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Spaghetti Nests

Lesson Plan:

​Activity:

Spaghetti Nests

Lesson plan developed by Ms. Erika Geelhoed, BA Ed

Age Group:

Mobile Infants

* Lesson plan objective and assessment can be adapted to use this activity with toddlers or preschoolers.

Objectives:  

Children will:

• explore new textures.
• develop sensory motor skills.
• practice cognitive development.

CDA Competency Standard:   

II.4.3a

• Activities and materials encourage children to develop their senses
  • a) Sight, sound, smell, taste and touch experiences are encouraged through a variety of developmentally appropriate materials and activities
    

Spaghetti Nests

Materials: 

• plastic eggs
• cooked spaghetti noodles

Procedure: 

• Provide children with cooked pasta noodles and plastic eggs.
  
• While the children are exploring new textures, talk with them about what they are experiencing.
  
• You can use new vocabulary words to describe the feeling of the noodles and eggs. 

Assessment: 

• Observe and record the children’s reaction to the noodles

Note: Please provide appropriate supervision to the children in your care when completing all activities. You will need to decide what types of activities are safe for the children in your care. Appropriate and reasonable caution should be used when providing art and sensory experiences for children. Infants require special caution, only use non-toxic materials, and do not allow infants to put things in their mouths that are a choking hazard. ​  

Online Early Childhood Education

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The Benefits of Sensory Play

The Benefits of Sensory Play

We know that young children are oriented toward sensory experiences. From birth, children have learned about the world by touching, tasting, smelling, seeing, and hearing. Sensory play also contributes in crucial ways to brain development. Think of it as “food for the brain.” Stimulating the senses sends signals to children’s brains that help to strengthen neural pathways important for all types of learning. 

For example, as children explore sensory materials, they develop their sense of touch, which lays the foundation for learning other skills, such as identifying objects by touch, and using fine-motor muscles. The materials children work with at the sand and water table have many sensory attributes — they may be warm or cool, wet or dry, rough or smooth, hard or soft, textured or slimy. Discovering and differentiating these characteristics is a first step in classification, or sorting — an important part of preschoolers’ science learning and discovery.