We had a large donation of spices and a variety of baking ingredients that were past their 'best by date', and I wondered how we could use them in a 'creative' way. So... thinking back to my childhood concoctions of 'ingredients' I found in my family's bathroom cupboards the children arrived to a dress up area complete with jars of REAL ingredients, along with a range of cooking tools and dishes. I stood back and watched it all unfold!
The ingredients just got dumped right in!
And mixed right up!
I threw a little hot chocolate powder in for a little surprise!
From the picture below, sufficed to say we had some fun! A few brave children took a little taste, and proclaimed it did not taste as yummy as it smelled.
This picture below does it no justice, but I wanted to show that much of the 'mixture' ended up on the carpet below, seriously, there was a LOT on the floor, you just can't tell! I took this picture because I wanted to show that it happens and how important it is that it happened. I will be honest I have a lot of moments that the mess gets to me... what I mean is, I would love to have a little cleaning fairy flit about and clean up after the children. BUT, then I remind myself that this space is created FOR THE CHILDREN. Although they are in my home, it is a space that is designated for them to play and have fun! Children are children and they ARE going to make messes. The space is designed for them to be allowed to make a mess. I want them to feel comfortable and welcome enough that they are free to play. If there is something that I don't want the children to play with, it is not out. Everything in the space is available for the children to have opportunities to explore, create, and play with. I have been in centres that, although the mantra was that the children were welcome to play and enjoy with all the materials, the space was not comfortable for myself, so how could it be expected that the children would feel comfortable to play in it? I am not saying they were not wonderfully designed spaces, and it was no ones fault but my own. Because they were not my spaces, I was uncertain of my boundaries, it was hard to communicate those boundaries to the children, if that makes any sense. I feel blessed to be able to have provided this space for the children, and I hope that my role as a caregiver reflects to the children that it is THEIR space. My image of children is that they are capable beings and caring individuals. So when I see the mess I understand that the children did not intentionally create it, but just got so caught up in the enjoyment of the moment to notice what had happened.
So with that being said, I will point out that these opportunities are provided to the children, and because I believe them to be caring individuals I trust them to clean up when the times comes. It happens and in the photo below you can see that the children took the initiative and brought tools and dishes to the laundry sink, and.... even spilled a little. So....
They cleaned it up, and moved on with their day.
It's also important to point out that when our laundry sink looks like this, we have had a FUN day!
No comments:
Post a Comment