“Did you see that bug move?” “Look at the size of that one!” With some of the wetter weather the little critters are all coming out of their hiding spots! The children even spotted a huge beetle! Shrieks of excitement were heard as they watched it crawl over the pavement and up the side of the building. They even wanted to see if they could capture the bugs (we know from previous experiences this spring that ladybugs land on you and we don’t mind them crawling up our hands and arms.) However, the children didn’t seem too thrilled at the idea of a big beetle with long black legs crawling up them. We found some large containers that would hold the bugs and sticks to transport them with. The search then began, the children had a previous understanding that bugs like cool dark places so they started at the bench in the yard. Hmmm it was too dry under there and no bugs could be found. One child had the idea lifting up the stumps to see if any bugs lived under there. What a task! It took more than one child to flip over the stumps to see what was underneath. The team work involved utilized everyone; one person was director, giving instructions on who was doing what. Then three or more lifted the stumps up while others quickly rushed in to see what was under it. If they scored and found a bug then the collector holding the container would come to gather that bug in with the others.
As I watched, and participated in this play with the children I reflected on how this play was expanding their emotional wellbeing with how they had a sense of others around them. In this work for the common goal of finding bugs, they negotiated different roles in who would be the collectors, who would do the heavy work, and what stump is next.
“Children actively co-construct their identities in relation to the people, places, and things within the various communities to which they belong” (PPP. 2014). The children in Jasper continue on in their learning journey together as a collective as they interact with each other.
Hope everyone had a great Father’s Day weekend! See you on Monday.
Jessica and Sue