Marvelous Mystifying Magnets!

The magnet set is something that only makes an appearance every so often when things need to be shaken up a bit.  Last week, after the rainbow and shamrock fever died down a bit, I needed something to fill the gap until our April activities were unveiled.  Our block table was revamped to look like this. 

On the first day of this new set up, only the oldest children could effectively manipulate the magnets - some of which are extremely powerful and can snap together from inches away.

 

One of my two year olds discovered that the best way around a potential finger injury from snapping magnets was to use a wand.  When she lifted it off the table, she was ecstatic, "I caught something!"

"Miss Lindsey, take a picture of this, this is so cooooool!"

 Yes, folks, you can indeed build with spheres.

And then, like some miracle, after three days of magnet play......this.  Order from chaos, a new understanding of how the magnets work.  All through play, with absolutely no intervention from me, except for resetting the table after each class.

And finally, the discovery that magnets not only attract, but repel also!!  This kiddo is using one rectangle to 'push' the other across the table. 

And a lot of fun making the balls 'magically' move by using a wand under the table.

These examples are just a small part of the creativity I saw all week.  My favorite were the little people one of my students made out of the balls, complete with "Daddy's big belly"......we just won't tell Daddy about that one!