Blog #2

Today was our first set of playgroups where we worked more closely with kids. We were helping to facilitate a playgroup of 9 preschoolers. Arya and I spent the beginning of the playgroup going around and gathering pictures of kids that we could use for the attendance system. We would take the picture and upload them in an app that would help the playgroup facilitators avoid confusion when differentiating all the kids. While most kids were excited to smile for a picture, some took a bit more effort. We used different methods of drawing their attention to a point of interest at the camera to capture their attention in that instance. 

Our first activity with the kids was a sensory bin that has been put together by our mentors. The sensory bin is meant to engage the children while helping them to learn through hands-on play. The Treehouse has weekly themes for the kids, this week was a zoo week. The sensory bin was filled with little toy animals and blocks for the kids to build their zoos with. Foam pieces and soft animals helped them use their imagination to create homes for the animals. After the kids spend time playing with the sensory bin and other kids, they moved to “the table” where they worked on the craft for the day. 

The craft for today was to make safari binoculars. We started off the craft by having the preschoolers trace their names on a piece of paper to develop that skill. We then gave them another sheet of paper and crayons on which they drew safari-themed drawings for the outside of the binoculars. We stapled the paper around two roles of toilet paper to create the lenses. We gave the kids a string for them to put beads on to practice their fine motor skills. When they were done with the beads and string, I tied them to the binoculars for them while they went to sit on assigned dots. One at a time they got up and used the binoculars to look around the room for animals that we taped on the wall. Once they found an animal around the room, they went back to everyone to share what they found while imitating the actions/sounds of the animal.