Dog goes Home!
Date: June 23, 2022
Time: Work time
Facilitators: Jasmine and Raveena
Props used
Printouts (Which contains the images of a dog on one corner and a Kennel on the other corner of the page, in between a dotted path which connects the dog to its house) and stone stickers of multiple sizes and colors.
What was the activity?
The activity involved sticking stone stickers on the path that connected the dog to its house, a kennel. The toddler was expected to pull out the stone stickers and paste them over the dotted path. Also, the dotted path was drawn in a zig-zag manner to make it more challenging.
Why did we plan this activity?
This was the first time that this activity was introduced in this class and it did stimulate certain skills, including
Sensory Experience: Sensory play was stimulated since the stone stickers were in different sizes and colors and toddlers had the agency to choose. The stickers had a 3-D texture and even the task of peeling the sticker off and sticking them on the sheet provided a sensory experience for the kids.
Fine motor skills: This task involved mastering the pincer grasp (joining the thumb with the pointer finger to accomplish a task). Also, peeling off stickers helps in building hand strength.
Coordination skills: Playing with stickers helps with hand coordination because it involves peeling the stickers off from one hand and holding the sheet of sticker with the other. Learning this bilateral hand coordination imparts more independence in the child to do other daily chores.
Emotional awareness: The educators made up the stories which involved the dog being sad since he was away from his home and the kids can make the dog happy by sticking the stickers on his path and helping him reach home. This introduced them to the basic emotions of happiness and sadness.
The Series of Steps engaged in?
In the tray, the educators placed the printed sheets and stone stickers. Around quarter to nine, work time began, where the educator introduced the dog, its home, the path between them and the stone stickers, one by one. The educator showed the toddlers how to and where to stick the stickers on the sheet of paper.
How did it go? (Finally!)
Being absolutely new to this activity, the kids seemed to get attracted more towards the stone stickers than the printed sheets. Aaradhya, Daksh, Taksh, Neyansh, Jasvi, Nyra, Radhya, Kaira, Prisha, Yuvaan and Saanvi came to this table. It was difficult for them to peel off the smaller size stickers off the sheet and thus many of them were witnessed using the bigger stones. Moreover, the kids were sticking the stickers anywhere on the sheet and rarely on the dotted path yet. Prisha started using the sketch pens to doodle over the sheet since she was familiar with holding the sketch pens and scribbling. Radhya, Swastik and Neyansh explored the stickers and indulged in sticking them over their hands and educators’ cheeks. Overall, it seemed like a good start to a new activity with this age group.
