The toddlers have been asking a lot of questions about how things work, or why we do things in a certain way over the last few months. To support their curiosity, teachers began to develop a project with a science focus while incorporating art. The study began in October with the incorporation of markers and water. The toddlers were able to create meaningful work on their names and then they would use water to drip onto the paper to create something new. The children were curious as to what would happen when the colors merged into each other and when the colors would drip onto the floor from the paper. They would watch as this change occurred with utter fascination. Teachers asked leading questions to find out what the children knew about mixing of colors and what they thought would happen if they added more water or other colors throughout the paper.
Teachers then extended the children’s ideas by introducing boxes and natural materials to support vertical painting over the weeks to watch as gravity took over and the paint continued to drip down. As the children utilized this different type of painting, teachers were able to then introduce new vocabulary such balance, gravity, drip, and merge. Teachers would find ways to incorporate these new words into the daily conversations. For example, “wow Jaysean, you are able to balance on one foot for 5 seconds.”
As the children’s curiosity grew, other activities were added to the weekly and daily curriculum. Toddlers gathered around a baking dish filled with water; they would touch the water and make predictions on what they thought they were going to do with the water and the materials provided on the table next to the water. Some of the children noticed that there were folded paper towels with marker writings “hidden” in the fold of the towel sitting next to the water. The children then took turns dropping the paper towels into the water one at a time. The towel absorbed the water and the “hidden” marker drawings on the other side began to appear. The toddlers gasped in excitement as they realized each paper towel had their names written on it. The children were able to recognize the letter print and began to guess each child’s name as it ‘magically’ appeared.
