Day 13 – 27 March 2025
Baby Room (Mini Investigators)
Today, after the morning tea the babies assembled on the mat and enjoyed the Morning Yarn session conducted by Miss Afshaan. All together we read books and sang a song, Wheels on the Bus, which all the children gladly listened with smiles and even gestures. While taking their meals in the course of the morning tea session, Mikaya and Morena both said “more” to get more food, thus they have improved their language acquisition and initial communication development (Berk, 2013). These statements illustrate their limited, albeit childish, lexicon of words and their ways of using language to convey their requirements.
Indeed, our Ice Cream Shop dramatic play was full of fun and the kid’s was lively during this activity. They reconnoiter about as if they are scooping, putting sweetmeats and pretending to eat the soft toy ice cream cones so as to develop their imagination and interacting skills of communication. Such form of pretend play is important to social-emotional development because it prods children into playing together, taking turns and social inclusion where children mimic various roles and characters (Ginsburg, 2007). The disability resources that were used and incorporated in the learning environment include colourful and textured objects which enhance the senses hence enhancing the learning process.
In the later part of the day, we participated in an Arts and Crafts drawing session. One day, I mimed the use of crayons, and the cute solo client Amber also followed this by drawing a series of colorful jottings on her own. Mikaya stayed and observed attentively and started imitating the motion which is a signal of early hand and eye coordination and also fine motor skills. Hugo and Alexander joyously added their production, aggressively striking the paper with confidence. This type of activities enhances the creativity of the children and enshrine them on how to use various tools to communicate an idea and feelings (Pelo, 2017).
While Free Play, Amber and Mikaya chose the sandpit to engage themselves in. Amber lost herself in the grains as she passed some gentle feeling to the sand while Mikaya went on happily smudging it with her small palms. Sand play is an area where children develop sensory and manifold exploratory interactively, which enable them to explore the variety of feeling of textures of sand, as well as the changes of its volume, and its kinetic sense (Macnaughton & Williams, 2009). Today was filled with playfulness, interactions, and Personal Events that helped the babies learn through exploration, socialization and engagement with their social partners.
Day 14 – 28 March 2025
Baby Room (Mini Investigators)
The free growth day in the Mini Investigators room was enthralling, ’cause children listen music, sang tales, moved much, and played with impressions. In each meeting moment there is an opportunity to empirically explore invitational communication, build relationship, and personal development.
Mini Basketball
The first activity for the day involved a mini basketball whereby laughing and smiling were evident in the faces of participants. The older babies demonstrated some degree of listening comprehension of instructions that they were given and could easily engage in activities of picking balls and placing them on the hoop which depicts some measure of the development of gross motor skills in babies. I noticed them at the early stages learning to develop their hand and eye coordination alongside the fine motor skills, which they exhibited while attentively making a basket. Mikaya undoubtedly said “ball” while Alexander and Amber’s cheerfulness was manifested in their turn taking activity. For children of young age or those that required some form of assistance during the game, some of us coached them on how to insert the ball into the hoop. The raises of hands, their joy and pride after each ‘goal’ showed more self confidence and self satisfaction in personal accomplishments, which refers to physical and emotional development (Sheridan et al., 2011).
Yarning Circle
Later, Miss Afshaan led a group Yarning Circle and read Spot Goes to the Farm. The children were captivated by Spot’s journey, eagerly flipping through pages and responding to the animal characters. Mikaya identified “cow,” and Alexander said “dog,” both using meaningful words as they connected language to familiar images. Engaging in shared reading promotes early literacy, vocabulary development, and listening comprehension (Whitehurst & Lonigan, 2001), and today’s experience truly brought language learning to life.
Music and Movement
Later in the day, Miss Afshaan conducted a Yarning Circle and then read the book titled Spot Goes to the Farm. In depicting the development of the story at different pages, the children became quite engaged and appeared to personally interact with the animal characters of Spot. Mikaya said a word “cow” and Alexander said “dog,” so both used meaningful words to relate object and language. Interactive reading helps to develop early literacy skills, vocabulary, and comprehension of written language (Whitehurst & Lonigan, 2001), and today was definitely not an exception.
Dramatic Play
The children participated in sensory rich themed experiences in Dramatic Play. Amber and Mikaya pretended to plant and water in the pretend vegetable garden. This hands on play helped with imaginative thinking and symbolic play that is important to cognitive and social development. Once there, later in the fake ice cream shop, the babies enjoyed holding and experimenting with soft, textured cones. Grasping and shaking supported the sensory experience that in turn supported fine motor practice even in its simplest form (Berk & Meyers, 2018), as well as build a concept of imaginative roles.
Reflections
Today marked a spiritual, rich, learning experience that embraced the physical, cognitive, and emotional growth. Children gained confidence and coordination through the basketball game, early language and literacy skill development through the story time, and through the music and dramatic play sessions, children practiced creativity and sensory exploration. Engaging in watching the children play and interact and making sure they played all the activities following the prescribed order was a reminder and necessary kind of learning through play.
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