Pre-KG 2024/ 25 Blog 4 Water play

 Pre-KG 2024/ 25 Blog  4

Water play 

In Pre–Kindergarten this week‘s learning about colours and shapes was all connected with water play. 

Before going into details here are some numbers as food for thought: 

500 –100– 97– 75 –71– 60–15– 3–1.2

What do these numbers mean ? 

500 liters or more is the average water consumption per person per day in the USA.

100 liters is the average water consumption per person per day in Europe.

97% of the water that covers the earth is in oceans, hence it is salty.

75% of a newborn baby‘s body consists of water.

71% of the earth‘s surface is water. 

60% ( about) of an adult‘s body consists of water. 

15 liters or less is the average water consumption per person per day in some African countries.

3 days is the amount of days a human can survive without water.

1.2 % only of the water on earth can be used as drinking water.

So, we all can see that water is necessary to nurture life on earth and that it is a precious resource. 

With that in mind, we also know that water is one of the most soothing and fun things to play in and with. Who does not remember happy days with the family by the ocean, river, lake and in the pool or splashing around in the bathtub or in puddles ? 

We started the week by exploring water as a printing material by wetting shape cubes to print on the magic mats that are available in Japan.

The children tried the effect of the mats changing colours again on another day by using their hands for printing.

As the warm days linger on we took the opportunity to incorporate our learning into fun water play. The Pre–Kindergarten children joyfully splashed in the green turtle pools and poured water into colourful shape containers and bottles. They practiced pouring and using a funnel which required some concentration and good eye to hand coordination.

Throughout the week the Pre–Kindergarten children welcomed many friends from K1and K2 into the classroom and started to expand on their German language knowledge together. We also did some colouring of German traditional clothing to make unique collages for the upcoming Oktoberfest.

Während der ganzen Woche besuchten wieder viele Freunde von K1und K2 unsere Pre–Kindergarten Klasse und sprachen viel Deutsch, lernten neues Vokabular und malten Bilder aus, die wir dann am Oktoberfest dekorieren werden. 

Um das Medium Wasser für weiteres Lernen zu benutzen, machten wir einige Experimente mit Farben, wobei die Kinder wieder gute Konzentration und Auge– Hand Koordination  zeigten.

To use water as a learning tool, we expanded on the water play by doing some small science experiments. I showed the children how water changes colour by adding food colour and they were really fascinated. The children then again poured and measured water into different containers and bottles and in the end they started to mix the colours to create new ones. These are not only interesting and fun , but also STEM activities for the children and enhance their skills in exploring math.

As repetition is the key to success and the warm weather really makes for great water play,  we repeated some of the activities and were amazed how good the children became at pouring water into even small water bottle openings. Great learning, Pre–Kindergarten! 

Last, not least , the Pre–Kindergarten connected to the wider community by saying goodbye to the TOHO staff with a handmade card and a box of candies. Many EY children have visited TOHO supermarket with their parents or grandparents to buy food, a treat or a cold drink. When we interviewed our class and K1 they were very keen to drop by the shop with their teachers for a last time to say farewell and the staff at TOHO was very touched by our gesture.

Otsukaresama deshita, dear TOHO staff ! 

And great job, EY friends in showing once again your caring side ! 

As next week there is an national holiday on Monday, 16.September 2024 , I wish you a fantastic, relaxing, extended weekend. 

With kind regards, 

Mit herzlichen Grüßen, 

Anita Ursula Mönch 

DSKI Pre-Kindergarten homeroom teacher 

Playgroup / EY Deutsch & German

German Saturday School homeroom teacher