The Toddler age group is a stage where they are starting to make sense of the world around them. Everything in everyday activities that is a movement or an action brings the aspect of cause and effect. It is pivotal for cognitive development in
young minds to understand the functioning and awareness about cause and effect. The ideal range of experiences we observes in children related to this are buttons to press, squeeze, rotate, pull, push, jump, open, shut, make a noise, cry for help, and expressing feelings through different sounds and many more.
Snow melt by Oscar – While children were playing with snow in the sensory bin.
‘Cause’: What if I run the snow pot under running water?
‘Effect’: I see the colour change of white snow into clear frozen water. I observe snow is all gone after some time.
Exploring the paper shredder – Feeding paper through the paper shredding machine.
‘Cause’: If we put papers in the shredder mouth what happens?
‘Effect’: We see the paper piece vanishes with a sound. We reuse the shredded pieces in the sensory bin. We witness the paper in shredder’s belly. ( As Lyle pointing at it)
Feeding the monster bin
‘Cause’: If I push the wooden chips in the box.
‘Effect’: I see the different shapes and sizes of holes can fit in the same chips.
I noticed my wooden blocks are less and less and later all gone from the basket.
Snow makes my hand cold
‘Cause’: If I touch the snow during the outside time.
‘Effect’: Without my mittens, my hands get very very cold which makes me upset. With the mittens I can play for a long time with the snow, I can touch and eat the snow without harm.
During play in the program we encourage thought provoking questions for the toddlers - “why” or “what happened,” “how”, “what do you think, see?” and from there we take the time to explain the cause and effect relationship. This helps them
develop their curiosity and critical thinking skills. We have also observed the conditioning of memorizing abilities, for an example, the next time we brought snow into the classroom some toddlers asked for gloves to wear remembering the last time their hands were cold, or remembering how the soap dispenser and paper towel station works.
We will continue to engage our group in activities that are real and meaningful to them, creating experiences of play that encourage the development of skills, knowledge, and ways of thinking and learning.