The start of a new school year has brought many emerging interests and unique curiosities to our Toddler 1 classroom! This month, our current group has developed a deep love and curiosity for messy play experiences. To further build on their sensory exploration, the toddlers were invited to explore a tuff tray full of flour, olive oil, measuring tools, empty cupcake wrappers, and buttons. While engaging with the flour and oil mixture, each child used their sense of touch by scooping, squeezing, pressing, and crumbling the ingredients with their hands. One of the toddlers observed that the mixture stuck together in one big clump when packed tightly with their hand in a fist. Meanwhile, someone else used their words to dictate the action they were making with their hands saying, “smoosh! smoosh!” as they squished a handful of flour flat under their palm. Another child discovered a button hiding in a clump of the flour and shouted, “triangle!” identifying its shape. During their play, the toddlers also exercised fine motor control and hand-eye coordination while manipulating various tools like spoons and cups to transfer the flour and oil mixture. One child was very focused on carefully filling a cupcake wrapper with flour and packing it as tightly as they could using a measuring spoon to press down on the flour. This provocation also invited many chances for both parallel play and interactions between the children as they shared materials and even occasionally helped fill each other’s cupcake wrappers with flour. I wonder how else the toddlers could engage their sense of touch through play and exercise their fine motor skills and strength. What might they do with some air-dry clay and a variety of different Playdough tools?
