As children are observed showing interest in putting toys through a piece of the end of a plastic eaves-trough from one of the toy shelves, Jaspreet wondered how the children would react putting balls through the long PVC pipes? So, she brought in two long PVC pipes from the playground and some ping-pong balls for the infants to explore and have fun with.
Levi got excited with the ping-ping sound made by the balls as Jaspreet dumped them into the bucket from a Zip lock bag. He came and started playing with the balls. At first, he peeked through the PVC pipe and then would pick up a ball to put it through to see where it would go. He also banged the two balls together to make sound.
Matthias, Clara and Dean came over and started picking up the balls. They also put balls through the PVC pipes. Dean peeked through the PVC pipe to see where the ball went on the other side every time he put them in. As Jaspreet held the PVC pipe up in her hand, Clara and Dean started putting balls through both ends of the pipe. Then they took the small containers from the toy shelf and would put one ball in it and shook it to produce sound. Matthias also shook the ball in the small container with Dean and Clara. Millie took a couple of balls in her hands and felt their texture by touching them. Then she sat in Bea’s lap (our student from Conestoga college) and giggled hearing the ping-ping sound of the balls as Dean started shaking the balls using both his hands in the bucket.
Every time Dean would shake the bucket full of balls, Millie laughed hearing the sound. Through this activity, the infants developed fine motor skills as they used their hands to grab the balls and put them in through the PVC pipe. They also enhanced their sensory skills as they listened to the ping-ping sound created by the balls. As an extension to this activity, I could bring in wooden gutters for the infants to roll the balls down and have fun with.
