Week of 5/19/14
This week I had the floor mirror elevated on a few ramp
blocks so that it was slanted. There were small wooden blocks and the mirror
blocks to build with on the slanted mirror. I was curious as to how they would
react when the blocks would begin to slide down the mirror. What strategies
would they use to keep their structures from falling or moving?
Nathan
had placed a block at the top of the mirror and then watched it begin to slide
downwards. The block stopped. Nathan then used his hand to push the block further
down the mirror. He repeated this process again with the other block. It
appeared that Nathan was exploring why the block was moving on its own and
seemed curious as to why it stopped. Connor stacked four
blocks vertically on top of one another near the top of the mirror where it was
the highest elevation. He added the fourth block when they fell. Connor
attempted this again, but now he had the blocks stacked horizontally on top of
one another. He added the fourth block and they did not fall. Braden used a
bridge block that was bigger than the other blocks and placed it on the mirror
in the middle. He then stacked two smaller blocks on top. The tower did not
fall. I’m curious if Braden knew that the bigger block would create more
stability for his tower or if he just liked that block because it was a bridge.
The sliding of the blocks as the
children built their structures seemed to create a challenge to keep their
towers from falling. They have started use building strategies to attempt to
keep their towers from falling. I wonder what they will do if they built their
structures on a lazy Susan? How will they keep it from falling down? What
building strategies will they use? Will the children use the same ones or think
of new ways to balance them?
