Open ended possibilities

Posted by Little Sponges Nursery on 21st Jul 2015

‘The children at Little Sponges Montessori love exploring with Play to Z’s inspiring Discovery Set. It is simple to use and provides children with hours of investigative fun. It is designed to stimulate the senses and provide open-ended play and exploration which develop children’s critical thinking and problem solving skills, fine motor control and above all, unlimited discovery play and creativity.

The Discovery Set has two compartments with handles on each side to make it easy to move from place to place. It comes with a selection of objects such as a magnifier, colour paddle, mirror, scoops and coloured sand to name a few. It is so versatile that we use it outdoors, indoors, in our Sensory Room and for various science activities such as floating and sinking, colour mixing etc.

The children expressed a lot of excitement when presented with the Discovery Set. They immediately wanted to discover what each item was and ‘what it did’. Intrigued by the magnifying glass, one boy was delighted when a small spider crawled up the side of the bowls. He was encouraged to look at it in more detail using the magnifying glass which led to a discussion about insects and a walk around the garden looking for ‘bugs’. Another child buried his hands in the sand and enjoyed burying small stones in the sand which he then took time to find. He put these in the post box tin and enjoyed shaking it to make music.

The activity bowls work well for both group and individual play. Two boys played in their ‘own’ individual bowl becoming engrossed in sieving the sand and stirring it which, in turn, exposed the stones they had added to the sand. These were then counted and put into light and dark coloured piles. Later play evolved with one boy using the bowls as mixing pots for a soil and water ‘pie for dinner!’

The children love exploring with the open-ended possibilities that this resource offers. They experiment, explore and create their own play and it is totally satisfying for the young children.’