Portfolio #2 (Resource)

Recently, in planning my activities for placement, I have been looking up Pinterest (best invention for teachers), for some ideas on how I can contribute to babies' learning. Being in the nursery room at placement has been a little bit tougher for me, perhaps because I have really minimal experience with babies and I find it difficult to plan activities that the children will respond to 'orderly'. Inspired by my Week 6 reading on setting up a physical environment that encourages learning, I came across this blog post that explains some good tips on setting up a 'Reggio Inspired Baby Play Space'.

Website: http://theimaginationtree.com/2012/10/baby-place-space-for-6-18-months.html

The Reggio approach is very much based on being child-centred. The Reggio Emilia approach believes in the child's interaction with the environment as one of the key 'educators'. The Reggio Emilia approach also believes that educators work with families by means of recording the child's progress and maintaining constant communication with families.

1.3 Specifies the teaching approaches you’ll use & the learning environs you’ll create to support the social dimensions of early literacy/numeracy

3.2 Shows competence in observing & planning for literacy & numeracy experiences & environs, adapting to specific learner needs, interests & contexts

I strongly believe in the Reggio Emilia approach and intend to use this resource as a start to practicing the Reggio Emilia approach. In reference to the resource above, I intend to set up the play area with materials that can stimulate the child's brain, in terms of problem-solving, understanding processes, improving literacy and language. I would also include materials that evoke a strong sense of curiosity and discovery, besides including materials that build on their self-awareness, self-confidence and self-worth. Some examples of materials that I would include in the play area are as follows:

- Mirrors
Develops self-awareness and encourages imagery play, besides encouraging communication.
- Building blocks
Building blocks can be used to teach babies numeracy concepts such as height, stability, or even cause and effect by knocking down built towers.
- Stacking rings
Helps babies to develop motor skills in fitting the rings on to the holder, also helps babies to understand size -- one ring is bigger than the other
- Musical Instruments
Babies learn numeracy through the different instrument shapes as well as rhythm and beat. They learn literacy when they discover how each instrument works and how different sounds and produced by different instruments. Groups of children can also learn to make different sounds together and form a tune.
- Age-appropriate books
Babies must be exposed to books even if they don't know how to read. They should learn the concept of pages, symbols (words), and pictures. Many books also include sensory components for babies. Educators should always be ready and present if a child shows interest in a book so that the educator can read aloud to the child.
- Colourful alphabet foam mats
Children can feel free to deconstruct the mat and fit the alphabets back into the mat. The mat also provides a safe, cushioned and comfortable padding for babies to play on. 
- Muffin tins with colourful balls
Older children can learn to arrange the coloured balls according to their colour or categorise the balls according to size. They also learn about how specific round shapes will only fit perfectly into the muffin tins. Babies develop their fine motor skills by fitting the balls into the muffin tin and also begin to learn about categorising items. 
- Felt board with different shapes
Children pick up numeracy skills by learning the different shapes on the felt board. They can rearrange shapes on the felt board to form different felt pictures. 
- A cardboard box with different colourful cloths or socks hanging from the top for babies to crawl through.
This is a sensory activity that allows babies to discover different cloth materials and explore different colours and patterns.

Observation: 
While I have not completely set up a specific corner in the nursery room, I had the chance to play with some musical instruments with a 4 month old and a set of 6 month old twins. With the 4 month old, he was crying when I decided to play a simple tune on the toy xylophone. He immediately stopped and stared at the xylophone and soon enough began to clap and dance to the tune. He also had a go at the toy xylophone and laughed each time a different sound was produced. The twins have been particularly interested in this pop up toy each time I have visited them.

Image source: http://www.thingamababy.com/baby/2008/11/baby-toy-guide-12-to-24.html

I noticed that each time one of the animals popped up, one of the twins would have her eyes lit up, bob her head as if she was popping up and would constantly verbalise the D sound "Dh-dh-dh-dh-dh". Her sister, who didn't appear to be as shocked, would then shut all the animals back down. 

This really showed me how music and sound really capture the responsiveness of babies. Babies are curious to see where the sounds have come from and how the sounds are produced. In the twins case, she might have been amused that she too could make sound from her voice and responded to the 'popping' sound with her voice. Or she might have been imitating the popping sound. I can't be too sure but that would be my lack of skill in interpreting these observations. Building on this, I definitely want to introduce more instruments into the room to see how children respond to them. I can also perhaps introduce some cultural instruments such as African drums or having an educator play the didgeridoo. We can also perhaps sing nursery rhymes accompanied by the toy instruments. Books on musical instruments can also be introduced into the room, and some music that compromises multiple musical instruments at once can be played in the room. It would also be a good project for older children to be able to make their own musical instruments such as shakers or 'rubber band guitars'.