Now that our outdoor classroom is back up and running, I enjoy filling it with all kinds of interesting things for the children to explore and one of my latest additions was a set of DIY rainbow rocks…
To make a set of rainbow rocks, Mr. Hayden helped me gather up rocks (we have piles of them all over for various reasons) and spread them out on a sheet of paper…
Then we painted our rocks with spray paint…
We had all the rocks painted except for our last batch when my grandson showed up and wanted to help paint some rocks too! So he “helped” paint our orange rocks for a few minutes before losing interest and moving on to do something else…
After our rocks were completely dry, we placed them in small jars to set out on our discovery table…
In case you are new to reading my posts, then you might not know that we have an outdoor classroom that is only open during the warmer seasons. The outdoor classroom is actually a screened in porch that I converted into an outdoor classroom as a place we could go during warmer days to play. With our preschool surrounded by woods, the bees and other critters can be excessive at times so this gives us a way to be outdoors with a little protection in the process. Â Oh, we still venture out into the woods and play outside of the outdoor classroom too but I can set up the outdoor classroom with some amazing furniture and materials without worrying about weather damage or the bees and wasps bugging us while the children play…
Because the outdoor classroom floors are made of wood, I am also able to use clear glass jars instead of plastic jars to display our materials. I have both glass and plastic but I love the glass jars best for the outdoor classroom. These jars are made of a strong glass that has to be smashed pretty seriously before they will break. Dropping them on the shelf or on the floor wont break them but we still teach our students how to handle the jars with respect and care…
We set our colorful jars of rainbow rocks out on the discovery table along with tools for play and exploration. We also had plenty of rainbow rocks left over to add to our sand table…
The rainbow rocks are primarily a resource for the children to explore freely throughout the classroom. The children used them for play in the sand table…
They weighed the rocks on our different types of scales around the classroom…
They sorted them in our sorting boxes…
They explored them with the magnifying glasses…
The rocks will remain available in the outdoor classroom for future play and as I add other tools and materials to the discovery table or the classroom, the children will continue to explore the rocks around the classroom. One of their favorite things to do for now is to take them all out of the jars!…
A few of our DIY rainbow rocks have been taken home already. The children asked me if they could choose a favorite color to take home and since I made so many, I am happy to let them pick a rock to take home and share with mom and dad. What a great way to build their own collections and to bring home discussion about what we are doing at preschool too!
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