Light and Structure

Our light table sits outside the classroom in the hallway.  It is a small area that hosts no more than three children at a time.  However, the engagement involved is enormous.  Throughout the year, we rotate new tools and manipulatives for exploration.  Currently, the children have been using Magna-Tiles, glass pebbles, and colored window blocks.

The Magna-Tiles allow the children to defy gravity in ways that regular wooden blocks would never permit.  Buildings have turrets bursting from their sides and triangular columns are a common architectural detail.  Long rows of blocks, stuck end-to-end with a magnetic force, can easily be moved along in snake life fashion giving new form to a design.

 
[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/31792201 w=400&h=225]

lighttable from Bess Forst on Vimeo.