The Treasure Hunters

As our group walked together to explore the bushland, the children were getting excited about discovering that there were lots of bones everywhere. They instantly came up with an idea to collect the bones that they had found.

Claire said, "Follow me." Jenny, Jamie, Mary and I followed Claire's trail as she pointed where to pick the bones.

"There are lots of treasures here!" Jamie exclaimed as he picked those bones.

Mary picked lots of bones and as she struggled to carry all of them, she said, "They're so heavy!"

Jamie suggested, "Let's put all our 'treasures' here."

After placing all of their collected bones by the tree, off they went to pick some more bones nearby. This went on for about 15 minutes or so until they decided to go farther from their "treasure spot."

The children found a tree, where they stayed for a while, and as they walked under it, they reminded each other to watch out for the branches. They carefully walked under the tree branches as they collected some more bones. They wanted to go back to their "treasure spot", however, we lost it and couldn't find the way back to that area where they placed all of their previously collected bones. Jamie said, "We lost our treasure." Jenny replied, "We can find some more."

Reflection:

The children worked together, communicated well with each other and demonstrated their creativity and imagination by coming up with ideas in their 'play environment'. They also showed an increasing awareness of how to be safe in their surroundings. The children also used descriptive language to describe, compare and differentiate the bones that they found, for example, the girls compared the long bones and determined one bone was longer than the other. Jamie also inferred that the skull he found was that of a sheep and called it "sheepy skull".

Future experiences:

Children will make a treasure map, play stones scavenger hunt, solve skeleton puzzle and/or learn more about bones.

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The above anecdotal record is an example of an observation I made on children to describe their play behaviour and to determine the learning outcomes that they demonstrated through their shared experiences and exploration of their natural environment. As a Preschool Teacher/Educator, I make observations for the following specific reasons:

• Planning the programs or experiences
• Gauging and knowing if the child has achieved his or her goals
• Describing the child's interest, skills and abilities
• Providing parents with information about their child's learning and experiences

Related Posts:

• Road Work
• House of Cars
• Letting the Children Decorate the Christmas Tree
• Playground Play

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