Reflection

The projects that I made at the center were about fruits. It was based on my observation and the interest of the children. The planned activities were developmentally appropriate for the preschooler.

In the science experience, children learn the process of making “banana” fruit shake. The children gather around the table and I showed them what we need for making banana shake. I set up by putting all the necessary ingredients such as: ice cube, milk, bananas, blender, and wooden skewers. During the process of the experience, we develop self-help skills, language, sensory and cognitive domain of the child. The theorist that influenced me in this particular activity is Lev Vygotsky : “where an adult need to scaffold children’s learning by asking open ended question and giving hints” (Class hand-out, ECEP 231 by Chris). Another theorist is Jean Piaget: “children learn through exploration and all using their senses and adult need to set up the environment (Class hand-out, ECEP 231 by Chris)”.

By following the Vygotsky and Piaget’s theory, I set the environment in a way that I can provide enough materials for the children to participate and explore the activity. The setting was in a child size table and chair. During the process of making the activity, I asked open ended questions to the children.

In this particular activity, I demonstrated and encouraged self-help skills by letting each child to put an ice cube in the blender. I let another child to put the banana and pour the milk in the blender. Children learned the skills in holding the tongs and pouring milk. I asked them open-ended question like: what kind of shakes do you like? Children answered: “I want strawberry shake and banana”. I told the children I like mango and buko shake. What kind of fruits did you make in your shakes? I observed that most children like strawberry shake because they answered strawberry. Did you like our banana shake? Some children liked it because they asked for the second serving while others did not even finished the small serving they have.

In the other activity like dramatic play, sensory and art, a combination of Bandura, Piaget and Vygotsky theories were applied. Bandura believed that children learn by imitating adults who are important in their lives. During our puppet activity, I showed the children how I introduced my fruit puppet in the show. I gave each child a puppet to present and say something about it or imitate the teacher. Scaffolding and giving the children hints to develop their ideas and creative thinking. Children were able to express their thoughts and feelings.

In the art and sensory activity we made fruit kebabs. In this activity the following developmental domains were developing: fine motor, language and sensory skills. Language development when we talk about the different fruits, colors, seeds in the fruits, and where fruits come from. Sensory and fine motor skills were developing when children held and touched fruits in making kebobs and tasting too. I can say that making a kebab is also an art because the finish product will depend on how you make. It will depend on what fruit you put in sequence that will create a different appearance from the other children’s kebabs. The artistic ability of the child will be developing too.

In math activity, the children learn about measurement using tape measure and ruler. They also learn numbers and classifying and sorting between big and small fruits. Showing children how to measure and read the tape measure like inches and foot/feet. They also classify according to colors like all yellows, all green, etc.

Closure Summary:

I gather the children and we sat on the chair, and I showed to everyone the scrapbook of our activities from day 1 to the end. The pictures will remind the children what we did and I asked them what they enjoyed most and what did they learn from it. Some children cannot recall so I have to retell the experiences and scaffold them by giving hints on the particular activity. I also gave each child a picture of our activity and asked them to stick on the Bristol board to create a collage of our experiences. Each child was asked on what they learn, or like about the activity. One child said: “I liked strawberry shake” while the other said: “Banana shake is good”. Another said: “I like fruit kebabs”.

It appears the children enjoyed making the fruit kebabs. Everybody was able to stick the fruit in the wooden stick without any assistance. Each child finished all the fruits they have. I asked the child what did you feel when you hold the peach and apple, the child said: “peach is soft and apple is hard”.

One child said: “I learn to make fruit kebabs” another “I learn to sort big and small”. Another said: “I learn to measure and numbers”.

In conclusion, the children learned and enjoyed the activities we had about fruits. Developmental domains develop by these activities were language, cognitive, and sensory. The children vocabularies increased, learn creative thinking and fine motor development. Children also learned self-help skills.

Based on my observations in collaboration with the children, it appears that children are still interested in fruits so I have listed some future activities such as:

**Field trip to the farm

**Experiment and make dried fruits

**Prepare fruit salad

**Growing fruits tress

**Learn about exotic fruits

**Make fruit jams

**Fruit carving

**Learn the different vitamins and minerals found in fruits

These future activities will expand their knowledge about fruits. They will explore and study deeper on fruits. Children will have more hands-on experiences and testing to make. Field trip to the farms will be an interesting experience too.

REFERENCES:

Class hand-out, ECEP 231 by Chris Cadieux