During my time at Saint Augustine’s, I worked with toddlers and preschool-aged children in an outdoor setting. Over the course of 10 sessions, I collaborated with the children and the ECE’s to create activities inspired by the Reggio Emilia approach. These experiences encouraged material exploration and collaborative thinking.

During outdoor play at Saint Augustine’s I had a great schedule, I rotated between the toddler and preschool classes to give an opportunity to all children to experience the Arts for All program. Towards my final sessions at Saint Augustine, there was lots of snow on the outdoor playground. Children were provided spray bottles and water bottles filled with water and food coloring to use in the snow. 

Several children sprayed the snow with the spray bottles, and observed how the white snow was changing colour. They experimented by creating different patterns and creating their own blended colours in the snow. They also experimented by spraying the colours from different distances. A few children’s quotes, “ Look it’s red!” “Look what I did!” This activity encouraged the children’s curiosity and their ability to explore through the use of open ended materials. The snow became an open ended canvas for the children to explore. The children engaged in a sensory activity, with colour theory, and also collaboration. 

Other ways to expand on this activity and future provocations could be using the food colouring and creating pigment with the use of ice cubes. Children can take the ice cubes and paint with them on watercolour paper or in the snow. If they hands were too cold, also they could use paint brushes and dip their paintbrush onto the ice cube to pick the pigment and then place onto the watercolour paper. Other themes could include exploring the use of ice freezing or melting.