This January, the children in School-age 1 took part in creative wrist watch making activity as a way to welcome the New Year. The children were provided with paper, watch faces, markers, crayons and glue to explore and create their own wrist watches. This experience encouraged fine motor development, creativity, early concepts of time and rich conversations about holidays and new beginnings. The children got chance to reflect on recent holiday experiences. As the children began working, conversations naturally turned toward Christmas and New Year celebrations. One child shared “I saw fireworks on TV.” Another child responded “My grandma came to my house.” While decorating the watches, children were decorating their watch faces and some were also making their own watch faces and carefully adding numbers around the watch face. Throughout, I observed children using careful hand movements to color, glue and attach the straps, put them on their wrist using tape. This supported multiple areas of development including motor development, communication, social interaction. Most importantly, the children displayed sense of pride as they were proudly wearing them on their wrist and showing their creations to their peers and parents. This wrist watch making activity provided a joyful way to celebrate the New Year while strengthening independence, self expression and connections with peers.
