In the moment learning and play.

20th February 2023Sarah Winkley

One of the children from morning Nursery found a dead spider today in the playroom. They brought it to me and asked me to look how beautiful it was. We spent a little while admiring the spider and its markings along with its long legs. I questioned the child what do you think happened to the spider? ā€I donā€™t know, maybe he got poorly and died?ā€ they replied. The child then shared their own experiences of death linked to a family pet when they were a baby. I invited the other children to come and see the spider and they sat patiently as the child carefully put the spider into a little cup for them to see. He then passed it around his peers.

A whole host of questions and predictions arose from this moment, such as; What do spiders eat? Why do they hang on webs? Do all spiders have long legs like those? Do they all have eight legs? Why is that spider so shiny? I wonder what happened to him? Will he go to heaven? I answered the children questions and fuelled their engagement. They were so respectful of each other during this interaction, allowing each other to speak and following on ideas from one child to another and answering each others questions, leading their own learning. It was beautiful to watch. They were even empathetic and reassuring towards the children who are afraid of spiders, saying ā€œI wont let it go or make it jump, itā€™s dead, it canā€™t hurt you.ā€ This then inspired lots of role play about spiders and some other children trying to make other sick animals better in our Doctors role play area. Great Work Guys!