Educating Young Children Volume 1 – Spring 2025 | Page 53

bouncy balls the size of a volleyball, so I order some smaller plastic balls that fit inside the tube. I think Andy will have an easier time rolling the balls than the cars, though he will still have the choice of both materials. I hope that Andy will feel successful if he can place the ball inside and watch it roll all the way down. This might keep up his motivation to try the cars again and to make a further cause-and-effect connection.

The following week, I invite Andy back to the tube to see if he prefers a ball or car to roll down the tube. I wonder if he has made the developmental connection that rolling the ball is not as challenging as setting the car on its wheels in the tube to roll down. I also wonder if he knows that rolling the ball in the tube always has the same results. I offer Andy the car first, and he tries to place the car inside the tube. When he can’ t, he tries it with his other hand. Although I think that Andy might be able to open his hand on the first try and let go of the car if he uses his dominant hand, this does not seem to be the case. He is also still working on understanding that the car needs to be on its wheels when he lets go to make the car roll down the tube. Eventually, Andy throws the car on the ground, and I offer the car and ball to him. He takes the car but then drops it to pick up the ball. He places the ball into the elevated end of the tube and watches it roll down the tube. About three weeks have elapsed since I first introduced Andy to the tube. After this, when given the option between the ball and the car, Andy almost always chooses the ball.

As I noticed and responded to Andy’ s increasing curiosity about the effect of his actions on objects and materials, I offered different opportunities and materials to scaffold his understanding of cause and effect. He explored the physical properties of the long, clear tube by placing cars and balls inside it. Reading Andy’ s social and visual cues and offering guidance only as he needed it, I used oral and nonverbal language to scaffold his exploration of the tube and how objects move through it.