A whole lot of holes!

We recently explored about a billion activities related to exploring and making holes. Okay, well perhaps not quite that many but we did enjoy a whole week of exploring a whole lot of holes. From punching holes in paper to hiding objects in holes on the light table, the intriguing and simple ways young children can explore holes are just endless…

A whole lot of holes by Teach Preschool

If you happen to have a copy of the book “Beautiful Oops” by Barney Saltzberg on hand, you will notice two beautiful pages contributed to exploring holes as part of making an “oops” into something creative and interesting. I shared these two pages with the kids (although the entire book is awesome) for the purpose of focusing their attention on our topic of holes…

A whole lot of holes by Teach Preschool

The children looked through the holes in our book and discovered lots of color and design…

A whole lot of holes by Teach Preschool

And then the book was left out near our light table for those who might like to look at it during center time (I had two copies that I left out)…

A whole lot of holes by Teach Preschool

We also spent a few minutes as a large group looking over everyday objects that have holes and how the holes help us use those objects…

A whole lot of holes by Teach Preschool

And then the children went off to the centers where they found many different ways to create with holes.  The centers I am sharing below were shared throughout a whole week and some of the centers were set up for our preschool class while some of them were set up for our prekindergarten class….

A whole lot of holes by Teach Preschool

Holes at the Light Table

At the light table, the children dropped gems through holes using their fine motor skills to pick them up and drop them…

A whole lot of holes by Teach Preschool

A second way the children explored holes at the light table was to fill up small holes with liquid water color. The children were able to mix the colors or simply focus on mastering their use of the pipette to transfer the color from one hole to the next…

A whole lot of holes by Teach Preschool

Painting through Holes…

The preschool class painted through holes. They simply placed their white painting paper underneath the black paper with holes then painted through the black holes…

A whole lot of holes by Teach Preschool

After the paint dried, the children found that they now had lots of colorful dots on their paper left behind from painting through all those holes…

A whole lot of holes by Teach Preschool

Threading through Holes

It is always a challenge for young children to thread a hole but the children were up to the challenge…

A whole lot of holes by Teach Preschool

The children used fine motor skills, eye-hand coordination, concentration, and creativity to thread yarn or pipe cleaners through beads and fruit loops…

A whole lot of holes by Teach Preschool

Containers with Holes

The children also used wooden tongs to pick up pompoms and drop them through containers will various sized holes…

A whole lot of holes by Teach Preschool

Punching Holes

Another type of challenge the children explored was punching holes.  In this case, the children used a tool to punch holes in a letter “H”…

A whole lot of holes by Teach Preschool

Some of our hole punching tools were much more difficult to use than others. So the children found which ones they could manipulate the best and punched all the holes they wished…

A whole lot of holes by Teach Preschool

This little one was mostly interested in punching hearts out of the letter H and in the end made her own heart bracelet with hearts and clear packing tape…

A whole lot of holes by Teach Preschool

The second approach to punching holes was by using a sharp tool like a tack to punch tiny holes through paper. The top paper was a pattern the children could use and the bottom paper was a solid color…

A whole lot of holes by Teach Preschool

Once the children finished punching holes through their paper, they were able to hold the paper up to the light and see the light shine through the holes in their paper…

A whole lot of holes by Teach Preschool

The third approach to punching holes was by using toothpicks to punch holes in play dough…

A whole lot of holes by Teach Preschool

There are so many ways to explore the creative processes and tools for making holes and each of them are intriguing to young children.  You may have concern that using a toothpick to poke a whole is dangerous but let me encourage you to sit down at a table with your students and explore the process.  Trust that your students are far more capable than you might really know…

A whole lot of holes by Teach Preschool

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Deborah J Stewart

Deborah J Stewart

Every time I think I know everything I need to know about teaching young children, God says, "Hold on a minute!" and gives me a new challenge.

Let me tell ya...

With each new challenge that you overcome, you will find yourself better equipped and more passionate about teaching young children.

God didn't call wimps to lead, teach, or care for His children. Nope, he has high expectations, so get ready. You will have to give your very best but after teaching for over 30 years, I can tell you that it is a wonderful and rewarding journey.

Whenever your calling feels hard, just remember, 'He who began a good work in you (and in the children you serve) will be faithful to complete it.'

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