Summer Highlights & September Literacy Activity Calendar

I can’t believe that tomorrow will be September 1st! Where has the summer gone? I was very lucky to have spent a great deal of time outside participating in Story Time in the Park at 21 different parks across Oxford County. I got to see many familiar faces and met several new families that I hope I will see again at one of our Ontario Early Years locations. When I wasn’t at the park singing, reading or playing, I was able to visit a variety of daycare centres and many of our Early Years programs. I hope that you all had a terrific summer and wish you a safe and happy long weekend.

Please see that I have included the September Literacy Activity Calendar along with a few pictures that highlight some of my summer events.

Discovery Bin

I have had the pleasure of taking Story Time in the Park to over 20 locations across Oxford County this summer. As well as reading stories, singing songs and reciting rhymes, there have been a variety of books and activities available for the children to engage with before and after the program. One of the items that was a hit with all of the kids is the Discovery Bin. What’s a Discovery Bin? In this case, I created a Canadian themed tote that has a number of different items for the children to find that are hidden in amongst pom-poms, shredded paper and cotton balls (see picture). The children had to look for everything from red apples to red and white polka dotted cows to polar bears.

The idea of the bin is to encourage discovery, exploration and investigation. It also helps to introduce new words that they may not be familiar with as well as building their numeracy skills while counting how many snowflakes they could find in the bin. It is an open-ended activity with no right or wrong way to use the materials.

One little girl really stood out as she played with the bin for quite some time one morning. When I asked her to tell me about her set up of the animals and what they were doing, (see picture) this is what I was told:

Michelle: “What is happening over here?”

Little Girl: “The big white pom-poms are snow balls because polar bears live where there is snow. There is a mommy bear and a daddy bear. The mommy bear is tired because all she does is work while daddy bear plays. (Hmm…I wonder where she got that idea) The white paper is their blanket because it is cold and the buttons have their food on it.”

Michelle: “Does the seal live with them or is he just visiting?”

Little Girl: “That’s the baby silly. Don’t you know that mommies and daddies have babies?”

I am so glad that the Discovery Bin, a simple container filled with ordinary items that can be found around the home has allowed for the use of imagination and offered some fascinating conversation between children and adults during our Story Time in the Park.