Laura's Little Explorers

Who's ready for some sensory play?

Our outdoor colour sorting station is ready!

A walk is more than a Walk

For children, a neighbourhood walk is so much more than just mindless movement. Every walk is different and can be an exciting adventure. Observe a toddler that is allowed to move at her own pace. Watch how everything is interesting. A rock, a stick, some sand. While out on a walk the senses have constant input. This is important because children learn about the world around them through their senses.

While out walking with Gabby (23 months) we talked about all the things we were hearing since she was especially tuned into sounds. She always stops moving and orients herself to try and see what is making the sound. She also likes to label the object and imitate them in words if possible. Yesterday she heard some geese flying over and said “Geese up sky. Honk! Honk!” Soon after I heard a duck and pointed it out. Gabby then said “Duck, quack quack. Geese, honk honk” Much later we saw some crows. I said “Look Gabby, there are the crows we heard.” She then said “Crows, ha ha, caw caw caw!”

In this activity the child is collecting and constructing knowledge about a topic of interest. It is something involving two senses (sight and sound) and something she finds interesting. This helps to increase vocabulary both in comprehension and spoken language. It also will have a greater impact because it has meaning to the child.

A walk is more than just a walk. It’s a time to explore with all the senses. It’s puddles, sticks, rocks, birds, buses, sand, leaves, bugs, dogs, squirrels, grass, ditches, birds, traffic, trails, logs, streams, and people. It is an endless opportunity to learn about the world around them. Children learn best when they can use their senses to gather information about things they are directly involved in. So a walk is never just a walk. It is a complete learning experience.

A familiar route can soothe and comfort children allowing them to more freely explore the things that are new. The physical exercise gets the blood pumping throughout the body and helps to clear the mind for more meaningful observations. Allowing children to pick up and explore things makes a walk to much more valuable. While walking we are always talking about our observations and wonderings.

When Emily was eighteen months old she was very interested in ducks. She found ducks in books to be mildly interesting, but really enjoyed watching real ducks. She showed no interest in colouring pages of ducks or making play-dough ducks. Any chance we got we would walk down to the bridge to watch the ducks. This activity would hold her interest for a long time. Show would tell me what the ducks were doing in single words (swimming, drinking, sleeping), but she was already using the proper tense. As time went on we expanded our vocabulary to include eating, walking, fighting, and flying. During this time she also began adding more words to make up sentences. It wasn’t long before she was telling me “ducks are swimming in water”.

Two spots available! Share with your friends. Contact me for more information.

The Joy of Sticks

Children are fascinated by sticks. Sticks are all different from each other and this makes them interesting. Sticks spark the imagination. They can be easily manipulated and require nothing more than imagination to use. They are also readily available and the play possibilities are endless.

The use of sticks in play promotes problem solving skills, large and fine motor development, social skills, cognitive skills, and creativity. They can be counted, compared, and sorted. We can use them to spark inquiry or enhance vocabulary. Learning outcomes can be more easily achieved because of the child’s interest in the sticks, and because the use of sticks will encompass the five selves, or whole child, they can be a great teaching tool.

The benefits of playing with sticks far outweigh the risks of injury. Instead, playing with sticks gives us the opportunity to teach children how to use them safely. Providing opportunity for safe risk-taking helps children learn to assess risky activities and be responsible for their own actions and safety as well as that of others.

Here are some examples of the joy of sticks:

While out for a neighbourhood walk one day Erin (21 months) found a stick. She showed happiness by smiling, saying “stick”, and then laughing (emotion). She picked it up near one end but had to use two hands to get it in the right place to use as a walking stick (problem solving). She walked a bit and then began to watch the stick as it came into contact with the ground with each step. She then noticed the end of the stick was making marks in the sand. She stopped walking and began trying to make marks in the sand with the end of the stick. The required the use of both hands and arms as it was almost as tall as she was (gross and find motor). Soon after she decided the stick was “too heavy” ask asked me to carry it. I told her I didn’t want to carry the stick (social) and so she tossed it to the ground and left it there.

While out waking in the bush one day Erika (23 months) came upon a long stick on the path. One end was stuck in the mud. Erika tried to pick it up first with one hand, then two, then with both arms as well (problem solving, gross motor). After a few minutes of trying she left the stick with out a request for help. When I asked her why she left the stick she told me “it had dog p**p on it” in a very matter-of-fact way. (social, cognitive reasoning)

Cindy (23 months) experimented with different sizes of sticks today. She noted that short sticks do not make good walking sticks, that really long sticks soon become cumbersome, and that thick sticks get heavy quickly. Over the course of our walk Cindy tried five different sticks. She mostly used them as walking sticks, but did make marks in the sand as well. As she used each stick she would tell me “heavy” in regards to the problem she was having with that particular stick. I would agree and then label the problem for her (too long, short, thick etc) thus increasing her language.

While out walking with two groups of kids, they happened upon a medium-sized branch that had fallen from a tree. It had one thick part that branched out into two arms near the middle. The four oldest kids (2, 3, & 4 year olds) quickly decided they all needed to carry a part of this branch in order to bring it back to the sand pit. They each took a spot and tried to move the branch. Since they had spread themselves out somewhat it worked well for a while. Unfortunately the kids got out of step with each other and all lost their hold on the branch. Each child tried a few different places to hold the branch, but the more positions they tired the harder it got to carry it together. They were beginning to argue and shout at one another in their frustration, so an adult suggested they go back to their original spots. With a little assistance they repositioned themselves and the walk began again. After a while the branch got heavy, but the children were reluctant to leave it behind as it was such a treasure now. With a child on each arm of the branch, and the heavy end resting on the front of a stroller, they managed to carry it all the way to the sand pit.

Here is our daily routine.