Historias del Juego: Starting a Howl

This is a short little post:

Yesterday, we were playing in Morado (yes, it's a Wednesday thing), and students were really reveling in climbing / sliding / rolling up and down the big plastic cave.


(Here's the pic again for reference)

This was the PM class, so a different set of niños than last time. One little critter who is notoriously shy - like, at the beginning of the year he once burst into tears at the prospect of handing another student a marker - can come out of his shell a little during free play. His favorite thing in August and September was ambushing me and growling like a tiger. Fun, cute, but very singleton play.

Yesterday, though, he scrambled up on top of the plastic cave, put himself on all fours, faced west (towards the camera in the above picture), threw his head in the air, and began to howl. It was a good howl, too, with the yips and growly bits all worked in nicely.
And do you know what he did?

Yep, Zootopia lovers: he started a howl.

Within three minutes, he was joined by four other students, all howling with abandon. They all adopted his posture, direction, and even emulated his style. It was great to see him not just participating, but also instigating social interaction. It was also pretty adorable. They posted on top of the cave and howled for at least five minutes - until it was time to go inside.

Types of play: Social, Fantasy, Imaginative