We brought a large pumpkin to our meeting this week.
I have one of those at my house!
I can see the pumpkin.
I want to touch it.
Paint it.
What if we paint it?
Cold.
It’s cold.
I want to touch it.
We explored the pumpkin a bit and then we set it up at a small table. This table was already set with wooden clay hammers and several wooden golf tees.
As the children began working with these new tools, we heard many expressions such as:
This is not working.
It keeps falling out.
Try another one or something?
Mines falling out too.
Can you do it for me?
They worked together, sometimes quietly, sometimes expressing themselves with lots of language and/or singing. While they worked, they observed what their classmates were doing and how they were figuring out this new type of activity. Each child was incredibly focused on their own space, sometimes looking very closely at the way the tools worked together, often manipulating the tools in new and different ways. The children spent long periods of time with this activity, coming back later for another turn.
We soon noticed a shift in the type of language the children were using.
It’s like a pumpkin scarecrow.
We finished the pumpkin!
The pumpkin scarecrow is done!
We did it!
It’s too heavy for this. It’s time to carry it. Let’s do it again!
Can I try another one?
It’s really hard to wait…
It’s all finished now.
Can I do some booming?
I’m writing…
I’m cutting…I’m hammering it again because skin is a boo-boo.
No, skin is a kind of boo-boo. Like Henry got.
