Relationships of Learning

"A child's play is not simply a 

reproduction of what he has experienced,

but a creative reworking of the 

impressions he has acquired."

Vygotsky

 The learning environment is rich in possibilities and has been curated carefully to engage the children creatively as they make meaning about the world around them. Often the children in our class bring toys from home to school. We have observed the children use these treasured toys in creative ways during play. 

Today a toy dirt bike inspired exploration and learning within the classroom. One of our year one children began this exploration by creating texture in the play dough using the dirt bike's wheels. First he flattened the dough with his hand and then he carefully observed the effects of the wheels as he zoomed the dirt bike back and forth over the dough. A few children gathered around and were drawn into his exploration. A friend asked if he could draw the dirt bike. After gathering the necessary materials from the atelier they sat at the table and discussed the dirt bike. Noticing many of it's details and sharing their own personal experiences with dirt bikes the friend began to draw the toy dirt bike.