Baking in the toddler classroom is a fun way to learn through our senses. We made simple pumpkin muffins with mini chocolate chips. The toddlers used their eyes and noses to experience the orange pumpkin that we added to our batter. We put together all the ingredients to a big plastic bag and took turns “mixing”. Each child took a turn scooping a teaspoon of mini chocolate chips. The result: yummy pumpkin muffins for snack!
Toddlers are experimenting, thinking, solving problems and learning all the time. Through exploration and experimentation, children develop the ability to think, understand, communicate, imagine, and work out what might happen next. In September our cognitive development focus is on the five senses.
I filled our mystery can with big marshmallows. We shook the can and listened to the marshmallows bounce around using our sense of hearing. After taking the lid off – I gave the toddlers a peak of what was inside. We described the marshmallows as white, round, and bigger than tiny marshmallows.
The toddlers used their noses to use their sense of smell.
Every child got to choose one to use their sense of touch to feel and squish.
The best of the five senses was getting to taste the marshmallow!
We took our cognitive development focus one step further and put a lemon in the mystery can. We went through all five senses and compared the lemon to the marshmallow. The tasting resulted in some fun pictures.
Because our color of the month is yellow and our shape is circle – We used large lemons to do prints!
Our toddler class continued to learn about the color red as we took turns peeling apples. Our fine motor skills were put to the test as well as revisiting our study of the five senses. We enjoyed our peeled apple slices for snack. A yummy lesson indeed! We will be “picking” apples next week – a picture of this will be included in the color book sent home at the end of the year.
Toddlers use all their senses to explore the world around them. We spent some time naming the five senses, reading a story about our senses, then using all of our senses to observe a treat in the mystery can.
Hearing. I shook the mystery can. We used our ears and listened. We decided it was a soft sound.
Sight. I took the lid of the mystery can to give the toddlers a peak. Inside were lots of round white items. Marshmallows!
Smell. We then used our nose to try out our sense of smell. The marshmallows smelled sweet!
Touch. We then used our hands to feel the squishy and soft marshmallows.
Taste. Finally we got to taste the marshmallows. Yummy!
There is nothing better on a cold day than some warm and comforting soup! We read the book, “Chicken Soup with Rice” by Maurice Sendak, and then our friends helped make some chicken soup…with rice! They each took a turn adding in a different ingredient.
Our friends got to try chicken soup with rice, along with rectangle crackers at snack time!
Our art project was also focused on chicken soup with rice, so our friends used different colored rice and glue to make a bowl of pretty colored chicken soup with rice! They had fun using their fine motor skills to scoop the rice, pour it on the paper, and then shake it until it stuck to the glue.
For the month of November, we will be focusing on the use of our five senses: touch, taste, sight, smell, and sound. Early education focuses a lot of learning through sensory play and active learning because our senses are some of our most useful learning tools! It is important for toddlers to continue to develop their different senses, as well as to learn the use of their senses, because that is their means of processing the world around them. Use of the five senses can help children link their senses to recalling memories, which helps with overall cognitive development.
With our toddlers, we made pumpkin muffins as a class, and we used our senses to explore what we were making along the way. Here goes some multi-sensory learning!
Ms. Kristen had some already made muffins in the Mystery Can, and our friends listened to the sound it made in the can. We then started making our muffins, by adding each ingredient in a big plastic bag, one step at a time. Our friends got to smell each ingredient we were adding (yum, cinnamon!) throughout the process.
After adding all of our ingredients, it was time to mix the batter together. Each of our friends got to take a turn (yay, sharing!) mixing our muffin batter in the bag. They loved how squishy and soft it felt!
After putting the batter into the pan, our friends got to add their own chocolate chips on top–we always love to sneak in some fine motor skills 😉
They used their sense of taste at snack time, when they got to enjoy what they helped make!
Miss Sarah was back this week teaching us all about The Giant Panda. She brought in a live bamboo plant and one that has been cut and dried. We discussed how there were similar and different traits of the plant. It’s hollow! That’s where it stores the water the Panda’s drink when they bite into it.
We also talked about how much food the Panda eats…40 pounds of bamboo a day!!! That’s a lot of food, as much as most of our Preschoolers’ weigh! We certainly had trouble picking up that much weight.
The cut and dried bamboo was smooth and hollow. We did a lot of science discovery with our senses!
Next up…practicing our balance! It took a lot of muscle control to balance on the board like a panda balances in the tree in order to eat and sleep.
Science with Miss Sarah is the best!!!
Creative Tots has specialized in the private education of both toddlers and preschool age children for over 15 years. We began in the heart of Madeira and now also have a new Mason location. We are specifically designed to focus on early childhood development for children ages 18 months to 5 years.
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