There are many children who engage in cooking and baking at home with their families. Through conversations with families about children's interests and activities they enjoy participating in at home I was able to provide experiences which connect family practices to learning.
During this cooking activity we had group discussions about the ingredients used, what happens when wet and dry ingredients are mixed together, and measurement and volume. Each child participated in these conversations and used hypothesis to make predictions about what happens to the mixture as we prepare it. Children listened to and learned alongside their peers and educators through their conversations and observations, assisting one another to gain deeper understanding of mathematical and scientific concepts. Outcome 2: Children are connected with and contribute to their world Outcome 4: Children are confident and involved learners (DEECD, 2009) |
Play-based learning draws on how children learn across emotional, social, physical and cognitive areas. I believe that learning through play provides children with opportunities to build on their strengths, interests and known experiences.
An example of extending and providing learning opportunities through play is setting up a shop for the children. This was an extension of conversations and learning about healthy food choices. The children wanted to play shops so I set up a register, some baskets and money near our display of 'healthy food choices'. |
The children wanted to add prices to the foods that were displayed on the wall so we talked about how much each item should cost. The children collected food items from the home corner and took them to the shop area so that they could buy their food. This provided an opportunity for the children to develop their dispositions and to transfer current understandings to new contexts that extended their learning.
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I set up a table with centimeter cubes and instruction cards for the children to explore. This was available to them to engage in at any time. As the children experimented with stacking the cubes I presented the instructional cards to them and worked with them to re-create the images with the cubes. |
We talked about how we could stack the cubes and the children used hypothesis and trial and error to determine the best way to make the shapes. |
The children counted how many cubes were in the image and matched this to their three dimensional structure. Some children also matched the colours of the cubes with the colours in the image they were re-creating. |