Homes

The preschoolers spent a long time building fairy homes outside and often still make fairy homes out of various blocks. Throughout the past couple of weeks, this interest in making homes has expanded to other kinds of homes, some real, some represented by other objects, and some imagined. 

Outside, I noticed IR, IO, and EB placing grass and other objects in a tin container. Then, IR began looking around the yard for something in particular. I noticed her pick up a worm and place it in one of the containers. She looked at me and said, "This is a worm home." She set the container into one of the barrels, gently placing a couple more worms into the container, covering them slightly with grass. 

I then noticed a stack of bricks by one of the barrels, near where MR was standing. I said, "I wonder what this is." MR turned to me and said, "It's a snail house. I made it and boy TLC helped!" 

KC came over to see what we were talking about. He looked at the bricks and smiled. TLC then came by and knocked a couple of bricks off of the top. KC said, "Oh no" and looked at MR. KC and MR began to rebuild the "snail house."

 

MR continued to talk about the snails and then said it was also a "worm house."

Throughout the next couple of weeks, homes were made out of various materials. We had play-dough out one morning and GS was building something. I went over near him and he began talking about his structure. 

He said, "This is an ant home." Pointing his finger close to the play-dough he said, "This is the top ground and this is the low ground. The low ground is underground. The ants live in the little holes." He continued to work on his "home" for a minute or so longer and then mushed his dough back into a ball.

During the same day, KC began setting up a focused play area on the large rug. He chose two different types of objects to set up, the multi-colored wooden blocks and the wooden animals. 

KC said, "I'm making a house for the foxes." Before finishing his "house," he put the blocks away and got out the large wooden blocks instead. He built a new "home" for the deer, that completely surrounded the deer.

MR came over and asked, "KC, can I help you?" KC replied, "Yeah." They began trying to put a "gate" on their structure, perhaps so that the deer had somewhere to get in and out of their "home."

They worked together until they were both happy with where the gate was, making sure it fit just right, and was big enough. When the gate was finally put on the "home," MR and KC worked together to open and close it.

The preschoolers have been very interested in collage materials recently. On a few different occasions, a certain kind of home was made out of these materials.

EB placed some string in a circle on the piece of felt in front of her and placed other objects in the center of string. She said, "I'm making a bird's nest." Once she was finished she took apart her bird's nest and put the collage materials away.

The following week, we put out the collage materials again. TLC and SM sat across from each other and began collecting materials on their felt. 

SM and TLC emptied all of the bowls of materials, placing them in large piles on their pieces of felt. SM made sure his pile stayed in tact, moving a few pieces to the top of his pile. He exclaimed, "It's a bird's nest!" TLC said, "Look at mine, it's a bird's nest too!"

 

Homes have also been imagined by the preschoolers. They often talk about what a real castle might look like, or what various animal homes look like. Some homes are drawn from a memory of something loved.

EB and IO put their drawings up on the wall. EB said as she pointed to her drawing, "This is a castle. Cinderella lives here." She then pointed to IO's drawing and said, "This is little house on the prairie." These house drawings become more detailed and the stories about them more elaborate with each explanation. 

Exploring homes through play not only gives the preschoolers the opportunity to experiment with making real homes for various critters, but to also learn about what different homes look like and how various animals and people live. The preschoolers are pulling more from their memories of stories and observations, while using their imaginations to freely build, draw, and create all sorts of homes.