On any given day in the classroom, you’ll find many children playing with vehicles. We offer lots of different opportunities for this type of play, and children approach it in a variety of ways. While some build roads and bridges for their cars to drive on, others enact a variety of fantasy games in which cars race, buses drive people around and dump trucks are repeatedly filled then dumped. Vehicle play offers many opportunities for growth as children explore a variety of physical properties, act out familiar scenarios and negotiate materials and ideas with other children.
So far this year, most of the vehicle play opportunities in the classroom have been on our block rug. We have been noticing that some children like vehicles so much that they are hesitant to move to other areas of the room. Others who are interested in vehicles might shy away from an area that is so busy and has undefined spaces. Because of this, we decided to move some cars to the water table.
In the water table, we have set up a variety of vehicles with sponges, brushes, soapy water and water wheels and sieves. We modeled using the sponges and brushes to wash cars as well as pouring water over the wheels and sieves while cars are underneath, getting cleaned. Children have been excited to explore this new form of vehicle play. Some have been engaged in squeezing water out of sponges while others are diligently wiping down cars. A few children have been interested in watching the water pour through the wheels and sieves while others reenact their experiences in drive-through car washes.
This new set up has sparked interest in vehicles from children who had formerly not sought them out and encouraged those who spend most of their day on the block rug to investigate new areas of the classroom. Exploring a familiar item in a new way has been exciting to children and offered teachers new insights into their thinking.