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Cold Hard Science!

With the sun beaming down on the Marne Street playground, we thought it was the perfect day to explore a giant lump of ice, not just for its cooling effects but also due to the science lesson that would unfold.

The tamariki watched on as our ice turned from a solid to a liquid, with plenty of discussion about temperature. There was also an element of hypothesising as they mixed colours using the droppers and tried to guess what new colours they would make, or if different colours would make the ice melt faster? There was a certainty amongst my young friends that the warm colours like red, orange and yellow did in fact make the ice melt faster, with a few tamariki out to prove that the cool colours, like blue and green would slow it down.

It was a delight to watch this work unfold for our little scientists and with no strong conclusions drawn, I can see we will be having more ice play over the coming weeks to test our theories further.

Why do we provide activities like these?

Most importantly, because they are FUN!!! And that is what childhood is all about, learning through play and solidifying their learning through things they enjoy and can associate great memories too.

But what does this FUN lead too?... as children explore sensory materials, they develop their sense of touch, which lays the foundation for learning other skills, such as identifying objects by touch, and using fine-motor muscles.

The materials children work with at the sand and water table have many sensory attributes — they may be warm or cool, wet or dry, rough or smooth, hard or soft, textured or slimy. Discovering and differentiating these characteristics is a first step in classification, or sorting — an important part of preschoolers’ science learning and discovery