awatertableeasel

ON-GOING WATER TABLE ACTIVITY: Dried Peas/Beans Share your ideas too. E-mail me at stormie@preschoolbystormie.com

From Stormie:
When learning about foods, I like to place foods in the water table. Dried peas and/or beans are a favorite. After children have scooped, measured, and poured them for awhile, you can add other things to the foods just to see what, if anything, happens. For example, in a smaller rubbermaid dishpan, try adding flour, water, or oil to some of the beans and allow a couple children to work with them at a time. Do adding these things make it easier or harder to scoop and/or pour the beans? Do the beans now feel different? Smell different? Etc.
*Extensional Activities:
1. Cook a pot of beans and, with your supervision, allow children to check them at various stages. Compare the look and smell of cooked and dried beans. Pour dried beans from a measuring cup and pour cooked beans from a measuring cup. Which ones move faster? Do they sound differently as they fall from the measuring cup into the bowl? Feel dried and cooked beans.
2. Open up and investigate various types of dried beans and peas.

Suzanne K, from New Jersey says:
I like to break into Multicultural Themes anywhere I can. For example, I like to put Mung Daal Beans (red and yellow are pretty) and Poha in my Sand Table for play as these are readily available in my area. Mung Daal beans are found in Indian (from India) stores. They are in the same family as lentils, peas, and legumes, and come in different colors. The beans are used for "daal" when eating in an Indian restaurant. It's delicious and not too spicy. Poha is also an Indian food. Basically it's a cornflake minus the sugar--lots of fun to squash, crack, and break.
*Or, try this in your Spring water table: white millet bird seed. It sounds great as you pour it and feels really neat! The kids love it!

From Eileen Cordova, Madera, Calif:
Try popcorn kernels in the water table for April. My preschool children just love it.

From Donna, Roseburg, Oregon:
I put assorted pasta shapes in with the dried beans and peas. During the week, I work with 60 different children (18 months-6) in a co-op school. They all just love the many textures, colors, and sorting opportunities that our "bean table" offers. We even buried our "dino" bones in the beans. Our parents seem to enjoy the soothing effect as well, and occasionally, they bring in a partial bag of "old" beans, peas, etc. to add to our collection. Some of them have even created a "bean table" at home for their children (much easier to clean than sand, cornmeal, or rice).

From Lani Becker, International School of the Regents in Pattaya, Thailand:
Eggshell Fun: You might want to do this in a large plastic bowl since you may not have enough to fill a water table: Provide clean dry eggshells. Have the children help crush them. They can measure, pour, scoop and crush these wonderful things.

Jill fills her water table with dry beans and rice.

From Lisa in Baltimore, Maryland:
Those little scoops from formula cans are great for scooping out beans (for fine motor skill practice).

From Megan Schroeder in Newark, Delaware:
This is a good "color matching" activity: Around Easter time, I fill my water table with various colors of Easter grass and plastic eggs (also in various colors). The children match the egg halves and they love playing in the grass.

-----------------------
Reminder from Stormie: If you would like to begin collecting ALL my current classroom ideas (each on a 4 x 6" index card), as well as new ones that I create, you can do so by ordering my "Activity Cards." Click here to check them out.

CONTINUE ON

OR

REVIEW APR CURRICULUM CURRICULUMS INDEX WEBSITE INDEX HOME

My website address: http://www.preschoolbystormie.com