Hundred Wonderings

This week, I took Mavi and Daisy into the forest for a walk and to explore how the snow changes the environment. We got the place that I would always take the children when the daycare was open and Mavi immediately went to his favourite place, a rotting tree. I placed Daisy down next to him and he began to talk to her about the tree. Mavi walked over to a birch tree and noticed that it didn't have any leaves so I began to question where they went. He said they floated away to space. I took a photo of his view looking up to use in a provocation set up.

I pulled back the mitts of Daisy's snowsuit and allowed her to feel the textures of the rotting tree and the snow.

As we left the forest Mavi saw a small oak tree with a few leaves on it. He picked one off and said "It will be lonely all by itself. I will bring it home with me". Mavi brought the leaf inside and wanted to draw where it came from. I gave him a handheld magnifying glass to look at the leaf. He used some coloured resin circles I had made to look at the leaf through.

I created a space for Mavi and Daisy to continue their forest explorations inside. I ordered a microscope for Mavi to further his inquiry. Using the photo I took of Mavi's view of the bare trees, I covered it with transparent paper and placed some Stabilo woody pencils so that Mavi and Daisy could draw over the photo. I also added some birch bark that my Mother-in-law harvested over 40 years ago to the space to add some sensory interest and something else to examine under the microscope. Mavi and Daisy were excited to come and explore the materials. I worked alongside Mavi to use the microscope, looking at the veins and their purpose. Mavi and Daisy drew on the photo of the bare trees. Daisy spent time tapping the tree branches together and feeling the birch bark.

“The urge to draw appears to be universal. Beginning with early playful mark-making. Children develop an understanding that mere lines and shapes on paper can stand of real objects and events, words and ideas beyond the drawing surface” (Kolbe, 2014)

Sensory development in a child’s first years is crucial to their learning. I am always reminded of this as I watch Daisy (8 months) engage with her surroundings. I created a sensory board using mermaid sequins which change colour as they are brushed by hands. I used black sequins which reveal silver when touched for the high contrast. This space was not only thought about in regards to a sensory experience but also as a mark making interaction. Daisy uses her fingers to create marks on the sequin board, watching how her fingers cause the colours to change. We are trying to make as many opportunities for both Mav and Daisy to explore mark making in a wide range of ways, taking into consideration their age, development and their interests.

Mav’s interest in building with magnetic tiles is resurfacing over the past few days. He has been challenging himself to build towers taller than him to constructing cities. Today I got out the light panel for Mav to build on to see how he would use it. He continued to build structures vertically but also added horizontal details. Mav is becoming more critical in the design choices he is making such as creating layers of colour so the light panel allows the colours to be more visible and visually appealing.

Mav’s story telling has also become a huge part of his play as he creates storyline’s and dialogue for his lego mini figures. Lately he has been paying close attention to using the bodies of the mini figures to support his storytelling. During his build today he demonstrates a sense of urgency as the characters are running. Mav played in silence during this but his story was decodable through his thoughtful placement and attention to detail.

I have been fascinated by Daisy’s fine motor development lately. I get lost watching her tiny fingers and hands twist, slide, transfer and wave objects of a range of sizes, shapes and textures. While at playgroup this morning I watched her face light in wonder as she explored the texture of tinsel on a box. This led me to create a space for her in our living room to foster her fine motor and sensory expression. Daisy engaged with all of the sensory invitations as she took time with each object. I added bells for sound and the pine cones are filling out living room with the smell of pine trees.

Mav joined her showing her how to shake the bells singing “jingle bells, jingle bells”. I love watching him guide her through her experience.

“Touch is one of a baby’s most advanced abilities and in terms of infants overall wellbeing, ranks just below oxygen, water or food in importance” (Nagel, 2014)

This morning I introduced Daisy to paint. With Daisy on her stomach with the canvas paper in front of her, I added the primary colours naming the colour as it went onto the paper. She spent the first few minutes looking at the colours before placing her hands in, the first colour she touched was red. Daisy watched her hands as she waved it over the paper, catching the blue and yellow paint, creating beautiful shades of purple and green.

This encounter provided a multi sensory experience for Daisy as the colours and how they changed was a visual delight. She felt the cold wetness of the paint as she spread it across the bumpy canvas paper. The paint squelched and scratched as Daisy painted with her hands.

Daisy had paint from her belly button to her eye brows. If we are not engaging our children in messy play because of the clean up, we miss opportunities for learning. This play is the foundation for learning and development. Her body and mind were working together.

“In the rhythm and flow of painting, the whole body is involved. Vision and movement intertwined. Painting is more, much more than making pictures. Being in a painting, becoming lost in it, is one way to describe the experience” (Kolbe, 2007)

Today I set up this provocation, inspired by the Reggio at Home for infants. It called to set up different pallets of different materials, everyday objects in a place that would provoke the child to come and engage with the materials. I placed scoops, spoons, whisk, bowls, bamboo ramps, thongs and shaker balls in a tray with brown rice and black turtle beans. I wanted to also engage Mav in this too because learning is supported by social engagement. Daisy has been developing her sit and reach so this provocation gave her an opportunity to continue to build her strength.

Daisy sat and watched Mav as he immediately grabbed the whisk and said “We can use this for scrambled eggs. Daddy can we make scrambled eggs?” He then picked up the shaker ball and began throwing it. We talked about the sound it made as it hit the floor. Daisy found this funny as she held a wooden spoon to her mouth and chewed (about 6 teeth are coming through so everything is chewed!). Mav found that some of the beans got stuck inside the whisk so he started to pour rice and beans through to make more stay. He discovered that he needed to place the beans inside the smallest part of the whisk for them to stay. Mav placed a sharper ball inside of 2 bowls which stuck together. He began shaking it, the sound made Daisy laugh. He asked for help to open the bowls but discovered that when he threw it back into the tray it opened. Mav took the small bowl and placed it upside down, then put the shaker ball on top “Mummy help me plant the seed”. We pushed down on the shaker ball then released it “there’s fronds planty!”

Our senses were evoked as we engaged with the materials. I loved watching Mav use his imagination to guide his discoveries and play. He is an influential teacher for Daisy and I am excited to see their play develop together as she becomes more mobile.

“Thinking originates, according to Piaget, in a gradual internalization of action. Children in the sensorimotor period of development use their senses to explore the world around them. Their actions on objects and the world around them form the basis for concept development in later stages”. (Fraser, 2012).

Daisy has been so desperate to move as her gaze follows Mav responding with laughter. I placed a mirror placed inside a trofast bin and tipped it on its side so Daisy could see her reflection. What I love about this mirror is that Daisy gets a larger view of how her body is moving. It helps her develop body awareness and encourages her to move closer, testing out different ways to move.

“You need to get kids into a hobby to stay out of trouble”

Over the weekend we took Mav to Bricks in the Six which is a Lego convention as this is his passion. I had an older woman (someone we do not know) say these words to me as we watched Mav in awe over the incredible builds. I was really taken aback by these words. I responded with “I have always had trust in Mav”. Since this conversation, I have been thinking about our view of children. What messages are we sending to them when it’s an automatic assumption that children get up to ‘trouble’? It sets a precedent of distrust and little respect for the child. This does not view the child as strong or capable. The language we use can also perpetuate this cycle. Using phrases like ‘terrible twos’ does not allow for us to see the beauty and the joy of this age group. Reflecting back on to Mav growing into toddlerhood he displayed behaviours that others would label as causing ‘trouble’ such as throwing everything in sight. To Mav it was a process of learning, he spent a lot of time focusing on details to see how things worked, cause and effect and trial and error. If we had tried to stop behaviours such as this, how different might his outlook on learning or himself be?

Mav is now in his preschool years and he is confident, curious and has a strong, positive sense of self.

“We must give enormous credit to the potential and the power that children possess. We must be convinced that children, like us, have stronger powers than those we have been told about, powers which we all possess - us and children, stronger potential than we give them credit for.” Rinaldi, 2021

I took a moment with Mav to go blueberry picking. Our property is half forested with lots of blueberry bushes. Throughout the seasons we look at the different stages the bushes go through to produce the berries. I asked Mav about the colour of the berries, Mavi said “The berries are pink then they go blue so I know daddy can eat them. I like blueberries with happy faces. Mummy do you like blueberries with happy faces?” I asked how he knows when a blueberry is smiling, he said “Blueberries have happy faces when they are blue”. Watching the changes of the bushes, Mav is able to observe the changes to know when the berries are ready for eating. Colour is seen as a form of communication.

“In some Native languages the term for plants translates to ‘those who take care of us’” (Wall Kimmerer, 2013)

Shapes of Sound

Mav has shown a lot of interest in sound lately. Over the weekend we were at a restaurant and was asking me to take him on a “sound hunt”. As we walked around, he observed sounds of the environment and his body. During the week, I invited Mav to come and use the small projector we have (this was something he loved exploring at the Mosaic of Marks, Words, Materials exhibition). He used whiteboard markers on a circle piece of transparent paper. “I’m drawing shapes of sounds”. Each colour represented a sound which were zig zagging across the paper (a new pattern he has recently started using in his drawings). I asked Mav to tell me what sounds were in his drawings he said “It looks like that in my imagination. Sounds have so many shapes”. Through his representation, Mav is showing how he sees the invisible. He has made the sounds multi sensory.

When Mav placed his drawing on the projector, he shared how it works “The projector bounces off the walls then on the roof”. Mav has an interest in sciences and the use of the projector combines his interest in drawing and exploring scientific concepts. As an educator, I have been caught up in the teaching of a concept, a very adult driven approach. I am changing my approach to allow Mav and Daisy just to explore and build their relationship with the materials and their understandings of concepts will happen more naturally over time.