Hands on learning...

celebrating one full year of blogging and one full year of working at Filosofiska Preschool in Stockholm, Sweden.

Here are some photos celebrating the hands on learning over the year... in no particular order - as all learning and all play is of importance...

all hands together - learning about being "we" playing together, sharing...

fine motor skills, sensory, mathematical patterns, yoga like calmness...

exploring nature - discovering what is inside a berry - sometimes small worms!!

using hands to construct... and knock down and build up again...

collecting bubbles - feeling them pop - bringing them close to your ear so that you can HEAR them pop

experience a WHOLE variety of textures...

and for those hands who are nervous of getting messy cling-film can be an option

shaving foam - on the tabel, on bubble wrap and with various textures added...

fine motor skills and imagination - what can be built with aluminium foil?

mittens and gloves - a necessary evil - especially big mitten which make it impossible to hold hands, climb efficiently and experience things as usual - BUT so so necessary in the well below zero temperatures of a Swedish winter!!

experiencing glitter and ice...

more strange textures to explore - do you dare put your hands in this slime? Meeting fea - HANDS on

making goo - cornflower and hand cream - competent hands pump out more cream to change the consistency of the goo!

adding popcorn to the cornflower and (this time) liquid handsoap goo to create YET another texture...

at the beginning of the year painting could not be done without covering their entire hands... this is STILL fun to do, but does not have the same requirement as earlier in the year... now there are other areas of the paint that need to be tried and tested...

one of many spaghetti painting opportunities - not only a chance to get creative but also an enormous sensory experience.

taking off gloves to feel the frost - to write and draw and to taste...

hands-on experience with light... as part of a mini light project at the beginning of the year and as part of a fear project towards the end of the year... the same activity but with a different perspective...

playing with jingle bells - making music with hands... with instruments and clapping rhythms...

more goo - this time with a cinnamon scent and frozen - using the warmth of our hands to melt it!

getting up close with nature - feeling plants, flowers and making rain drops roll...

paint on the light table - working together - sharing hand space!

mixing colours, experiments - back to the start of the year when experiencing the paint was almost more important than painting itself...

the thrill of hands on painting... hands on, feet on, the whole body on painting... with scent and texture... couscous, ginger, tumeric, cinnamon... a hands on way of learning about Morocco when not in Morocco!

mud, mud glorious mud....

more paint this time many colours together to create mud brown mixed with old coffe grinds for texture and sensory experience...

painting nails, using a fine brush to tickle your hands and all the way up to your elbows - watching how gravity works and the paint drips down the arm and on to the floor and table...

hands and water is a magnetic connection - and wet clothes never stops children from their water exeriences - only AFTER the experience do they realise just how wet they are!!

some like to use the brush to create patterns in the glitter salt on the mirror - others prefer a more hands on approach...

hands learning new skills - how to hold scissors - how to cut snowflakes forthe first time...

snails have been a huge part of our first year together - I have watched how many of the children have been terrified of snails at the start of the year...

... and by autumn they were arranging parties for their new friends... by allowing time and a hands on approach the children have learned about their own competence and more about snails...

spaghetti does not have to be covered in paint to be fun - it can be dropped to create spaghetti rain - it can be pulled to see how strong it is...

using real tools - hands are curious and they want to find out how things work...

more water - joining up the drops on the bench - at first to create pictures and then to create rhythmic patterns with their bodies - swishing from side to side...

the Christmas tree is not just something to be admired with eyes... but to be experienced with all senses... we saw, we smelled, we listened, we touched and YES we tasted too!

So a very MERRY CHRISTMAS to you all - and if you don't celebrate Christmas - I send you peace and love!