October is always an exciting month at school. Children look forward to the first party of the school year - the Halloween party!  Children dressed up in their favourite characters or animals.  It was interesting to watch them take on the persona of the character they were dressed as- Snow White, Tinker Bell, a zebra, a bee, a tiger, a dinosaur, a firefighter, Super Girl, Thomas the Train and Bob the Builder all came to school that day!

During group time, we showed the children a pumpkin. We discussed the outside but they were most curious about the inside. So we cut the pumpkin open, took out the flesh and played with the seeds.  The colour, the texture and the smell of the pumpkin caught their attention and some of the children even tried to have a taste of it :)


Here are some comments the children made about the pumpkin flesh:

"It's sticky."
"It feels funny."
"Orange."
"Waaa.."
"Can I try?"
"Yucky!"


By alternating toys and activities each week, children are given multiple opportunities to play in their own creative ways.  When I watch children use materials in new and unconventional ways, I question why adults expect toys to be used in a certain way. Isn't this limiting their creativity? I have observed that the simpler the toy or material, the more complex the play becomes.