The natural beauty of autumn leaves and fall harvests continue to impact our early learners as we explore, create, and imagine outdoors in our forest and school garden. As a way to integrate children’s fascinations with all that comes with autumn our team has co-created some intentional learning explorations that also connect to our student’s developing… Read More Autumn Play and Learning Invitations
Before transforming our yard into our outdoor learning playspace, our early years team shared our hopes and dreams for the children in the space. We wanted it to provide opportunities for children to develop curiosity, exploration, creativity, innovation, resilience, problem-solving skills, risk-taking, collaboration, oral language skills, mathematical understanding, and connect with nature. We also kept… Read More Planning Outdoor Learning Playspaces For All Seasons
View our new spatial reasoning blog post: 10 Playful Spatial Reasoning Provocations Part 2 here. As our kindergarten team continues to learn more about children and their development in spatial thinking and reasoning, we are continually searching for and creating meaningful provocations and experiences where children can construct their own learning in this area. We are… Read More 10 Playful Spatial Reasoning Provocations
Our youngest learners have spent many hours playing with this woodland forest small world play sensory tray. What’s more than natural materials and loose parts for open-ended play lies an opportunity to think more deeply about literacy and numeracy. Naturally, adults would see this provocation as an invitation for children to share stories with lots of oral language… Read More Woodland Forest Small World Play (Math and Literacy embedded in Play)
If you have been like me, admiring tuff trays (aka builder’s trays) from across the pond, then maybe you’ve also been wondering how you could get your hands on one. Check out this link to see what Tuff Trays or Builder’s Trays look like: http://earlyyearseducational.com/#/tuff-tray-stand/4573512634 I’ve found some on amazon.com but never any here in Canada.… Read More DIY Tuff Tray (Sensory Trays)
Hope you enjoy these playful Hallowe’en invitations to learn. We always try to look for items we already have on hand and can reuse. However… I had been drooling over Tuff Trays/Builders Trays in the UK for years now and hadn’t thought of an alternative until now. Home Depot carries these water heater trays… Read More 10 Playful Hallowe’en Invitations to Learn
Once again I am grateful to my father-in-law and his gift of time and talent to build us this incredible PVC pipe stand for our water table. He is an example of our great community that generously gives of themselves to support the development of the children in our care. This stand fits on the… Read More PVC Pipes at the Water Table
Feel, see, hear, and smell: Engage early learners with their senses. Sensory play provides many opportunities to develop skills such as problem-solving, decision-making, mathematical skills, co-ordination of small and large muscle movement, fine and gross motor, creativity and much more. So you want to have open-ended sensory-based learning but don’t have a big beautiful expensive… Read More Cheap & Portable Sensory Bins
One Designated Early Childhood Educator I know and respect has a moto that is refreshing and adventurous. She often says, “let’s try it and see what happens”. So, we’ve often tried things just to ‘see what happens’. Someone from my PLN (professional learning network) posted a question, “have you tried adding fresh lemons to your… Read More Lemons in Water Play
Do you have bottles that get recycled weekly? I know we sure do. Instead of heading to the dollar store like I do far too often (just like most early years educators), we headed to our recycling box. We took the lids off the tops and cut the bottoms off the water bottles and had instant FUNNELS.… Read More Water Wall with Recycled Materials
inspired by play 