The Canada Goose Project: A First Project with Children under 3

This project report describes how five children (an infant, three toddlers, and a preschooler) enrolled at a private day care home engaged in their first journey into project work through a study of Canada geese living on a nearby body of water. Prior to the experience described in this paper, the author had used the Project Approach only with children over age 3. The author has been caring for children for 20 years, the last several years using the Project Approach as defined by Lilian Katz, Sylvia Chard, and Judy Harris Helm. The author’s curriculum is also inspired by the approach to early childhood education and care in the preprimary schools of Reggio Emilia, Italy, which she has studied extensively. Through her reflective journal, videos, and samples of the children’s work, the author describes how the children responded to a number of provocations to think more deeply about and make representations of the things they observed during their project.