Parent Masterclass / Little Doves

EARLY LEARNING

Acorn adventures at Little Doves

The garden is at the heart of life at Little Doves for children under the age of four.

All three classrooms open out onto the garden, offering everyday opportunities for children to connect with the natural world, explore and make discoveries, and play and learn alongside one another. The garden is also the scene of many learning inquiries and projects.

This year, when the giant oak tree in the garden produced another bumper crop of acorns, the two-year-olds were smitten. The acorns became treasures to be discovered, collected, sorted, swapped and examined in great detail. The spirit of research and inquiry is very clear in such moments, and the children soon became acorn experts! As this process unfolded, they were drawn into creatively expressing and communicating their thoughts and ideas too.

Soon, the children’s attention was focused on the movements of acorns and a whole repertoire of movements was devised: the twirly-whirly acorn, the jumping acorn, the wibbly-wobbly acorn… and these movements were drawn and discussed and acted out. They became a shared ‘language’ of movements.

Then one day these movements turned into story, when one child narrated “and the jumping acorn jumped out to see the world…” and soon a collaborative story was underway. Each day, the children have gathered together to tell, share and build stories of the jumping acorn’s adventures. Using their ‘language’ of movements, they have created stories full of drama, rescue and adventure for the little acorns.

Moments like this captivate the imaginations of the children but also demonstrate their capabilities. Their curiosity and drive to explore, their ability to work together, share their ideas and learn from each other, and their instinct for storytelling is very clear, even at the tender age of two!

Sarah Jones

The garden at Little Doves.

Concentrating, observing and drawing so carefully... Imogen hard at work. Collaboration in inquiry... Liliana and Stella.

Scribbles and drawings tell the story of the adventures of an acorn.