One rainy afternoon in the month of June the toddler room engaged in some light sensory play to engage in dialogue that would promote the use of the letter L naturally in play. We caught the toddler’s curiosity as the educators wrapped our cozy cove in blue string lights. We discovered that our magnetic shapes glowed under the blue light. Continuing to enhance our room, the educators fastened a light projector to the ceiling which displays coloured waves, stars and moons (this brought up dialogue that used M sounds and S sounds which were explored in precious weeks). We also brought out light sticks which shined a path for exploring our dimly lit room. The last light element we added was a light table paired with sensory blocks. With so many sources of light to explore the children have the opportunity to refine their visual perception. This engages spatial awareness and hand-eye coordination. For others light play can be a sensory input/output that can help support emotional wellbeing. It can calm the body as well as promote attention span and focus. During this time, we also engaged our busy toddlers in gross motor play. They zoomed around with their scooters and danced to the wiggles new rave album. Many of the toddlers looked forward to our light party when they first found out about when they arrived to our program that morning. They surly did not let the educators forget what was planned for that afternoon. As you can see in the photos our toddlers thoroughly enjoyed our light party.
