Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/seeing-children-find-endless-possibilities/5021524/
We have been observing toddlers for several years now, and each time we are more astonished with the brilliance we see in these very young people. We gather together quarterly in each other’s classrooms, offer children interesting materials to explore, then we observe and document what unfolds as they play. After the observation, we meet for several hours to study our notes and photos and think together about the significance of what we have seen for the children’s learning and our own.We feared that the ice balls with objects frozen inside that we offered recently would have limited potential for engaging the children for very long. We wondered aloud what the children would do after the ice melted and there were only a few objects left to play with. The children quickly showed us that we were greatly mistaken in our assessment of their capacity to see possibilities. The investigations and discoveries that unfolded over the next hour were beyond anything we could have predicted.
So Many Possibilities
The ice balls were large and heavy so they attracted the children immediately. The children were drawn to the challenge of lifting and carrying them around the space and transporting them back ...