PLACES- "Our Place"

Boxes boxes everywhere! Today I placed the empty boxes from the kitchen into the playground for the children to add to their play. C climbed into one of the large boxes and started rocking back and forth. Then he lifted his box up onto the large blue box and squeezed it into the opening at the top of the slide. C climbed inside his box, but the box didn't move! "Nanny" C called out, expecting me to come over and give him a push. "How are you going to get down" I prompted. C began to move his body and wriggle, wriggle, wriggled until it began to move........all the way down to the bottom of the slide. “Teachers who intervene too quickly” rob children “of the chance to become competent, independent people” (Epstein, 2007, p. 18).

He looked a little bit unsure of the speed his box was travelling at, at first, but once he realised he was safe at the bottom he jumped up with a big smile on his face. "I went down Nannny" he called out to me very proudly. R looked on as C climbed up with his box again. This triggered more children to pick up an empty box and use it to slide down the slide.

Some children found it difficult to place their box in the top of the slide and needed support from their peers to hold it steady as they climbed inside. I watched on as the children engaged in this activity supporting their peers when needed and offering the odd push to get them started.

"Technology is about helping people and solving problems" (Smorti, 1999, p. 5).

The children remained engaged in their play all morning and the group of children and their boxes grew. When there were no boxes left the children independently took turns sliding down in the boxes that were available. Broken boxes became surf boards as the children laid down on them and slid to the bottom. Soon trains were being made with children joining onto and then holding onto the box in fount of them and sliding down.

"Technology is also a creative and purposeful activity aimed at meeting needs and opportunities through the development of products, systems or environments. Knowledge, skills and resources are combined to find solutions" (p. 6).

Who would of thought a few empty boxes could create so much fun in a world where technology seems to rule.

Working alongside their peers, helping, supporting and co-operating together to achieve a common goal encourages our children to "develop the confidence and ability to express their ideas and to assist others" (Ministry of Education, 1996, p. 58).