With flowers blooming everywhere & better weather ahead in spring, our newly #gifted Natural Outdoor Explorer Table with Scale from Discount School Supply came just in time to explore & create!The outdoor table comes with wet play sinks & a bench top wooden scale set. This is a unique way to immerse children in mathematical learning outdoors. The buckets are included & can be detached & used to carry materials for weighing.
To set this invitation we foraged some flowers from around our playground & yard. We provided bowls, ladles, whisks, utensils, pitchers, measuring cups, pots, along with water mixed with Fluorescent Bio Color Paint. The children were invited to mix, measure, weigh, pour, create, & explore.
Inviting a child to create & explore in this type of environment with these materials encourages so many levels of learning. When a child is adding, scooping, pouring, mixing, transferring & stirring ingredients it fosters creativity & enables children to experiment with science & math concepts. Children begin to understand & investigate with ideas such as more/less, same/different, many/few, empty/full, before/after, greater than/less than. Children also learn physics principles such as the effects of force (increasing the waterflow through increased force); effects of gravity (water runs downhill) etc. The social learnings from creating together include collaboration, concentration, turn taking, problem solving, perseverance, self-regulation, & more. Children also gain physical learning through precision in pouring & hand eye coordination. Sensory play through exploring the colored water & foraged flowers with their senses is engaging & helps encourage exploration of science, language, color theory, & natural materials.
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