The children spent time to observe snow with educator Mia. They used magnifying glasses to observe the snow closely, but each child observed in a different way. In particular, it was lovely to see the children placing the magnifying glass right by their eyes without prompting, demonstrating knowledge of how to use a tool such as a this. Mia asked, "What do you see in the snow? How do the snowflakes look?" The children gave different answers such as, "They look like it’s round," or "They look like a square." Mia researched what snowflakes look like with the children using the iPad. Looking at the pictures of snowflakes, the children talked about their favorite shape of snowflakes. They were filled with wonder by Mia's comment that its shape could change depending on temperature.
The next day, Mia and the children painted on the snow using cookie cutters or paint brushes. They demonstrated their enjoyment for their art activities by painting bright colors on white snow. In particular, holding a brush and painting the snow helps build on their fine motor skills, and the art activities help children express themselves freely in a variety of ways.
The children have been engaged in various activities with snow ever since. They tried making Olaf, the snowman from Frozen, using Googly Eyes. The children had a hard time creating Olaf's face using Googly Eyes, but they were successful in completing the task with an educator. Mia and the children developed positive relationships with each other by making Olaf. Warm emotional interactions with adults not only help children to see the world positively, but it also helps to build children's resilience.
While various activities related to snow continued, the children finally made large snowflakes with salt. The children first drew snowflakes that they observed on a piece of paper with glue and then sprinkled salt on it to represent the twinkle on the snowflake. Children explored touching salt, making use of their sense of touch, and they appeared to be very interested in this exploration. After drying the salted snowflake that they made, the children used various colors to paint on the salt snowflakes. "Mia look!" The children each showed their colorful snowflakes to Mia. The snowflakes that children worked hard on were brilliantly beautiful. Children’s involvement in various activities related to snow, developed their curiosity about science, and developed their thinking skills through the process of investigating answers to questions together with an educator. Through this precious time with friends and educators in particular, they had a meaningful time to feel a sense of belonging, freely share opinions, build positive relationships with each other, and develop creative thinking.
We are looking forward to further exploration with snow and what we will continue to play in the future and what our friends will discover.
