We have been working at being more frugal in our program – this is not an easy task for us – but we are getting the hang of it. I was delighted to go into our Kindergarten classroom and see that the teacher had set out her basket of scrap construction paper for this project…
The teacher invited the children to make snowmen. They started by brainstorming how many circles might be included in a snowman and then the teacher instructed the children to use construction paper to design their snowman…
Most of the children were able to cut out their circles for the snowman body without any tracing or drawing first…
But one little girl was struggling with this and so I suggested she draw her circles first then cut on her lines. This she could do without a problem…
Once the children made their circles, they glued them on then went back over to the scrap box to choose other colors of paper to adorn their snowmen…
They sorted and cut and measured their lengths of paper – it was interesting to observe each child at work. The children seemed to already know exactly what they wanted to do but I sometimes questioned their choices (in my head) as they went along but learned that they were extremely competent in this task – I just needed to wait and let them work (and keep my opinions on things like how fat or skinny an arm should be or how tall or short a hat should be to myself) …
Some of the children were extremely detailed in their work. I loved the little bow on this little girl’s snowman – excuse me – snow girl…
Other children preferred to draw some of the more finer details with crayons…
This was not a quiet activity – there was constant action. Children talking, laughing, walking back and forth to the scrap box, dropping crayons on the floor, cutting, measuring, and more talking…
What fascinated me is how no two snowmen were the same. The children did not worry about their neighbor’s snowman or try to copy it. I was actually surprised at how they all stayed to their own plan and design…
The children were also very encouraging to each other. This is a reflection of the teacher always telling the children how much she loves their ideas and now the children are very good about complimenting one another…
Observing children at play and work is such an important part of the teaching experience. I learn more about their skills and abilities and I also discover how much I sometimes underestimate their potential to complete a task without my constant urge to make suggestions…
Yep, and we did end up with one armed snowman! “His gun blows out fire” so all the other snowmen better watch out or they “might get melted!”