Tag: Under 2

Categories
Infinity Place

Planting Seeds

Description and Learning Objectives

Watching plants grow is a fun and educational experience for children. Their curiosity and excitement over anything new makes them a natural for gardening. Growing plant seeds with children teaches them how nature works, responsibility in caring for living things, interest in environment sustainability,  and pride in themselves. The teachers chose seeds for them that are large enough to handle and that germinate readily.

Child under 2 planting a seed

Materials

  • plant seeds
  • soil
  • pots
  • watering can or jug

Child under 2 planting

Observations and Findings

Through planting, children are able to gain a sense of self. They start to see that they are capable of doing things independently and that they can produce things with their own hands. By taking the time to nurture and provide what the seed needs (like water and sunshine), the children are able to see it bloom and develop into something new. As they build confidence in themselves and their abilities, they are able to create a foundation that help support the relationships they make with other people and their own environment as they grow older. The children are introduced to the idea that if they put time and effort into the things they do and the interactions they make, it can blossom into something more.

Planting also provides children with an opportunity to better understand the concept of cause and effect. Planting shows them how a seed will sprout and grow over time by watering. The children build a better connection with how the world works and how they can influence the things around them. Through planting, the children’s interest in nature also grows. They begin to recognize that they have a responsibility to their physical environment, especially its sustenance and maintenance. With this activity, their bond with nature becomes more than just something that just simply exists in their world. It is not something that has a beginning and an end. Planting a seed and nurturing it until it grows into a flower, and then picking the flower and placing it into a vase allows children to see that there is a progression to the things they do.

It is an exciting way to provide more hands on experience to their children in observing how nature works!

Child under 2 watering a plant

Categories
Coatsworth

Outdoor Play

An infant crawling through a tunnel

The outdoor space is a rich sensory area as it offers a wide variety of textures, temperatures, smells and sights, while allowing the children to form a relationship with nature to enjoy and care for it.  Running, climbing, dancing, riding cars, pulling wagons, kicking balls, playing basketball and riding tricycles are samples of what we offer during our outdoor time, in a safe, well supervised and fun environment. Our outdoor environment allows the children to enhance their equilibrium, gross motor, fine motor, hand – eye – foot coordination and balancing skills. It is a wonderful opportunity for social interaction and allows the child to explore and manipulate materials in a different environment.

An infant walking on a waffle block path An infant throwing a ball in a basketball net An infant pushing a toy vacuum cleaner

Categories
City Place

Easel Drawing

Easel drawing

Easel drawing is an activity that the children enjoy. This activity allows them to express their creativity on a larger scale. It also promotes their fine motor skills. In this photo, the child is holding the marker in a palmer grasp as she makes detailed lines on the dry erase easel.

Categories
Simcoe Place

Practical Life!

Children working on practical life activities.

Children like to imitate what they see around them, especially when it comes to caring for their environment. As they progress with their abilities, they engage in activities that help the community. The Under 2 Classroom provides cleaning materials for children to use to fulfill their need for exploration, movement, acquisition, repetition, and feeling that they can be part of the community. Here are some pictures of the children assisting with cleaning and caring for their environment. These opportunities allow children to improve concentration, attention to detail, refinement of movement, development in practical skills, and encourage active participation in their community. Thank you for taking such great care of our classroom.

Categories
Infinity Place

Pop-Up Activity

Child under 3 with pop-up activity

Description and Learning Objectives
The pop-up toy is a very popular activity among young children. The object of this activity is for children to manipulate the different knobs on the toy using their hands and fingers in order to reveal what is hidden underneath. Once revealed, they will push the characters down and do it all over again. This activity helps promote fine motor skills and cognitive skills such as problem solving as well as cause and effect.

Child under 3 with pop-up activity

Materials
Pop-Up activities can be found in many stores and in a variety of colours, themes, and variations.

Child under 3 with pop-up activity

Observations and  Findings
Through this activity, children are able to practice and strengthen their fine motor development. They will use their hands and fingers to manipulate the different knobs and by doing these actions repeatedly they will be able to master these movements. Thus, creating a foundation that they will need as they get older and become adults.

The pop-up activity also supports children’s cognitive development especially with problem solving and when trying to understand cause and effect. In this activity, children will notice that some knobs are easier to manipulate than others. For example, it may be easy for them to push one button but harder for them to rotate a knob. This activity encourages them to experiment and practice a variety of actions by learning to figure out what motions they need to do in order to get the characters to pop out from hiding.

Another cognitive developmental skill that is supported through this activity is understanding the concept of cause and effect. With this activity children begin to recognize and experience first hand what happens when we do certain actions and the results of those actions. They begin to understand that different actions results in different outcomes and it may not be the same outcome every time. Children will then be able to build on their experiences and be able to adapt those skills to other things in their daily lives.

Categories
Coatsworth

Playdough!

An infant using a pizza cutter on playdough

Our infants seem to light up when playdough is offered as one of our sensory and fine motor activities. Playdough assists the children in developing their senses, especially sight, smell and touch. Pulling, rolling, poking and grabbing a fist-full of playdough all help to develop their fine motor skills and eye-hand coordination. We often add food colouring and accessories such as cookie cutters, pizza cutters, and rolling pins for variety.

Categories
City Place

Opening and Closing Containers

Child under 2 opening a container

This activity consists of a variety of different containers that can be opened and closed. These materials allow the child to learn practical life skills necessary in everyday life, for example, opening or unscrewing lids. All the while, the child is developing fine motor skills, concentration, independence, and hand-eye coordination.

Categories
Simcoe Place

Celebrating Through Art

Diwali art

Remembrance Day art

In the Under 2 classroom, the children learn about various celebrations through art activities. Art is an important medium for young children’s early development because it engages their senses, encourages their creativity, and supports their cognitive and social-emotional skills. During the earlier part of November, the children participated in art activities that focused on Diwali and Remembrance Day. In our Diwali art activity, a teacher assisted the children to spread glue on their paper using a glue stick and then the children used different coloured salt to sprinkle onto rangoli designs. In our Remembrance Day activity, the children placed poppy shapes on clear sticky contact paper. These activities help children develop their fine motor skills and bilateral coordination by using both hands at the same time to develop fine motor development.

Categories
Infinity Place

Exploring Leaves

Child under 2 looking at leaves

Description and Learning Objectives

Fall has finally arrived, which means many changes are happening to the outside world. The weather is getting cooler. It is starting to rain more often and the leaves are starting to change colour. The next time you are outside for a walk or playing in the park, take the time to point out these changes and encourage children to explore their outside environment. This activity allows children to take what they have explored and create something that will be based on their memory.

Materials

  • Variety of leaves in different shapes and colours
  • Leaf-shaped colour diffusing paper or paper cut outs
  • Watercolour or paint (colours of fall leaves)
  • Dropper, paint brush or sponges

Observations and Findings
 Change is constant and children’s minds are always curious. Having discussions about the things they have observed allows them to have a better understanding  and connection to how the world works. We found that this activity encourages children to build on their Language skills and be able to label the different things they see. Practicing their receptive and expressive Language skills encourages them to build on their vocabulary. 

This activity also supports children’s developmental sensory skills. Discussing the season’s changes is just the first step. The next would be to allow children to explore these changes first hand such as feeling the rain on their skin and using their hands to feel the texture of leaves. Using their different senses as tools allows them to compare and contrast what they are experiencing to what they already know. 

The art component to this activity allows children to foster their cognitive skills by recalling and recognizing things that they have previously seen and encourage them to use these memories when creating something with their own hands. This experience also allows them to take something from their outside environment and bring it inside into their home or classroom, whether it be something physical or mental.

Child under 2 painting a leaf cutout

Categories
Coatsworth

Lifelong Music

Child playing a toy piano

It is very important that children are introduced to music early in life. Sound and vibration help the child to develop an auditory sense and a sense of rhythm. Music also gives them an opportunity to expand their vocabulary and language development while exploring with vocalization.