How to Use New Toys

Fiona discovered it first. The sensory tub which had been filled with blue water and the new whales and sharks ( 6" plastic toy animals). She examined each animal and put it back in the water. Then she looked at the display of shells, rocks and sea glass. She took a piece of brown paper and the pastels and created a picture of a whale in the ocean. She used the props to create shells and rocks in the bed of her ocean. Her whale was spouting above a waterline.

Then Cash came in. He came right over to the sensory tub. Fiona joined him. They tested the buoyancy of each animal. Then Fiona discovered that by peering through the side of the sensory tub it looked "just like an aquarium." So she spread towels on the floor and looked under the sensory tub. Excited by the view of the water from underneath, especially the motion of the water caused by Cash's splashing, she invited him to see it. They took turns being the splasher and the observer.

Then Elizabeth joined them. At first Elizabeth simply wanted to splash the whales in the water. Then she wanted to drop the rocks and sea glass into the water, from a height, to make a larger splash. But Fiona encouraged her to look underneath. Soon Elizabeth was taking turns with Cash and Fiona: two children laying on towels on the floor under the sensory table while one "stirred" the water to propel the animals into centrifugal motion.

This activity lasted over 20 minutes. The teacher in the room simply observed and took notes. No adult was necessary.