Today was another school day for the preschoolers as they walked in for another surprise – they were all going to make their own set of playdoh! After they were told what they were all about to do, the facilitator saw a bunch of curious and confused faces as all they saw were flour, bunch of bowls, food colouring and water.
As usual they all sat around and started playing with whatever they saw: flour and salt. Once they poured water in, some realized the water was warm and giggled, some requested for more water to be poured in, some needed help with kneading, some wanted only a single food colour to be put in while the others asked for a mixture of colours, some were more curious with the term ‘kneading’ and repeated it a couple of times to get the hang of it and others found the term funny. A conversation takes place around the activity.
H: It’s so slimy in my hands
An: It’s so soft, I want to make a bed a sleep on it
T, A1 and L kept quiet throughout, just absolutely immersed in the whole experience while A2 was experiencing discomfort on how it’s making his hands ‘dirty’ and wanted to run and wash his hands, calling it ‘disgusting’.
A3 took his colourful dough and banged it on the floor saying,” My amma do this at home”, and K was reminded of the time he made slime at home and told everybody of his fondest memory of making the slime with glue and water.
Not only are messy hands and clothes fun for children, in the process of growing and learning, they also love the entire experience they have while they do it where each of them experience things differently and the whole process of ‘fun’ is different for each of them.
Involving children in the making of just about anything is such a massive experience that they could carry with them for the rest of their lives, also building a sense of responsibility and ownership where the memory and learning are fondly cherished throughout.
Contributed by Sruthy Krishna, Learning Facilitator at Sparkling Mindz Global Preschool.
