Thursday, May 24, 2012

Fireworks At Daycare?

I work with some pretty amazing people.  We all do some really nifty things with the children.  Each time I see the activities that set out in our room inspired by the children and the way they go in-depth with what is going on I wish I could be more like the ladies I work with.

For the last couple of weeks there has been construction and blasting going on across the road as workers were digging wells.  We all thought this was pretty cool and I took this opportunity to discuss explosives and their effects with the children.  I did feel that we needed something a big more visceral though, something that they could be a part of and see and feel and experience.  With that in mind I asked my supervisor if I could bring in some cherry bombs and let them off with my group.  As long as we observed some strict safety guidelines she was ok with it, clearly I have the best boss!

So that is exactly what we did at day care each of the last two days.  We talked about safety, we all wore safety glasses.  The children, while working with this ‘dangerous’ explosive had no trouble listening to what needed to be done.  We lit off a few tiny fire crackers, and then a couple that just spun in place, and finally the cherry bombs.  It was pretty awesome.

fizz pop

cherry bomb day 2 fire and TP2

The toilet paper covering the top was for extra effect.  Tell me that if you were 3-5 years old and this is what you did one day at daycare that that would not be the highlight of the week!

I am still trying to figure out of to do the types of things that my partner educators do, to just set things out and have the children engage for (what seems like) hours, or to get them excited about letters or making really cool crafts. I think there is a lot more skill in doing those types of things and having them be successful, but until I get that sorted I’ll have to settle for this, I am ok with that compromise.

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