Learning Stations/ Centers

When the children are in centers, that is my time to pull students that are struggling with different skills or even excelling in skills and  give them one on one attention.  Before pulling students for that extra help or enrichment, I must teach the children to direct their play for learning on their own.  Once I feel the students can work in stations/centers independently, I can begin to pull small groups.

This is the block center. We will be learning lots of new centers in the near future. It's great to see the depth of the children's imagination, and what the can build with the blocks. Also, blocks are another great tool for working on fine motor skills.



This is the Playdoh center. Student work on fine motor skills and letters in this center.

Shapes

Check us out making shapes!

Playdough!

My daughter and I experimented with making playdoh yesterday!  It was so much fun...especially adding different colors to it.  Playdough is such a wonerful tool for so many things.  It's great for building fine motor skills, practicing letters and numbers, and pure creativity.  If you would like to make a batch of playdough with your child, I have provided the recipe down below.

Playdough

1 cup flour

1 cup warm water

2 teaspoons cream of tarter

1 teaspoon vegetable oil

1/4 cup salt

food coloring

1. Dissolve the salt in the water

2. Pour all ingredients (except food coloring) into a large pot

3. Stir constantly over medium heat until a ball forms by pulling away from the sides.

4. Knead the dough mixture until the texture matches playdough

5. Add some food coloring if you wish, and knead the color into the dough.