Lots of exciting things were happening in Shale during this short week back. While we are continuing our journey into collecting, it has led us to explore some exciting sensory provocations. One of the children’s favourite pastimes is water play. As they play in water, they gain therapeutic, social, physical and cognitive benefits. It also provides many opportunities to learn many scientific concepts, such as water flowing when it is poured, water taking on many forms and also reacting to certain materials. You’ve likely seen us use many different materials in our water tables; other sensory liquids, toys, loose parts and even household items such as strainers, tinfoil or whisks. All of these materials are helping our Shale community with their concept development, language development, sensory exploration and tactile stimulation. Water play of any kind can be adapted at home and can be an excellent way for parents to engage with their child and facilitate learning. Introducing different materials during a bath time can open up new doors for exploration and learning – and still be simple.
Here are a few materials you likely have around your house that you can add to enhance bath time:
- Strainers
- Spoons: wooden, metal, slotted, small, large
- Bowls
- Food Colouring
- Muffin Tins
- Turkey Basters
- Whisks
- Pitchers
- Measuring Cups
We want to invite you to try and enhance your bath time routine by using some new materials. Can you notice the cause and effect learning that is taking place? Some other new and exciting news is that our Primrose educator Emily will be joining us on Monday as a new full time Shale educator. She has been visiting us throughout this past week and the children are excited to have a new play partner! Some of you may know Emily from Jasper room already, but please feel free to get to know her in the weeks to come! Have a fantastic weekend exploring a new bath time routine! Sarah, Cassi and Young