Designing, Building, and Playing with Purpose in the Pre-School Rabbits Class
At ISA, we believe that even our youngest learners benefit from opportunities to make informed choices. Over the past several weeks, the Pre-School Rabbits class has been fully immersed in a design inquiry project that brought together their Let’s Build and Let’s Play units. Their challenge? To reimagine how to use their sensory table in a fun and engaging new way.
Following a simplified version of the design thinking process, students worked together through the six key stages: Ask, Imagine, Plan, Create, Test, and Improve. They began by identifying a question: How can we use our sensory table in a new and fun way? From there, they brainstormed ideas, drew design plans, and chose materials.
With support from ISA’s Facilities team, they even took their ideas to the workshop and measured and cut PVC pipe, sanded the components, and constructed a brand-new model: a collaborative water run. As they tested their design, the Rabbits quickly found opportunities for improvement and returned to the workshop to refine their creation.
Throughout the process, students practiced their creative thinking, communication, and problem-solving skills, learning how to turn their ideas into action through play. As they shared, experimented, and revised, they also strengthened key social-emotional skills, such as collaborating with their peers, managing setbacks, and celebrating the progress they had made.
This joyful, hands-on experience not only enriched their classroom environment, but showed how even early childhood learners can begin to develop the confidence and capabilities that define a balanced life. A big thank you to ISA’s Facilities Department for their support throughout the project!
