We wanted to provide children with equipment that would offer open-ended opportunities and challenge them to think deeply while involving them on a physical level. We collected recycled materials such as crates and tyres, and purchased lengths of plastic guttering at very little cost. We added a number of light, plastic balls borrowed from our indoor ball pool and then presented the new resources to the children.
It was fascinating to observe their response. At first they spent time exploring the equipment, moving it around the area and stacking crates and tyres, but in time, more focused plans began to emerge. Children worked co-operatively to design and build a 'ball run' experimenting with direction and incline. Adults watched and intervened at appropriate times, extending the children's learning with questions and suggestions.
Mathematical concepts such as weight, length, shape and size were explored in a meaningful context, and children worked imaginatively to produce an effective run. Children's involvement in their learning was deep and they returned to the experience day after day, modifying and improving the design.
These simple resources are available to the children every day and provide them with endless ideas. The tyres and crates have been used to build dens, in the construction of obstacle courses and as seats. The plastic guttering has been used with water trays and buckets to create all manner of systems for moving water from one place to another.
As we browse through catalogues at sophisticated and expensive equipment, we often reflect on these experiences, concluding that high-quality learning experiences do not have to depend on financial investment. Much more importantly, they stem from creative thinking by adults and children.
You only have to look at the hundred and one things children can do with a cardboard box to know that we are right!
Ann Adamson and Deborah Llewellyn spoke to Jane Drake, their partnership advisory teacher.
