What does hopping look like?

One of my friends had a problem…..hopping was too tricky for him.

“But I can’t hop like that” he said.

“I can hop like this” he said as he tried to hop once on one foot.

“But how do I hop like that” he asked as someone hopped past him.

We invited some friends to talk about how they hop and what tricks you need to  remember to be able to hop.

“Put your arms out like this to balance” said Lucy.

“Just do this” said Alex as he hopped forward on one foot.

“Yes I know you do this. Put your arms out to balance. You put one leg back and the other leg on the ground. But I cannot do it. It is too tricky” my friend said.

So began our investigation into “How do you hop?”

We asked more friends, how do you hop?

 “I put one leg up and then bounce” said Josh. “And I can stay in the same place.”

 

“I hop with my arms out for my balance” said Bailey.

“I can do hopping with my arms in.” said Shylah.

The children practised hopping and developed their knowledge of moving their bodies and balancing their bodies.

Gill Connell states that hopping on one foot is one of the most complex movements that the human body can perform (2012). “For children, hopping signals sophisticated advances in both physical coordination, balance and cognitive development. As children refine their physical coordination they are also building essential neural pathways in the brain. Its those exact same pathways which will one day become the conduits for left/right brain thinking tasks such as creativity, reasoning and self-regulation” (2012).

Some children were confident and happy to demonstrate their hopping skills and for some children it remained a challenge.

We asked the children....."What does hopping look like" and encouraged them to take the time to think about their bodies and how they were moving. What does it look like? How does it look to others? We also used 3D models of the human body to guide children's thinking.

"In growing a culture of inquiry, our focus is not on teaching children information or facts, or to get some eventual 'right answer'. Rather, we aim to uncover the questions and theories that underlie children's play and to help the children pursue those questions and theories" (Pelo, 2007).  It's about encouraging children to think deeply about something and develop their understanding.

Ann Pelo (2007) states that "sometimes, children's work is anchored in intuition or instinct; they aren't so much thinking about what they're doing as simply doing it. A child can give an idea form by drawing, painting, sculpting, or building it".

Getting green fingers.

Kindergarten is a German word which can be literally translated as 'garden for the children'. And indeed, gardening was one of the prescribed activities of early kindergartens.

Gardening is still a part of our kindergarten curriculum. And like most gardens, ours is a never ending work in progress. 

Gardening provides opportunities for children to develop; a positive relationship with nature, to care for and nurture something, patience as they wait for seeds to germinate and plants to grow, and to have some fun while getting a bit dirty.

"Gardening engages children by providing a dynamic environment to observe, discover, experiment, nurture, and learn. Gardens are living laboratories where lessons are drawn from real life experiences and fueled by a child's innate curiosity and enthusiasm, resulting in an environment that encourages them to become active participants in the learning process" kidsgardening.org


At kindergarten the children participate in a range of gardening experiences such as...

Weeding

Digging...

and planting...

And as hard as we try, sometimes things don't go to plan.

It seemed that the peas didn't want to grow.

"I think the peas have grown" said Sophia.

The broccoli grew into bunches of beautiful yellow flowers.

And the cabbages might just be ready in time for Matariki... next year!

 "There are no gardening mistakes, only experiments." Janet Kilburn Phillips.

So keeping that in mind, here's a look at the latest gardening experiments.

Sowing courgette seeds...

Sowing sunflower seeds...

Growing bulbs...

 "The garden is a unique place between the natural environment and the social environment, one where children can create a meaningful cultural relationship between the work of humans and the complexities and unknowns of the natural world" Nimmo & Hallett, 2008.

Duck tails

Rico's Mum bought in some baby ducklings for us to see.  We needed to make a safe place for them to stay for the day.

"Think like a duck" I asked a group of children waiting to see the ducklings, "if you were a duck, what would you need to keep you happy?"

Suggestions came thick and fast!

"Water to swim" said Lucy, "a place to be warm and something to eat" she said.

Here was an opportunity to extend thinking and develop empathy through the process of art.  "Perhaps you could draw your ideas on to paper" I suggested.

"Art provides young people with authentic meaning-making experiences that engage their minds, hearts and bodies." (Susan Wright, 2010)

"What would a paradise for ducks look like?"

 I asked.

"You know what I think, I think they need a pond to swim in" said Vitali, "and a tree to sit under."

"They need water and a slide to play on" said Kendall. 

Through art children are able to "place themselves in the skin of another; to experience others' reality and culture; to sit in another space; to transport themselves across time, space, era in history, and context; and to see the world from a different vantage point." (Gadsden, 2008)

In this instance it was through the perspective of a duckling!  Such a curious thing...to think like a duck, however why not.  It's a wonderful notion to get children thinking outside themselves and perhaps inspire them towards kind and caring thoughts towards our feathered friends...an example of developing empathy!

With ideas of a duck paradise firmly in their imaginations children set about building the dream...the following photos are of children in construction mode.

Building a 'slide' for the ducklings to access the 'pool' created some dilemmas to be solved.

Problem:  The ducks need to get in and out of the water and the sides of the pool are too high, how will you solve this issue?  What are some solutions? 

"Put some little rocks in for the ducks to climb out" said Bailey W.

"Um make a little slide for them to get out" said Lucy.

"Make a ramp.  We can build a ramp" said Alex.

"Umm, I don't know" said Jaia.

Thinking of ideas, coming up with suggestions, working through practicalities!

The group works together to achieve reality for the ducklings however it's very tricky to get the ramp up to OSH standards...we want it to be safe for the ducklings!

"I think that we need to find another big pool to use" said Vitali.

"Or we can do another ramp" said Kendall.

"I like Vitali's idea" said Bailey.

Construction continued...(sorry Bailey!)

"Is that incline too steep?" I asked.

"Hmm, I think so" said Lucy.  "We need to think hard as to solve our problem!" she said.

More ideas, more construction then Charlie said "Why don't we just lift the ducks out with our hands?"  Nice idea Charlie!

"Maybe we could use both the ideas!" said Vitali.

More construction followed until finally the children were content with their solutions. 

It was time to bring out the ducklings.

AWW so cute!

 

and the ramp was a success...although the children discovered the ducklings could jump quite well and didn't need to use the ramp as much as they thought!

Time for observation

 Ducklings are so interesting to watch!

Ready for a cuddle.

  Such fun!

Art tables

Observational art tables were set out nearby to encourage children to observe and draw the ducklings in their new habitat.   

Susan Wright states that "Like all areas of learning, becoming competent in drawing generally requires exposure, participation and practice."(2010)

Revisiting the learning

A few days later I placed some pictures of ducklings out on the table with pens and paint.  We talked about what we knew about ducks and transferred ideas to paper.

Getting children to slow down the art process provides time to think and allows children to make thoughtful choices as an artist.  "What do you know about ducks?" got children thinking before the creative process began.

Wow, thanks Rico's family for bringing in the ducklings to share with the children.  It was a beautiful experience and out of it came so much learning!

Arohanui, Tania.