Kiddies Express, Choo Choo!!

"I'm the Train Driver," said Bailey.

During our exploration of the different modes of transport, we had been enjoying learning activities such as art & craft, music, reading books and stories in relation to transport on land, rail, air and sea. We had also used videos on transport to extend children’s learning. After morning tea, a group of children were busy in play, making a pretend train. They innovatively turned the wooden boxes around, arranged them in a row, to make their pretend train. They were all different age groups and I was captivated at their thinking and problem solving skills.

"Choo Choo," said Bailey

Technology emphasises creative and productive aspects of problem solving (Smorti, 1999). We sometimes use the wooden boxes as tables, and they turned it around to enable them to sit in the carriages. Bailey took a chair and positioned it at the front and said “I’m the train driver.” All the children hopped on board, “choo choo,” they said on board our kiddies express.

The children developed their skills in materials technology as they used wooden boxes to design a pretend train. It is a practical invention as they could sit inside the so called carriages. Strand 3, Contribution of Te Whariki, supports children learning with and alongside others (Ministry of Education, 1996). Working in groups encourages “co-operative learning” (Mindes, 2006, p. 112). Through this approach, children learn co-operative problem solving behaviours, they also learn to listen to other’s point of view, share their own ideas and discover solutions to problems (Mindes, 2006). Strand 4, Communication of Te Whariki, supports children using materials and technology in creative construction and expressive arts (Ministry of Education, 1996). The children’s learning in this activity is affirmed by Piaget’s cognitive theory, which acknowledges children as being capable of constructing their own knowledge and finding their own ways of making sense of the world around them (Santrock, 2008).