I’m so happy I was able to purchase some new wooden dolls!  Boxes are a good example of how children can use recyclable materials to create a doll house complete with garage.  The stamps are one way the children could decorate the doll house to add a more personal and home like feel for their little dolls.

If I were to set this up as a provocation I would arrange the boxes as I have, but I would have held a brief meeting to brainstorm the children’s ideas for each step they would want to take in creating the doll house.  I would then ask each child what he/ she wanted to be responsible for and provide them with the materials and space to complete their creative idea.  An example of a child’s idea would be of painting the boxes first.  Another example would be drawing  and painting a scenery for the doll house.  Some of the children may want to create small furniture and so through our brainstorming meeting we would use smaller recyclable materials and tape to make their ideas come alive!

There are so many wonderful ways to stimulate a young child’s mind and encourage deep thinking using mathematics, art, language, literacy, communication skills and cooperative group work to come up with an emergent project in which all who wish to participate can.  This project could take one day or the entire week depending on how involved all of the children or just a few children become as this project unfolds.

Heidi Scott, BA & MIT  The Marigold School of Early Learning