Provocation Tables

Play nourishes every aspect of children’s development – it forms the foundation of intellectual, social, physical, and emotional skills necessary for success in school and in life. Play “paves the way for learning.”

Canadian Council on Learning (Early Childhood Learning Knowledge Centre),

“Let the Children Play: nature’s Answer to Early Learning”, Lessons in Learning (Ottawa: CCL, 2006), p.2.

A few weeks ago, Ms. Marrella and I decided to create some provocation tables for the students in our class to explore and play with.

We are currently participating in a workshop series called, Creating Intentional Spaces, and have been asked to experiment with, and reflect on provocation tables that we create in our classrooms.  We received a great article written by Deb Curtis titled, Creating Invitations for Learning. The article outlines for readers the principles for designing invitation tables (provocation tables), and strategies for collecting, arranging, and displaying materials in a meaningful and purposeful way for students the explore.   Below is a short excerpt from the article that explains how students use and benefit from provocation tables. 

"In my work as a preschool teacher I have found that offering information about things that children have limited experiences with, or posing a series of questions to try to encourage their thinking doesn't seem to get much of a lively or sustained response.  But when I carefully arrange props and representational materials in the environment with a particular focus in mind, the children are delighted to discover and play with them, eagerly share their ideas and theories, and seek more information." 

Below are the provocation tables Ms. Marrella and I  created over the past few weeks.  Each table was created with intention (e.g., to strengthen fine motor development, build on math skills, etc.), however the students were invited to explore and play at the tables as they wished.  Ms. Marrella and I observed the way students used or didn't use the materials, and made changes as needed.  

The Water Table      

The original intention of this table was for students to experiment with mass and capacity.  Through observation, Ms. Marrella and I noticed that though some students experimented with mass and capacity through the materials we provided, other students explored and enjoyed the sensory stimulation of the water and jars.  Ms. Marrella and I responded to this by adding soap to make the water bubble.  The soap created even more interest for students at this table.  We started to observe students using their imagination and pretend they were washing dishes at a restaurant.  After some reflection, we decided to add some sponges, pates, cups and a drying rack for the students to play with. 

The Light Table   

The idea for this came from an AQ course I am currently taking.  We filled some vases with water, and invited students to experiment with food colouring.  Our original intention for this table was for students to experiment with colour and express a response to the visual art forms the food colour created in the water.  Our students were very intrigued by how the food colour moved and mixed in the water.  Ms. Marrella and I didn't expect to observe students responding to filling up and emptying out the water from the vases.  They were intrigued by how the water gushed out of the vases so fast.  The students also experimented with putting food colour into empty vases, and then observing what happens when they slowly or quickly add water. 

The Rice Table 

Our intention for this table was for students to explore letter names and sounds.  We noticed that students weren't interested in this activity.  We wondered if the basket that held the letters appeared too overwhelming for the students to experiment with.  Ms. Marrella and I decided to reduce the number of letters available for students to play with, in addition to placing the letters in a bin of coloured rice.  We also thought the students might be interested in colouring the rice as a way for them to help reconstruct this learning centre.  The changes we made did the trick!  Our students enjoy finding and identifying the letters names and sounds in the rice, and felt that they had a hand in creating this learning table. 

The Sand Table

This table gave students a chance to explore 3-D figures and create a variety of structures.  Next week, Ms. Marrella and I will be adding 2-D shapes to this table for students to compare and play with. 

Play Clay

Students strengthened and developed their fine motor skills by using play clay to create animals and characters.  Ms. Marrella and I changed the theme of the table and added pasta to keep student interest high.