Emergent Play: Small Muscles at Work

For the past few weeks, we have observed that the infants and toddlers have been using their hands a lot during free play. They have been hammering pegs, moving small cars on wedge blocks, and stuffing small toys in containers. They seem to be really interested in putting their small muscles to work!

 So this morning, Miss Arigo brought out a cardboard with carton tubes, several empty yogurt containers, and a basket of golf balls.

One child decided to gather all of the yogurt containers and all of the golf balls away from the cardboard. I sat down a few feet away and observed her play. She picked up the golf balls from the basket and placed them in different containers. When the basket was empty, she looked up and told me, "All gone!"

Then, she stood up. We gathered all of the golf balls and returned them in the basket. This time, she decided to explore the carton tubes. She smiled as she dropped one ball after another.

Another child had a smile on her face as she placed several balls in one yogurt container. When her container was almost full, she clapped, looked up at me, and giggled!

Then, we moved to the blocks area as more children decided to join us. One child picked up two golf balls, one for each hand, and dropped them in the tubes. Afterwards, he exclaimed, "Yay!" and clapped. He repeated this for several minutes.

He seemed very proud to do it on his own!

Another child used speed and threw the ball towards the carton tube.

He missed! But he tried again and again and again.

Another child picked up several golf balls and decided to play away from the cardboard and towards the kitchen toys. Quietly, I sat down a few feet away and watched him play. He decided to push all of the balls towards the wall.

The golf balls slowly fell in the corner. When he could not see them anymore, he said, "Uh oh!"

I helped him move the kitchen toys and we found all of the golf balls on the floor. He looked at me and excitedly said, "Ball! Ball!"

What We Learned

Through this activity, the children had fun playing and learning about several concepts:

• empty and full
• cause and effect
• speed
• eye-hand coordination
• sharing space with others
• perseverance
• focus and determination

Miss Arigo also learned several things from this play experience.

• The children are very innovative and have unique ways of thinking.
• Each child created their own form of play. Some were content with just one container and some balls. Some were taking the balls to different areas. Some used speed and learned that if he threw the ball too fast, he would miss the tube.
• They are also very curious and eager to experiment!
• If a child gets a positive feeling from an action they do such as being able to get the ball in the tube successfully and on their own, it is most likely that they would repeat the action over and over.
• The children really enjoy putting their small muscles to work!