The infant / toddler room (0 to 2 yrs. old children) has 11 children enrolled in  each room.

The layout of the physical space encourages encounters, communication, participation and relationships. The arrangement of structures, objects and activities encourage provocations, choices, problem-solving and discoveries in the process of learning. Some examples of the environment at the centre:

• The room is welcoming and light and visually appealing, which encourages infant and toddler curiosity and engagement.

• At group-time the children sit on the rectangle mat, which is soft and has cushions

• In the centre of the room is the meal-time low table and chairs  

• Sleep-time folding mattresses are stored in the cupboard

• Bathroom has a changing station with easy access to diapers, wipes, cream, plastic-bags and disposal units, sanitizer and cleaning chemical for the changing mattress, 2 toilets for training and hand-washing sink.

• Trolley with sunscreen

• An outdoor area featuring a sandpit and toys for sensorial experiences.

• Age-appropriate resources are set up all around the room and the walls.

The children can choose experiences according to emerging interests in sensory play, to touch, feel, and press objects at the sensory table, playing musical instruments, and visit the sandpit. Other emerging interests are related to imagination play – for example with dolls at home corner and cooking equipment at cooking corner, animals and cars and trains. Finally, the children have emerging interest in cognitive play – puzzles, building blocks, climbing frames, games on the floor on the mat.

The educator records the children’s voices through taking notes, capturing images, retaining and reviewing children’s artwork (paintings, drawings), how children engaged in the experiences and then uses emerging interests to plan learning.

To summarise, the three observations demonstrated how children can engage in sensory play:

• Child “S” observed the sensory play of her peers, absorbing and learning about the information presented and then saying “my turn, my turn”.

• Child “I” engaged immediately with the sensory play with the playdough and enjoyed the experience, by her smiles, her persistence and her response to questions “It’s a snake, it’s green”.

• Child “H” used non-verbal communication to demonstrate his engagement - body language, facial expressions (by clapping hands and smiling and eye-contact) and gestures.

The Reggio Emilia philosophy, pioneered by Malaguzzi set as a principle, that children must be able to learn through experiences of touching, moving, listening, seeing and hearing, giving rise to the hundred languages children use to understand their experiences of the world (Nolan & Raban, 2015). The ELC at Bambini is set up with the Reggio Emilia philosophy as a core value: children facilitate their own learning and are active advocates of their own development. The children communicate their needs in many ways including curiosity, wonder and forming interests.

Bruner believed that through thinking children were able to understand themselves via firsthand experiences. Through the socialisation process, children were able to make sense of the world. He describes children in an “Enactive” stage of learning – they are learning through play and discovery. Bruner advocated that it was the process of learning that was most important. The process allows children to explore, discover, make errors, investigate new possibilities and finally make connections to concepts which can then be generalised and applied to other aspects of learning (discovery learning) (Kearns, 2010, pp. 245-246).

My plan / provocation is to experiment with ways to engage children for longer in sensory play experiences, supporting development and learning and to encourage them to communicate what they know and understand.

I would like to encourage children to play with a wider range of sensory experiences - different materials (playdough, sand, clay, water), manipulate objects and experience joy while learning. However, it is also interesting to me to understand their knowledge of the world through the sensory experience and what they are learning. By providing opportunities for the children to manipulate materials freely,

I can engage with the children and to be curious with them and what they understand! I would like to ask open-ended questions about their interests in the experience. I want to listen (pedagogy of listening) observe and hear what they learn, what they understand and what is their emerging interests and then record in documentation to develop future experiences that are child-led. Piaget believed that open-ended questions stimulate the children’s’ curiosity and help them construct their understanding of the world (especially in the pre-operational stage of language development) (Nolan & Raban, 2015).

I wonder if as they learn to describe their world, new learnings may be related to developing concentration skills, building their communication skills (verbal and non-verbal) and language development.

I would like to engage the children through senses other than touch – such as hearing senses (verbal communication, listening to music, musical play, story time) and see their emerging interests. Sensory experiences involving hearing and music can be fun but also develop concentration skills, communication skills, language development, and connect with their peers in a group. The ELC at Bambini is set up with the Reggio Emilia philosophy as a core value: children facilitate their own learning and are active advocates of their own development. In practice, the room is equipped with musical instruments, CD player, and a large mat in the centre of the room for story time. The children can choose their own sensory experience or be educator led, as individuals or in a group time.

These child-led activities can be used to encourage children to take the lead in their own learning. The Reggio Emilia philosophy, pioneered by Malaguzzi set as a principle, that children must be able to learn through experiences of touching, moving, listening, seeing and hearing, giving rise to the hundred languages children use to understand their experiences of the world (Nolan & Raban, 2015). The variety of sensory experiences, not just touch, but hearing and visual sensory experiences provides another way and opportunity to express themselves through their language.

Rogoff considered learning as taking place when children collaborate with other children and adults, such as in group time, being involved in activities with specific purposes. Her view of working with children included opportunities to engage young children in normal cultural activities, such as telling stories and music and dance (Nolan & Raban, 2015).

I wonder if the learning from these types of sensory experiences may be related to physical development (movement, coordination) and communication, as they explore their interests and become able to express themselves in their own way. I wonder if I can encourage the children to take the lead in their own learning and select musical instruments that they are interested in?

To engage the children upfront, first I gathered the children on the mat and sung a nursery song “Incy Wincy spider” to help them engage. I find any song will help as the children sing along, dance or are at least curious of what is happening. Some children required rounding up, but the whole group of 11 children joined on the mat in the centre of the room to listen to the song, some sitting, some standing. I could then commence story-time. We encourage all the children to sit and listen.

Some of the strategies to encourage engagement during the story time were:

• Acknowledgement of land

• I turned the pages slowly when I read so that the children have the time to look at every picture

• I changed the tone of my voice which makes story-time more interesting and fun for the children

• Asked the children what the animal is and what sounds the animal makes?

• Used finger puppet animals that look similar to the book, to make the expressions of the animal.

• Putting the song “Bear Hunt” on the i-Pad and then freezing the song and asking the children to make actions and sounds of the animals

• Child “I” was washing his hands before lunch time. As the water flowed from the tap, I asked him “Where does the water go?” and he used non-verbal and verbal skills, to point to the sink-hole and said “here”. I then asked “and then where?” and he said “downstairs!”. This was interesting because the child understands that the water flows under the sink, down the drain and downstairs. The child recognised that the room is upstairs.

The children were appropriately interested in hearing-based sensory play – hearing the stories, music, songs and dance. The children were curious to start with, but some required rounding up to become engaged. The song had a crucial role in building their engagement. From that point on, they displayed good attention, curiosity and had fun, while hearing the story and looking at all the different animals. The children were confident in recognising animals and making the sounds and a few used gestures to describe the animal. The puppet props were also very interesting for the children. Overall, the children concentrated and listened to the whole story. They enjoyed making the animal sounds. I could hear them repeating the experience by themselves.

In the open-ended questioning, I was very pleased to see the understanding of the child “I” who could already describe where the water went and flowed to. I did not expect the child to be able to describe it flowing, which reflects knowledge from the visual and then the next steps the water takes by reflection and consideration. This aligns with Piaget who believed that open-ended questions stimulate the children’s curiosity and help them construct their understanding of the world (Nolan & Raban, 2015). However, it was not easy to ask questions of the children as they did not want to verbally answer every time or did not engage.  

In my future practice I would like to ask the children to choose a story book from the shelving or song from the iPad for story time, to capture their emerging interests of animals and have them engage by self. I would also like to implement a water based sensory activity with flowing water, so the children can do a scientific experiment with water flow, using cups and coloured water.

• Australian Children's Education and Care Quality Authority. (2018). Developmental milestones and the Early Years Learning Framework and the National Quality Standards. https://www.acecqa.gov.au/sites/default/files/2018-02/DevelopmentalMilestonesEYLFandNQS.pdf

  
  

• Care for Kids. (2024). Attachment theory in early education and care. Retrieved from Care for Kids: https://www.careforkids.com.au/blog/attachment-theory-in-early-education-and-care

  
  

• Childcare Philosophy - Bambini Early Learning Centres. (2023, November 29). Bambini Early Learning Centres. https://bambini.au/philosophy/

  
  

• Kearns, K. (2010). Frameworks for Learning and Development. French's Forrest: Pearson.

  
  

• Nolan, A., & Raban, B. (2015). Theories into Practice. Blairgowrie, AU: Teaching Solutions.