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Goal CD-3: Children demonstrate the ability to think about their own thinking: reasoning, taking perspectives, and making decisions. 

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Goal CD-3: Children demonstrate the ability to think about their own thinking: reasoning, taking perspectives, and making decisions. 

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Try to reach logical conclusions (including conclusions regarding cause and effect) about familiar situations and materials, based on information gathered with their senses. CD-2y

Express understanding that others may have different thoughts, beliefs, or feelings than their own (“I like ketchup and you don’t.”). CD-3j

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Goal CD-1: Children use their senses to construct knowledge about the world around them. 

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Goal CD-1: Children use their senses to construct knowledge about the world around them. 

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Recall and imitate patterns of beat, rhythm, and movement as they create dances or participate in movement and dance activities. CD-5v

Express knowledge gathered through their senses using play, art, language, and other forms of representation. CD-1l

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Goal LDC-4: Children speak audibly and express thoughts, feelings, and ideas clearly.

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Goal LDC-4: Children speak audibly and express thoughts, feelings, and ideas clearly.

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Use a growing vocabulary that includes many different kinds of words to express ideas clearly. LDC-7p

Use language and nonverbal cues to communicate thoughts, beliefs, feelings, and intentions. LDC-4j

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-Identity

-Creativity

-Imagination

-Senses

-Perspective

-Expressive

-Understanding

-Visualization

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-How does your identity affect your art and creativity?

-How can creativity help to express your ideas or thoughts in your work?

-How does imagination help improve your art and the things you draw?

-How does your senses influence the way you see things and experience the world?

-How can you improve your perspective to see other's sides to situations?

-How can you use different materials or forms to express yourself?

-In what ways can understanding help when talking to someone?

-How can visualization help with creativity and imagery?

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Colorful buttons of different shapes and sizes can help children use their imagination as to what the shapes can be used for in their artwork. It is similar to the finger painting artwork since they both allows children to explore their minds.

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Fun foam will allow children to access their creativity in what they can make. Using this mold they can make all sorts of shapes, animals, etc.

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Pipe cleaners can help children develop fine motor skills and explore their creativity and imagination. It can also help with emotional wellness and benefit their creative fun in the classroom

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Slime has become popular fairly recently and has been proven to benefit kids with improving their focus. It helps stimulate the senses with the way it feels and can help kids with anxiety to stay more calm. It is great for sensory breaks.

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Water colors can benefit children's hand-eye coordination as well as their fine motor skills. It can help with brain development since it allows for endless art activities. Children can paint their perspectives and story tell through their artwork.

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Play dough can be used with numerous art activities and incorporate sculpting different animals or items. This benefits children by helping them with their problem solving skills and allow them to remember things they have seen to create their art.

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Construction paper can be used for any project planned for a child. Whether it is a drawing or a 3D item, there is plenty of uses for it. This can allow children to explore their creativity and mature them if they are using glue and scissors. It can also encourage color recognition and provides an medium for their artistic expression.

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Chalk can help children build confidence by allowing them to express themselves and tap into their imagination. It can also help children with their thinking and enhances their learning to a more interactive way.

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Glitter glue can encourage children to draw from their perspective and help understand certain things. It is also a sensory stimulation and will enhance their creativity.

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Stencils can help children become familiar with different shapes and pictures. It will help with recognition int he future and acts as a guide to assist children. It can help boost their confidence as they become more familiar with the shapes and benefit their motor skills as they become more comfortable with different shapes, lines, and forms.

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This activity allows for children to activate their motor skills by giving them different materials such as yarn, ribbon, pipe cleaners, feathers, etc. The challenge is for children to figure a way to get the materials inside which the yarn and ribbon tends to be more challenging than the others. It is a great hands-on learning experience to improve their cognitive abilities.

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In my Waldorf training, the young child's development of the fine motor skills was viewed as more important than teaching rote skills(such as recognizing the sounds of the letters). The hand can be considered as an instrument of intelligence. Philipp Martzog, a researcher, found that better fine motor skills in the early years might have a direct relationship to higher intelligence level and specifically - deductive thinking. His findings pointed to the relationship between fine motor skills and flexibility in the thinking.

Fine motor skills is how young children develop cognitive abilities in early childhood. It is why we call it "hands-on" learning.

Perhaps the development of fine motor skills is far more important than just the ability to use pencils and markers. The hand is the first tool young children have to express their thoughts and ideas. In the Waldorf schools, the development of the hand includes finger knitting in kindergarten and actually knitting in first grade. I found in my kindergarten, children found deep satisfaction with learning how to finger knit and making bracelets.

I think it is worth giving children many invitations to play that develop and expand their fine motor capacities.

Fine Motor Activity Bottles with Loose Parts

This activity is simple and can be set up with recycled materials. This is a great opportunity to use textile and fabric based loose parts.

The task is simple. To fill the plastic bottle with the various loose parts. Yarns and ribbons are the most difficult to guide into the bottle. The straws, pipe cleaners and feathers are easier. You want to set up an invitation to fill the bottle with a variety of materials that offer different levels of challenge. Provide scissors so yarns, straws and other materials can be cut before adding.

Adjust this to fit the developmental needs of your class or child.

Putting the yarn into the bottle takes both the fingers and eyes to guide.

Big fluffy pipe cleaners...

Feathers.

Straws.

The results are beautiful and look lovely displayed in a window sill or capped and put in blocks for building!

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Fine Motor Bottle Activity with Loose Parts

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Fine motor skills is how young children develop cognitive abilities in early childhood. It is why we call it "hands-on" learning. Fine motor bottle activity with loose parts is a good way to introduce this type of learning in your classroom.

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Buttons can create a fun memory for kids as it allows them to tap into their imagination and get creative by using different shapes and sizes. These crafts will help keep them engaged and encourage curiosity. It is also a way for them to practice learning their colors and what colors they associate with different objects.

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Fun365 | Craft, Party, Wedding, Classroom Ideas & Inspiration

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Fun365 brings you inspired fun made easy. Find and shop thousands of creative projects, party planning ideas, classroom inspiration and DIY wedding projects.

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Painting crafts can help children explore their creativity. They can explore new colors by combining ones given to them and adapt to creating different shapes and images. It allows them to use their imagination and paint a picture that is in their memory and shows us their perspective.

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The explore stage is something we need to keep talking about. In a previous post, I talked about the explore stages of clay. Today, I want to share 5 paint invitations that really helped me embrace the explore stage of paint.
Conversation Tip While Painting
The one phrase I removed from my vocabulary when conversing with children about their paintings was, "What is that?"

As hard as it was - it opened the door for such deeper conversations. It also allowed me to see the need for time to explore and create and not just replicate what I wanted them to paint.

1. Finger (Hand) Painting

Notice how the child is learning about mixing colors all on his own

Child may choose to use just his or her finger

Or may scratch and feel the texture of the paint and surface together

A tray, paper, deep dish palette, and bottle of paint are the materials to help this exploration

2. Paintbrushes and Butcher Paper

Nothing says explore stage like painting on a big surface with paint brushes and just 2 colors!

3. Mirrors and Mixing

Utilizing a different medium to paint (such as a mirror) provides a whole new experience.

Notice how the mixed colors really comes through on the mirror!

4. Loose Parts Addition

Taking paint brushes away and replacing with flowers, sticks, and weeds

Such a simple set up will provide endless painting possibilities

Even the addition of corks will invite children to explore different techniques of painting

5. Outdoor Painting

The simple shift from painting indoors to outdoors will heighten their learning and exploration

Easel painting outdoors with natural materials and paper

Bonus!

Bringing all the explore elements together outdoors! Stunning!

Allowing children to experience the language of paint through a variety of explore stages will:

Deepen their explorations with paint

Develop of variety of paint technique in an authentic way

Honor the child where he or she is at on their journey

Help us as teachers slow down and really listen to the children and their thoughts

Embrace the mess by recognizing the sensory importance and artistic expression

Teaching Nugget

These cookie sheets from the dollar store make for the best paint or collage tray!

Having multiple palettes or sizes of paint containers is helpful for different types of paintings: fingerpaint, large paper painting, nature painting, etc!

Take Action

Plan an invitation for paint exploration! Have no set outcomes for the children, instead take note on what THEY are doing and learning from the paint! Use that to plan future atelier provocations!

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5 Paint Invitations to Embrace the Explore Stage

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Today, I want to share 5 paint invitations that really helped me embrace the explore stage of paint. Click here to read and get inspired!

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Play dough promotes creativity and develops children's motor skills. Giving them specific creations like a lion or a dog will allow them to use their memory in what they indicate that creation as. It is also a sensory activity that allows them to squish it, pull it, cut it up, and shape it. They will remember the way it smells and feels and create something up to their imagination.

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10 Sensory Activities for Kids - The Classroom Store

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Sensory play allows kids to have fun while encouraging learning by stimulating brain activity. Here are 10 sensory activities you can try in the classroom.

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Painted Pasta Jewelry is a way for children to use all different kids of motor skills and problem-solving. When putting the pasta onto the necklace children are forced to manipulate the string through the hole which develops their hand movements. They are able to express themselves with whatever designs or patterns they hope for. They are learning how to overcome obstacles if they were to reach a difficult point and develop their problem-solving skills. It also helps to build their confidence with the freedom of their art.

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Painting Valentine’s Day and African Inspired Pasta Necklaces

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Blog about Easy and Fun Kid Art and Crafts Activities