Many of the children love to climb inside and outside, so Melody brought two different-sized stools into the room for the children to explore. Leona was the first one to climb the tall stool. She climbed up right away and looked at Melody with a proud smile. She was so excited! She even climbed over the top and walked back down the other stool with Melody’s help.
Eloise climbed up, stepped over the top, and walked back down the other side on her own. She stepped down onto the floor without holding onto the stool. What great balance! Melody wondered if she had been practicing with stairs at home.
Lou worked quite hard to climb the tall stool while holding a small stool in her hand. She put it on the bottom step and walked away. It was moved from the bottom step so others could climb, and Lou brought one over again. Melody wondered why she was so persistent in continuing to do this, so she observed what Lou was trying to accomplish. Lou took the small stool to the top of the tall stool and looked at Melody with a big smile. She was so happy with her accomplishment! She passed it to Melody, who put it on the floor so she had both hands available to keep the children safe.
A little while later, Lou tried this again and managed to get one of the small stools to sit on the top step of the tall stool. This time, she wanted to stand on it. Melody wondered if she wanted to be at a taller height. This excited Lou as she held Melody’s hands while she was up there.
After watching her peers, Kendall gained the courage to try the tall step stool. She went up with one foot and then got back down. Then, she climbed to the top of the stool and reached out to Melody. Melody picked her up for a hug. Abir climbed up right away when he realized that Melody was saying it was okay to do so. Then Kendall climbed up after him and gained the confidence to go over the top of one stool to get to the other while holding Melody’s hands. She enjoyed this so much that she continued to practice her climbing skills for quite some time. Bennett joined in to do this as well.
After some time, Kendall sat on the bottom step and held Melody’s finger. Melody wondered if she was taking a break. Micah liked to climb the tall stools from both sides and stand on the top step with a smile. Then, he would climb up one side and go down the other.
The small stools were just as exciting for the children. Leona sat on a small stool and used it as a chair while Eloise climbed up one without holding onto anything. She liked to stand on the stool and step off of it many times. She also balanced on one foot while standing on the stool. Leona and Eloise liked to push the small stools around the floor. Melody wondered if they were role playing and pretending the stools were cars.
Kendall liked to turn the small stool upside down to see what was underneath it. Lou worked so hard to get onto the small stool that was on the floor. She got one foot on top of it and then sat back down. Next, she got both feet to fit on it at once and sat back down. Then, she was able to balance for a bit and get her hands off the stool. She was so close to standing!
Bennett worked hard to stand up on the blue small stool without holding onto anything. He did it! Then, he clapped for himself. Leona figured out that it was easier to stand on the small stools if she held onto the toy kitchen to do so. She even dangled one foot off the stool to balance on one foot.
Abir learned that holding onto the door while standing on a stool was easier than trying to stand up on his own, and it was lots of fun! Eloise found a stuffed dog. She put it on the small stool and hugged it while it was still on the stool. Melody wondered if Eloise was role-playing the dog going to bed and tucking him in.
The children enhanced their gross motor, turn-taking, and balancing skills throughout this experience. To extend this learning, we could try climbing a ladder next to give the children the opportunity to take safe risks.
