Autumn pregraphics: five activities with corn for the kindergarten.

How manipulative activities promote divergent thinking, creativity and graphic skills.

 

 

Preschool pre-writing, not just notebooks.

 

 

 

 

Too often it is believed that the fine-motor skills necessary to develop a good graphic competence, come exclusively from the early practice of activities such as classical pre-writing, made on the notebook with sticks, points, lines and so on.

 

Working for more than thirty years with groups of boys and girls aged three to six, I have been able to observe how, in reality, these skills come from a set of different experiences that lead children to master sheet space and directions and help them manage it effectively.

 

Skills that are not only motor but also and above all emotional, built with the daily practice of cooperation, reflection on their own work and the slow development of confidence in themselves and their own abilities.

 

For this reason practicing, before the approach to the real notebook, a whole series of manipulative and purely physical activities, helps the construction of that confidence in their own means, which promotes and consolidates the construction of different skills and a positive identity.

 

 

 

 

5 activities pregraphing with corn for kindergarten.

 

 

 

 

In these days of bright autumn we were given corn ears in quantity, so we did not miss the opportunity to study their characteristics and consistency, using them in many different ways both for playing with them and for performing complex graphic activities.

 

 

 

 

Free manipulation of corn and pictorial activity, at the kindergarten.

 

 

 

 

An important first approach to the use of material is, as always, that of free use.

 

 In this case the protagonist becomes corn, useful to manipulate and play, using the senses and thought, with the freedom to use everything autonomously.

 

The teacher provides a stimulus and lets individual boys and girls implement their own learning strategies.

 

The free and spontaneous use of materials is perhaps the most stimulating and valuable component for our work as teachers; It is in this phase that we can observe the dynamics of approach to learning of individual children, the different cognitive styles, the different reactions to difficulties, the ways of each one to overcome obstacles or to share with others discoveries and achievements.

 

It is in the moments of autonomous work that children build up awareness of themselves and their own means, they seek and identify solutions to the various problems posed by the acquisition of new skills, they identify relationships which may be functional or On the contrary, as an obstacle to achieving a certain objective, there is a constant evaluation of one’s own path and that of others.

 

I am convinced that in the proposal of constantly pre-packaged activities, such as the massive use of printables, all these nuances of character, skills, discoveries, difficulties are less or are simply obscured and more difficult to bring to light.

 

To return to our corn, the free handling activity can be carried out by offering children a tank and simple containers for transfers, or you can provide several containers of various shapes and sizes to use freely.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To all these things, I have also added partially grated corn and twigs, which some children have used simply to mix and others in a more creative and unusual way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another important component of the free experimentation of a material is constituted by observation and imitation: children, in fact, while they manipulate, always observe what their peers do and, in this way, are constantly open to new discoveries.

 

After the manipulation and free play, especially for the little ones, a fun and creative use of corn, was to use corncobs and twigs to print with drops of tempera in the colors purely autumnal.

 

I proposed this activity in several days and to do so, I first dropped a few drops of tempera on the sheets of individual children, then I asked them to use, initially the cob and, later the tul, to print, rotating and rolling them in the tempera.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The proposal was rewarding, both for the graphic results and for the movement itself, which requires attention and intentionality but also leaves room for fun.

 

 

 

 

Practice gripping in kindergarten.

 

 

 

 

Use thumb and index finger to purposely grate the corn.

 

The first approach to corn was for children the meeting with the ears of corn and after the initial surprise, the first and most immediate activity that can be carried out is ginning.

 

The simple action of removing the cariossidi from the tug is unusual and fun, but it is also very challenging and profitable, because it activates the oculo-manual coordination and develops firmly the grip.

 

 Children try to perform this activity in different ways, but quickly understand that the most effective way to achieve the desired result is to use thumb and index as accurately and purposefully as possible.

 

Even the little ones, who sometimes still have a tight grip on the graphic tool, have carried out this activity with commitment, drawing from it stimuli and benefits.

 

 

 

 

A game to strengthen the grip of the pincer: collect the cherries with clothespins.

 

 

 

 

Another challenging but important activity that helps to improve grip, strengthen the muscles of the fingers and their intentional use is playing to take and move small items, such as caryasses, with a clothespin.

 

The clips can be used in both directions, that is pinning in a classic way, or vice versa, using the tails of the clip.

 

Usually I let the boys and girls familiarize themselves with the tool and can use it freely to try to collect, only then I raise the bar of difficulty, asking them to try to use it in reverse.

 

They realize immediately that it is more complicated and strenuous but they try and, often, even those who are not yet ready insist and practice.

 

 

 

This activity requires:

 

 

 

• a large tank or container, filled with a good amount of corn
• plastic caps for recovery
• clothespins

 

 

The game consists in retrieving the corks from the pot full of corn, using the clamps as required.

 

As an indication you can suggest to the individual child to recover a precise number of caps and later, you can move on to team play and see who recovers more.

 

For an even more precise activity, of true and proper pregraphism, you can ask the boys and girls to proceed by placing the caryoses on predetermined lines, using first the fingers and then the clips.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After trying and playing for a reasonable time, we decided to glue the beans on the sheet with PVA glue, to leave a trace of the activity and share with the parents what we experienced.

 

 

 

A creative and stimulating activity: free drawing with corn.

 

 

 

 

Another graphic use of corn is to use it, using fingers or paper clips, to draw freely.

 

This activity, only seemingly simple, is useful not only to exercise gripping, but also helps move the focus from predefined activities, like the previous one, to activities that require a more creative and personal use of planning and movement.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Often when it is proposed a free but targeted use of the material, for some boys and girls, can arise the difficulty of finding a personal way, In order to help them overcome this obstacle and to stimulate them to overcome the habit of performing predetermined tasks, it is important to proceed also by making proposals that require creativity, flexibility and use of divergent thinking.

 

 

 

 

Mathematical pregraphism and logic activities with maize.

 

 

 

 

Colour, consistency, weight and measurement are all observable and measurable characteristics that corn allows us to experience even with a simple free manipulation.

 

If left free to manipulate with the material and some containers, the children experience quantities, positions in space and topology concepts: much and little, above and below, vertical position and that on an inclined plane, circular movement and high-low.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quantifying, counting and grouping are other actions that can easily be carried out, either spontaneously or on demand, with simple graphic activities such as those described here.

 

For example: count five grains and place them on the sheet so that they are spaced apart, then trace circles around each grain.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Or: count ten grains and draw a continuous line around them, using all the different colors you have in your case.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These are just some of the activities experienced this week using corn but, as you can see, the possibilities of using this natural and inexpensive material are almost endless.

 

 Proposing corn, in the autumn at kindergarten, allows you to experiment in many ways, favoring or consolidating so many complex skills, fine-motor, graphic and emotional.

 

If you enjoyed these activities share them with others and if you have any requests or fun activities to report, write me.

 

For further information read also: Pregraphism and graphomotricity in kindergarten.

 

 

 

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