID  after the innitial lesson on SOLID, LIQUID AND GAS, so one of the child asked ,"what about the powders?". I said, "Well, its a form of solid", then another child shouted, "wow, I have an idea , we can add water to the powder, and we can see if it still remains solid ?". I said," Yes , why not".

So the next day, I arranged the desired stuff like, flour, few herbs, mixing bowls etc. And now its time for my children to start their experiment. One by one ,they all mixed the spices in the wheat flour.

 

 Every child was cautious about what Herbs and how much of it can be mixed in the flour, so they all acted intelligently calculating many things like if the Mixture has more or less of some herbs .

 

 

 

 Children learn the exactness of measurment not by reading books about the topic  or doing Worksheets but by DOING it with their own HANDS.

 

Wow! and then the Ultimate Kneading process began , its all about using their fine-motor and Gross-motor skills to its maximum.

Thay have added some Rose water to the mixture and then enjoyed the beautiful aroma coming out.

 

For three year olds, the mixing of water itself is a MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.

 

 

And then I witnessd that each child developed his or her own way of calculating the amount of water needed to make the dough. 

 

Each child was discovering his own way of kneading , thats for sure only comes with the Direct interaction with the dough regardless of what you teach them to do so.

 

 

Then they started making little balls , some children choose to make big balls ,and they just  refused to make a little one . Here I can see the power of DECISION is developing.

 

Every single ball coming out of the Dough was enjoyed by the kids, and each ball taught them a different lesson.

 

 

Amazing view of making their own stuff .

 

                                              

Now its time to transfer them into a Baking tray , no ne taught them about the size of the tray and holders, but they discovered it by themselves how big a  dough ball can fit into it.

 

And the tray was getting filled with lots of balls.

 

 

 

  

 

ADULTS DEFINITION OF MESSINESS needs to be changed because they dont know what a child can learn through it.

 

                    

Its natural for a Montessori child to start the clean up process after the work is done. This child carried the tray to the Wash basin in the classroom and started washing it, followed by other students who carried differnt stuff and washed it one by one.

 

 

Then the whole class was busy cleaning the environment . Cleaning the floor after the activity is just another  NATURAL INSTINCT in a chid, no REMINDERS NEEDED.

 

And as we sponge and srub the tables everyday , they all felt the need to clean them too.

 

After the mopping ,this child felt the urge to collect the tinnest objects from the floor.

 

 And here lies the satisfaction a child can get after the Completion of the task, infact a Task can never be completed without the urge to clean the environment.  And in a Montessori classroom, cleaning is the most imporatnt component of the Task .
            So they have learned that adding water to the flour doesn't change it's form into  LIQUID ; a lesson they should learn in their EARLY CHILDOOD YEARS.
  

SPRING ART INVOLVES LITTLE SOULS

            Working in Nature or with something from Nature always enlighted the SOUL.

 

 

First we have collected the leaves of differnt kinds from our garden ,then we arranged our NATURE ART TABLE to start up with some art.

 

So everyone picked a yellow paper and started with his own version of making a SPRING ART.

 

 

Choosing the right leave is the outcome of the "CHILD'S SUPER IMAGINATIVE POWER" which is just natural for him to do.

 

 

 

Every child enjoys the ART especially if it is open-ended and from Nature.

 

 

Its so natural for children to sit together and do their favourite stuff but the Concept of ORIGINALITY is always evident in their work.

 

 

Concentration is the key to exploration and finally Creation.

 

 

Leaves provide them the Lesson of Botany( various kinds of leaves), about Geometry (shapes), about Maths (Counting , Sorting and Categorizing ), about Language (new vocabulary), about History ( connection of trees with man's life), about Geography (different kinds of leaves in different environments of the world) and many more.

 Last but not the least is the fact that LEAVES n NATURE provokes LOVE AND CREATIVITY in a child.

LETS GO OUT AND COLLECT SOME MORE LEAVES.

EDUCATION IS NOT ABOUT THELEARNING OF FACTS BUT IT IS THE DISCOVERY OF RYTHM AROUND YOU.

              MUSIC IS ALL ABOUT DISCOVERING SOUNDS, RYTHM AND DANCE

For the last three weeks we all were busy in our Science Experiment Project.

There were lots of experiments to do, dealing with Physics, chemistry and biology ,and the one which amazed almost everyone throughout the three weeks was our SPECIAL MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS created by my children under my guidance.

 A STRING TELEPHONE which was made by plastic cups and a string was an awesome addition to our Sound Box, everyone just loved to speak on it and hear the sounds...simple science cannot be taught to children, they already know it ,it is  a matter of discovery provided with the right kind of environment.

 see the excitement of a child with this FRICTIONAL KITCHEN STUFF.

And then an item from my kitchen proved to be a wonderful  Frictional  Sound  Instrument. My kids were delighted to discover the sounds which was actually a Friction ,they produced many RYTHMIC MUSIC  from that .

And then we created a Xylophone using small steel cups which I found in my  kitchen and  a steel Spatula ..it creates an amazing Sound and music .

We were learning many things in our SCIENCE PROJECT, one of them is THE SOLAR SYSTEM, so we started painting the  balls to represent all the planets of the Solar system. .Once we were done , children kept on matching those planets with their respective cards .

To my surprise , one day I played one of our most favourite beat. Few of the children were actually singing the newly learned 'Solar system song', suddenly they all started beating their 'Planet balls' with each other, against the floor,on the table, and with any thing they thought would produce a sound. I was speechless at all these discoveries by my little scientists.

 

Steel cups Xylophone was one of the hit in our Science fair.

Last month a child was playing curiously with some plastic balls , one of the other child just shouted ,"Miss Erum, can we put these balls in a glass with a lid, I'm sure ,it will create some nice music, and we can add that to our SOUND BOX ". As amazed as I always be with my kid's ideas , I brought a jar with a lid and we did it. Soon all my children started making different rythms depending on their moods .

Look at this Three year old, enjoying the music of his own beats.

"The sound of your voice casts a spell on every stone and every thorn". RUMI

If all the harps in the world were burned down,

still inside the heart there will be hidden music playing.
~ Rumi

CREATIVITY CAN BE DETECTED EARLIER IN LIFE IN A CHILD'S FREE - PLAY

IN A FREE PLAY ,A CHILD IS NOT ONLY PLAYING, BUT DISCOVERING HIS TALENTS    HIDDEN  INSIDE.

 

This is our usual 'Work Cycle'  (nearly three hours) in which children are free to explore their environment and where a trained Directress  not only creates the next 'lesson plan' after a 'careful Observation' of each child, but he/she can detect a particular talent or ability in a child .

This child in my class really loves everything related to sound, when we go out in the Sand area , he is the one creating sounds with the use of  sand toys, making drums with buckets , beating them, and then dancing around and  making new tunes out of a flute everyday.

We have created a 'SOUND BOX' with many sound related stuff, and my students keep discovering it everyday.

Last week I was really fascinated to see him experimenting with lots of sound objects . In fact he started with a normal Flute, but then he brought a pipe and insert the flute in it and discovered his new 'SOUND SYSTEM'.

 

He came to me and said," Miss Erum, look, what I'v done, a great sound is coming out from it". Then  he explored few other objects from our 'Sound Box' and found something interesting to cover the Flute with it, he was enjoying his Discoveries.

The next thing was to play with the pipe ,turning from different sides, and checking if there was a different sound coming out with every new curve of a pipe.

 

Now he was testing the Flute ,

I guess that day, my little musician discovered a lot and there were many AH-HA moments for him . I always think that its not us who are teaching kids , its they ,who are in fact giving us the opportunities to discover their 'Learning process'.

“I have studied the child. I have taken what the child has given me and expressed it and that is what is called the Montessori Method.”
Dr. Maria Montessori