Our Time: MILK & COOKIES

“We are all explorers – fascinated by the new, intrigued by the mysterious and captivated by the challenge of learning and doing.”*
Today we enjoyed lots of exploration with the egg shakers: shaking high, shaking low, rolling, tapping, rubbing and so many other ways thought of by your children! Toddlers always seem to discover yet another way to play the shakers!

An important aspect of exploration of an instrument with your child is that of “scaffolding.” Scaffolding is a process of interaction during which the adult gently guides and supports the child’s learning by building on what the child is able to do. This involves varying the level of the activity depending upon the child’s response. Because each and every child in our class is unique, we often observe many different things going on during Exploration Time. What other ideas can you and your child come up with this week at home? Explore!!

Activity:
Jelly in the Bowl
Foundations of Learning:

Physical Confidence: Body awareness is important in the development of the child’s physical confidence. This developmental goal may be met by engaging in movement activities which focus on: body part movement, whole body movement in one place, and whole body movement while traveling in space.

Toast-Making Sequence
Play as a Learning Mode: Because children do not separate feeling from thinking, acting, and socializing, play is the most effective learning mode available to them.

Rocking Time
Reconnect: Calming lullabies provide time for the very active toddler to reconnect with the adult. As the lesson progresses, the toddler will exhibit “bound away and back” tendencies. The opportunity to reconnect is valuable to both the adult and child.