Arctic Activity Creates Great Conversation

"The child begins to perceive the world not only through his eyes but also through his speech."

-Lev Vygotsky

Providing stimulating, inviting and interesting activities encourages children to maintain their attention, focus and concentration for a period of time. During a winter wonderland tuff tray activity, the children in Pre-School's engagement led to great progression in their development, in particular in their Communication and Language.The magical wonderland tuff tray was set up in Pre-School to support the children's learning of arctic animals. The children took turns in adding a scoop of water to the snow powder, watching in amazement as the powder turned into snow. The children combined this process and an experiment that they had participated in when in the outdoor area the previous week and used it as the stimuli for the tuff tray activity. One child adapted on the process in his play, adding the water from the star-shaped bowls to the snow. He was keen to share this experience with the practitioner; "Sophie! The Penguins water is turning into ice! I want some more water please. I'm making the snow to ice. Because it's snowing. I'm making a snow." A group of children observed the child's play and decided to join in with one child extending his idea, using the snow as food for the animals; "Snow is coming! I'm making some snow. It's being food for the polar bear. It's cold. The polar bears cold."[ngg src="galleries" ids="280" display="basic_slideshow"]As the children sprinkled the snow over the animals, they introduced the idea of a snowstorm; "I'm making a snow bed. The storms coming. On the penguin's bed. Snowstorm! We're hiding the penguins. Because the snowstorms coming. This is the penguin's house. They're very scared of the snowstorm. They're hiding. They're hiding from it. The penguin beat the snowstorm. Quickly, get the snowstorm! He's freezing. Because I'm putting the snowstorm. I'm putting the snowstorm on him."[ngg src="galleries" ids="281" display="basic_slideshow"]The children constantly talked through-out the activity, conveying their excitement as their elaborated and extended on each other's play ideas. They discussed how the penguins were feeling, with the common response that they were "freezing". This then sparked a great idea for one of the children, who decided to use the wooden blocks to build a shelter for the animals; "A house for the penguins. I'm making a snowstorm. I've got a penguin in the star (bowl). We need to hide them all. They're all hiding. The snowstorm is coming." She eagerly used the mirrored wooden blocks to make a house, placing the penguins inside to hide from the snowstorm.The children then decided that the penguins were hungry, which opened a discussion about what the arctic animals might eat. To read more about how this activity was extended further click here