Climbing To New Heights

I saw this wonderful video on Facebook a few weeks ago. Someone had strung up a pulley system in their area and provided a step ladder. Then they had hung buckets up on the pulleys and left blocks out.  It was magical watching the video and all of the learning taking place. (I have not been able to find the inspiring video if I can locate it I will put a link to it in this blog post.)  It inspired me to try and replicate the opportunity in my class.

I am very blessed that the Center I work at, Love To Grow On, and our administration support risky play as a part of our center's philosophy.  I am also blessed that our parents embrace the activities we provide their children and trust us to provide them in a safe and nurturing environment.  So when I entered the classroom with rope, buckets and a ladder no one batted an eye and the kids knew we were going to do something exciting.
I left the items near the circle time area and listened to the conversations.  After breakfast we met for our morning meeting and discussed the items brought in.
"That is a ladder, my dad has one."

"We have one too!"
"You climb a ladder to reach things, or do things up high."
"You need to climb careful or you can fall.  My dad was not careful and he fell.  He was ok, but mom was mad."
Because the ladder was the main topic of conversation I put the buckets and rope aside and let them climb the ladder.  We discussed how both sides could be climbed and we decided that 4 could be on the ladder at a time.  That morning they all took turns scaling the ladder and exploring the room from new heights.
"I can see the ground outside when I climb the ladder and look outside!"
"I am as tall as Ms. Helen!"
"If I stand here I am taller than Ms. Helen."
"The ladder is shakey as you go higher."
"Come here and look down on the room, the legos look smaller up here."

This lead to constructing a simple pulley system where they could raise and lower buckets by the way they placed items into the buckets. The ladder was used to reach the higher bucket and to redistribute the items in the buckets to allow them to move up and down. The team work and problem-solving skills used were fascinating to watch in this project. It has been going on for almost three weeks now as they test out a variety of items in the buckets.
"The one with stuff in it goes down. It must be heavy."
"The empty one is lighter because it goes up."
"Four big blocks is the same as 6 bean bags."
"What do you mean?"
"Neither bucket goes up when you have 6 bean bags and 4 of these blocks."

An extension to this activity was to add art to it. We have been creating a large group mural on the wall using the ladder to reach the upper part of our canvas.
This has been a good way to add a new perspective to using paint and chalk. They are doing art standing on a ladder, keeping their balance, drawing on a vertical surface, and viewing the room from a different perspective.

I encourage you to give this a try, even if you only add a low steps tool to your environment.