Water play is always a favourite activity for the children in our setting. We see at first hand how playing with water not only helps to release energy but it can also provide a calming experience. It can also support children's ability to concentrate on one activity as they engage in a tranquil and repetitive movement (scooping, pouring and running their hands through the water). Calm water play allows them to relax and place their thought in order. It also supports role-play and social skills because they have to take turns, share the space and resources with others. It also provides a great opportunity to support children's language and mathematical concepts by including words associated with properties of water, capacity and volume as well as describing what they are doing.
This week the children were busy in the "mud kitchen" cooking up some delicious dishes with ingredients that they had found in the outdoor larder. Our cauldron of apple scented bubbly water led us to reading "Room on The Broom" and children were tasked with finding ingredients (or alternatives) from the spell. Coloured water, pipettes, chalk and small bottles enabled children to experiment with mixing colours and trying out their own ideas. More experiments were conducted when we made our own "lava". This idea stemmed from some children's interest in volcanoes which in turn led onto making sand volcanoes and our own science lesson, mixing chemicals (common & harmless cooking ingredients) and watching the "eruption"!
We were given a surprise later on in the week with the arrival of some frogspawn and over the last few days they have already started to change. These guests have piqued the interest of the children and will provide a brilliant opportunity to learn about life cycles and how to care for nature. You will hopefully find out next week how our tadpoles are doing.
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