“Look what I can make!” is the theme of our present programme planning. This is because most of our tamariki/children’s interest is about sorting, arranging materials and constructive play. Naturally, they wonder, what happens if I connect this here? How tall will it go? This play serves to focus the minds of children through their little hands and leads them to invent and discover new possibilities to fulfil their sense of hope. Children demonstrate a lifelong process of accommodation and improvisation.
This experience will certainly foster positive learning such as enthusiasm, resilience, creativity, decision making and persistence to complete task.
What then should we do as an adult? Children need support, time, open-ended materials, scaffolding in appropriate ways, stepping in and out at the right times to stimulate brain to think imaginatively. As children practice building and trying something new, their creations become more detailed, more complex, more coordinated and balance. Are you ready to be amazed by their unique creations? Stop! Look what they can make.
