::: pendulum play
The idea of pendulums isn’t new to our children as we love playing with the one we hang in the tree outside.
After reading about the fun Teacher Tom’s children had with pendulums we decided to give an inside pendulum a go.
We strung up a tennis ball tucked into a stocking from the rafters.
Then we provided the children with an assortment of different sized boxes, cardboard cylinders and small yoghurt containers.
They started off fairly conservatively with just a couple of boxes and one or two cylinders …
But soon they were coming up with wild and extravagant towers.
Maths and science was being incorporated all over the place. Things like balance …
and tower position was vital for a successful strike!
Force of swing definitely came into the game too if they wanted those really big towers to hit the deck!
There was a bit of strife when someone sent the pendulum off into someone else’s tower, but they soon sorted it out.
This play went on for several days as they enjoyed it so much!
Next, using the cardboard cylinders, we set out to build towers …
that wouldn’t fall down when we swung the pendulum.
Sure they fell over but none of them (about 16) broke apart!
Then again with all that masking tape we knew they’d go the distance!
We followed the pendulum interest up with a slightly more sedate activity designed for one or two children at a time.
We slung a funnel between two chairs, popped a tray underneath it and provided a container of nice clean sand.
The idea was to put your finger over the hole and fill the funnel with sand.
Then push it to swing back and forth….
…. or give it a bit of help to make it go in circles or figure eights.
Each child then needed to put the sand back in the container for the next person – some did it better than others!
Sometimes when things are a little hard to figure out …
it’s nice to know we can rely on the children to help each other!
We saw some lovely friendships, teamwork and cooperation taking place at the pendulum play this week …
and we feel really proud of our children every time it happens!
Then we tried “Pendulum Painting” like the children at Woodland Park!
Once again the children helped each other out …
and away they went …
creating many colourful …
varied …
and creative patterns!
All uniquely original and oh so beautiful!
This post is part of the “We Play” link up over at
the wonderful Aussie blog “Childhood 101″
Tags: boxes, chairs, circles, cylinders, figure eight, paint, pendulums, sand, tennis ball, towers, trays, yoghurt containers
All your pendulum ideas are wonderful. But I absolutely LOVE the tennis ball in the stocking. I stared at the picture to figure it out (before reading further and getting the answer). Such wonderful fun (and learning, too!).
Oh my! This is totally awesome! My kids would absolutely love playing with your pendulum versions! I can see them having a blast making a mess! Thanks great inspiration.
Hi Girls,
I love the tennis ball in a stocking, such an easy yet successful activity – so much learning going on! The paintings made using pendulums turned out brilliantly too!
These look fantastic. I love the pendulum tennis ball particularly.
Really love the pendulum sand, so original and make me so envy your ideas
Looks like I have some new things to try out. I love the photos of the kids’ reactions, especially the boy kicking his leg. Wee!
I’m surprised to see your painting pendulum is INSIDE! What?! =)
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by R Scott Wiley, Regency_Preschool. Regency_Preschool said: pendulum play : nice collections of using pendulum to play
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That looks like so much fun!! I’m going to send a link to my Mom, she is still teaching and will LOVE this!!
What a great idea. Thank you for sharing this idea of using a funnel & sand, then paint. Love the ball in a stocking, towers of boxes over. I’m going to get my little group of childen to do this.
)
Thanks every body! We really did have a great time with pendulums this week. We love it when a simple idea grows and grows and the children’s interest grows along with it. Even today they were still coming up with new, stronger designs for their towers. Funnily enough the pendulum painting has gotten the children talking of stars, planets and aliens so it looks like we’ll be heading in that direction next!
Haa haa Tom!
WOW! What lateral thinkers you are! I dont know that I would ever have thought to drill a hole in the chairs to hold the pendulum…or that my employer would have agreed!
Inspiring as usual…my ideas folder has never been so full!
Hi Ladies,
Just wanted to know what you used to do the pendulum painting…..Our kiddos are going to be stuck inside for most of the next 2 weeks while the elementary age kids do standardized testing, so I gotta get creative or we’ll all go nuts!!
Erin, We watered down our craft paint and put a small hole in a bottle top we placed on a cut down bottle. You will have to experiment with the paint to get the right consistency. Stir it often as the water tends to separate from the paint
Miss Jojo, we LOVE our hot glue gun, tray top table, bush box and drill. Not necessarily in that order but we wouldn’t be without any of them! Oh and we didn’t ask permission from any one we just drilled!!!
Think I might just have to take a leaf out of your book!!!!!
after reading this i made a scheme of how to hang a ball in a sock from my ceiling at preschool….while i was trying to fall asleep. i think i got it figured out!
thanks for the inspiration. and thank you for giving children these amazing experiences.
i have a moment of deep hope when i think that these will be the kids running the world some day.
Fantastic! I’ve never thought about doing it before. My girls have a rope swing outside but i love the idea of bringing the same sort of activity inside.
This could be my favourite We Play post this week
Cool Christie, I’m on to it!
Impressive! Who knew there was so many wonderful activities you can do with pendulums?! It’s hard to choose which to do first!
How lucky are the kids at your preschool! Such wonderful activities here. We have a ball in a sock strung up in the back yard for ‘tennis’ using a ping pong paddle, but I’ve got some inspiration for other uses for it, thanks to this post.
Oh wow, this is go great! While I was reading I was thinking “You should do this with painting” – and then realised you had.
Looks like fun.
[...] – There is a great post of pendulum play ideas at Irresistible Ideas for play based learning. I love the idea of putting a ball in a stocking [...]
Loved all the extensions on the old tennis ball in the stocking outside, thanks! but what have you used to hold the dowel through the chairs and the string for the painting pendulum in place? Are they big plastic washers or what?
And is there a way that I have missed to be able to be alerted to new posts ?
Louise, we used milk bottle tops with holes drilled though them to hold the pendulum and dowel rod in place. We don’t alert for new posts, but we do update at least every other day. Maybe we could look into the idea of sending out update alerts. Thanks for mentioning it.
So that’s what they are – so simple (the best ideas at kinder…)and as far as updates go, you are right, yours is one URL that I know off by heart!
[...] #4 Combine physics and engineering with this pendulum activity from Irresistible Ideas for Play Based [...]
Your pendulum ideas are fabulous. I thought that the paintings would require a great deal of adult support but you’ve shown me how to set things up so that it is all very accessible to the children. I love the variety of pendulums also. Thank you.
::: Thanks Bianca … We reckon those children are still talking about the fun we all had with pendulum play!!!
