Busy, Busy

Two seconds before Mrs. O'Connor snapped this photo each child was busy.  Head-down, focused-on-the-task, BUSY!
On the red tray is an alphabet pop-up toy.  On the blue tray is a fine motor activity in which you use small tongs to pick up little dog bones and puppy paws and place them in a tiny tray.  On the yellow tray is another fine motor game in which you use tongs to feed bananas to a monkey.  On the green tray are Oreo shape puzzles in which you must match two shapes and fit the top and bottom together to make a cookie.

In our class, we refer to these as "puzzles and games".  They don't fit the narrow definition of a puzzle (such as a jigsaw puzzle), but they fit the broader definition as a task that is puzzling and needs solving.  These types of activities rotate each week so there is plenty of opportunity to try new and challenging tasks.