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woodley wonderworks Teachers must carefully consider how to use developmentally appropriate materials and resources to foster first- through fourth-graders' creative thought. Materials for these children should also reflect their need for realistic, rule-oriented, and peer activities. The table below lists a variety of developmentally appropriate materials for this age group.
| Type of Material | Appropriate Materials | Examples |
| Skill/concept | Books/records | Books on different cultures, recipe books, Caldecott and Newbery Award books and tapes, folktales, fables, historical fiction books in a series, biographies, jokes, riddles, tall tales; music of all types |
| Games | Strategy and memory games; more-complex board and card games for problem solving and decision making; sports games | |
| Gross motor | Active play | Organized group games |
| Outdoor | Jump ropes, flying disks, bicycles, rope ladders, wagons, beanbags, assorted balls, sports sets | |
| Manipulative | Fine motor | Gardening equipment, canister of buttons to sort and classify, weaving looms, sewing kits, combination locks, pickup sticks, Spirographs |
| Puzzles | More complex puzzles with 50-100 pieces; puzzles of reproductions of paintings; form boards by famous artists | |
| Investigation | Science materials and kits; printing sets; terrariums and aquariums to create and observe | |
| Construction | Building sets | Sets with realistic models, additional unit blocks, shapes, and accessories; props for roads and towns |
| Carpentry | Add screwdrivers, vises, and accessories | |
| Self-expressive | Dolls and soft toys | Dolls from other cultures; more detailed, smaller dolls; varied play settings and action figures |
| Dramatic play | Storybook masks and costumes, walkie-talkies | |
| Sensory | Collecting toys in sets; clay and clay tools | |
| Art/music | Small crayons, chalk, watercolors, hole punchers, staplers, all music instruments, basket-making materials, pottery wheel, stencil and craft kits | |
| Natural and everyday | Sand and water | Add food coloring, funnels, pumps, hoses, plastic tubing, and assorted containers and utensils |
| Simple cameras and film; computers, paper and pencils; items for "collections" |
Excerpted From:
Excerpt from Creative Thinking and Arts-Based Learning Preschool Through Fourth Grade, by J.P. Isenberg, M. R. Jalongo, 2006 edition, p. 288.
© ______ 2006, Merrill, an imprint of Pearson Education Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The reproduction, duplication, or distribution of this material by any means including but not limited to email and blogs is strictly prohibited without the explicit permission of the publisher.
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