april 2022
L came running into the after school program with a plastic egg in her hand, “I have an idea!” she says to us excitedly. She begins to explain that she wants to hide the egg somewhere in the gym and whoever finds it, wins the chocolate that is inside. “Like a scavenger hunt?” we ask her. She responds “yeah!” loud and excited then runs to the unit blocks and starts building.
After a few minutes we notice the creation she built with the unit blocks and we ask her to tell us about what she has made. “So, it’s like a bridge and at the end of it there is this empty spot and that’s where the person who finds the egg has to put it when they are done” she goes on to explain while standing behind it with her bunny mask she got from school.
When the spot for the eggs is finished she is finally ready for the scavenger hunt to begin. She decides to hide the egg before getting children together so they don’t know what she’s doing and can hide the egg without them watching. Once it’s hidden, she tells the rest of the children about her idea and they begin searching the gym.
They search the gym high and low for all the possible places that it could be. C searches each art shelf thoroughly and even checks the plastic eggs that were used for some Easter art. After a few minutes, O comes by and also checks the art shelf and finds L’s hidden egg within the pencil crayons. “How on earth did I miss that?” C wonders then goes to congratulate her brother for finding it. “Good job O! You get to keep the chocolate!” L exclaims eagerly once it’s over.
What a powerful child-led activity for children to guide and teach other children. We wonder what other child-led activities will come after this one!
Hailee King RECE
Cassandra Sheedy Educator
