Snowfall never fails to fill children with wonder, and offers some exciting learning opportunities, as Emma Davis reveals…
Would we get any? Wouldn’t we? There was much excitement about the prospect of snow from the children at Busy Bees Ledbury. Happily, we did wake up to snow on Friday morning – not enough to cause disruption but plenty to let us have lots of fun!
The children were full of chatter as they entered The Hive and looked in awe at the fresh snow in the garden. There wasn’t a welly print to be seen in it, just some tiny bird prints near the tree where we’d hung the bird feeders we’d made the previous day.
We couldn’t wait to get outside so, after a brief warm up following the walk to Busy Bees, it was back on with the coats, gloves, hats and scarves. In no time at all there was a gathering of children at the door – never had we seen so many keen to get outside!
Once the door was open, the children ran out, laughing and shouting as they chased each other around. It wasn’t long before snowballs were made and thrown at the ‘Busy Bees ladies’! Even though hands were cold and noses were red, the fun continued for the hardiest children who made the most of the snowy environment. They used sticks to make marks in the snow – we saw long lines, big swirls and small dots. Some children even wrote their names. There was lots of talking about the prints in the snow and thinking about the patterns on their wellies. We found zigzags, lines, circles and squares all over the garden. It was a great opportunity to make comparisons between big and small, too.
For some children, this was the first snowfall they’d seen so there were lots of interesting questions which we thought about together:
● Where did the snow come from? It wasn’t there when we went to bed!
● Why is it all going?
● It’s not Christmas – why did it snow?
Before the cold firmly took hold, a couple of children built a teeny tiny snowman, before telling us, “We need things to decorate him with.” After looking in the cupboard, they decided on buttons and googly eyes, and then sticks for arms. We thought he looked very cute!
The snow has now nearly disappeared from the garden, but it offered us lots of fun and learning while it lasted. Will we get more before the end of the winter?
Emma Davis is manager at Busy Bees Ledbury.
