The children at Teaneck Chabad preschool had fun in the new learning lab, a space for exploring materials in open-ended ways with an emphasis on asking children questions about what they are doing and helping them make hypotheses and connections, beyond what goes on in the classroom.

Before Rosh Hashanah, the children learned about bees, honey and hexagons. The children had the opportunity to examine a real honeycomb with a magnifying glass and observe the hexagons inside, noting that they have six sides. They then created hexagons using other shapes, such as triangles and diamonds, and also made tessellations, forming patterns with all three shapes with no gaps or overlaps. Lastly, they made “honey” using cornstarch and corn meal “pollen” and adding “nectar” (water and colorful water beads). The children had to add just enough “nectar” so the mixture flowed on its own. They really enjoyed grabbing handfuls of the mixture and trying to roll it into a ball, then watching it “melt” between their fingers. They noticed that it did  not splash or even move if you hit it quickly. What a fun exploration!