complex materials prompt inventive design

I am thrilled to write my first 2013 post for Zella. Bring on the New Year and new stories about children and their learning processes.

I have been thinking about the complexity of play and the importance of offering diverse materials for construction. Block play combined with pieces that roll or tilt or stack increase children's ways of thinking about balance, symmetry or design. 

Wow. Using brick blocks, window blocks, kapla block, and carefully placed blue rolling balls on upper tiers. Wow.

Observing the choices of these two children as they built this raised tower was fascinating.
Notice the exact symmetry of placed colored brick blocks, the equally symmetrical placement of window blocks in rectangular and triangle shapes, and the criss-cross kapla blocks placed on top. Amazing. 
Then, add carefully balanced blue and red rolling balls to the tower. Each ball was set slowly, made sure it didn't roll, then the hand let go and went to get another ball. 
Amazing.
This kind of work is no accident.

What kind of materials do you offer to prompt inventive construction and a unique kind of small motor work? 

 Happy New Year and Happy Building with Complex Materials.

domino highway

Gotta love dominoes of any kind. Once you start playing, it is sort of addictive!
Try different kinds of BLOCKS, or CEREAL BOXES, or rectangular SPONGES, or LEGOs or actual DOMINOES: line them up - or design in a swirl or make a race with friends - then give them a little PUSH...
These boys took the challenge to new heights.
I had never seen children put dominoes up on a second level like this.
The boys worked together, steady hands, and repeated their attempts again and again (just like we all do when getting a focus for a game of dominoes!).

"I'll work from this end, you work from that end..."

"I think that domino in the middle started by itself!"

"Here we go! We used dominoes in our hands to give the PUSH and the whole top of the highway went down!" Please note that none of the pieces even fell off the highway! wow!

Great for:

• small motor
• hand-eye coordination
• space planning
• problem solving
• creative design
• cause & effect (IF I push this, THEN these will fall over...)
  
• indoors or outside
• done alone, with partner or in a group
• varied complexity depending on age, interest,  & objects used

Read for a game of Dominoes?

Have fun, be patient, and see how far your domino highway 

- or ground level road - 

can travel!

the marble challenge

the beginning of the story...the beginning of the challenge.

Sometimes the materials we have in a classroom require special introduction.

Sometimes the materials are just waiting to be brought to life.



In the classroom for the these 4s/5s students, there is a basket of marbles available in the block area. The children had been building with usual block materials, making complex systems, constructing and deconstructing designs.
When the children initially started using the marbles, they had used them flat on the carpet, mostly in a large pool of all the marbles together. The children created games that required the marbles to be flicked across the space or rolled them with force to get a marble across a specific area.   (yikes!  potentially not safe, a bit wild, a bit uncontrollable).

sketching ideas for the marble's journey.

I decided to introduce a challenge to the whole group. We began by sitting together in our block area, the children each having a clipboard (which they have used before in projects) and a pencil, and there we sat looking at one marble sitting on one long wood block.

comparing ideas for the marble to travel.

We talked briefly about what we know about this marble already  - it can roll, it is small, it is glass, it is shiny.
AHA! - the marble can ROLL! Keep that in mind!

you can see rollercoaster-like lines on these sketches.

The challenge story was such:

"Please help this marble. It is wanting to go on a journey on its own. For the marble to journey on its own, it needs your help to have a block design for its travels.

There is only one rule: the marble has to be able to keep ROLLING on its own once it starts on its journey. That means, really, each of us can only START a marble on its travels yet then it has to KEEP ROLLING ON ITS OWN as far as you can design an adventure.

Let's use our clipboards to sketch out ideas that might give an opportunity for this marble to roll on its own."






The ideas on paper, the discussions while drawing, and the inventive thinking by the children was inspiring. The children were immediately engaged, challenged and brought new language to the group: 
"The marble needs kind of like a rollercoaster to keep rolling."
"It needs to go up and down and up."
"It needs to not stop. It needs to go fast."

the children worked in partners with basic materials to start, then got more materials as they needed. they used their sketches as reference for discussion with their partner and remembering ideas of UP and ROLLERCOASTER and HIGH.

leaning one block on another for a basic ramp.

simple design to test how FAR the marble can go.

It was interesting to see partners solve particular problems that their designs presented : the marble falling off a block "path" so students added bigger blocks on each side or the starting ramp being adjusted higher or lower to get the marble to the "end zone" where they wanted it to stop.

adding walls for the road to contain the marble.

double starting points, more features, tunnels, and an end box.

group of boys working during choice time to devise a curve for the marble.

road is reinforced with walls for the marble to keep traveling.

layers and layers of blocks create "steps" for the marble to bounce its way down  the trail.

separate tracks, tubes, tunnels, ramp structures, fall off points, complex use of materials.

details over the marble trail, steps, walls, end zone: action!

think different, use other rolling materials, create ROLLING SYSTEMS.

let it roll...

Sometimes it just takes one story about a marble to scaffold children
to a new level of thinking, a new way of manipulating materials, a new way of engaging with peers.

The children are ready: Just offer the story.

the small stuff

complex lego sculpture with pieces, wheels and people.

There are so many different ways to think about Stuff.
Ideally, educators call Stuff using words that offer more respect and specificity - like Manipulatives or Materials or Found Objects or Collections. For the simplicity of this post today, I will say Stuff is what you need to offer - not too much, not too little, pleasantly arranged - in your classroom. When you have the Stuff, then make sure you offer the Time for children to engage, explore, and experiment with Stuff. When observing children working with Stuff, they will change how you think about the Stuff and will help inspire you to offer other high quality Stuff. The classroom will become a more challenging and interesting space to be an explorer of Stuff. 

masterpiece with magna tiles, cones and tubes.

shells and round magnets deliberately arranged in a trail.

domino house with such careful placement of flat, sideways, & upright pieces.

commitment, precision and intentional design within a magnetic tower.

kapla blocks (wow!) with bears atop in colored rows.

The incredible work of children.
When the teacher knows how to go slow enough, yet challenge enough, yet question enough, yet stay quiet enough, yet encourage enough...the incredible work of children will be right in front of you, daily, with startling images and inventions for you to document and photograph and share with your own school community. 
The small Stuff gives birth to a new way of understanding children learning.
Get some Stuff. Give some time.
The children will show you the rest.