Thursday 3 April 2014

Growing With Colours

A few weeks back, we attended an outdoor play session by Growing with Colours. Earlier in the week, a friend of mine had gotten a pamphlet from them which listed their weekly activities for the outdoor sessions, hence I decided to give it a try. 

We received a reply from the GWC team with details of the session; like the price ($12 for trial), duration (1 hour), time to meet (10am) and venue (near the playground at Pasir Ris Park). Although the session is for an hour, it would be packed with activities - circle time, art activity, sensory activity and snack time. On the pamphlet, it was written that the activities would be suitable for children up to 30 mths old so I enquired since my daughter had turned 31 mths old. I was told that it would be okay for up to 36 mths old. We would have another 5 months left to take part in the activities by GWC then. Everything seemed perfect and I was looking forward to it!

On the day itself, we went to the park and spotted the pink tent and balloons from afar. The two mothers behind GWC, Normah and Rahmah, greeted us warmly and we made ourselves comfortable on the mat. It was a cosy group as there were only six toddlers for the session, including the two girls who were the daughters of the duo behind GWC. Some of the children were reading or playing with toys but my little girl was happy to sit and observe, as she always does in a new situation.

Then we were asked to gather for circle time. There were some singing and movement led by one of the mothers. Again, the little girl was happy to watch. But then came the part where the children were presented with their own pictures that the mothers had handed over earlier. The children then pasted their pictures on the "Who is here today?" board. Unfortunately, I had not brought a picture for the little girl. The organisers were sweet enough to have written her name on a piece of apple-shaped paper so that she still had something to paste. Note to self: Bring a picture next time!

Pasting his picture on the board

Then out came a covered box for the children to put their hands in. They each picked a ball of different types. They were introduced to the different types of balls and were shown that the balls could be used to make a piece of art when dipped in paint.

Picking a ball from the box


Making an art piece with a round ball, bouncy ball, spiky ball and rose ball

The children were then given a piece of paper, different types of balls, and some paint. They dipped and printed away with the balls. The little girl's favourite had to be the bouncy ball which is my favourite too as it makes pretty fireworks pattern on the paper. And it's so fun to bounce it in paint and then bounce it on paper! 

Bouncing the ball away on her paper

Her art work which I call "Fireworks"

Next was sensory play. The children were given their own trays with dollops of frozen coloured shaving foam. The shaving foam had melted a little under the hot sun but it was still a whole lot of fun. The semi-melted shaving foam looked and felt just like ice-cream and for a moment, the children thought they had been served with some on a hot day. The children were also given an assortment of scoops and containers to play with the shaving foam. 


Scooping some foam into ice-cream cones for pretend play


More scooping into ice cube trays

Free play

I was amazed at the amount of work the ladies had put in into carrying out the activities. It felt like an outdoors session of Julia Gabriel! I felt though that the activities (art and messy play) were a little too short. The little girl was still printing with the balls when they started clearing away for the next activity. In general, I stay away from structured classes for now to avoid hurrying the little girl from one activity to another because she can spend a long time doing an activity that she likes.

But I understand that there is a targetted age group of 18-36 mths old. The activities couldn't be longer so as to sustain all the children's interest and attention, especially the younger ones, and not just mine. I totally get that. I will still attend the sessions as they are affordably priced and I can get ideas which I can replicate at home. And they are outdoors too! 

Due to that reason, we went for another session with GWC last Sunday. Hafsa was also celebrating her birthday that day at the park so we decided to attend the session with GWC before the celebration and more free play at the playground. There were more than twice as many children than the previous session we attended which surprised me as I thought there was a maximum number of children accepted per session. 



Circle time

We gathered round for some song and movement during circle time. After that, two boxes were taken out and the children reached in to take out a number. Then the organisers revealed the activities for the day - number stamping and playing with goop. The children were divided into two groups and each group would start with an activity before swopping. 



What is in the box?

We were given an aluminum tray, some goop in a ziplock bag to scoop out, some food colouring, and transfer pipettes. The little girl wasn't so keen to get her hands dirty in goop but she was more interested in using the pipettes to squirt some food colouring onto the goop. While she was busy with the pipettes, my hubby and I were busy playing with the goop. It felt like hard plasticine when we tried to scoop it up, but once in our hands, it dripped down like liquid. But after a while, she got her hands right in too. It was obvious that the parents were having as much fun with the goop, if not more.


Using transfer pipettes for the first time

Daddies having fun with goop too


Finally getting her hands in the goop


Parents couldn't have enough of goop too

It took a while before the little girl was ready to swap to the next activity which was number stamping. By then the other children were cleaning up or changing clothes. She did just a little stamping and then she was done. Oh well, whatever makes her happy.

Printing with numbers

Bubble time and goodbye song

By then the children, and the parents too, were hungry so we took out our picnic mats and food to start munching while the organisers were cleaning up. Then we wrapped up the session with some bubbles and a goodbye song. We decided to get the package with GWC too which cost us $64 for 4 sessions. Individual sessions cost $18 each after the trial. We were told the next session on 13 April will be on the book We are Going on a Bear Hunt. That would be so much fun! Inshaa Allah we'll be there as the book is one of our favourites and we've watched the play too earlier this year. Till the next session!

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