There is treasure in our Nursery!

As an important place in children's life and learning, our Nursery has various mysterious corners waiting to be explored. Our pupils in EY2 often have various new discoveries in their environment: a new potted plant in the classroom, a small mushroom on the outdoor lawn after the rain, a cute ladybug encountered on an adventure outside... They are always willing to share their treasures with others through language and actions!

As an explorer, it is certainly fun to explore, but sharing through actions and language seems to lack vividness. It would be great if other friends could experience it firsthand! So, to share the success and joy of exploration with more friends, our children have designed a small treasure hunt game!

To enhance the gameplay of the event, we first identified the treasure to be hidden by touching the object in a blind bag.

• Lexi said, "I felt it round and slippery. Is it a ball?"

• Milo said, "I feel thin, long, hard. Is it jumping rope?"

• Jennie said, "It's soft. It's a Frisbee!"

In the game, we can obviously feel that the more accurate and specific the description of the touch of the children. And they also give their own guesses based on their partner's feelings!

Children reacquainted themselves with the Nursery through the perspective of aerial photography. At the moment they saw the aerial pictures, the children all exclaimed. They quickly identified the images and eagerly pointed out the different areas they were familiar with, their own classroom, the classroom for EY3&4, the outdoor activity area, and so on.

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Based on the aerial pictures, the children agreed on the location of the treasure and chose a classic symbol to mark it: "We will draw an X where the treasure is!". Then they began to design the treasure hunt route. While designing, the children were faced with a challenging decision: one route was too boring, so they chose to design four different routes! This required them to carefully observe and listen to their peers' ideas, and judge whether their ideas were too similar. If they were, they quickly explored new routes.

After summarizing the activity so far and sorting out roles, the children worked on their second creation in the form of separate jobs. They each hid their "treasures" and designed their own treasure maps, and the teachers provided targeted guidance and assistance.

Finally, with everyone's efforts, the treasure map was created! The children even left messages for treasure hunters! Some encouraged them to search for the treasure, while others revealed what their own treasure was. We hope that everyone who receives this treasure map can experience a different kind of exploration joy during the treasure hunt and receive their own unique treasure.

Treasure hunting is full of challenges and caters to children's curious and active psychological characteristics. It is a game they never tire of playing. However, designing a treasure hunt game is a greater challenge for children, and the sense of achievement they gain is also stronger. The transformation of their role requires them to look at the game from a completely new perspective. How can they design a clever treasure hunt route that ensures that the treasure hunters can also appreciate the beauty of the process? How can they design a treasure map that clearly indicates the location of the treasure? In the process of making the map, the children's spatial awareness improved, and they better understand and master the concepts of location and space. They constantly tried and adjusted, exercising patience and perseverance; the process of communicating with their peers also gradually improved their communication skills... The birth of a treasure map transformed the children from treasure hunters to treasure keepers, but the intangible wealth they gained was much more precious than the treasure.