Our Road

track
For Children

On a rainy afternoon, a group of children were given a box of wooden blocks of

various shapes and sizes. Their educator suggested building a road track to get
from their homes to school. The children formed a circle and placed the blocks box
in the centre. Working together, the children built their road track. As they added
roundabouts, humps, and jagged roads, they created a track from one end to the
other. Their enthusiasm and excitement increased as they constructed the road
track, sharing ideas and collaborating.
Devrim said, "I will make the right side of the road."
Omar said, "I am working on making the road straight from the left side".
Once the track was built, the children were given wooden cars and bikes to ride on.
They took turns and played pretend, imagining driving on the track and following
traffic signals. The educator also taught them about road safety during the activity.
Learning about road tracks allowed the children to collaborate in a highly engaging
way.

Learning and Curriculum

Fine Motor Skills: Children used their hand-eye coordination to connect
the road tracks using small blocks.
Language and Literacy: Children interact and share their ideas while
making the road track as a team. They also pretend to play by riding cars on
the track.
Vygotsky's theory: Children interact with their peers collaboratively and
share their ideas through interaction with more knowledgeable educators to
learn about road safety and types of roads (Nolan & Raban, 2015).
Spatial Awareness: By creating different-sized and shaped roads,
children learn about road structure.

Dispositions
Creativity: Children displayed creativity by experimenting with
blocks to create imaginary road tracks.
Problem-Solving: The children manipulated the blocks to build
the road designs, including the roundabout, right turn, left turn,
and jig-jag, through collaborative decision-making.
Persistence: Children showed persistence as they navigated
through various trials and errors while making the road tracks.
Communication: Children communicate their ideas and
thoughts with peers throughout the process.
(ADGE, 2022).

Teaching strategies
Encouragement: Children were encouraged to work in a group and
build road tracks, sharing their ideas together.
Demonstration: The educator demonstrated how to construct the road
using blocks.
Asking open-ended questions: As part of the discussion, the educator
asked open-ended questions such as How do we get to the end of the
road? How can we connect these two roads? to extend their thinking.
Acknowledgement: Educators appreciate the benefits of working
together, which boosts their self-confidence.

EYLF Outcomes
Outcome 1.1: Children develop their sense of agency, interdependence,
resilience, and autonomy (ADGE, 2022).
Outcome 2.4: Children become socially responsible and respect the
environment (ADGE, 2022).
Outcome 4.1: The development of dispositions for learning, such as curiosity,
cooperation, confidence, enthusiasm, perseverance, imagination, and
reflexivity, in children.
Outcome 4.2: Children develop problem-solving, inquiry, experimentation,
hypothesising, researching, and investigating skills and processes.
Outcome 5.1: Children interact verbally and non-verbally with others for a
range of purposes. (ADGE, 2022).