Our Conestoga College Student here in School-age 3 at RisingOaks Early Learning | St. Luke has been an asset to our program. She’s truly taken the time to observe the children and get to know them in order to engage them in exciting and stimulating activities that they willingly choose to participate in for long periods of time.
One of the activities that Kennedy set up as a provocation for the children was centered around athleticism- a large interest in the majority of the children outdoors. She saw how they enjoyed playing baseball and soccer, and decided to combine it into the classic game of Soccer Baseball. Kennedy set up pylons as bases (capturing the interest of a few children and inviting them to help her set the game up) and used a soccer ball for the game before inviting the children to come play. When she had a few particular children interested, such as Ezra, Hannah, and Blake, she invited them to approach their peers to see if they’d want to play too. Once we had enough players it was game on.
Kennedy explained the rules to the children and separated them into 2 teams based on the skill level she’d observed over the past many months. Once the teams were set, Kennedy chose to be the pitcher as a way of keeping the game fair. One by one the children went up to bat and kicked the ball as hard as they could, running around the bases before the opponents could get the ball back to Kennedy. They cheered each other on, and engaged in positive sportsmanship and team work.
This continued for a few innings, as the teams swapped places and rotated turns. Kennedy even invited some of the other children to take on the pitcher and game leader role. Kennedy wasn’t keeping score, but the children were, since they enjoy the competitiveness of games and the chance to win. Therefore, as our time outside was coming to an end, Kennedy chose to change the rules and invite one player at a time to face off against all the other players. Whoever was up to bat was challenged to kick the ball as hard as they could and run around as many bases as they could- for every base they touched, they scored a point, with hopes of making it all the way home. Although this round provided the potential for points, the children decided not to hold each other to the score too deeply, in ordered to enjoy the game as it was instead.
Overall this game was a fantastic way for the children to challenge each other, support one another, and engage in leadership potential. But most of all, it was a true reflection of planning and implementing an educator led activity, based on emerging and ongoing interests of the children.
