A new stencil at kindy was a resource that a few were very curious about what to do with it. They learnt about drawing inside the shapes to create marks, pictures, and patterns. Some of the holes were very small and created a greater challenge to make marks. Theodore was persisted and followed the whole stencil to full a whole page. He completed his piece of art by colouring with water clothes before naming has work.
Little brown praying mantic was found in the locker area of the Puawai deck. Natalie come to tell Sarah about the bug she had found there. When Sarah asked what kind of bug, she had found she went to the table with the bug books and showed her a picture of a praying mantis. As the group watched the praying mantis Amaia asked the question “Why is the praying-mantis brown? At hui the group then shared their ideas of what they think is the reason for the praying mantis to be brown.
Many of the tamariki created building with the blocks and loose part. They created their building with the purpose of homes for the puppets and Max built his one for the Mobilo cars that he was also working on. Natalie ran out of blocks so used a loose part to fill the last gap in her building. It did not stay up, so she placed a pile next to it to hold it in place. Max had a block piece that also would not stay up. Sarah shared Natalie’s solution to the problem and to Max took on this idea by trying out the pile too to hold up the wood.
Recognise
The discovery of this stencil was a new challenge of fine motor skills. Using their hand and eye co-ordination to watch very carefully where to follow the shapes in the stencil. Communication/Mana reo:Children become increasingly capable of expressing their feelings and ideas using a wide range of materials and modes/ he korero auaha.
This investigation was first sparked a discovering and a then a wondering question. The collaboration of thoughts was explored around the wondering question at a hui. They shared their hypothesis through Mahi-a-Rongo = peaceful pursuits of thoughts, ideas, theories, and prior knowledge. Many sharing what they believe could be the answer to why the praying mantis is brown.
They are thinking about ways to solve problems like what to do when you run out of pieces and how to fix other problems like keeping the building stable. They are also learning from each other solutions and using this in their own work. Exploration/Mana aotūroa: Children become increasingly capable using a range of strategies for reasoning and problem solving/ te hiraurau hopanga.
Respond
We have many more stencil shapes that we will set out on the literature table in the Puawai room to offer more shapes, pictures, and patterns to create with.
We will ask this question again tomorrow offering the visual arts as the language to explain their hypothesis of why this praying mantis is brown.
We will display more of the tamariki constructions to support and spark their construction ideas.
