Magnets – Cupertino

Hello,

So happy to explore with you in our 4th adventure – Magnets.

The Magnet-Opus food tray was the highlight of the Cube game of Magnets. We also imagined our hand is a special magnet that attracts Reds and Rectangles. The kids explored our room to discover Metals and realized there are things that look like Metals but are not attracted to magnets. Some photos:

   

In the mice and Chili adventure – Chili had a giant magnet. We helped the mice escape with wonderful ideas from the kids.

In the exploration stations we collaborated to create a pond.

We colored fish.

The kids exercised their eye-hand coordination while drawing the pond’s water, algae and corals with magnets.

Created a Magnet-Opus and discovered his favorites from a tray full of Magnet-Opus food.

 

The kids loved to see the pond come together so beautifully and use magnetic poles to fish in the pond they created.

First it was just a cardboard box.

but than it started to fill with water and corals and fish

and Magnet-Opuses and food for them.

and the kids got fishing poles and started filling the bucket with fish and Magnet-Opus food.

     

We even had a jumping frog that uses the fact that like magnetic poles repel each other.

See you all next time for Combining shapes adventure.

Aliza.

Sound – Cupertino

Hello,

Playing with sounds in the preschool age is the foundation of morphological awareness in school age.

In the cube game we guessed sounds from the sound box, danced to music, felt the vibrations of a triangle, shaked, banged, meowed, stomped.

     

The mice discovered how to sneak from Chili in a dark room by producing sounds.

In the exploration stations we created a drum, a banjo and phone caps. Each vibrates differently to produce sound.

1. Creating a drum.

2. Creating a banjo.

3. Phone caps

And producing more and more sounds:

Goodbye everyone, I was happy to explore here with you!!!

Next time it’s Magnets.

Be prepared to feed a monster, paint with magnets frog leap and more.

Aliza.

Space – Cupertino

Hello,

The space adventure was so much fun.

The cube game of Space was full of Moon walks, Strange Aliens, Rockets and more. The cube game purpose is to discuss the subject of the session in a fun way while elevating existing knowledge that the kids already have. This sets the stage for more exploration and discovery. Here are some photos:

      

This time we had a collaborative exploration stations to recreate the solar system. Each kid worked on a different planet or planets according to his choice. Books about spaces provided us inspiration and information about the characteristics of the planets. we noticed shapes, relative size, color, special features of the planet surface and more.

    

We created our own Alien to populate the Solar system:

Continued having fun with the rockets:

And documented our experiences in the journal

:

This was the result of collaboration.

Now for the final touch. Constellations.

Thanks Kimai for leading us to sing “Twinkle, Twinkle” while creating the constellation.

Next time be prepared to make noise in the  Sound session.

Aliza.

Mixing color – Cupertino

Hello Parents, Nannies, Grandfathers and Grandmothers!

This is the second round of “Science kids” in First 5 at Mercy street. This time in “Cannon Music” in Cupertino. Our team, myself, Iris and Sharmilla creating together your experiences in this program.

We started by exploring color mixing. This subject of mixing color is such an intuitive and lively way to introduce the structure and rituals of “Science kids”.

First we explored primary and secondary colors by playing The Cube Game of Mixing colors.

Here are some photos where the kids are hunting for colors and placing them on the Color Wheel.

 

On The Adventures of Chili and the mice. 

The mice are trapped into a paint box and getting curious how to change their color to find a hiding place in the garden. The kids started thinking with the mice and from that we went on to the Exploration stations.

1. Creating a mouse after mixing two primary colored play-dough. This great fine motor activity shows how much effort we need to insert in creating a new color. First the new color appears on the area of contact between the two colors, and only after much kneading we can see a whole piece of new color.

2. The magic top. In this station we see another method of mixing – by movement. Two colors in proximity moving fast will appear as a new color. The adults among us also recognized that not every design provided the same effect of mixing. Try different designs at home and let me know what worked best.

3. Mixing paint in a ziplock. This station is a mess free lab of color mixing. Again the kids can appreciate the process of mixing as they insert effort in mixing all the content in the bag.

4. Stained glass art. Another mixing method is overlaying. Here, by overlaying two pieces of semi-transparent tissue paper, we can discover a new color. It works well when placing the creation in front of a light source. At home attach the creation to the window to appreciate the color mixing.

Here is part of the exhibition we had:

As real scientists always do, we document our experiences in a personal journal. I will write more in the future about the importance of Journaling.

Finally we met again Chili and the Mice to see how they resolve their adventure of mixing colors.

Next time it’s all about Space. Get ready to Blast-Off!

Aliza.