As you stepped into Toddler 1 at RisingOaks Early Learning | St. Patrick, the room was alive with laughter and excitement. Children were actively engaging with each other, expressing themselves through bold movements, and diving into a new sensory experience. Noticing their growing curiosity about colors, Eria decided to introduce a new paint-mixing activity, one that would allow for sensory exploration without the mess that can sometimes deter some of the toddlers. Using red, blue, and yellow paint, she poured small amounts onto paper plates and then sealed each plate inside a Ziplock bag. This allowed the children to explore colour-mixing and cause-and-effect through touch and movement, without having to get paint on their hands.

As soon as the materials were set out, the children gathered around, intrigued by the sensory experience. At first, their movements were gentle as they slowly pushed the paint around the plates. Soon, they began to notice the colours changing green appeared where blue and yellow met, and purple began to emerge from red and blue. As their confidence grew, so did their enthusiasm. Hudson began spreading his paint more boldly, inspiring others to follow. With Eria’s guidance, they began a new exploration and discovered that by using more force, their paint would splatter and move in exciting ways. Laughter filled the room as the children experimented with pressing, tapping, shaking, and hitting their paint bags.

Dino even turned his plate upside down and began hitting the bottom of it, exploring what might happen, while Seren used her toothbrush to tap the paint, noticing the different marks it made. Together, we even drew letters and shapes in the paint a “V” for Vivaan and an “S” for Seren, bringing an element of early literacy into our play.

This simple yet engaging activity brought joy, curiosity, and connection into our space. The children not only explored colour mixing, but also developed their understandings of cause-and-effect, force, and motion, early concepts of scientific thinking. Their play also fostered both fine and gross motor development as they explored. They shared ideas and strengthened their social relationships through shared laughter and discovery.

For future explorations, we might extend this experience by introducing tools such as small hammers or a salad spinner to see how different types of motion can create new artistic effects.

“It’s been a back-and-forth affair all afternoon. The puck is loose behind the net. It's picked up by Gunner... he circles behind the net, he's got an open lane. He takes a look... sees the puck... and shoots! He cuts to the net, takes the shot... GOAL! GOAL! GOAL! Gunner with an amazing move. The School-age 2 group have been spending this month engaged in playing sports. From hockey tournaments to Gaga ball or as they like to call it “Evil Snow man head ball” Our interest in sports and group games has been a common denominator amongst the children in this group and our team captains are equal opportunity employers. Everyone has a chance to be the captain and everyone gets a chance to play. Shout out to the parents who have supported this interest and allowed their children to bring their hockey sticks and balls and leave them in our sports bin on our shelf. The children are learning games with rules which is such an important part of school age development. They are learning how to effectively communicate with each other and compromise. We spend a lot of time talking about listening to each other before we respond and listening to each other’s points of views and how important it is because you will never know what you will learn. This group interest has allowed us to argue, grow, get to know each other and learn. We are so blessed to have mini coaches like Everette, Christian, Brady and Liam in our group who are willing to teach their peers the rules to some of their favourite games. Sports help to build physical health through exercise, and social and emotional skills like teamwork, resilience, and discipline. We will continue to learn and grow through sports whenever the children are interested in engaging in sports. 

This month, the infants at RisingOaks Early Learning | St. Patrick explored a rich provocation to investigate gravity, texture, and movement through a set of three ramps. Tai prepared the ramps with different surfaces: one covered in bubble wrap, one made with tubes, and one smooth. A variety of materials were placed on the little table, such as cars, soft balls, and small stuffed animals. Zendaya was captivated as Bea supported her in standing, watching a small car roll down the ramp, and then repeating the motion with excitement pushing the car back and forth, as well as strengthening her hand-eye coordination and balance. Paxton pressed a metal ball along the bubble-wrap ramp, putting pressure on the ramp to pop the bubbles, while Habiba was delighted in placing balls through the tube ramp, watching them disappear and reappear as she explored object permanence. Vihana placed one of her favourite stuffed animals on the top of a ramp and when it didn’t slide, she gently moved it up and down like a slide, showing creativity and problem-solving. Jason practiced rolling a small car and then noticed a rattle in the play kitchen. Then, he picked it up and then returned to the ramp to place it carefully at the top, demonstrating intentionality, and willingness to explore new ideas. Through these simple and meaningful actions, the infants engaged in early scientific thinking while exploring gravity and movement, sensory exploration as they felt the textures and put the objects on it. Fine and gross motor developed as they explored pushing, pressing and balancing.

Over the past month, many of the children have developed a strong interest in card games. It all began with Spot It! and has since grown into full UNO games. UNO can be quite a complex game for children to learn, as it involves multiple rules and the need to match numbers, colours, and special cards. Recently, we have been playing UNO Flip, which adds an extra layer of excitement and challenge. Many of the children quickly caught on to the rules and learned that UNO requires focus, even when it isn’t their turn. At first, we practiced matching colours, then moved on to matching numbers and using action cards. With some of the SK children who were particularly interested, we introduced extra rules such as playing doubles. For many of our JKK friends, this was a challenging yet fun experience that we explored and learned together. UNO Flip adds an additional challenge; the deck can flip at any point in the game, changing all the cards in play. The children have been developing their fine motor skills by holding and organizing their cards in a fan shape, as well as practicing memory recall while keeping track of what’s been played. We also learned that UNO can vary from family to family, as many children eagerly shared how they play the game at home. For several children, this was their very first time playing, and as they became more comfortable, we gradually introduced more rules. Their learning developed naturally through guided play and reflective discussions. Together, we talked about playing fairly, handling both winning and losing appropriately, and respecting others during the game. Through playing UNO, the children not only learned the mechanics of the game but also built patience, communication skills, and strategic thinking.