Everything's an Experiment

Today at Morning Meeting, we spent some time talking about our story's three main characters, and the Turtles gave Carol instructions about how to draw two of them: the Pink Dolphin and the Aardvark with the Rainbow Parrot on it's back. The Turtles turned out to be very excellent art instructors. Next, we again encouraged the children to think about what choices they wanted open for Inside-Outside Time. They decided that they wanted to bring out the car racing tube, and to have the big blocks out on the playground. Another popular choice was painting with big brushes and water.

Naomi, Maggie, GK, Robby, Miranda, Sarah Lynne and Kailyn decided that they wanted to do water painting during inside outside day. They gleefully grabbed their brushes, and got to work painting rocks, tables, chairs, and even the pavement.
We are painting the rocks!
Yeah! We are making a new road.
Nobody can drive on it until its dry.
Let’s paint the table!
These plants will die if you don’t water them.
We’re painting the cradle.
We’re painting the cat bed.


They wondered why some things changed colors and some did not, and why some surfaces took a long time to dry while others (like the rocks in the sun), dried quickly. 

There was also a lengthy experiment that resulted from the Turtles realizing that the water container was full when they were standing in it, and half empty when they got out. Many questions and theories were put forth to explain this bizarre phenomenon.

Inside, the Tube Racers were also experimenting - trying to figure out the best ways to get the stuck cars out of the tube. One vehicle in particular kept getting stuck, and the Turtles figured out just how many cars were necessary to push it out and at what angle.

Everywhere you turned today, the Turtles were conducting experiments and solving problems. Disco's and forts were built and danced in. Mosaics were put together and surprises planned. There was lots of negotiating for supplies and costumes and surprises abounded.