Hands-hands, fingers, thumbs

"In His hands He has the little bitty baby...in His hands He has you and me brother."
That song was uplifting when I was a kid. I liked the tune. I liked the message.


My classroom is very hands-on. We explore, experiment and discover by doing. This past week I filled rubber gloves with tinted water (food coloring or paint watered down)for a lesson in visual perception. This was a sensory experience as well as a reasoning activity. The children had to figure out how to position the hands so the thumb was in the correct place. Some of the kids realized right away that they had to turn the gloves over, around, or upside down. Others struggled to figure it out.

When they said, "I can't do it!" I said, "Never say, 'I can't. Always say, I can try.'" With a bit of encouragement they were all successful. They played with these all week, stacked them, matched them, made them dance, giggled when they jiggled. You should have heard their adjectives: mushy, squishy, floppy, cold, warm. I placed some in a bowl of hot water and warmed the contents, dried them off and left some cold, then I placed them all in the pan. The clear one was the favorite because I sprinkled a bit of glitter in the water.

The world is very competitive, but kids don't alway need the newest, mechanical or electronic gadget to feel successful and have fun. Why not try this at home?

"As you get older you will learn that you have two hands; one for helping yourself, and one for helping others." ~ Audrey Hepburn

If only everyone would lend a helping hand, wouldn't the world be a nicer place?