At RisingOaks Early Learning | St. Nicholas, the toddlers have observed a large amount of snow in their natural playground. On the first few days of having snow, Brooke and Abigail made a request to their educators, “Let’s make Olaf!” Educator Gerri replied back and said, “Yes! I agree, let's make multiple snowmen.” A few other children were able to jump into the same conversation and added “Make snowballs too.” Once the first group headed outside, Educator Gerri was able to demonstrate how to create a snowman. She was able to lead a spontaneous activity with the children and allow them to choose what they wanted to add. Our youger toddlers also wanted to participate, so educator Gerri was able to support them on how to make a large snow ball by rolling it, doing hand over hand. Educator Shrishti also brought up the idea of snow angels and how unique it is to do it on the snow. Leanna said, “I want to make one.” Once Shrishti showed them how to make the snow angel, the children jumped in and wanted to try it for themselves.
As another week has gone by, we had more snow. Unfortunately, due to the cold our toddlers were not able to go outside for their free outdoor play, so instead we brought the snow inside and allowed them to paint the snow. This allowed the children to touch the snow and feel the cold and texture. Olamipo was the first child to walk up to the sensory bin that was filled with snow and slowly picked up small pieces, rubbing his fingers against each other, making sure he could feel every inch of snow. He quickly made a face and dropped the snow on the floor and placed his hands behind his back appearing uneasy with the sensation. Educator Ruth asked, “Olamipo, isn’t it so cold? That’s why we make sure to keep our mitts on when we go outside.”
Another 4 friends slowly approached the sensory bin asking for the bottle squeezers that were filled with water and paint. Noemie picked up the red bottle and started to shake it. Elijah was losing his grip when he started to shake the bottle, he tried adjusting his hands to have a better grip. He then dropped the bottle, and Noemie picked it up and handed it to him. He placed his hands in a different position and flipped the bottle and smiled at Noemie. What great collaboration and problem solving.
The children observed the colours on the snow. Vivaan said out loud, “It’s blue and red.” The children then decide to begin naming all of the colours. Abigail said, “I see blue, red, yellow and purple.”
Looking at developmental domains, the toddlers were able to develop social, communication, cognition and physical domains. Looking at social, parallel play is when children play in proximity of peers, without saying words or acknowledging the other person. Another one was social interest, taking an interest such as engaging in group activities, with autonomy when children tend to initiate activities. With language children are able to use their words and be able to form it into a sentence as well as asking questions to their educators. We will continue to support our children by implementing different types of activities that involve colour and snow, having more science and sensory activities in our program.
