A new school year has begun, and we welcome new friends and returning friends, to our after school 1 group at RisingOaks I St Nicholas.
The children are getting accustomed to new routines, educators, peers and the many changes. One thing that does not change, is the ability for children to use their creative minds, to create games and challenges through play, that allow for them to practice and learn different skills.
During our outdoor exploration, the educators have provided a variety of balls, ropes, hula hoops and there are tires on the JK/K playground, that have been of interest to the children.
One day, there were several hula hoops out. Olivia, Lily, Eshaani, Julian, Luca and Emily began exploring and showing one another their skills. “Look I can do it,” said Emily. Luca wondered what would happen if he rolled the hula hoops. He and Julian then began testing out how far they could roll them, with laughter and wonder in their expressions.
“I have been practicing,” Lily shared with her peers. They cheered her on as the watched how fast she was spinning the hula hoop. “I think I can do it with two hula hoops.” Emily expressed. “Yeah, yeah, you should try it,” Eshanni said excitedly, handing over her hula hoops to Emily. At this, they began to cheer her on and once they noticed Emily had success with two hula hoops, they began to challenge her to add more and more. The final count, six hula hoops. “Come on Emily, you can do it!” peers and educators cheered. She took on the challenge and a sense of pride was evident when she was able to maneuver all of those hula hoops. The encouragement from peers and educators, was a sure factor in her success. It is great to see how children can engage in positive interactions to support their peer’s exploration. This helps build stronger relationships between the children in the group.
With the tires, Owen tested out how fast he could roll it. This encouraged some of his peers to try the same. Alexander and Alice, would roll the tire back and forth to each other, engaging in giggles and they practiced rolling in the other’s direction.
These activities that may seem simple to one looking in, contribute to the strengthening of the children’s social interactions, to practicing coordination and a sense of direction, it helps build of muscle development and even contains an element of risk that support their self esteem and confidence.
We are looking forward to continuing to provide opportunities for all of the children to continue to build on these skills and more. We wonder what direction they will take us educators in? Stay tuned to our daily, and our next monthly stories.
