Today at BestStart St. Lukes, our tamariki engaged in an exciting sensory and learning experience as they worked together to rescue and recognise animals trapped in the black tray.
The children showed great curiosity and enthusiasm as they carefully searched through the tray to find the hidden animals.
This hands-on activity encouraged exploration, problem-solving, and cooperative play as the tamariki worked alongside one another to rescue each animal. As the animals were discovered, the children confidently recognised and named a variety of animals, including farm and wild animals. Rich conversations took place as children discussed animal names, sounds, habitats, colours, and sizes.
This supported language development, vocabulary building, communication skills, and confidence in expressing ideas with peers and kaiako. Counting was naturally incorporated throughout the experience as the tamariki counted the rescued animals one by one. Some children grouped the animals into categories, compared which group had more or less, and practised number recognition and one-to-one correspondence. This helped strengthen early mathematical concepts in a meaningful and playful way.
The sensory nature of the black tray also supported fine motor development as children used their hands and fingers to dig, scoop, grasp, and carefully remove the animals. This helped develop hand-eye coordination, concentration, and persistence. The activity encouraged children to think critically, make predictions, and use their imagination during play.
Through this engaging learning experience, the tamariki developed social competence, teamwork, early literacy and numeracy skills, sensory awareness, and a growing sense of empathy and care for living things. Most importantly, the children experienced the joy of learning through play, discovery, and meaningful interactions.