The toddlers have been enjoyed sensory play all summer. One day, we decided to explore Oobleck and plungers!
The children were eager to see what was going to be placed on the black tray outside. Ben, Penny B and Ford sat around as I sprinkled corn starch onto the board. They felt it with their hands, Ben rubbed it into his and said, “it’s so soft.” Penny B mixed the water and corn starch together and showed her hands to everyone around.
Rose ran over to join as the water was added. Each child took a plunger and began exploring. They used their hands and plungers to mix the water into the corn starch. Penny F ran over and shouted, “milk!” It did look a lot like milk.
Ford and Ben filled their plungers with the oobleck and said, “what’s in there?”
Charlotte, Ezra, Margo and TongTong joined in. The toddlers did a great job sharing the plungers with each other so that everyone could try it out. Charlotte grabbed some oobleck and said, “it’s like cake,” maybe she’s done some baking and made a connection to cake batter!
Ezra stuck his plunger down and using his gross motor skills he was able to pull it back off, it made a popping noise!
Rose enjoyed it so much, she spent a lot of time letting it drop on her legs and at one point laid down on the tray!
Theo brought a shovel over so he could scoop the oobleck up, what a great idea. Jackson also used a shovel and filled up an empty apple sauce container, he then watched as it slowly fell back onto the tray when he tipped it upside down.
Margo spent lots of time with this as well. She enjoyed moving the plunger through the oobleck and watching it slowly spread back out across the tray.
Austin stuck the plunger down and dragged it across the tray. When he did this, it cleaned the tray as the oobleck moved with the plunger.
Morley enjoyed using his gross motor skills to stick and pull the plungers. The pop sound made him laugh every time!
TongTong used the plungers to move the oobleck, when he was all done he lined them up for his peers to use next.
This experience gives the children the chance to explore many areas. As they stick and pull the plungers, this targets gross motor. The feeling of the oobleck gives them a sensory experience. Seeing the oobleck go from solid to liquid is science.
I wonder what else we can do with the plungers?
