In honour of Pride month, the toddlers of RisingOaks Early Learning | St. Luke focused on learning about the different colours of the rainbow, as well as the importance of love, friendship, and family. When learning about colours, they were very engaged in our colour sorting activities. Different coloured cups were placed in front of them and they practiced distinguishing the colours and placing the buttons and gems into the cup that matches its colour. While doing the activity, the children were happy to share their observations with their peers and educators. Alicia placed all her green buttons into the green cup, held it up, and said, “It’s green!” Lauren made a pile of all her red buttons and said, “Look! I have red!”
Another colourful activity the children enjoyed doing was painting a colourful banner. The children were given paint of the different colours of the rainbow and they used the rollers to paint to their heart’s content. After seeing the finished painting Henry Y said, “We did a good job!” The children all worked together and were very proud of their group artwork.
The children were also very interested in the colourful pride books we have. Whenever they have the chance, they would come up to an educator to ask them to read one of our pride books. A favourite of theirs is “Love Makes a Family” by Sophie Beer. The book focuses on family and how love can be seen and shared in a person’s everyday life. As the children are listening to the educators read the book, they enjoy sharing nice actions that their family members do for them. Lana shared, “Daddy makes me laugh!” Lauren says, “I go see the trains with daddy!” They also love pointing at their family pictures that are posted on the classroom wall and introducing their family members to their peers and educators. The book also talks about kindness towards others, and as the book is being read, the children are able to reflect on it. When asked how we can show love to those who are sad, Kairo says, “You ask, 'Are you okay?'” Monique shares, “You say sorry.”
Overall, it is great to see the toddlers engaged in activities that develop their colour recognition skills and it is also heartwarming to see how they are learning about love, care, acceptance, and inclusivity this month.
