So simple, yet transformative! I recently discovered the Let Go Project.
“The Let Grow Project gives students a simple, life-changing homework assignment: “Go home and do something new, on your own. Climb a tree, run an errand, make a meal… ” The choices are endless and the impact: immediate. Simply by experiencing some independence, students find themselves engaged, excited and curious. They analyze situations, evaluate consequences, and discover how resourceful they really are. Everyone sees the change: Educators, parents, the kids themselves. Independence leads to new problem-solving, resilience—and joy.”
Click here to go to their website and learn more. It’s for families, small neighborhood groups, or schools.
I’m grateful that I had parents who raised me in this manner!
Discovering a rainbow is always a special moment! Have you noticed that the sky is darker above the rainbow? Do you know why? Click here for the answer from Physics Girl. You won’t look at a rainbow in quite the same way again!
The visible spectrum appeared on my wall. I believe the light was refracted by the stop sign outside.
Place a prism on your window and observe the visible spectrum move around the room. Why does its location change? For another example, Click here. My students also brought the prisms outside to refract sunlight onto sidewalks.
Complete a rainbow arch to demonstrate capillary action. Click here.
Tilt a mirror inside a container filled with water, shine a flashlight toward the mirror, and look for a rainbow on the wall.
Use rainbow peeps or refraction glasses to find rainbows. Look at a variety of types of light. How does what you see through the lenses change? Click here for more information. Click here to order rainbow peeps. Remind children to not look directly at the sun.
Spray your hose with the sun behind you and low in the sky to refract the sunlight and reveal the visible spectrum.
Put the colors of the spectrum in order using density. Click here to watch Steve Spangler in action. Salt could be used in place of sugar.
Click here to use rainbows to develop the skill of questioning.
Watch the following video for additional ways to create rainbows and to observe the visible spectrum. Click here to watch the video full screen.
If you are studying rainbows, enjoy a rainbow snack of yellow (bananas), purple (grapes), orange (oranges), green (kiwi), red (strawberries), and blue (blueberries) sliced fruit.
It’s all about love in February! Let’s celebrate by searching for hearts in nature. Having an intention when you walk always sharpens observation skills. If you find one, please place it in the comments. I’ll be adding more as I discover them too.
Also check out Run Wild My Child’s blog post here about collecting hearts in nature and the great cause it supports.
deer track
Someone found this heart before me!
Click here for a favorite classroom activity to build community using hearts. Little Hearts, Finding Hearts in Nature looks like a fun story to read prior to or after your search. Click here to read a summary.
National Play Outside Day is celebrated on the first Saturday of every month. Turn off all technology, explore the great outdoors, and reconnect with nature! Shouldn’t we be outside every day?
When I went to the Chicago Botanic Garden, I saw this fun play area for children of all ages. Can you see the stream that meanders through the field in which children are invited to play?
I am resharing this post about block play (from several years ago) with a few updates:
My undergraduate degree is in early childhood education (birth through seven years old) and I taught kindergarten for twelve years and second grade for eight. I experienced firsthand the value and benefits of block play. Blocks provide an opportunity to explore math concepts including shapes, measurement, mass, symmetry, patterns, and fractions! Eye hand coordination and small muscle movements are refined. Children develop awareness of space, balance, and cause and effect. As children plan and make representations of their ideas, creativity and problem solving skills blossom. They intuitively apply the Engineer Design Process. Children also learn to effectively communicate their ideas and to work collaboratively with their peers.
As you look at the pictures of the block structures below, look for examples of balance, patterns, and symmetry. Block building is considered a STEAM activity and schools with Makerspaces and STEM labs always include various types of blocks. You are never too old to build with blocks! My second grade classes always found blocks a favorite activity. For more fun, add plastic animals, cars, and people, as well as natural objects.
Click here to read an article about block play from NAEYC. Block play is important work!
The developmental stages of block building:
Unit blocks are divided into fractional parts.
This preschool had a “Block Party”. It would be a fun birthday theme too!
Why are there two rainbows? Why is one lighter than the other? How far apart are they?
Why is it darker above the rainbow? Why does red and yellow seem wider than the other colors in the spectrum?
My brother recently traveled to the South Pacific and captured this photo. I know that asking meaningful questions leads to learning, so my goal is to stop and ponder at natural phenomena because I desire to be a lifelong learner. Questions breed more questions which drives thinking.
When your child asks a question, he/she is taking an active role in his/her own education and developing critical thinking and communication skills. As they seek and process information, new schema are formed which are frameworks or concepts that help us to organize and interpret information. Inquiry-based learning is compelling and empowers the learner!
Sadly, research shows that children ask less questions as they grow older. Albert Einstein believed that asking thoughtful questions was critical to learning. “The important thing is to not stop questioning. Never lose a holy curiosity.” Both the Engineer Design Process and the Scientific Method begin with, Make an Observation/Ask a Question.
So when your child comes home from school, ask him/her what questions they asked in school today and what they are still wondering. Model asking questions as you take a walk together. Encourage family members to write their questions on Post-it notes and then place them on the back of a door to create a “wonder wall”.
Asking questions as you read is also a powerful comprehension strategy because the reader actively engages with the text. What was the character’s motivation? Would you have responded in the same way? How would changing the setting (where and when a story occurs) impact the story? Would you have ended the story in the same manner? Which character would you want as a friend? Why? You can ask your child these questions even if you haven’t read the book yourself.
Genius is seeing what everyone else sees and thinking what no-one else has thought.
Albert Szent-Gyorgy
Have you heard a teacher say that the process is more important than the product? Let’s allow children to develop their creativity and imagination! Art should be open-ended with self-expression as the goal. When children copy an adult’s model and all their products are similar, then product is being valued over process.
I observed a Tinkergarten class this summer in Newtown Park. Tinkergarten is a play-based outdoor science program for young children and their families. I was very impressed with the quality of the program.
Click here to learn more or to look for a class near you.
My husband and I went to Harvest on the Hooch today. The event was a fundraiser for the Unity Garden at Chattahoochee Nature Center in Roswell. Volunteers work this garden and provide 8000 pounds of organically grown produce to North Fulton Charities each year. It would be a great place to visit with your family and there are lots of other things to see at the nature center too!
![Little Hearts: Finding Hearts in Nature by [Charles Ghigna, Jacqueline East]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51aKCOqbYnL.jpg)
