Extended Day Delights

Every Friday our school gets delivered boxes and boxes of pizza. Every Friday those pizza boxes get sent to recycling and our wonderful garbage removal team kindly take them to the recycling facility.  Last Friday Morah Stephanie was able to save a few in hopes that the children would find something creative to do with them.  When we looked at them this Monday we suggested many different options for the boxes.  Shaya insisted that we make a ramp.  So, with a little bit of tape and a lot of imagination we had the perfect ingredients for a marble-racing ramp.  We built a straight shoot at first then added little obstacles for the balls to go around.  Once we figured out that the obstacles were only slowing down the balls, we went back to our high speed racing and carried the activity on to Tuesday.  We love it when we find activities that have the children asking for more. 

While some were racing, others were building onto our cardboard house, twisting pipe cleaners together to make bracelets, and creating magic flower gardens out of random, flower-like toys. Last week Henia made a computer for our cardboard house, and then it went missing.  This week something great happened; we found it!  Here you can see Sammy Typing away busily

Our little builders once again created another unique structure equipped with an array of features.  Did you know that there's a spaceship out there that has an obstacle course, a house with beds, ramps, bridges, and a secret room? Yep, our students imagined all of that up themselves. 

While some like to build giant structures, others may feel more inclined to color, cut, tear, and glue. So, we turned our reading nook into an art station because sometimes it's fun to do art somewhere other than the table, as long as everyone is safe and mindful of the supplies we are using.  

Togetherness and fun go hand in hand during our extended hours. The concept of teamwork is a great social skill and will be carried with our young minds throughout their lives.  We practiced working together and cheering on our teammates using balloons, hoops, bean bags and some very simple instructions.  We were pleasantly surprised how well the children remembered the sequence of the races so well.  For example, during one race, we picked up bean bags, set each one in its own hoop, then did five jumping jacks, retrieved our bean bags then finished on our starting dot.  They all did a great job remembering all of those steps; very few needed the Morahs to remind them of the steps or walk them through.

The Extended Day Inventors

The imaginations of children are really amazing things, and the things that they come with and create each day are really astonishing. Whenever we have free play during Extended Day (and I'm sure during the mornings as well), you can almost always find the children finding new things to use, create, build, explore, and imagine wonders with.

I decided to utilize this creativity and imaginative play and do it in a slightly more structured way. 

I was also interested in experiencing just how different each and every child's mind and imagination works. 

I prepared a few different bags each filled with the same exact variety of supplies- from pom poms and googly eyes to straws, umbrellas, and bubble wrap. The children were paired up and then given their bags full of materials, and left to see what they could create, invent, and build.

When they received their bags, they excitedly began to take out the supplies and started to create.   

Some chose to lay out all their supplies, and some chose to only take out only what they were using at the moment, but they all got right to cutting, taping, and 'inventing'.

You are really able to see the individuality of each child, and how each child, while given the same exact materials, came up with and created completely different things. 

"Morah look at my new invention!" was heard many times, said with such excitement and joy as they came running over to proudly show us what they made (as can be seen in some of the photos.)

Whether it was a "feather launcher"

A "Shovel"

A "Person"

A "windblower"

A "Broom"

An "Instrument"

An "Airplane"

A "Present"

A "Bracelet for Mom"

Ilan proudly showing his invention to his sister

After dance class, the girls joined in on the action, and they too used the materials to create their own inventions. 

How amazing to see they beauty of the mind of the child, what it can come up with with just a few random materials, and how very unique each child and their imagination really are. 

It starts with these 'small' inventions- but who knows what it can grow to become as your child and their imagination grow even more! 

Have a wonderful Shabbat! 

Morah Leah Lew