Science and Engineering: Preschool Style

Some of the new work we have this week in the Toy and Puzzle Area is marble works by Discovery Toys.  This is a toy that Ms. Harmony had and loved when she was a child, and this week she passed on that enthusiasm to another preschool group during Small Group.  She gave the children a few pieces of marble track, "feet," and spacers.  She invited the children to connect the pieces as they wished, and challenged them to test out how/where the marbles move in their construction.  We pretended that the marbles were people on a roller coaster, a super fun summer adventure!  The children demonstrated excellent problem solving to observe and discuss where the holes were in the pieces, where the pieces would catch the marble, and where the marbles would end up.

Friend "K" suggested we combine our three tracks together to make one big one.  We again problem solved about how and where to connect the pieces so our marbles would be able to go on every track piece.  As expected, the marble works were part of both friends' plans during Work Time.  They used and connected even more pieces to build a huge "roller coaster" for the marbles.

Baby "K" has gotten lots of practice handing the marbles back to the school friends, and today she didn't put a single one in her mouth.  Even the baby is learning and fascinated with this toy!  :)