|
A visual invitation to reach and touch, grasp and feel, hold and let go.
Shifting his body to one side, this baby coordinates his arm actions, challenges his balance to reach farther using a little counterbalance of his right arm. He makes dynamic connections between what he sees, touches and feels within his arm's reach and visual field. He hears different sounds when he drops each tomato into the pot and then watches them splash, sink, bounce up and float.
Multi-sensory Experiencing - Multi-modal Learning
One autumn day the adults are washing, chopping and canning tomatoes outside.
In a natural setting, this baby's exploration is multisensory and his experiential learning is dynamic!
Consider the following:
- In the sun, the tomatoes are warm to touch or maybe hot
- The water in the pot is cold as he splashes his hands
- Little water droplets glisten on each tomato
- Spread out before him is an array of the stimulating color red tomatoes
- Surrounding him is the complementary color of green grass
- The tomatoes are all the same color and shape but not all the same size
- Preferring one tomato at a time out of this array of tomatoes he adjusts his body, looking and reaching patterns
- Twisting his body to throw a tomato in the pot requires feed forward body adjustments
- The pot remains in the same location until it is empty and then re-filled
What multi-modal learning is taking place during this exploration and all these actions. Experiencing the weight of each tomato in his hand, shaping his hand to the contour of each tomato. The distance above the pot and moment when he releases the tomato, there is a pause before it plops in the water. The pause will be shorter or longer, depending on how high he holds the tomato. Timing the release and anticipating the sound is why babies play this kind of game over and over in container play or from their high chair. (for more detailed information see p.185 of the Amazing Babies Moving Book and Month 10 Connecting Feelings & Thoughts in Action in the new Locomotion Baby eBook).
When he drops the first few tomatoes in the water he will see them pop-up and float. This invites hands splashing in the water when trying to catch them. As the pot fills up the tomatoes don't pop-up any more. But soon an adult will empty the full pot of tomatoes and return an empty pot of water. This budding scientist will begin the same game all over again or until another new exploration motivates him to move, discover play and learn.
© Beverly Stokes October 2012
| 
