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​Pūtaiao Takaro

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Pūtaiao or science, is all around us and we love to find opportunities to learn about it as we explore in the Takaro preschool class. It can be surprising where these opportunities arise, recently one arose from our new family play resources.  These included a small hand held mirror which tamariki loved. We soon discovered that when we took it outside, the sun reflected off it and made a spot of light on the ground. Tamariki had fun chasing the spot of light around trying to catch it. It was lots of fun having turns being both the mirror holder and the catcher, not to mention great for developing social skills such as turn taking, sharing, and simply looking out for each other when things got a bit rough and tumble.

 As the mirror holder moved their hand to control the reflected light movement, they were developing awesome control over their body as they tried not to let anyone catch it. To build on this further, we wrote some numbers on the wooden fence as a challenge. Tamariki counted as they controlled the reflected light onto each number in order.

When the reflected spot of light disappeared, we wondered where it had gone. We looked around and noticed that it wasn’t bright and sunny anymore. We looked up in the sky and saw that the sun had gone behind the clouds which were moving. These observations sparked lots of questions. Why has it gone dark? Where has the sun gone? How do clouds move? What makes wind? What are clouds made of? How come I can’t see the stars? Do aeroplanes fly through clouds? Where does rain come from? Where does rain go? Where does the light (from the mirror) come from?

Asking questions and being curious about the world around us leads to some really interesting reflective group discussions, resulting in great learning. We discussed these questions and explored light further by drawing reflecting lines and even making shadows. By exploring, reflecting and discussing, tamariki develop and refine working theories to make sense of the natural, physical and social worlds.