As a Experience Early Learning (EEL) Blogger, I receive the EEL Preschool Curriculum in exchange for my honest opinions and authentic stories about our experiences using the curriculum. All opinions and thoughts are completely my own
Pond life is the perfect exploration for preschoolers. So much life in the pond, not just the abundant variety of animal life, but the plant life as well. This particular week we studied Plant Pond Life and today was all about that gross slimy stuff… Algae.
I learned so much from this lesson! My Experience Early Learning (EEL) Teacher Guide had us sing a little song at the beginning of the lesson, but we inserted our own names. We used “Momma” for me. “Momma eats algae, Momma eats algae, it is green and good to eat, Momma eats algae.” We also discovered there are lots of animal life that eat the algae!
I loved how we explored the movement of water and how it can make some types of algae clump together just like our foam stars. Because algae doesn’t have roots, it can move more freely. This activity was great for fine motor skills. I was expecting my 2 year old son to work on his pincer grip, but he refused to not have tweezers in his hands. I was so proud of his persistence to use them and grab the stars!
The best part of our day by far was our Invitation to Create Algae! EEL sent us yellow paper and green glitter. I just added shaving cream and liquid watercolors to it (these last for-ev-er by the way). The exploration was for children to also see that yellow and blue make green. I decided this activity would be best done outdoors, so I hauled my little chalkboard table outside and set it all up for my little learners.
They did not hesitate to get right to work! I was again blown away by my toddler. He has so careful about his paint placement and getting it on the paper, while my kindergartener was living her best life using her hands to make her algae painting.
It wasnt long before painting moved from the paper to the table itself. I knew it was a good idea to do this outside! When I saw them starting to eye the table, I grabbed the green glitter that EEL sent, and had them sprinkle it on their shaving cream paintings. Then they had to dry… which took alllllllll day; however once they dried, they looked so much more like actual algae! I especially loved how my kindergartener’s turned out.
Once the shaving cream was on the table, it was childhood fun at it’s finest. They drew, painted, erased, drew more, wrote letters, practiced writing words, and watching the blue and yellow shaving cream become a green mess before us.
Today marks day 15 of social distancing for us. Algae day was done on day one. I am so thankful I have this box of curriculum that equips me with ideas, materials, games, and ways to make learning fun right here at home, but even if you don’t have this box of goodness you can easily do these kinds of things at home. Yes it will be messy, but they will enjoy these memories at home with YOU. Rest in the promise of delightful memories being made and not what is happening on the news. You can’t control what is happening in the world around us, but you can control how you react to it… and your little ones… they’re watching. Make those memories, momma.
