- I wanted to do something new that we hadn't done before,
so I was thinking, you know,
what are children really interested in?
I watched how they played,
and what I noticed was that and they enjoyed taking
care of babies and each other.
We knew a lot of the families had babies at home,
and a lot of them were expecting babies.
-A lot of the children had a lot of background knowledge.
There was some interest even with children who
might not have had experience with babies.
We first did a lot of research on which books
might be appropriate for children
that give enough information
but don't over-give information.
We interviewed each of the families so that
we could really include all the family's values.
-When she let me know they were doing the investigation,
I was still pregnant and I thought it sounded like,
really a good thing.
My son, you know, he had a lot of questions about babies.
He was wondering how babies eat,
when babies start talking.
I think he kind of thought babies were born
and started talking not long after.
-We initiated the investigation with "Peter's Chair"
by Ezra Jack Keats.
We were able to look at the different things
that the family was getting for the baby.
So we were able to talk about the things
that a baby needs.
-We really talked about babies' needs,
how to take care of a baby.
So we had a water table with baby shampoo.
And we cleared off another table that
they were able to use to dry the babies.
-She's wet
-and get the babies dressed as well.
-They're learning how to care for a baby,
and they're also learning hygiene for a baby.
-It really allowed them to use empathy
and to just be careful.They're being gentle.
And then it went all the way to a dramatic play,
when they dressed them and got them ready.
-Okay, Nice warm feet now.
-A big thing Heather and I talked about
before we started babies was that this would be
a great investigation to show
them how they themselves grow.
A lot of teachers will, you know, do a plant,
and they'll do the seed and how it grows,
but to see that they themselves grew
and that they you know didn't used to be able
to pick up a pencil, and now they can write their name.
Just to show them that they were growing,
and that living things grow,
and they are a living thing.
-We brought in the baby pictures so we could
talk a little bit about what babies look like,
but also to get the families talking
with their children about, at home,
about what they were like as a baby.
And then we ended up making a book,
which had a baby picture and describing what you
you were like as a baby and then
what you are like now that you're older.
-When we did our diaper experiments,
we talked a lot about absorbency
and how much the diapers could hold.
One of the first experience we had with the diapers
was to open it up and just see what was inside.
I'm going to bring it around,
and yes, you can feel it.
Do you want to feel what's inside?
and I want you to think about
what that makes you think of.
-Can we smell it?
-You could smell it.
You're thinking like a scientist.
And we put it in the sensory table with some dye.
-You're doing it on the outside, too.
-What's happening? Is it absorbing?
Is it going inside?
-What if we do it on the inside of the diaper?
The second part of the experiment
was to see just how much could a diaper hold.
-Alright, Jackson's gonna put in the first scoop.
Each child had a turn to add a cup.
They estimated beforehand how
much cups did they think it would hold,
and you could see some of the children's number sense,
if they understood quantity.
What do you think, friends?
Is it still holding all of that water?
-No
-What's happening?
-It's dripping out.
-It's dripping out, so I don't think we can fit any more.
Let's check how many cups we put in.
- And they, we know, saw that a diaper could hold
a lot more than they thought.
-Later on in small groups, they each had a different diaper.
They made their own estimates
of how much each one could hold.
And finally they came back to the whole group
and shared which one held the most.
Lily you weren't you were here yesterday;
What do you think babies might eat?
-Goldfish? Do you think babies eat goldfish?
-No, they don't eat goldfish.
-What if they get a little bigger?
Do you think? At what age can you start eating goldfish?
-One
-Maybe one years old?
-The children tasted five different types of baby food.
-I didn't tell them what it was.
We put it on little plates,
and I just marked a number on each paper plate.
-A lot of them enjoyed guessing.
What vegetable is orange?
-So they talked about the properties,
they talked about what flavors they tasted.
-Whether they liked it,
whether they thought a baby would like it.
-A lot of the children did not want to try the baby food,
but some of the friends did try,
and they were very, very excited.
-Mmm!
-Some of the children were interested in
reusing the baby jars to make their own baby food.
We listed some ingredients we might use.
They mashed it up; we blended it,
and most of the children tried it.
Our first batch didn't come out so tasty.
-So we went back to it, and we said,
"How can we change the recipe
to make it taste better?"
-Most of them chose fruits,
so it made it a little bit sweeter.
-We tasted it again, and then it was a success.
They loved it!
-One of our biggest key experiences was
designing a baby toy, which we had
to build some background knowledge with first.
What do we know about baby toys?
What do babies like?
-We talked about,
"What were the characteristics of baby toys?"
-Squishy toys.
-And what we did is we explored baby toys.
We had different stations put out
of different baby toys,
so we had baby puzzles, baby cars,
music toys like rattles and jack-in-the-box.
-I'm matching them!
-You are matching them.
-I'm matching the colors.
-The second day we also brought in some of our toys
that were parallel to those.
So they were able to play with those side-by-side
and really start to notice those differences
and how a baby might use a toy differently,
but that they're learning the same kind of skills.
-How are these cars different than our cars?
-They're soft?
-And big.
After the exploration was done with the toys,
we went back to the web,
and we talked about different aspects of what
a baby toy would have.
It led into the key experience of making the baby toy.
-We worked individually with the children
during center time in the art center.
They each decided what kind of toy
they might want to make.
-Each child was able to brainstorm and plan
and then execute it.
You know a lot of them are colorful;
a lot of them made noise.
-We had rattles; we had mobiles, xylophones.
-It was just really cool to see it go from a story
to exploring, to making their own.
-One of my goals as a teacher is always to engage
the families as much as possible.
I was actually really excited
to get a lot of the parents involved,
including some dads.
Take a look at our friend, Niko!
What do you see?
-He has socks on.
-Miss Heather contacted me and she asked
me if I'd be willing to bring the baby in.
It seems like preschoolers are very interested in babies.
We had their attention,
and they seemed to really want to know about Niko
and what he was interested in.
-My friends, we asked, "Does Niko play with..."
What did we want to know?
"Does Niko play with....
Blocks?
-Not yet.
Niko still is learning how to use his hands,
so he can't pick anything up yet.
-And legs.
-They got to see him eat; they got to see him interact.
He was awake for a little bit of the time.
-We had one family who does some baby wearing.
And so I invited them to come share
about how they wear a baby.
-You hold the baby. You put it over your shoulders.
-They came in and showed us, and they were all
so excited to see how they wore a child.
-Make a cross over your chest like this,
and then you tie it in the front.
-They even had a doll that that child was able to wear
with a pretend baby carrier.
And then a lot of the children got to try it too,
boys and girls.
-What do you see in the mirror?
-You're holding your baby.
Gianna's parents also talked to us about
different types of diapers.
-Do you know what's different between
that kind of diaper and this kind of diaper?
-Yes
So when these diapers get dirty,
you take them off the baby,
and you put them in the washing machine.
They get all clean, and then you can use them again.
-We had it set up so that each child would
have a doll that represented them
and that they could put the diaper on the baby.
-It was really awesome for us
to have the support of families.
Children are definitely more engaged when they see
a parent from a child come in
and talk about something that is important to them.
-Legs!
-Legs. I can't see the legs in that picture.
-I liked how a lot of it was
interactive with the students.
they get to experience all of the different aspects
of being around babies.
My son, Noah, was able to
learn what to expect
a little bit with having a baby at home.
-And I think it was good because he could compare
what he learned in class to what he's seeing at home.
He would talk about the different things that he learned
and if his brother is doing them or not doing them.
-They became much more self-reflective,
especially after talking about what they
were like as a baby and what they're like now.
They're much more aware of each other's needs.
-They learned how to be empathetic.
They learned how to care for somebody else.
Seeing how things, how little things -
like bathing a baby, changing a diaper, feeding a baby
really impacts the baby.
-It definitely affected how
they were interacting with each other.
-So it wasn't just like you were
seeing girls hold them and love them
and care for them. We were seeing boys and girls,
which I thought was really awesome, too.
-They talked about what they used to think about babies
and then what they've learned.
They're really engaging in thinking about the past,
getting a sense of time.
-They learned that they grew.
They used to be a baby,
and they used to, you know, drink from a bottle;
they used to eat food that was all mashed together.
And now they, you know, can use a fork,
or they can write their name,
or they can, you know, run around on the playground.
So they learned that they, themselves,
grew from a baby to who they are now.
-What kind did you like, Lily?
If you're doing this investigation
or planning any investigation with your class,
really take into account their background knowledge
and really follow their interests and their needs.
You might want to do one thing,
but their interest might be in something else,
and it, that happened in our classroom,
and it made such a difference
in how engaged the children were,
how much they were learning,
and how excited they were
for coming to school every day.