Over the past few weeks, the children have been continuing their interest in the outdoors and exploring our playground environment. While the cold, snowy weather has kept us from playing outside, it hasn’t stopped our curiosity! Instead, the children have been bringing the outdoors in by exploring loose parts and winter-themed materials while looking out the window at our snowy yard.

Utilizing our loose parts snowmen, the children practiced important building skills such as hand-eye coordination, balance, and problem-solving. They carefully stacked and explored the snowman pieces, noticing the materials inside and excitedly sharing that it “looked like snow.” The children also pointed out the silly faces painted on it, sparking laughter and conversation.

This activity offered rich sensory experiences as the children felt the smooth bottles, banged the snowmen together to create sound, and rolled them across the countertop. Many children noticed that the loose-parts snowman looked like the snowman we once had built outside our window, and we look forward to making a new one on the playground.

The children also explored arctic animals, naturally weaving them into their play. Noticing this we explored an activity with the toddlers. Having them each take a picture of an animal and with a hot climate and a cold climate picture in front them, they chose where they think their animal lives. As the children confidently identified animals such as polar bears, deer, penguins, moose, and seals to name a few, discussion started about where they live, the colour of their fur, what they eat, and even the sounds they make. After spending time with these materials, the toddlers became especially interested in the polar bears—practicing their best “roars” and noticing their white fur.

This growing curiosity inspired us to explore different animals that live in snowy climates, leading into group activities focused on animal habitats and the growing interest amongst the children.