“To promote exploration and creativity, adults provide an environment where young children can: explore the world using their bodies and all their senses; build, create, and design using different materials and techniques.”(Pg23, Early Learning Frame Work)
Some cornmeal dyed in green and red, was set up with farm animals, and transportation vehicles in the black tray in Fir classroom for children to explore. We were curious to see if the children were going to mix all the colours and bury the animals, as they had done in the past.
A, N, G.C showed their interest in walking animals or driving cars on the coloured “sand”; G.L, E, K and A seemed to enjoy touching, feeling the texture of the cornmeal and did not pay as much attention to the toys.
I was intrigues to notice that the two coloured cornmeal didn’t get mixed that much by the children. I wonder if we, teachers, setup too many limitation by reminding children to keep the cornmeal in the tray so children were hesitant to make a mess? Perhaps in the next sensory experience we can try not giving as much direction and see if that makes a difference on how the children interact with the material.
For more information on our curriculum and a sneak peek onto our daily routines, please visit our Facebook Page.