Over the past month the Preschool 1 class has been engaging in activities that revolve around Spring. At the beginning of April, many were feeling ready to say goodbye to the snow and were eagerly awaiting signs of warmer weather and the arrival of spring. We thought that if we talked about Spring and participated in some activities that revolved around the season maybe it would finally appear. We started by creating wooden flower ornaments to hang somewhere in our houses. The children were given a variety of brightly coloured markers, later referred to as our “happy colours”, and coloured their flowers however they saw fit. Some looked like a bright rainbow, with every colour you could imagine and some children stuck to using just one colour, typically their favourite. This activity had the children practicing their pincer grasp, holding their markers tightly between their thumb and index finger. This experience also encouraged the development of hand-eye coordination, as children focused on carefully placing the lids back onto their markers and listening for the “click” indicating their lid was secured.
Our second activity had the children creating colourful flower arrangements. An educator put floral foam in the bottom of some plastic flower pots so that the children could stick artificial flowers into it. A variety of flowers were provided, along with gardening gloves and small watering cans. The children created unique, colourful arrangements, explaining that they were using their favourite colours and who they were making the flowers for. Everyone was able to practice their self-help skills when putting on the gloves, asking for little assistance. The children were also able to display their ability to share the materials with each other and displayed the ability to use their communication skills to ask for something out of their reach. The children also created their own flower gardens during a third activity. For the stems of the flowers the children chose what shade of green they wanted to use and depending on that choice, they either used card stock or construction paper. When the stems were all ripped up and glued into place, everyone then decided what colour of flowers they wanted in their garden. Those selected colours were given to them and they then scrunched up the tissue paper before sticking it onto their paper. Some of the thicker paper was a little more difficult to rip into stem shape strips, but those who were having difficulty were able to ask an educator for guidance. Each garden was very unique and colourful and each ‘gardener’ showed their flower gardens off with pride when they were complete.
Around Easter time the children engaged in an activity that involved stuffed bunnies and a carrot garden. An educator created a carrot garden, using cardboard and “planted” pretend carrots that could easily be removed. Easter grass was added, along with some stuffed bunnies. The children used these materials in many ways including, having the bunnies hide in the garden, feeding them carrots and having them interact with each other. The children’s imaginations came to life, exploring the materials in every way they could think of. This activity also had children engaging in conversation about eating carrots themselves and whether they enjoyed them as much as the bunnies.
Lastly the tuff tray was used once again for the children to engage in a bug hunting activity. Small, wooden ladybugs were placed among the artificial grass mat, along with flower gems, wooden logs and bug hunting equipment. The tools were used in various ways, helping to further develop fine motor skills, such as their pincer grasp. Children engaged in problem-solving as they navigated challenges while capturing the bugs, demonstrating independence and confidence with minimal educator support. They used nets like scoops picking up the bugs and flowers in bunches and dumping them into the bug catching containers. The children were able to use their communication skills to ask each other questions about what they were doing or how they were doing it. Some children created ladybug soups and ice creams and one child even made a ladybug stoplight using red, green and yellow bugs.
After participating in all of these Spring like activities, it seems like the warmer weather is here to stay. Hopefully we can recreate some of these indoor experiences outdoors since the children seemed to enjoy them. Here is to a spring filled with beautiful flowers and many successful bug hunts!
