For our most recent inservice last week the Kindercare team planned a day full of sensory based activities.

We began the day with Sounds Jars. We had ten tin cans with different items inside. The idea was to shake the cans, try to see if we could guess what was inside, then see if we could find the can with the matching sound. The kids had to listen very closely, as some cans sounded almost exactly the same. After they had guessed their matching sound jars, they got to open up the lids and peek inside to see if they had matched correctly!

Next we had scent jars. Jasbir provided us with 10 different spices and lentils from India for us to touch and smell. Once each jar had been passed around we handed out mortar & pestles, for the kids to mix and mash.

Earlier in the week, we had gone to Superstore to pick out a few pumpkins.....

We gutted the pumpkins and played with the "guts", enjoying the slimy feel and the fresh smells. The kids were given a variety of things to use, but our hands were the preferred method to hollow out our perfectly picked pumpkins.

We were already messy, so the next logical move was to just make more mess! Each child was given a tray with some dirt and a cup of water. It wasn't long before our Monster Mashers were adding pumpkin guts and Indian spices to the marvelous muck!

Throughout the day we spoke often about what we were smelling, what we were seeing, what things felt like, and what kind of sounds we were hearing. We identified our senses that were in effect with each activity, and while the kids thought we were just having a day of messy fun the Dawn and Dusk educators knew that to play is to learn, and to learn is to play - and that's just what happened on sensory day!

On Monday, October 4th we ventured out to Assiniboine Park for the day.

We spent some time in the Nature Playground first, exploring the park and running off some steam after a long ride on the school bus. 

After some play and some lunch, we headed off to explore the Duck Pond. Well, Goose and Duck​ pond.

From the pond, we headed to the gardens. Before we began our walk, the Educators handed the children a few cameras and encouraged them to take photos of anything they thought was interesting or beautiful.

The following pictures were taken by the kids. Notice the angles, colors, and reflections - this is what the world looks like through your childs eyes!