As I continue to learn from and with my early learners, I find myself increasingly curious as to why children are often innately drawn to types of learning that they would benefit from. For years now my early years team has observed children with lower language abilities drawn to language rich activities like small world… Read More Creating Meaningful Small World Play that Supports Language Development
Many children share their excitement for the holiday season with us and we are equally enthusiastic to provide them with opportunity to encounter learning through invitations to play and learn with a holiday spin. Below are some of the festive playful learning experiences that we’ve offered where children can bump into literacy and math throughout… Read More Playful Christmas and Holiday Invitations to Learn
Christmas is over and the decorations are put away, but what are you going to do with your Christmas tree? Why toss it when you can recycle it? Perhaps you could cut up some tree cookies and tree blocks and offer them to children to play and learn with. Insurgent Curriculum posted this awesome pic on their… Read More Snowmen Made from Recycled Christmas Trees
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)
Have you tried infusing math into your small world play? We love wood cookies and have many in our room and outdoors. Some are numbered, some have dots, others have letters or words on them. Constant exposure to numbers, letters and sight words in small world play is such a simple and easy way to… Read More Small World Zoo
We love having one table designated for loose parts play. It’s an opportunity for our learners to create, collaborate, and design. The children were really enjoying reading Eric Carle books and using them as inspiration to create with loose parts. The gems were sorted by colour so the children would be intentional about their selection. The process… Read More Loose Parts Art Inspired by Illustrators
Welcome to Shapeland! Kinderland has been excited to build Shapeland using 3D shapes with blocks, tree blocks, rocks, and cut up pool noodles with long tooth pics and skewers. Our early learners began exploring shapes through play and then their own inquiries. They added materials as they wanted to use them. This constructivist approach enabled our… Read More Pool Noodle Shapeland
Children love to play on surfaces and in nooks. It’s a given that children enjoying playing on the floor because there is room to spread out and take their play as far as they can dream. However, there are also times when children enjoy when the space is limited and they can create within a set… Read More Ideas to Invigorate Your Small World Shelves
All you need is paint, water, and mud. Then mix. Mud paint provides a fun texture to be creative with. Many of our learners simply enjoyed mixing paint and mud together. Try adding nature items to paint with or to simply paint the nature items (ie. tree blocks, pine cones,… Read More Mud Paint
Is your school planning Take Me Outside Day? Are you interested in providing more outdoor learning opportunities for your learners? Maybe you’re like us and constantly searching for new ideas to get your learners active and connecting with nature. Outdoor learning has become an integral component in our day. Not only do we use these provocations and activities… Read More Take Me Outside Day Ideas
inspired by play 