It was a really windy day and BT, whose latest interest is making and flying paper airplanes, was having no success getting his planes to fly. The wind was so strong that it simply knocked the plane out of the air throwing it to the ground. I said “BT the wind is too strong for your plane to the fly today” BT looked up in to the sky and wind and repeated “wind to strong”. I had a handful of tissues and put them into the plastic shopping bag that I was using as a rubbish bin. The wind picked up the bag and blew it around spilling tissues nearly blowing away as I grabbed it. BT smiled and said to me “Aunty the bag is flying” I laughed and said “Yeah it is BT”. I said “BT we could make a kite out of a bag and fly them in the wind, Shall we try?” BT eagerly responded with a “Yeah” and came with me to get scissors, wool and plastic bags. Is this technology? Smorti (1999) suggests that “technology is also a creative and purposeful activity aimed at meeting needs and opportunities through the development of products, systems or environments” (p. 5).
I took a shopping bag and tied a long piece of wool around both handles, after knotting it several times I repeated the process on another bag. I handed BT one kite and took the other kite then said “Come on BT lets fly our kites in the wind”. BT quickly joined me, watching me move the bag-kite around to catch the wind. Once the kite caught in the wind I let the string go so that it flew higher. BT thought this was great and in no time was flying his kite. While we worked away doing this other children were watching and quickly I had LGC come over and ask “Can I fly a kite too Aunty?” I gave LGC my kite but quickly had several more children asking for a kite. After getting more bags I sat down and began tying up more kites so everyone had one. Even as the wind began to settle down in the afternoon the children moved around the garden trying to catch the wind to fly their kite.
The children individually played with their kite while interacting and talking to one another within the group. This links to Vygotsky’s socio-cultural theory where children develop cognitively mainly through social interactions and the influence of their culture (Santrock, 2008).
Our early childhood curriculum, Te Whāriki “emphasises the critical role of socially and culturally mediated learning and of reciprocal and responsive relationships for children with people, places, and things” (Ministry of Education, 1996, p. 9). The curriculum or framework “is the sum total of the experiences, activities, and events, whether direct or indirect, which occur within an environment designed to foster learning and development” (Ministry of Education, 1996, p.99).
This activity kept the children engaged for the rest of the afternoon and outside interacting in weather that can restrict their movements. In reflection I realised that when it is really windy the children’s play can be restricted first by the weather and the effects it has on resources like blowing away paper and felts. A secondary affect is the teachers not liking the wind and not wanting to be outside which in turn, has an affect, on the play space for the children. All of the children involved had a lot of fun and learnt different ways to maneuver their kite around and catch the wind gusts.
It took the new knowledge I have about technology while reflecting on this experience to realise that this is children interacting with technology hands on. It was a highly successful activity that came about from the wind nearly blowing away the rubbish bag. It must have made an impact because the children have revisited their kites several times since, and have a spot in the daycare where they keep them for the next time. Professor Carol Seefeldt is a human development teacher with many years of experience, and she is “an advocate of using real experiences to make social studies come alive for children. Seefeldt urged early childhood education students to take advantage of the learning opportunities that come up each and every day in children’s lives” (Friedman, 2005, p. 1).
What happened for the children?
Besides having fun in their space each child was building on their knowledge base in regards to the weather for example movement in the wind. Building on knowledge that when it rains we can’t play outside, when it’s windy our paper air planes don’t fly and when it’s sunny we have to wear our hats or potae. This touches on several desired Te Whāriki development outcomes like children developing “working theories about the living world and knowledge of how to care for it” & “a relationship with the natural environment and knowledge of their own place in the environment” (Ministry of Education, 1996, p 90). An outcome that links to the technology essential learning areas is “using many materials for different purposes enables children to recognise that different technologies may be used in various places and settings” (Ministry of Education, 1996, p. 95).
The whole time that the children were interacting with their kites they were continually moving, refining small and large muscles, co-ordination and spatial awareness. A learning outcome that supports Te Whāriki ideals are children who acquire “a perception of themselves as “explorers” – competent, confident learners who ask questions and make discoveries” (Ministry of Education, 1996, p. 88).
As teachers we strive for each child to develop and grow holistically, so we cater to all their needs, physical, cognitive, emotional and spiritual. While engaging a child in a fun physical activity where their emotional safety is met we are striving to provide this. Through verbal and non verbal communication the children showed their physical joy and interacted with one another building and refining their language and social skills.
Reference List:
Friedman,S. (2005). Social studies in action. Young Children on the Web, November 2001, 1-9.
Ministry of Education. (1996). Te Whāriki: He whāriki mātauranga mō ngā mokopuna o Aotearoa: Early childhood curriculum. Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media.
Santrock, J. (2008). Life Span development: 11th Edition. N.Y: McGraw-Hill
Smorti, S. (1999) Technology in Early Childhood. Early Education, No.19 Autumn 1999, 5-10
The next day, the children were still talking about their kites, and asked if they could play with them again, which we did. The children started flying their kites straight away when I asked if anyone wanted to decorate their kite. This got a little attention but it wasn’t until we were stapling coloured streamers and ribbons to the kites that everyone wanted to decorate their kite too. Each child had a turn to decorate their kite as they wanted with the coloured streamers they wanted. Again it was a lot of fun and before we knew it, it was time to clean up for lunch.
Kia Ora Leanne,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your technology experiences with tamariki, I really enjoyed reading about the adventure of flying and the use of a simple plastic bag to achieve this. It was interesting to note that the child had naturally thought, the aeroplane was the only item, that ‘should fly’ and rightly so! It was terrific that you ceased the moment to include the plastic bag into his repertoire of flying items.
It was great to read that you worked with the children to create more kites and I am not surprised you were inundated with onlookers wanting to join in the fun.
I appreciated your reference to teachers that do not empower children to play outside in varying weather conditions. Your justification of the children learning about technology in all aspects of their environment, such as weather patterns, is accurate and something I had not considered, thank you.
Perhaps an alternative to this fun event would be to take a small group of children to a local park. This would then enable then to move unhindered by space and resources that may be set up within your centre. This also provides you with the opportunity to discuss how the wind affects the trees, power lines and their bodies as they run and play. Tumeke Leanne!