One morning educator Sara had taken out the tuff tray and added a variety of different materials for the children to explore. She added a cookie tray, some oven mitts, small flippers, pipe cleaners cut up, pom poms, and small circles cut out on brown paper. The children were very excited to come to the tray and see what provocation we had set up for the day.
The children had to use their fine motor skills to put on the oven mitts and try to use the flippers. Some children thought it was a little challenging, so they took the oven mitts off and tried again without the mitts on, this demonstrated great problem-solving skills! The children were also able to use their creativity skills to decorate the cookies with the pipe cleaners and pom poms. When they were all done decorating the cookies they again tried to move the cookies to the cookie trays.
During this experience, Sara asked them what kind of cookies they were making. She gave them a couple of suggestions to see if they can remember what kinds they have had in the past, and Henley shouted “peanut butter” as soon as Sara gave that suggestion. This whole experience was great to expand on the children’s interests because of their love for the dramatic play area and using their imagination to make different things in the kitchen!
What’s Next? We will continue exploring the children’s interest and do some more baking experiences. This will also expand on the children’s math skills as the help with the baking measurements and also help foster their turn taking skills.
