Learning, Art, and Nature Come Together at the OGEM Summer School

The fourth day of OGEM Summer School, organized as part of the “Rhythm of Nature and Sensory Exploration Project,” continued with activities bringing together movement, cognitive skills, creativity, and interaction with nature.

Following sports and music activities in the first part of the day, mathematics activities were conducted with the guidance of students from the university's mathematics department. As part of these activities, a “shop” was set up using natural materials such as pine cones, leaves, and stones, allowing the children to select and purchase the materials they wanted using the money given to them. The shopping activity addressed skills related to using money, understanding quantities, counting, making choices and decisions, and functional problem-solving in daily life. A pattern-making activity using natural materials also supported visual perception, classification, sequencing, pattern recognition and creation, and cognitive flexibility. Following the mathematics activities, the children designed their own wind chimes by decorating paper cups, threading strings through them, and adding seashells. The process provided opportunities to use fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, bilateral coordination, object manipulation, and praxis skills. During a walk around the campus, the children selected trees on which to hang their completed wind chimes, providing a meaningful experience involving decision-making, environmental awareness, spatial orientation, and the ability to initiate and complete an activity.

In the collective canvas work held in the afternoon, the aim was for each child to paint their own area on a shared canvas and then contribute to the work as a whole. In addition to fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, visual-motor integration, and praxis, the activity addressed social participation and the use of shared space by encouraging the children to work within their own areas, adapt to the work of others, and participate as part of a group. This was followed by a grass head-making activity, during which the children created their own grass heads by filling stockings with wood shavings and seeds. Handling and shaping the wood shavings exposed the children to a different tactile stimulus and provided opportunities for tactile processing and discrimination. Filling the stockings with wood shavings and seeds, shaping their creations, and finally attaching eyes and mouths involved the use of fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, bilateral coordination, object manipulation, and motor planning. By emphasizing that the grass heads would need to be watered regularly in order to grow, the activity also aimed to provide the children with experience in taking responsibility, establishing a care routine, following through with tasks, and developing daily living skills.

While the activities for children with special needs were carried out with the guidance of volunteer undergraduate students, educational and experience-sharing sessions for families also continued throughout the day. The fourth day thus concluded with activities integrating cognitive processing, visual perception, tactile processing, praxis, fine motor skills, social participation, daily living skills, and a sense of responsibility.