The Pups and Calves were given a challenge in the morning for their morning ITP (Invitation To Play) where they were asked to create music. The twist was, they needed to make music with no musical instruments. 

The reaction was priceless - excitement, curiosity, eyes sparking up with wonder, confusion, lost...
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F: Go ahead and make music! You can do it!

Suddenly they were everywhere. The facilitator wasn't prepared for their reaction. Some started clapping, some were trying to whistle, some banged the tables, walls, tables, some stomped, some made sounds with their mouths, some banged on beds, some took chairs and banged against the wall...needless to say there was a plethora of sounds that arrived as part of their experimentation. Some wanted to sing, so they did. 

Suddenly T says, "Let the girls sing and boys make music!"

And that was what happened. With a little help from the facilitator, girls got together and sang our school's anthem while boys clapped, stomped, whistled, etc. And vice versa. 

All in all, children had a gala of a time making music today with absolutely no instruments! 

Who said we need instruments to make music? As long as we have our imagination, we can achieve anything!

Contributed by Sruthy Krishna, Learning Facilitator at Sparkling Mindz Global Preschool. 

As a welcome back play, the Pups and Calves (aged from 3 to 4) were taken upstairs to the sandpit to play. They always look forward to playing upstairs. Soaking in the sun, spotting new flowers, watering the plants with the water in their water bottles, fun time building an empire in the sandpit, etc. are just some of the many things the children usually engage in when they get to go upstairs and explore. Today they were in for a play in the sandpit but with a twist: they can only use their feet! 

As expected, this news was received with a lot of enthusiasm and confusion : how will we play with our feet, my legs will get dirty, what about our shoes and socks, and so on were some of the both expressed and unexpressed questions that arose. 

They all wore their shoes, carried their water bottles and stood in a line, all geared up and excited about their new game and marched upstairs to the song 'We are going up the stairs'. After reaching the top, they all removed their shoes and kept them below the table where they usually keep their water bottles. 

Some of them then enthusiastically stared at the sandpit wondering how to jump in and play with only their feet while some of them just went for it and started moving their feet around feeling the sand. A few splashed the sand around with their feet and others tried digging the sand with their feet and hands, and needed constant reminder to use only their feet. 

While all this play went on, two of them refused to join their friends, where one said, "My legs will get dirty ma'am. I don't want to play." When he was told that he can even go play with his footwear, unwillingly we walked to the sandpit, jumped in for the sake of it and ran out, and the second child said,"This is boring. I don't want to play", and marched off to the corner, passing comments at others expecting them to join him. After a while both the children who refused to play in the sandpit joined to play 'Robot Robot' by themselves and were left to play in their robot world. 
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On the other side in the sandpit, there was a little exploration that was happening,
" The sand is so soft. It's also wet!", said K with a lot of curiosity, digging the sand and finding his feet wet when they touched the wet sand underneath the dry sand. 
S: "You put water and it will melt and go down down down. That's why sand is wet."
 H: "Ya. There's water. Rain came."

While this discussion was going on, T came in and was asked to remove her shoes and jump in. But she seemed confused. The confusion was broken by An who called out, "But she can't remove her socks. She's wearing sock pants!" She was suggested that she could use her hands if she wanted, but she just wanted to stand and watch her friends play. 

By then it was already time up for the play to be wound up. They all then happily washed their feet, hands, wore their shoes and marched back down to their class with a lot of memories to carry forth.

When was the last time you truly played with something and let go of your inhibitions, and let your inner child out? What did you learn from that little play?

Contributed by Sruthy Krishna, Facilitator at Sparkling Mindz. 

We believe that when children connect, learn and grow with the nature around them the experience and the learning outcomes they get are very, very different.  It also stays with them forever. In order to attain this we take children for a lot of visits that help them connect to nature better.

 One such visit was to the park nearby and Anika, Aliyah, Zohar and Het were in one such group that went to explore the park. As we started from our school we came across a tree which had a hole in it. Upon seeing it Zohar said, “Ma’am caterpillar lives in it” and to this Anika added her perspective she said, “I can see many ants in it they have made a big hole and they are living in it”. Aliyah said, “The spiders also make their home like this and they make sure that no one comes in”. (Children are beginning to relate to the need of basic shelter and what purpose it serves in the lives of different living things.)

 Then as we started moving further we saw another tree which was bent and upon seeing that Anika said, “The rain came and splashed a lot of water on the tree that has made the tree to bend”. She also connected the bend with the mountain and said that it also looked like a mountain. (Explaining and understanding causality for natural phenomena is the beginning of scientific inquiry in a child and visualizing and connecting the shape to things not present in the immediate surroundings displays the child’s ability to make creative connections)

 Zohar touched the tree with his little finger and said it is too rough. (Beautifully connecting his learning back in class to the real life and using the right kind of vocabulary to describe it)

 As we moved forward they started to speak about the rain. Hearing the conversation the facilitator asked the children, “Where does the rain come from?” to which Anika said, “It comes from the plants.” The other children were observing the trees around them. Zohar who saw a coconut tree near a house said, “Coconuts”. On hearing this Aliyah connected her previous trip and said “Yes, when I came with Priya Ma’am we saw a coconut which was on the road it had an oval hole in it.” (It is amazing what children remember and take away in trips and the amount of detail they tend to process when they are totally involved in a learning journey.)

 We continued to walk and as the children walked they made sure they did not stamp on the leaves when asked why they were walking carefully, Aliyah said “They will get hurt if we stamp them”.

 As we continued our journey we saw a tree which was cut down and the leaves had turned brown, seeing that a conversation erupted between three of them.

Anika: Someone has cut it down
Aliyah: Yes, Anika that is why the leaves have turned brown and they are sad
Het: “No, no they are crying”.

 Connecting to and learning through nature helps children to look at learning in different and more meaningful ways. It also enables them to apply their learning practically and develop deeper empathy for their surroundings.

 Finally, as we reached the park. Anika saw big stones which looked like pumpkin on the ground and said, “I can see pumpkins on the ground.”  Then we came across a big white tree Zohar said, “Ma’am the branches are also white in colour” the children were asked why this tree alone looks white and Anika responded saying, “Someone took a big scissor and they have cut the brown part away”. While returning to our school Zohar saw a lot of leaves which were fallen down and said, “Oh, no Ma’am look there someone shook the tree and all the flowers have fallen down”. It was a sad moment for all of them when they realized that loss and change are such an integral part of Mother Nature.

 Children tend to look at the nature around them and extend metaphors from their lives and how they feel onto nature. Every trip we make is an experience for us and children to look at the world with a new pair of eyes and see what others might have missed and to feel what only we can feel for who we are!


Contributed by Sujitha M, Learning & Innovation Engineer at Sparkling Mindz