Creating chaos in baby class!

This is the week when the teachers are visiting the Montessori nursery - so far the visits are going really well. On Monday it was Lucy's turn, so I helped with baby class which she teaches with Elizabeth. I had agreed to do a 'creative activities' lesson before lunch, and I wanted to try a few different activities and let them choose, rather than get the whole class to do the same thing. So here's what I set up:

 A 'graffiti table', covered with a big sheet of paper. Children came and wrote/drew/made marks and patterns with crayons.

'Make a tower out of toilet rolls' (snappy name there!). The children could try to build a tall tower and I also provided them with masking tape so they could attempt to fix the pieces together so their tower wouldn't collapse. This could be developed further but at this stage it was just fun and also good for co-ordination and problem-solving. I heard lots of language too, sadly I couldn't tell what they were saying but I got the impression at least some of them were talking about the task which was great. Also we could re-use the toilet rolls afterwards so it wasn't too wasteful an activity!

'Sand pictures' - ie PVA glue applied with paintbrushes in patterns, then sand sprinkled over the top. Simple but effective and fun - and good for fine motor skill development too I think.

I think she's pleased, don't you?

And finally my old favourite - painting with water. I even found some proper decorating brushes so they were able to choose from a range and explore the different effects created. I encouraged them to paint different surfaces i.e. the wall as well as the floor. The teacher suggested the numbers I think; I tried not to give too many specific ideas otherwise I find they only do those things. Sadly they are already used to restricting their imaginations and copying the teacher even at the age of 3 or 4; I'm on a bit of a campaign to encourage choice and thinking for themselves!

I think they all had fun and enjoyed the different activities. It was possibly quite novel to them to be able to make choices and change activities when they wanted to but they coped well. And I had fun too!