The Environment Project

Emergent, exploratory projects actively engage children as researchers and investigators.  The benefits of project engagement are of immense value in promoting optimal development, nurturing children to become confident individuals, competent communicators, global thinkers and lifelong learners.

The Environment Project emerged from the educators’ observation of the high sense of wonder, curiosity and excitement the children displayed towards the changes that occurred during and after the reconstruction of The Odyssey campus.  It is the children's keen interest that motivated the educators to enhance the children’s sense of belonging and identity. Consequently, a series of investigations were developed, creating opportunities for children to explore the many interesting spaces around their school. 

The Environment project is made up of a series of projects initiated and undertaken by The Odyssey children in the different age groups throughout February and March this year, incorporating very exciting and innovative investigations involving the staircase, fences, mango tree, tree house, as well as the construction of a bird house and water fountain.
 

The Trellis Project by the Tot Explorers

The trellis is where the Tots call their own. It is their sanctuary -watching and listening to the wind chimes, birds and even aeroplanes flying above. The idea for pursuing a project at the trellis emerged from the educators’ motivation to enhance the area and make it more cosy, inviting, explorative and engaging for the Tots. Some of the project ideas were derived from the educators’ observations and interpretations of how the children’s fascination, rich sensory and tactile learning opportunities could be enhanced e.g. through the building of a bird feeding house so that the birds will stay long enough to satisfy the Tots’ sense of wonder and curiosity.

 Making Binoculars
In this part of the project, the Tots’ keen interest in exploring with the binoculars led to the creation of their own binoculars, which they use to explore the environment. The Tots were excited exploring with the binoculars, looking at just about everything - trees, vehicles, people and the birds.

Constructing the Bird House
The children’s active exploration with the binoculars led to the idea for constructing a house for the birds. The Tots displayed high curiosity for the birds that flew by and stopped to visit their trellis area. 

Building the Bird Feeder
In order to entice more birds to come into the Bird House, the teachers decided that a Bird Feeder is esential. With the Bird Feeder installed, it attracted more birds and the Tots gleefully went outdoors to enjoy the sight and sounds of the birds.

Seeing the excitement of the children by the wonders of the birds, the teachers brought a variety of materials to hang at the trellis so children could further explore with sounds. The last part of this project engages the children in creating wind chimes at the trellis where they can experience a variety of sounds.


Fences Project by the O’Voyagers and O’Finders, Nursery 2 & Kindy 1

Fences project came about during the time when the playground area at the Alexandra campus was undergoing some reconstruction work. The children were fascinated when they saw the old fences along the playground area taken down and new metal fences put up again.  They were especially curious to know how the metal fences were joined, leading to discussions for a project idea on fences.


Designing 3D Models of Fences
The children wanted to create their own fences. They sketched their designs for the fences on paper first, which was used as the blueprint for the 3D models. The construction of the fences had actively engaged the children in using handyman tools like the hot glue gun and materials like chopsticks, straws and ice-cream sticks.

Fence weaving
In this part of the project, the children wanted to beautify the fences that surround the school compounds. Children used plastic bags to weave through the fences.

                                 

Constructing the Fences
This final part of the project involved the children in using paint, hammer and nails to erect their own fences at the playground area



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Staircase Project by the Travellers, Kindy 2


A walk around the campus led to the idea for a staircase project. The project was derived from the children’s concerns that one of the staircases in the school seemed to be unused and neglected. The children were excited with the prospect of sprucing up the staircase and ideas emerged on the different ways in which they could make the staircase more beautiful and attractive and thus encouraged its usage. 

At The Odyssey, staircases are abundant but not given much attention. In the staircase project, children’s interests and attention were focused on two main  areas; safety, and visibility and aesthetic of the staircase.

Safety of the staircase
In exploring the safe use of the staircase, a group of children were involved in investigating how adults and children use the staircase. Their inquiry led to the idea of putting arrows and posters on the staircase to reinforce the correct use of the staircase. The investigation was further extended to testing the use of the staircase after the arrows and posters were put up. The children’s findings showed improvements in the number of people who used the staircase correctly after the arrows and posters were put up.

Visibility and Aesthetic of the Staircase

A second group of children empathized with the state of the staircases and wanted to beautify these staircases so that people would pay more attention. The children brainstormed and many
ideas emerged on how these staircases could be spruced up.

 

 

 

 

The project actively involved children in  painting, hanging decorations, weaving ribbons and fixing a long tube light along the staircases.




 

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