The Magic of Light and Water Play

 “Every day you play with the light of the universe.” 

Pablo Neruda

Light play is magical and the interaction of light with other materials is one that fascinates. The interplay of light both natural and man-made can inspire great wonder and amazement. It is therefore one of the most interesting materials that you can offer children to explore. 

There are many ways to engage children in light play and exploring the power of the sun and moon in the natural world is one of the first play interactions children have with light. The discovery of one’s own shadow and the delight in its initial mystery of being is a hallmark of childhood exploration. When we consider the indoor environment light play can be inspired from flashlights, bendable lamps, tap lights, string lights, LED rope lighting, battery operated candles, light pads and cubes as well as over-head projectors. 

The children have explored light play in our past inquiry investigations and the addition of water as a medium for investigating light was one of their favourite activities. So recently when I discovered Glo Pals light cubes from the wonderful Agnes @hellowonderful on Instagram I knew I had to try them out. The cubes were placed beside the sensory bin filled with water and coloured ice cubes. The children’s reaction when they placed them in the water was amazing. They began to share their observations immediately as well as experiment with how the Glo Pals cubes interacted with the water. The children’s play became rich with discovery and the joy of experimentation. 

At home we placed the Glo Pal cubes in the bath as they were designed for this purpose to help children have a calm experience in the bath tub. Each cube comes with its own special character and there are five colours. There are many other benefits to playing with the Glo Pal light cubes and their ability to engage the children in creative and imaginary play is just one benefit. 

Glo Pals cubes were designed with children in mind and you can read more about their story at glopals.com They are having a special for Valentine’s Day so you will want to check it out. 

P.S. Glo Pals was kind enough to send me two sets of the cubes and I thank them kindly for their generosity so that I could share our experience here with you. This post is not sponsored I just really loved this product and wanted to share it with you. 

To read more about light play for children click here: Ideas Iluminated

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❤️

𝑀𝒾𝒸𝒽𝑒𝓁𝓁𝑒

The Joy of Transfer Play

"Free the child's potential 
and you will transform him 
into the world." 
Maria Montessori

The quiet stillness of the winter months brings with it an aesthetic painted in monochromatic colour tones. The bare trees silhouetted against the pale winter sky always have inspired me. Their linear branches etched so delicately and filling the space between land and sky. This chilly January day was the perfect opportunity to create this black and white transfer play opportunity for the children. The early morning was spent preparing the table with the materials for the children to explore. It was important to vary the size of the vessels and spoons that the children would use, to encourage some mathematical thinking around capacity and size. This play also focused on fine motor development, practical life skills and was in response to the children's love of cooking during their imaginary play. 

There is a meditative quality about transfer play. The pouring and scooping of the water into the selected vessel requires care and concentration. As the children investigated the quality of the water and learned about its properties through their own individual experimentation we observed how they interacted with each other. The children delighted in sharing their observations and findings. The addition of the monochromatic coloured beads added greatly to this transfer play through the element of sound. As the children poured and scooped the sound of the beads flowing through the water danced in the air. 

There are many ways to offer transfer play to young children. Here are some of our favourite materials and many can be found right in your own kitchen or purchased from second-hand stores. 

~ measuring cups & spoons

~ ladles

~ teaspoons

~ those collectible mini teaspoons from souvenir shops

~ silver or glass creamers for pouring 
   (really anything with a spout will work)

~ muffin tins

~ wooden bowls various sizes 

~ I repurpose my glass yogurt containers for this type of play 
   (check your recycling bin)

~ a tray or baking sheet

~ tongs & tweezers

~ pipettes 

~ silicon muffin liners

~ motor and pestle (especially when offering herbs) 

Now select your material for transfer. You can choose to use wet or dry materials for this type of play and changing the transfer material will renew your child’s interest in this type of playtime and time again. For water play, you can add items to the water or colour the water if you like. Consider adding ice cubes to liquid water and engage the children in a discussion about the different states of water. Science and play all in one! I have used lavender, mint leaves, rosemary, buttons, beads, beans, rice, oatmeal, rocks, wool felt balls and marbles all for this type of activity. 

I hope that you are inspired to try some creative transfer play. I would love to hear about your transfer play explorations. Share in the comments below and let our creative community read all about it. 

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To read more about our other transfer play experiences on the blog click here: 

Engaging the senses with transfer play! Exploring Herbs in Play!

❤️

𝑀𝒾𝒸𝒽𝑒𝓁𝓁𝑒

Color Blocked ~ The power of storybooks to inspire creative explorations

✨ 𝒮𝓉𝑜𝓇𝓎𝒷𝑜𝑜𝓀 𝐼𝓃𝓈𝓅𝒾𝓇𝒶𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃 ✨

"A book is a dream 

that you hold in your hands."

Neil Gaiman 

Literature can inspire. Storybooks are an integral part of our learning environment. They are incorporated throughout the space to guide and inspire our little learners. There are books in our block building area, the play kitchen, within the math materials space, the art studio, and of course in the bookshelf. Really there are books everywhere! There is no doubt that I love picture books. I always have because I am a visual learner. I can remember as a child being so disappointed the first time that I was handed a chapter book with no pictures. I always loved to draw the illustrations in the books that surrounded me as a child. It's perhaps why graphic novel books are so well-loved by children in their tweens and teens. I know my own two children love them. 

Within the learning environment, we observe children as they explore books even before they have an awareness of text. The illustrations allow them to visually read the story and when we engage in dialogue with children about their observations from the book we begin their journey in reading. 

The storybook, "Color Blocked" by Ashley Sorenson and David Miles sparked the creative thinking and work by the children for several weeks now. This engaging storybook was shared with the children as they gathered together in the morning. They were then offered the following at the table, watercolours, black fine-tipped markers, and the illustration of the colour factory in black and white from the storybook. Several children situated themselves at the table and began to visually dissect the image from the text. When they were challenged by the complexity of this image we guided them through beginning at the top and drawing small sections at a time of the image on their paper. Defining lines and shapes step by step and breaking down the image visually helped in developing their confidence in drawing this image. 

The dedication of the children to their creative process was amazing. Each day several of them would ask to return to their artistic work. Once they were satisfied with the drawing they added colour using the watercolour paint. Each piece was unique and spoke of the children's interpretations of the story and what they thought a colour factory might look like. 

Storybooks provide a jumping-off point for further inquiry within children's play and learning. They are an integral part of our programming and research alongside the children. Storybooks provide young children with inspiration and information. We explore a variety of fiction and non-fiction texts. The ability to gather information and engage in the learning process with books enables children to become lifelong learners and independent researchers of their ideas. The joy of reading begins with a love of books. Here's to many creative explorations sparked by the inspiring illustrations found within storybooks. 

What picture books inspire you? Share below in the comments we are always looking to add new titles to our ever growing book collection. 

If you would like each blog post delivered right into your inbox become a subscriber. We would be honoured if you joined our creative community. 

"I do believe something magical

can happen when you read a book." 

J.K. Rowling

Sincerely, 

❤️

𝑀𝒾𝒸𝒽𝑒𝓁𝓁𝑒

Colour Play ~ Exploring Tints and Shades

✨𝒞𝑜𝓁𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝐸𝓍𝓅𝓁𝑜𝓇𝒶𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃𝓈 ~ 𝒯𝒾𝓃𝓉𝓈 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒮𝒽𝒶𝒹𝑒𝓈✨ 

The art studio holds so many opportunities for exploration and inquiry. Each year we see the delight in the children’s eyes as they discover the properties of its materials through their explorations. Mixing colours with paint is by far one of the children’s favourite creative explorations. Often for some children coming to school presents their first experience with paint and creative materials. We began our creative journey in art when my own two children were toddlers in high chairs. We simply taped the paper to the high chair tray and began with big crayons exploring their creative thinking and engaging their bodies in connecting with artistic mediums. This was always supervised closely and all materials were safe for children of this age. Whether you started early exposing your children to creative materials or not, it is never too late to introduce them within your play experiences even if your children are older. 

The children within the classroom have been sharing their colour mixing discoveries as through paint since the beginning of the school year. As part of our extension of their thinking, they were offered an opportunity to explore tints and shades with the tempera paint in the studio. Several children were inquiring about the colour pink. So an offering of red, white and black paint was set out on the table. As the children blended and experimented with the amount of each paint colour, they delighted in the various tints and shades of red that they could create. As they continued to paint, they were presented with the paint chip cards that are part of the materials we offer in the studio. This helped us to compare and discuss the various colours created by the children. Since then they have continued to explore colour mixing with other colours and have applied what they learned through this experience in their new work within the art studio. 

We will continue to explore our thoughts around colour and look forward to exploring colour play with new materials and mediums with the children. 

"Colour is a power 

which directly influences the soul." 

Wassily Kandinsky

To see more of our other colour explorations click here!

🌈 Happy Colour Explorations, 

𝑀𝒾𝒸𝒽𝑒𝓁𝓁𝑒

The Gingerbread Baby Literacy Play

✨𝑅𝓊𝓃, 𝓇𝓊𝓃, 𝓇𝓊𝓃 𝒶𝓈 𝒻𝒶𝓈𝓉 𝒶𝓈 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒸𝒶𝓃...✨ 

Oh, my goodness! We had so much fun with this offering to explore the gingerbread man. This classic tale and the several versions we read to the children had them retelling and creating their own stories the entire month of December. What are some of your favourite classic stories to share with children? Type in the comments below. We are always looking for inspiration for future play invitations. 

We began with Jann Brett’s story, “Gingerbread Baby.” This was one of my own children’s favourite board book when they were little. We also explored the traditional verse of the gingerbread story and then continued our literacy exploration with, “Gingerbread Friends” and “Gingerbread Christmas” both by Jann Brett. The illustrations in Jann’s books are wonderful for developing predicting skills and for discussing the meaning children can gather from the illustrations found within a book. They are rich in detail and a visual delight. She is absolutely one of my favourite author/illustrators. 

The children created their own gingerbread house drawings inspired by the books and added them to the retelling offering at the table. They were sharing and creating their own stories through their play. This retelling experience allowed the children to collaborate and build stories together. The power of imaginative play was truly visible and we heard many times from the children these wonderful words, “Let’s pretend.” The Magic of childhood is so powerful and inspiring. It brings us back to our own childhood and the gift of enchanted play. 

Materials for this invitation are from: Michelle van Heugten Etsy wooden collection pieces,  @schleichofficial animals, @safariltd, and @hobbylobby. Wishing you many creative explorations. 

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❤️

Sincerely,

𝑀𝒾𝒸𝒽𝑒𝓁𝓁𝑒