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Collecting water after the rain
The rain has passed, and the children were back out exploring in our BestStart Ngatai Road playground. As the rain had been quite heavy the shade sails were dripping water. It was great to see two children thinking outside the square and utilising the dripping water while playing in the sandpit. They were using the water to help with their cooking they were doing. One stood patiently collecting the rainwater, it was a slow process collecting it one drip at a time. While she was collecting it, we talked about how her container had been empty then it was a quarter full and then nearly half full.
When it was half full, she took it back to the sandpit to share with her friend. When they had used up the water for their cooking the other child went and collected the rainwater.
There were so many different leaning opportunities taking place here. We used mathematical language when talking about how much water was being collected. Science came into it with talking about rain and how it was made. Lots of questioning on why water was dripping from the shade sails when it now wasn't raining. Then there were all the communication and social skills taking place, talking about what they were doing, sharing of equipment and taking turns.
While they were doing this other children were looking at what they were up to. One of our little two-year old's was intrigued, he got his own container and started to collect his own water. Through trial and error, he was able to get some water in his container, sometimes the container wasn't in the right place and other times it splashed on the edge and the drop of water hit him in the face. Once he got over the startle he then smiled and continued filling up his container. Was great to see him set his own learning after watching the older children.