Late last year a teacher found a birds nest in the garden at Piccolo Park. The teacher introduced this to the children with the words, “Look what I found outside in a tree today… I wonder what it is.”
This allowed for children to develop their own ideas and theories as to what was in the tree, discussing with their peers and teachers what this discovery could be.
At Piccolo Park, we celebrate each learner as an individual, that brings with them their own strengths, knowledge and interests. We know that children express their ideas in different ways within their play. Therefore we researched alongside each of our children to discover what particularly interests them about the discovery of our nest.
Many of our children’s theories about the nest and egg were inspired by their funds of knowledge as children were making connections across settings and to previous experiences.
Children became confident to engage in discussion and debate with their peers, which resulted in children gaining new perspectives and developing shared understandings about who the nest belongs to and what could be inside the egg. To further extend children’s learning teachers introduced many different play-based opportunities within the environment and brought in an incubator and eggs to the children, inviting them to be a part of the process of hatching.
The children spent time observing the eggs and discussing what could be inside, with many guessing that they were indeed chicken eggs! Once our chicken hatched, children were involved in caring for them, ensuring that they had food and water and learning to hold the chicks very gently. Our chickens began to grow and we started to think about where they might live when they became fully grown. Children suggested different ideas, drew plans and researched chicken coops with their teachers. Together children built the chicken coop for our chickens and welcomed them to their new home.
At Piccolo Park, we value the journey of learning rather than focussing on the end result. By letting our children wonder about the world around them we encourage them to be critical thinkers, to be creative and to have the confidence to express their ideas and working theories. Our learning from simply wondering together about a nest in our tree at Piccolo Park still continues, with children involved in the daily care and collection of eggs from our chickens.
