One morning, the Infants came into their class to find some beaded necklaces in their sensory table. Walter started putting the necklaces in a bowl. Nora noticed that there were beads in one of the shakers. She attempted to open it and then handed it to an educator. While the educator was not able to open the shaker, she did offer Nora a necklace and a measuring cup. Throughout the reset of the day, the educators noticed that the children continued putting the beads in various cups and bowls. The educators wondered how they could expand on this interest?
To continue with this learning, educator Lorie found some bottles of different sizes and placed them on a shelf with the necklaces. Fiya chose a short, wide bottle and some necklaces. She took these materials and sat in front of the classroom window. She used her fine motor skills and hand eye coordination to feed the beads into the top of the bottle. Once all of her necklaces were placed in the bottle, she dumped them out and started again. Fiya focused on this work for an extended period of time. When Nora saw the beads, she gasped and laughed with excitement. She chose a tall bottle to work with. She handed it to an educator to hold while she worked to put the beads into the smaller hole in the top. It took some coordination to get the beads to line up with the hole. Each time she succeeded she would smile at the educator. Nora was also engaged in this work for most of her day. Walter chose a wide bottle with a large opening at the top. He placed the necklaces in the container and shook it. His big smile indicated that he enjoyed that shaking sound of the beads. He shook the bottle so hard that the necklaces came flying out. He looked at educator Kiva and laughed. “Wow,” Kiva exclaimed, “your beads flew right out of there. Are you going to try that again?” Walter nodded and put the necklaces back in. For the rest of the day, Walter would show off his home-made shaker to anyone who would come into the room. Knew there were so many different uses for beaded necklaces?
The educators may find different types of necklaces and containers. They might offer some string necklaces. They may also freeze the beads in large bowls and offer them as a provocation.
