–Written by Virginia Nicoloulias & Dilshad Tolliver
The children have been interested in exploring with cars, trucks, and balls for about 6 months; the teachers wanted to extend this idea with offering other spaces outside of the classroom environment for them to work. The teachers planned a weeklong field trip to visit the large ramp on the second floor of the school building. Cars and trucks were used to roll down the ramp on the first day; the children experimented with the vehicles and became excited watching how fast the cars would roll down. They were interested in predicting whose car would roll the fastest. The teachers helped them to line up their vehicles so they could participate in this activity together.
The second day, the teachers provided a new material for the children to explore on the ramp and this time they took balls to experiment. Some children stood on the top of the ramp with balls in hand while others were at the bottom to trap the balls as they came down. The teachers took anecdotal and observational notes during the activity to observe their play, which of the toddlers liked the activity, and then used this information to extend and keep their interest going in the classroom.
Teachers talked with the children about what they thought would be good items to roll down the ramp for the third day and the children suggested using their own bodies. All the children were interested in trying this, but it was hard for some of the younger toddlers. They watched their older peers and began to imitate their movements. After many attempts, the younger toddlers finally got to a point where they could accomplish this hard gross motor skill.
Day four the children were still interested in experimenting with their bodies, and they tried running down the ramp. Teachers would watch and support the children as they would run together holding hands. They needed support in how to do this carefully but were successful in working together. They did well with balancing their bodies and keeping up with different running speeds.
By day five the children were more interested in lining up their vehicles and exploring other parts of the hallways. Teachers are now planning additional activities/lessons outdoors to experiment with heights and speed.
Ohio’s Early Learning Development Standards met:
Mathematics:
- Counting numbers by rote
- before running down the ramp and rolling the cars
- Number sense & comparing quantities of objects
- knowing which group has more cars (the one at the top of the ramp or the one at the bottom)
Motor Development: large & small muscle
- Balance and coordination
- Children rolling their bodies, balls and cars down the ramp and running
- Coordinate use of arms, fingers, and hands to accomplish tasks
- moving the cars to the edge of the ramp, lining up the cars
Social Development:
- Peer interactions and relationships
- associative play with peers
- Engaging in play with peers by sharing, taking turns and helping
Science Inquiry:
- Demonstrate understanding that events have a cause
- if children roll the balls and cars hard, they will go faster down the ramp
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