Fire - light/Sun

For under 5 years old fire is a big safety issue so we talked about light and sun.
I brought in a window crystal that refracted the sunlight into spinning rainbows.
It was amazing to see each child in turn try to catch the ethereal light.
The tricky piece was no sun in the play ground before 12 so we had to go to the car park which is unused space fine for the older group but not suitable for the preschool class.

light reflecting & refracting #betterspace

We also covered plastic plates with tin foil. The idea was to bounce light and reflect it like you would with a mirror - but because of health and safety reasons I could not use mirrors. I thought this would work better but the sunshine was not continuousness enough.
What did work really well was this was the week before Halloween so there had been talk of fire in both classes and the older room had a pumpkin hollowed out with a candle in it - which was a perfect tie in.

WATER

I'm finalising my plans for my devised creativity session with the children and staff on Wednesday morning in Gorey Youth Needs.
On the list of supplies: pipes and tubing, bamboo sticks, garden twine, rope, funnels, bottles, balls, duct tape, measuring jugs, whisks, food colouring, glass bowl and vase.

Design notes. Roisin Markham 2011.

The session will happen outdoors and be full on splash and play. The idea is to explore what the children are naturally curious about and build that into the design of an interactive wall.

Distilling ideas in to a plan of action

I've spent half of today thinking about the practicalities of the next phase of research.
How do I bring the 4 elements to children 0 - 5 years?
WATER - EARTH - WIND - FIRE/SUN