Imagine a toddler playing with droppers and watercolors. The child squeezes the bulb on the dropper, pulls up liquid and pushes it back out, mixes colors, and watches the drips blend on the paper, It may look like a simple activity, but there is tremendous value to this experience.
- Fine Motor Control: squeezing the dropper bulb refines the muscles and movement of the hand, developing the pincer grasp, necessary for many fine-motor activities including writing.
- Physics: the child is experimenting with properties of liquids.
- Cognitive Development: classification and causality
- Art: color mixing
- Hand-Eye Coordination
To encourage additional learning, this activity might be available for several class sessions. The children get an opportunity to further develop their theories and schema about how things work by repeating their actions over time. When is the last time you heard a child say, "Wow, that was fun! Now let's never do that again."?
Children are learning in other interest areas, too. We have several anchor centers in the room that do not change, such as the play kitchen, vehicles, and blocks. Keeping these centers consistent gives the children security in the environment and allows them to expand and refine their play experiences over time. Some centers are the same, but small changes are made to boost the experience. For example, the water table can be changed by altering the temperature or color of the water, adding bubbles, and offering different water exploration toys.
There is a lot of learning going on at each interest area!
In dramatic play (the kitchen, babies, and farm), children are developing higher order thinking skills, practicing social skills, and applying newly acquired knowledge.
Vehicles help children learn and practice early learning concepts, vocabulary, physics, and cognition (cause & effect).
At the block center, children are developing knowledge of mathematics (length, measurement, balance), problem solving, and creativity (among many other skills).
Playdough is powerful. It encourages comparing/contrasting, symbolic thinking and representational thought, imagination, physical development (great for hand strength), and is very good at calming kids down and extending attention spans.
Part of the instructor's role is to carefully observe the children and plan new opportunities and activities to facilitate continued learning and development. Parents do this, too, when they share about new interests and abilities their children are expressing and make plans that focus on these changes. It is such a joy to be able to learn and work together with you and your children.