Learning story
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School
George Brown College Canada *
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Course
1183
Subject
Arts Humanities
Date
Jan 9, 2024
Type
Pages
3
Uploaded by SuperFlower9055
1
Title -
Eloise’s Sand Play
The play episode…
During outdoor play, Eloise, a sixteen months old walks over to the sand pit and you try to climb
inside it. The educator came to you and asked if you need help. You said ‘help’ and with the help
of educator you go inside the sandpit. There are several sand toys in there like shovels, buckets,
sand sieves, sand wheels and molds of different animals.
You pick up a shovel and an orange
bucket. Then, you fill it up with sand using a shovel. Then, you pick up a blue bucket and fill it
with sand too. Then you pour some sand from one bucket to another and try to place it on
your mouth like you are trying to take a sip of coffee. As the bucket is big, it could fit
your whole face. You seem to be amused by this, so you put it on your face again. You try that a
couple of times. It looks like you are playing hide and seek. The educator walks over to you and
asked if you are drinking coffee. You look at her for a moment and then nod your head and say
‘hot’ smilingly. Then you offer the bucket to the educator and say ‘coffee.’ Then, you try to put
the small orange bucket into the big blue one, but it keeps hitting edges, after several attempts
you finally did it then you pick up a sand sieve and put it on your face to see what it looks like to
see through it and then you look at the educator through it and smile.
What does it mean?
Eloise, you are working like a scientist who is experimenting with different toys trying to figure
out their properties. You were engaged in solitary play, and you are full of curiosity and
capability.
You seem to use your whole body to engage in this experience
.
Your play involved
exploring different materials, their properties and you use your sense of sight to differentiate if it
is a see through or not. You are exploring questions like how is the bucket and sieve different
from each other. You do this investigation by looking through and using your senses of touch
and sight. You try to find out the difference between transparent and non-transparent materials
which comes under science of light. This shows evidence of the skill sorting (COD 4.9).
2
You are also involved in the skill of pretend play (COD 2.1), as you are pretending to drink
coffee and you use language to express your idea of coffee as hot. This involves the expression
of emotion and shows you as a capable communicator who is showing his or her ideas and
feelings. This may be acting out a personal moment you had with your family while having
breakfast or having coffee together. You're paying attention and smiling, so maybe this is a
means to recreate a wonderful memory from home. You are creating connections between your
household experiences and the early childhood settings which shows a sense of belonging.
Furthermore, you are exploring containment when you dump things from one bucket to another
and when you tried to put orange into blue bucket. This is the evidence of the skill spatial
exploration (COD 4.4). You are an explorer and creative child who is learning about new things
through your play.
My Reflection: (This reflection can be written on a separate page or included in the
learning story)
As I looked at the photo and the observation, I immediately noticed that Eloise was involved in
sensory play-playing with sand, dumping sand in different containers. After talking with
another ECE student she brought my focus to consider Eloise’s deep concentration towards these
materials, I reasoned that there must be other meanings to her play. You used tools like shovel to
put sand into the containers and were trying to find the difference between them. You used eye-
hand coordination to manipulate the toys. You were coordinating your senses with your motor
skills which is essential for your physical development (COD 5.3). When I talked with my CECE,
she told me how this shows the toddler’s natural enjoyment of dumping and filling, how can I to
promote her skill of sensory motor integration by adding more containers of different sizes and
shapes in the play and also the importance of providing variation of materials to make the play
more inviting and engaging.
I was delighted she could experiment with these things alone in a quiet area away from other
children and adults. Being alone with the things arranged in this manner may have enabled her to
have this introspective experience. I am still thinking about how the factors like physical
environment, organization of space, use of time affects children's experiences and how they
interact with items.
What are the possibilities?
Eloise
,
based on your knowledge of these materials, there are a lot of areas that might be further
explored. To promote additional inquiry, concentrated attention, and introspection, I would
recreate this set-up of sensory exploration for one child only in a quiet setting. I could replace
sand with play dough or slime. I will use different cutters, scissors and rolling pins of different
colors to enhance your creativity. I could also add buckets and cups of different sizes to promote
spatial exploration. I can create a loose item display with magnifying glass and lenses to promote
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