Connecting with Friends

 

 

Mason and Alex  sat across from one another playing with play dough. When Mason noticed that Alex was sticking wooden sticks into the play dough, he immediately began handing additional sticks to him sharing a wonderful moment. These boys are participating in the Jewish value of Dibuk chaverim, the caring for friendships. Dibuk Chaverim goes to the heart of how we make a friendship a priority, involving love and appreciation and opening ourselves up to trusting and mutually giving of ourselves. 

Play Dough Builds Communication!

Today many of the Levena children started their day at the play dough table. Play dough is such a wonderful open-ended material for toddlers and pre-schoolers because it gives both sensory stimulation and the ability to create and use your imagination. Today the Levana children were hard at work creating pizza's and pancakes. Each child had their own playdough and own their space. This enabled them to create their own projects next to their peers. However, as we talked about pizza and pancakes they began to converse with each other about their favorite pizzas, whether or not the like sauce, or if they have pancakes at their house. These conversations are the beginning bridges between the parallel play stage of two and three  year olds and the small group play that develops after children are three, and continues to grow thought preschool.  Playdough is a manutlative often used in the Levana class and it will be neat to see how both their play and their creations evolve throughout the year!

Getting to Know You...

The play dough was a setting for all kinds of animals this morning.  With individual trays to work on, each child had a supply of play dough as well as a variety of creatures.  The kids integrated the gorilla, the giraffe and a variety of dinosaurs into their play.  It was wonderful to see the smiles and laughter as they squeezed, squished, and flattened the dough.  The Keshet children are getting to know each other as they engage in parallel play.

Concentration

The Keshet children enjoyed playing with our newly made play-dough on Thursday. Luke, Noa and Sadie spent time trying out the knives and cookie cutters and squishing the dough between their fingers. We noticed how engaged and self-directed they were as they enjoyed these materials.