Exploration of Exploration of WaterWater

Presented by: Kate Presented by: Kate StanleyStanley

Pouring and Pouring and MeasurementMeasurement

Ella and Degan fill the cups until they overflow. Then they repeat the process.

Kristina and Bobby carefully pour water from one cup to the other just to the top.

Toddler ExplorationsToddler Explorations“Cold Ice!” exclaims

Eli, age 19 months.

“Cold!” Ella, age 25

months, exclaims as she shivers and giggles

Zachary, age 17 months, feels

the ice and then grunts. Kate

responds, “The ice is cold.”

Eli decides

the explore the ice with his mouth.

Again, he exclaims,

“Cold ice!”

A Different Kind of A Different Kind of ExplorationExplorationDaniel, age 20 months,

tries to climb in. When he discovers the ice is

cold he sits on the

ground.

Myles, age 35 months, carefully

balances as he puts his

foot into the ice

Jared, age 4, jumps in with both feet. He

wiggles his whole body to get his feet under

the ice.

Joce, age 20 months,

decides to explore with her hands

first, exclaiming, “The ice is

cold!”

Self ExplorationSelf ExplorationRainbow Falls and pools at Penn Hills Resort, Analomink,

PA

Bushkill FallsBushkill, PA

Flowing WaterFlowing Water

For a focused exploration of the flow of water, we set up a river

building activity.

Some children jumped right in to digging. While others, like Lia, age 3

(on the right), observed the other children before jumping in to help.

Jared, age 4, Liam, age 5 and Mason, age 4,

quickly discover that two pools

can be connected by a curving

trench.

Mason digs a trench with a ladle. As he does this the water moves through the

trench and he exclaims, “Look

guys, the water is moving!”

In contrast, Lia has just begun her exploration, first, with

a spoon and then with her

hand.

Additions to the Additions to the ExplorationExploration

To involve the children in the

progression of this exploration, we had

a conversation about what other

materials they might need to add.

They decided they wanted to make

bridges, so we added popsicle sticks.

As the sandbox filled with water and the bridges were washed away, a few children

began to build forests on the small islands that were forming.

Liam notices the flow of water is slowing. He looks back over his trench and notices that Henry, age 4.5 had put stones in the trench. He counts

as he places the stones in the trench.

What was learned through What was learned through an Exploration of Water?an Exploration of Water?

• As a teacher, I was reminded to let the children take the lead with the activity.

• The children further developed problem solving skills and processes of investigation

• The children further developed cooperation skills.• The children further developed an understanding of cause and

effect as they dug the sand out of the trenches to create a path for the water to follow.

• The children practiced math skills as they measured with the popsicle sticks to see if they would fit across the river.

• The children practiced one-to-one correspondence as they counted the rocks they used to build a dam.

• The children began to understand the concept of conservation as they carefully poured the water from one cup to another, stopping just before the water reached the top.