Reality Meet Play, Play Meet Reality

About a month ago we sent cheerleading thoughts to one of our moms that competed in a Tough Mudder race. We were all curous about the race and the night before the big race we had a big daycare meet and greet bbq and made sure to provide plenty of carb rich foods for her carb load she had to do. She did well and braved the challenging obstacle course. We were all very proud of her, and even motivated some of us adults to perhaps give it a go next year?

So it was only natural that her children would be inspired to compete in their own Tough Mudder course. Our loose parts outdoor classroom naturally lends itself to foster that creativity. What a fun connection between real life and play!

The water portion of the obstacle course

Now you have to go backwards

One of our grand traditions we have at the centre is the centre pieces. The children take them rather seriously and put a great amount of thought into each one. They range from simple and minimalistic, yet well thought out....

 .....all the way to 'where can we put our food, because the centre piece has taken over the table?'

...and somewhere in between.

So it came as no surprise that when the chidren play in the dramatic play area, the centre piece portion of play is a serious process. Another lovely connection between real life and play.

Honing Our Skills!

Children need challenges. They actually THRIVE on challenges or problems! They are the building blocks for life!

 How do we give children opportunity to work through a challenge or a problem?

Here's perhaps, a less obvious example of how we can encourage those skills:

It would have been easy to open the tongs and leave them ready to use in the sensory bin. But they were purposely left closed, ready for a challenge. Just another example of how the environment is the third teacher.

It was tricky at first, but......

Success!

 Now, how do you think that child felt when they accomplished that task. It took him a while, and it took all of my being not to intervene. There was an older child standing right next to him that was already on her way to using the tongs, but he kept at it. How satisfying! He was so excited!

Next came the task of changing up the sensory bin. I could have easily picked the bin up and tipped it into the storage container....

But she would have missed out on the chance to exercise those fine motor skills, that will increase her fine motor accuracy while she holds her pencil to write her name. 

Such precision, and dedication to the task.

And just like that the task was done.

It hard to stand back and watch them struggle, but it's a way for children to gain confidence in their abilities, hone their skills, and develop a sense of purpose. Children are CAPABLE!!!

Let them do it, children are their own teachers!

BC Games

As we shared with our readers a couple days ago, our little community is pretty amazing. So in addition to all the wonderful amenities that we make sure to access on a regular basis, we have special events that we can attend occasionally. Today was a day like that. 

Every summer a community plays host to the BC Summer Games. This year our city was the host, and within a 10 minute walking distance there were a number of events that we could watch, each event was free admission, and a great opportunity for these children to get a little taste of the Olympic Fever that seems to be creeping it's way in again!

So we had a look at our options and the children unanimously decided the equestrian events would be the most enjoyable. So in true lower mainland fashion we ventured out in the rain with our lunchkits in tow and arrived at the Agriplex building. 

We quickly discovered that this horse event was not what we were expecting, there were no horses jumping like we thought (later, we discovered, that was in the building next door), but the children were very keen on watching the horse show. We had to be SUPER quiet, but the children, for the most part, got that from the atmosphere, because you could literally hear a pin drop.   

We stopped and had lunch in the big rodeo bowl, thinking the horse jumping was going to start anytime, it didn't, but we had the whole place to ourselves, which was pretty awesome... a WHOLE STADIUM TO OURSELVES!

So we got a little run on

On the way back we spotted a wasp's nest

And ran on the crest of the giant hill. It was pretty misty.

What a cool experience!

3,2,1 Bungee!!!

As many of our readers are well aware, we are fans of loose parts. We love the value that they bring to our play. They add whimsy and fun and creativity to our daily existence! 

So when I placed a handful of bungee cords in our block area for forts, I was not surprised when they became a staple in our play each day. They have reached epic proportions of use that we have had to find another great Bungee Cord sale, just to bring them outdoors.
Not only do the children use them to create little dwellings, they have also been using them to tow the cars (and baskets of items for that matter) around, they have designed elaborate harnesses to assist them in their climbing adventures (boo, I didn't have my camera the day that this happened), and the latest is fancy, detailed 'traps'. The discussion that goes into the creation of all of these items has been so enriching. Who says children don't learn through play? They have taught each other how to problem solve, new words, spatial awareness, safety, and so much more. 

See for yourself some of the creative ways bungee cords have been incorporated into our play:

A Trip to the Past

I can't believe how busy our summer has been! This blog has certainly been neglected over the last little while, but we have been enjoying plenty! Today was no exception!

Our little community really has everything we need. Within a quick walk we can enjoy the library, plenty of parks, forests, streams, shopping markets, and a museum! Today we took in the museum for a little trip to the past. 

Checking out an early canoe carved right out of a tree!

A connection was made here: there is a mural of the early logging days on the wall in our grocery store. The children recognized this equipment right away.

Seeing a real totem pole was pretty neat. We had read about them in one of our story books.

Early wood working tools. 

Checking out some antique toys. They look a lot more inviting than the toys we have today... a steam train was especially interesting!

Our little community hosts a world famous rodeo on the May long weekend, so we had a look at what people wore to the rodeo in the past.

Our city has a skytrain that can take us all the way to Vancouver, so seeing a mini model was pretty neat.

Someone really enjoyed counting all the cars.

This is a special exhibit in the museum right now. The local lego club put together a large display with the theme of history and mythology. 

There were even displays on the bottom. I believe that one was of Poseidon's home

Egypt

Poseidon's throne

This was underneath Poseidon's throne. It had movable parts and everything!

Ancient Greece.

Trojan horse. It was at this point that some of the children discovered that I knew a tiny bit about what was in each scene and that they were stories. So from this point on, the children would go over to a display and ask me what the story was. I tried my best, but we soon discovered that there was an interactive computer that we could refer to. They were ENTHRALLED by these stories, so it's go me thinking now!

There was even a little space to create your own.

Zeus and Hera looking over ancient Greece.

King Midas

A little Hippodrome

The Roman Colosseum. Some of these displays were rather graphic, but the children just seemed to be interested more in the story behind it all. 

Ancient Rome

It was such a neat experience to go. The children were amazed/ inspired by the pieces that were created. It was exciting and entertaining to watch as the children became so interested in our past and the past of other nations. This trip to the museum has got me thinking that it would be fun for the children to experience a little bit of history themselves, so stay tuned....