Inside-Outside Intersections: A Cow is Sheltered From the Storm

As inclement weather is upon us, our walk to the forest was not possible, and for the day we had to be inside the classroom. Through the glass, we could see the wind carrying the snow, and even when we were constricted to the inside space, the outside was present in children’s questions and curious observations. Some of us wondered if it was indeed as cold as others stated and tried to feel it through the glass hoping for some of this wind to break through any possible holes.

A group of children plans and builds a complex structure, and as we interact, I discover that they try to protect a plastic cow in the toy farm from the terrible cold. They keep enlarging the structure for the protection of the cow and farm animals so the cold wind cannot come in, walls of blocks, a large scarf and as time goes by all the chairs in the room come into place to build the large protection.  We are safe inside the center, and so are the farm animals inside their farm.

Forty minutes of effort putting this plan forward was little by little involving almost the entire group of children, driven by curiosity and the massive structure resulted from their considerable efforts.

The group is usually very active and jump from one activity to the other; it was impressive how they focused for an extended period when agreed that a solution to protect the cow from the harsh weather was needed. They worked together and created a complex and large structure of protection with different types of blocks and furniture requiring physical effort, different solutions and different attempts in balancing the blocks. They were immersed with the blocks, and their ideas, and were very glad to have others (me, educator and classmates) respect and understand what they were doing. Their connections to the weather were also important, as they, like the confined, but protected, cow could not go outside.

I kept wondering how much effort these children put in this project, one that also caught the interest of the peers. How could we preserve the structure and allow them to talk about it with their peers? Can we use the photo to continue this conversation?

What happens if they have the opportunity to talk about their thoughts with others? What connections can we make with their forest walks?