Our winter learning experiences have grown beautifully over the past few days, beginning with a simple, hands-on sensory invitation and expanding into rich creative play led by the toddlers’ own curiosity.
We began with Cileena’s winter inspired creative activity. On the wall, we set up a large sheet of sticky contact paper with a snowman shape on top. A basket filled with cotton balls, pom poms, popsicle sticks, cotton swabs, and felt pieces invited the toddlers to decorate freely. The moment the materials appeared, the children eagerly explored them. Lily rubbed cotton against her hand, Dante pressed pom poms to his face, and Robbie became fascinated by the sticky texture of the contact paper. As they worked, the toddlers discovered how the sticky surface held each item in place. Owen noticed that when he removed cotton balls, the fluff stayed behind, and he joyfully covered the snowman in soft white pieces. Clementine immediately added the mittens, carrot nose, and hat, excited to see the snowman’s face appear. Throughout this experience, the toddlers showed problem-solving, creativity, and fine-motor control as they pressed, peeled, and positioned their materials. The finished snowman decorated by many little hands now hangs proudly in our hallway.
Inspired by the excitement and sensory engagement of this activity, Nancy expanded on this learning by offering another colourful, hands-on experience. This time, the toddlers explored big festive shapes, trees, bells, stockings, snowmen, and gingerbread people taped onto trays. With baskets of bright tissue paper, the children layered and crinkled pieces onto the shapes, creating vibrant sun-catcher-like designs. Tiny fingers pinched, pressed, and carefully placed each piece, building fine-motor skills without even realizing it. When they finished, we gathered the leftover tissue paper, and the children gleefully tossed it into the air, watching it float down like colourful snow. Their laughter filled the room as they tried to catch pieces in their hands and on their faces. Soon after, the toddlers extended this play themselves, gathering bowls and plates from the play kitchen to create a “tissue paper cooking station,” scooping, pouring, and pretending to cook with the soft, crinkly pieces. It was messy, joyful, imaginative, and wonderfully child-led.
To continue this seasonal exploration, Deborah introduced the toddlers to an interactive Santa activity. After reading stories and looking at images of Santa, she created a large Santa face on sticky paper and invited the children to build his beard using small pieces of cotton. The toddlers carefully picked up the cotton, pressing it onto Santa’s face one piece at a time. Some experimented with the texture, sticking cotton on and peeling it off again. Others focused on filling the space, proudly creating fluffy beards and adding their own unique touches. This collaborative Santa encouraged creativity, fine motor development, and social learning as children shared materials, worked beside peers, and designed Santa together.
Across all these experiences, a clear thread of learning emerged: sensory exploration, creativity, collaboration, and joyful engagement. The toddlers showed curiosity and confidence as they explored new materials, practiced important fine motor skills, and participated in shared, meaningful projects. What began as a simple winter snowman activity blossomed into a series of rich, playful learning moments each one shaped by the children’s interests and the educators’ thoughtful extensions.
