PBL: Decorate Our Classroom, Day 4

Date: September 22, 2022
Facilitators: Simran K, Simran J, Jasmine, Swechha and Raveena
Broader Theme: Cultural Festival

Introduction

The music of dhak welcomed each kid to the class to commemorate the Durga Puja week. The fourth day of our PBL series again began with an ‘Opening circle’ where the toddlers held each other's hand and sang “Hello everybody, so nice to see you!”. This week we have chosen cabasa as our musical instrument to call each kid in the center to initiate our opening circles. In these four days they have all memorized that the cabasa’s tune invites them to the circle and they have to welcome everybody in the space. The theme of ‘Durga Puja was talked bout again and they were introduced to our work time subsequently. 

Series of Steps

Work Time: Materials used were rice flour, water, black sheets, paint brushes, wooden stamps and tempera paints. Rice flour was mixed with water and then distributed in three trays. One tray had red paint, another was poured with yellow and the last one was left white. The black sheet had three concentric circles to give an idea of an Alpana. 
Small Group: Materials used were mashed potatoes, empty golgappas, curd, bhujia sev, lemon and steel utensils. 
Sensory: Two thin bamboo sticks were given to each kid and one dafli was placed in the center of the circle. 

How did it go?

Fourth day of the festivities witnessed nuances of different little activities that people engage in during Durga Puja.
WorkTime: The learning experience involved making alpana on black sheets. Alpana is a south asian folk art, where symbols and patterns are painted on either floors or walls with paints made from rice flour. Kids were given a choice to use either stamps or brushes to imprint on the black sheet. Vanya, Kaira, Hriday, Yasha seemed quite fascinated with the stamps. Samika started having a sensory play where she started mixing the rice flour paint with her palms within the trays. Yasha was seen painting the facilitator's palm instead of the sheet. Kaira asked for chalk to draw on the sheets and she was given one.  

Small Group: Phuchka is a common street food that people enjoy eating amidst pandal hoppings during the said festival. So the class engaged in preparing this little snack all by themselves. Advaith preferred eating empty golgappas while Kaira preferred savouring the mashed potatoes. 

Sensory: It seemed like the energy of each kid increased manifold once they grabbed their own dandiya sticks. Vanya, Radhya, Prisha, Advaith, Kaira, Yasha, Samika and Yuvaan engaged in creating percussive rhythms by banging the sticks over the dafli. They were taught to share the space while using a shared resource like the dafli.

Today, many kids were seen dancing with puja vibe and mirroring the rhythm of the dhak by their body movements.

Skills Enhancement 

Collaboration: This whole PBL involves working together towards a common goal, i.e., to decorate their own class. This involves collaborating with each other and producing art pieces that are a joint production of the whole class. 
Cultural Knowledge enhancement: Celebrating a cultural event can inform the toddlers about who they are and how they connect with others around them, thereby enhancing their sense of belongingness, Knowledge and leading to holistic development.
Creativity Upliftment: The toddlers engaged in numerous activities throughout the day that involved exploring different sensorial experiences, engaging with fine and gross motor skills and finally immersing in the free play around the theme that motivated them to use their personal agency and imaginative skills.
 Socio-Emotional skills: The toddlers made colorful memories and many new friendships were formed. It is believed that celebrations can bring people together and induce many socialization skills in toddlers.