Winter Wildlife Play has been invigorating in the Atelier this January!
The children have noticed the outside weather had become much cooler and was impacting their daily routines by the new need for jackets, coats, rain boots, and umbrellas. Because of this many children expressed concern for the animals, like Chewy our class rabbit, who cannot stay warm using these same tools. This opened a dialogue about animal hibernation, burrows, and scavenging. We invited the children to use any materials in the Atelier to create their own burrow, or other places animals could use to keep warm. We also introduced a sensory provocation with artificial craft snow, animal figures, and trees which allowed the children to create their own winter scene or to use practical imaginative play to further explore the topic.
Practical imaginative play is incredibly important to child development. It is through imaginative play that children are able to recreate or reenact social situations, solutions to problems, to develop further understanding. Many of the children developed their own narrative for the animal figures. Some of the animals such as the polar bear and frog were made to be friends, while others worked through problems like a lynx stuck in a snowy tree! From working through scenario based imaginative play, the children are developing social skills through kinesthetic/ tactile learning.
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