Sensory

Bringing Nature Inside

September 30, 2018 Leave a Comment

Here is a snip-it of my post published a few weeks ago on Mommy N Me about bringing Nature Inside.

If you have followed me on here for a while or follow me on my instagram, you might have seen that I LOVE playing outside. I truly believe that playing in nature benefits children (and adults) in so many ways! As seasons change there is something new to learn, explore, and discover every single day!

However, living in Wyoming it can be difficult to enjoy nature when you are 2 feet deep in snow for 6-8 (or more) months of the year. Our mountains received snow mid-August this year! The cold doesn’t always stop us from enjoying the wonderful experiences of Autumn! Even though it snows through most of Autumn, Winter, and Spring where I live, I’m determined to get as much out of our seasons despite the snow. How do I do that? By bringing nature inside!

You might be asking: Where do I start? It gets SO messy!

To which I say, yes. Nature is messy, but sometimes getting messy is the best way to learn! You can start by observing your kiddos while you are outside. What are they interested in and how can you replicate that inside?

Positives of Bringing Nature Inside:

Nature is calming
Natural materials boosts our immune system
Nature involves all of our senses

Negatives of Bringing Nature Inside:

You can read the rest over on Mommy N Me to read different tips and tricks to go about bringing nature inside. This month she put together 30 different bloggers to get everyone in the Fall spirit. I have enjoyed reading others’ posts this month as well as writing this one!

As always, thank you for reading! I hope you are excited for the changing of seasons!

10 Teacher Books to Have

May 5, 2018 Leave a Comment

Even though I haven’t been teaching long enough to have an abundance of education books I love to share, I still have some that are my go-to books when I need a bit of inspiration! Here are my top 10 Teacher Books, not in any specific order or sequence.

*This post contains affiliate links*

10 Must-Have Early Childhood Books

Designs for Living and Learning by Deb Curtis and Margie Carter

This book has a lot of great ideas on how to design beautiful, engaging spaces for children. It has a great description on how to set up an environment that encourages learning and exploring. This book lets pictures do most of the talking, but it makes all the difference! There are so many inspiring spaces in this book paired with how to implement creative spaces and utilize the third teacher (the environment) to its fullest potential.
Tools of the Mind: The Vygotsky Approach to Early Childhood Education by Elena Bodrova and Deborah J. Leong

Compared to my first pick, this one is a bit more theory heavy. However, I am a huge fan of Vygotsky. His early childhood theories of development have helped shape the way I interact with children. I was purging through an old teacher’s books when I stumbled across this, and I am so glad she was giving it away! I have referenced this book many times in research papers I wrote for class. LOVE Vygotsky. It is a bit harder to read than my other picks, but has simple ways to implement his theories.
Working in the Reggio Way: A Beginners Guide for American Teachers by Julianne P. Wurmand Celia Genishi

Any Reggio educator would recommend this book to educators wanting to step into the Reggio world but are unsure how. It is very descriptive and has a nice overview into the world of Reggio. Each chapter is a different aspect of the Reggio Way. It is a super easy read to help get your feet wet in Reggio.
Mathematizing: An Emergent Math Curriculum Approach for Young Children by Allen C. Rosales

This was a required reading for one of my Early Childhood classes at UW. Because of my classes I have a love for emergent curriculum in early childhood and this book is a great help for using math with an emergent curriculum. It talks about how children learn numbers and a basic ladder showing the different steps children take when understanding numbers and math. It has a chapter on applying theory to practice which I think is one of the most difficult aspects of teaching. $10 Must Have Teaching Books | Playland Preschoolers$
No More Teaching a Letter a Week (Not This but That) by Rebecca McKay and William H. Teale

I bought this when it was on sale for $10. I was looking for something to help me encourage literacy without didactically teaching a letter a week. With my teaching philosophy, I want children to want to learn letters instead of forcing it on them. This book is very informative on why teaching a letter a week in early childhood is not age appropriate (or meaningful) and gives many examples on how to encourage literacy naturally through play! It is also a really quick read!
The Hundred Languages of Children: The Reggio Emilia Experience in Transformation by Carolyn Edwards, Lella Gandini, and George Forman

I know. ANOTHER Reggio book. But seriously, this book is wonderful. It was originally written in Italian because that is where the Reggio approach started. This book is very informative and pushes the readers the critically think about how they interact with children. Children communicate and learn in a hundred different ways, it is us to the teacher (and parent) to help children discover everything there is to discover in their world. At the bottom of this post is The 100 Languages Poem from this text.
Planning for Play: Strategies for Guiding Preschool Learning by Kristen M. Kemple

For those of you who are struggling with how to utilize play to its fullest potential, this is a great book. It breaks up play into different categories and provides examples on what you might do and what could make it better. It is all backed up by proper research and theorists (such as Vygotsky and Piaget). Children learn best through all types of play and this book tells you all about them!
Loose Parts: Inspiring Play in Young Children by Lisa Daly, Miriam Beloglovsky, and Jenna Daly

Loose Parts go hand-in-hand with Reggio environments. They allow children to use their imagination to create a world of play. This is actually the first book in a three part series (book 2, book 3). I haven’t read the other two, but I’m sure they are chalkfull of ideas just like this first book is! Loose parts are used a lot in Reggio environments because it supports inquiry and creativity. As well as loose parts tend to be natural materials, which Reggio is also big on.
Assessing and Guiding Young Children’s Development and Learning by Oralie McAfee, Deborah J. Leong, and Elena Bodrova

This was another book I read while in college. Although I didn’t want to spend the money on it then, I am happy I have it as a reference now! It has a lot of information if you need help assessing children in all areas of development. It has a list of red flags for each age that might help lead you to services for a child or frankly, that you aren’t meeting their needs in a certain area.
Developmentally Appropriate Practice in Early Childhood Programs Serving Children from Birth Through Age 8 by Carol Copple

Okay. So this isn’t the most exciting read in the whole world. HOWEVER it gives you a great idea of what to expect from children at a certain age. We want children to be excelling forward, not staying stagnate. Once a child succeeds at a certain step, keep pushing them! It serves as a great refresher when you are expecting too much (or not enough) from your kiddos.

Surprise! Here is an extra book just because I can’t help myself!
Balanced and Barefoot: How Unrestricted Outdoor Play Makes for Strong, Confident, and Capable Children by Angela J. Hanscom and Richard Louv

Now, you know I love outside play and you know I love sensory play. This book brings the two together, along with other things to make a great read on outside play. It is more than just letting them run around. The Reggio approach sees the outside playscape as another classroom, we should treat it as such! This book promotes outside play while providing thought provoking passages about how and why to embrace messy play inside and outside.

These texts have helped form who I am as an early childhood educator and truly enforces my love for learning and helping children find their love for learning too! The more experiences children have the more they learn! I want to provide children with many different experiences so they grow to become well-rounded, kind, exploring people.

All of these books and many other great books are available on Amazon Kindle.

Honorable Mentions

Here are some other great honorable mentions. I have read these all for classes at UW, not that they were bad, I just love these other ones.

As always, thank you fro reading! I hope you have a list of books to add to your teaching library! ? If your “must have” book isn’t on my list, leave it in the comments below!

If you enjoyed this, check out these other bloggers!

The Repurposed Nanny – She has bits of everything from DIY, Lifestyle, Kids, Recipes, and Decor.

The Playful Learner – Words cannot express how much I love Amber’s blog. She sees childhood and learning just like I do! A time to play and explore through play. I urge you to check out her blog!

Fairy Dust Teaching – A preschool teacher who teaches with a Reggio mindset. I LOVE her classroom set up that she shares.

The Kavanaugh Report – This is a Montessori blog. Nicole, the author, is a mother of young children and exposes them to practical life skills such as cutting with a knife at age 1.

Please, don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss a post!

What Is Play?

April 29, 2018 2 Comments

Play. If you have been reading my blog for a while you’ll know that I cherish play in early childhood. If you are new, hi! I love to encourage play in early childhood! I think it is a great way for children to improve social skills, motor skills, and creativity. Play looks different at all ages but it is all so important! Play is defined in two different ways: Social Play and Play with Development. Each has different stages of play.

What is Play?

Social Play focuses on how the children interact with each other.

Play with Development focuses on how each child developmentally uses materials.

Stages of Social Play

Solitary Play

Just as it sounds, solitary play is play that occurs when a child is by themselves. It is most often played with ages 0-2. This is partly because young toddlers don’t have the words yet to communicate with peers to play with them.

Onlooker Play

This stage is when children look and watch others play, but don’t engage in it. They are still playing on their own, but begin to be interested in what their peers are doing. This stage generally starts to appear between 2-3. In this picture, a lot of the other kids had started playing with the wind chime. This kiddo watched the others and after they had moved on he began to play with it.

Parallel Play

This play is when children are playing side by side, generally with the same materials. Occasionally they will interact with who they are playing by, but it is generally an independent activity. They spend time watching and mimicking movements of others. This is when they start to see dramatic play occur. This play occurs between 2.5-3.5.

Associative Play

The next stage is when children begin to play and communicate with each other. They are generally using the same materials and starting to maneuver a social landscape. Children begin to ask each other questions, but play at this stage isn’t organized as children still play and do what they wish. This play happens most between ages 3-4

Cooperative Play

This is when children have complex games, usually with roles assigned to each child. There is a common goal in mind that is only met by completing the play scenario. Socially, this play is the hardest because children have to learn how to compromise to keep the play going. This play starts to occur around ages 4-5.

These stages of play are very fluid once they move on to the next level. A child can always go back to solitary play even though they are 5 and can play with each other. But, we shouldn’t expect a young toddler to understand cooperative play because socially and developmentally, they aren’t there. That is when a teacher helps scaffold the play until the child can do it on their own.

Stages of Play and Cognitive Development

Sensorimotor

This is based on exploring for children 2 and under. They are using their senses to explore, putting things in their mouth. They are often interested in cause and effect (ie. if a hit this drum, it makes a noise). Sand and water play is big as they are great sensory tools (keep in mind they still put things in their mouth so they are likely to ingest sand and they will be OK). They also are ready to explore with their hands.

Functional

This is also called relational play as children 9 months-2 years play like this in relation to their environment. Toys often dictate what a child does (ie. throw or kick a ball, roll a car, stack blocks). In terms of play it is fairly basic, but it helps children build schemas in their brain in how the world works.

These steering wheels will only ever be steering wheels. The cup will be a cup. The juice will be juice. That’s how these toys are made and that is how children will view these toys.

Constructive

Constructive play can occur as early as 2 years, but starts to show a lot at 3 years. This is when children start to play with an idea in mind. They may build a house, road, or car. They may also begin drawing pictures of things like mom, dad, dog, monster. It may not look like that, but it is all part of children growing and developing. Scribbles are just as important and meaningful as a picture a 5 year old would draw.

The cardboard is a house, another child used them to make a boat. They had an idea of what they wanted to do and constructed it.

Symbolic

Symbolic/representational play can show as young as 2! It is when children begin to represent things in their environment. Pretending to be something, or that a stick is something is part of symbolic play. It is also when a child steps away from functional play and begins telling the toy what to do. A stick may be a wand, or a bear may be a baby.

PSA: This is also when children talk to each other and toys how they are talked to. Keep in mind how you interact with children and what they see because when they are engaged in symbolic play it shows. Always, always, ALWAYS treat children with respect. They may be little but they are still learning.

What do I do with this information?

I’m glad you asked! Play takes many different forms. Now that you know what play is and how children play in early childhood, you can use it to benefit their learning! The environment a child is in dictates how quickly children move to the next level (within reason…an infant won’t be playing like a 3 year old). I try to give children many different hands-on experiences to play and use their imagination with open-ended materials. Open-ended materials can help any child step into symbolic play because children will be forced to tell the material what it is instead of the other way around.

Thank you fro reading! I hope you have a better understanding about what play is and how it looks throughout early childhood! 🙂

If you enjoyed this, check out these other bloggers!

The Repurposed Nanny – She has bits of everything from DIY, Lifestyle, Kids, Recipes, and Decor.

The Playful Learner – Words cannot express how much I love Amber’s blog. She sees childhood and learning just like I do! A time to play and explore through play. I urge you to check out her blog!

Fairy Dust Teaching – A preschool teacher who teaches with a Reggio mindset. I LOVE her classroom set up that she shares.

The Kavanaugh Report – This is a Montessori blog. Nicole, the author, is a mother of young children and exposes them to practical life skills such as cutting with a knife at age 1.

Please, don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss a post!

Benefits of Sensory Play

March 17, 2018 Leave a Comment

If you follow my Instagram account or like us on Facebook (I post most Instagram pictures there), you would see that I LOVE sensory play! I think it is so important for children to get their hands dirty while they are playing and research shows there are so many benefits of sensory play with children.

What is Sensory Play?

The root word of sensory is “sense”, think of your five senses: sight, touch, sound, smells, and taste. However, there are two other senses that are used in sensory play. Vestibular, which is working on balance, and proprioception which is essentially body awareness. Sensory play should encourage all SEVEN of these senses. Young toddlers who are learning to walk explore balance and body awareness constantly. Walking changes their balance and it takes practice to be aware how their body moves.

There are great resources out there with tons of different sensory ideas for all ages.

Benefits of Sensory Play

When your senses are involved in something, you remember a moment or feeling more clearly. We have all experienced this before. A certain smells reminds you of a time with your family or a song reminds you of a time with friends. Every time I smell Crayola Crayons I think of my first car. A cute little Volkswagen Jetta. From day one she smelt like crayons and the smell never went away. My brain associates that smell with that car becasue the neurons in my bran connected in such a way.

When children are exploring with their senses, their brain is creating pathways that lead to deeper learning and exploring.
When children are exploring with their senses, their memory is enhanced because of the pathways created in the brain during play.
Sensory play supports development in all areas (cognitive, language, social, problem solving, and motor skills).
Children learn about different sensory inputs such as sound (loud and soft), touch (smooth and rough), sight (near and far), smell (sweet and sour), and taste (salty and sweet).
Exploring in sensory play can aid anxious, nervous, and sensory seeker children.

Sensory Seekers and Sensory Avoiders

Every child is a sensory seeker and/or avoider. All that means is some children seek out ways to receive inputs from one of their senses or they avoid certain sensory inputs. This part is not black and white as each child is different and can be both a seeker and avoider. My Mundane and Miraculous Life has a great explanation of sensory avoiders/seekers.

Think of it like this; when you are in a boring meeting what do you do? Do you doodle? Play with your pen? Tap your foot? Twist in your chair? Our brain is telling us to move, but we know we can’t just get up and walk around, so we make due. Children have not developed the self control to seek that input in a socially appropriate way, so they don’t! They jump and climb until their brain tells them it is enough.

Sensory Play

I expose my kiddos to different sensory experiences, but my favorite is shaving cream. Why shaving cream? It smells good, feels great, probably doesn’t taste great, colors can be added, and can be explored all over! It is also a great way to play and clean at the same time, all you need is a bit of water – which adds to the sensory experience!

I have recently brought shaving cream out more for the children to explore with. I talk about one experience with shaving cream here. Reflection on that moment, I can see that the child who refused to touch it was a tactile avoider. Most of the kiddos I have right now are tactile seekers and LOVE exploring with shaving cream! I try to add different materials to their play. We have used bowls, spoons, shells, colors, and paint brushes, and most importantly- our hands! I try to mix up the play based on what I’ve seen the children interested in.

Our Play

Throughout the past few months I’ve brought shaving cream out for us to explore. We have had a lot of kiddos sick so getting the rice and sand out isn’t ideal as the germs tend to stick to those sensory bin materials. One of our kindergarten kids who joins us on Friday said it is more fun than school and she asks to play it every week. I try to save it for her, but sometimes we just need that exploration earlier in the week.

We have had play where our bodies really get into it, because that is part of exploring!

We have explored color relationships by mixing colors. I tried to limit to just two colors, but some friends only wanted one or wanted three. At the time, the amount of colors wasn’t a battle worth fighting.

Adding the paint brushes allowed our avoider friends to participate without getting their hands messy. We also had friends painting their hands, drawing squiggles, and tracing letters.

We have been interested in letters lately so I started putting their first letter on the trays to start instead of a big blob. It is a fun guessing game to see who is going to be next.

We even had our little friends explore the shaving cream. This little friend gave me an ornery look when he touched it like he wasn’t supposed to be doing this. He got right into the play and had a blast!

Water Play

I love shaving cream because clean up adds another sensory experience with water! Some kiddos love exploring in the water more than the shaving cream. As long as they are exploring I am happy!

All in all, I love sensory play. Inside and outside I think sensory play is just natural for children. Take time to expose children to new and different experiences, it will only help them in the future!

Memories will be made. Messes can be easily cleaned.

Thank you for reading!

If you enjoyed this, check out these other bloggers!

The Repurposed Nanny – She has bits of everything from DIY, Lifestyle, Kids, Recipes, and Decor.

The Playful Learner – Words cannot express how much I love Amber’s blog. She sees childhood and learning just like I do! A time to play and explore through play. I urge you to check out her blog!

Fairy Dust Teaching – A preschool teacher who teaches with a Reggio mindset. I LOVE her classroom set up that she shares.

The Kavanaugh Report – This is a Montessori blog. Nicole, the author, is a mother of young children and exposes them to practical life skills such as cutting with a knife at age 1.

Please, don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss a post!

Why I Don’t Like Weekly Themes

March 3, 2018 Leave a Comment

In this post I am going to be pretty honest. If you teach with themes, that doesn’t make you a crappy teacher. It is one way to teach. I however, teach differently. Now, I will get right to the chase; I don’t like weekly themes.

Reasons I Don’t Teach with Weekly Themes:

My center isn’t set up that way
I use an emergent curriculum
My teaching philosophy doesn’t line up with weekly themes

My philosophy aligns closely with Reggio and Montessori. I adore both of these styles.

Reggio

I love Reggio becasue it is student-centered. It isn’t about me, it is all about the children, their needs and interests. My activities are thoughtfully planned out to spark the interest of the children. The children are in charge of their learning. Now, I do set out activities but I don’t usually do it because it is what I want to teach. I set out activities because it is something the kiddos have expressed interest in.

Right now, my kiddos are interested in pets. During free play a lot of them will crawl around barking or meowing while someone takes care of them. When we get our guided play in the morning I bring out our pets over bugs or dinosaurs while they are playing.

Montessori

Montessori philosophy, similarly to Reggio, focuses on the children. It is about providing hands-on learning experiences for children to observe, explore, and learn about the world around them. Montessori is also about setting up experiences to help children master practical life skills. Practical life skills are skills that, I assume, parents and educators want children to master such as pouring, cutting, stacking, feeding oneself, manners, taking turns, cutting, gluing, sorting, kindness, writing, etc. There are many things that can be considered “life skills”. I try to bring those skills out every day, or when the opportunity presents itself.

I also think Reggio and Montessori rooms are beautiful, you can see some examples here!

Emergent Curriculum

When planning I use an emergent curriculum. An emergent curriculum is a curriculum that presents itself as students interests emerge hence the name, emergent curriculum. This is the curriculum I used at my internship before graduating from UW. I find that this aligns best with my beliefs on children and what they are capable of. It also is very easy to incorporate Reggio and Montessori teachings when you are planning with children’s interests at the forefront.

Combining Reggio and Montessori with an emergent curriculum leads us to a more project-based way of teaching. I thoroughly enjoy this type of learning. Rather than learning an inch deep, we are learning a mile deep. Diving into their interests to fully see the whole picture. With that, we can incorporate math, literacy, motor development, science, and most importantly – play.

Play is where we see a child’s understanding and view of what is going on in their world. We can observe common themes coming out in their play.

Play

Now, I know what you might be thinking, you said no themes and now you’re talking about them? Yes. I use themes, but not weekly themes. Weekly themes are setting the room and centers up based on one specific topic such as penguins, dogs, doctors, winter etc. My themes are concepts that show themselves while they play such as transfer of materials, things that move, family, etc. You can read about how I let the children lead the play here.

Some of these concepts or themes present themselves through questions that are asked. Children are naturally curious, they want to know about the world. Which is why children around 2/3 ask “why” constantly. It is the parent/educators job to help answer their questions and foster their learning. Which, I know can be hard when if feels like the questions are never ending.

In future posts I will do a more in-depth look at Reggio, Montessori, and emergent curriculum.

Back to Weekly Themes

I prefer to set up areas in the room based on the children’s interests. At my internship I would arrive before the children and set up invitations that would invite children to play and explore. The theme that presented itself through that semester was water. We worked on pouring, mixing, colors, and smells with water every week. I would also set up invitations at the light table, block area, dramatic play, coloring, magnets, and lights. I moved materials around as well. Sand would be used at the light table and the regular tables. Blocks could be used in the block area, dramatic play, underneath the loft, or brought in from the big room to use in the classroom.

I don’t like weekly themes because I don’t believe that learning should be limited to one week. Learning should be ongoing every day. If I had focused on water for one week, my kiddos wouldn’t have gotten as much out of the experience. If I only allowed pet play to last one week, the kiddos, who have been playing like this for a month, wouldn’t have evolved their play. The benefits of free play far outweigh predesignated weekly topics.

I am all about making the learning meaningful and engaging for the children. If you are like me, that means going at the pace of each child and listening to their interests.

As always, thank you for reading!

If you enjoyed this, check out these other bloggers!

The Repurposed Nanny – She has bits of everything from DIY, Lifestyle, Kids, Recipes, and Decor.

Fairy Dust Teaching – A preschool teacher who teaches with a Reggio mindset. I LOVE her classroom set up that she shares.

Inquiring Minds – This is a kindergarten blog that also focuses on Reggio teachings. I enjoy browsing through her blog.

The Kavanaugh Report – This is a Montessori blog. Nicole, the author, is a mother of young children and exposes them to practical life skills such as cutting with a knife at age 1.

Please, don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss a post!

DIY Snow Ice Cream!

February 11, 2018 Leave a Comment

Before I start talking about the snow ice cream I have to say I had been feeling a bit under the weather this past week. Boo. My head hurt so much that I couldn’t look at screens, so I didn’t get a post written for my usual Saturday morning posting. With my sister’s Birthday celebrations this weekend, I didn’t get the chance to write the post I had *intended* to write. So instead here is a shorter post, but one I was going to write anyway! I have a recipe to make your own snow ice cream!

We had gotten almost a foot of snow the other day (on top of about 4-6 inches we got the day before), a parent had suggested we make snow ice cream! So, we did and it was a hit! I mean, who doesn’t love ice cream! It is EXTREMELY simple and the ice cream is delicious!

Ingredients

8-12 Cups of Snow (obviously)
1-2 TBS Vanilla
10-14 oz (or one can) of Sweetened Condensed Milk
Bowl
Spoon
Measuring Utensils

Making Snow Ice Cream

Our first step was to get the snow! Each kiddo scooped out two cups. I helped some of them get full cups where other kiddos didn’t need that help. We used fresh, untouched snow, but if you would rather use snow that has been used that’s up to you! We won’t judge! 😉

Step two is adding the ingredients. I opened up the can of sweetened condensed milk and let them smell it. One friend said “It smells like Macaroni and Cheese!” I also passed the Vanilla around, which they all really enjoyed.

The third step is to mix it! We passed the bowl around, letting everyone mix the ingredients together. It was interesting to see which friends knew to hold the bowl with one hand, and which ones tried to stir without keeping it still. It is all about exposure! We mixed it until it looked similar to ice cream. I made sure the condensed milk was all mixed in.

Finally, we were able to eat it! YUM! I managed to get a few pictures of them reacting to how cold it was. When we made it we had a high of 6 degrees Fahrenheit. So the ice cream was pretty cold to eat, however it melted pretty quickly.

Snow Ice Cream is very easy to make! If you don’t have Sweetened Condensed Milk, that is okay! Just use 2 cups of milk (any milk you please) and about a cup or so of sugar. It is a great way to bring the snow inside, and it adds for an extra treat!

I will get back on my Saturday morning postings next week! Thank you for understanding! As always, thank you for reading!

If you enjoyed this, check out these other bloggers!

The Repurposed Nanny – She has bits of everything from DIY, Lifestyle, Kids, Recipes, and Decor.

Fairy Dust Teaching – A preschool teacher who teaches with a Reggio mindset. I LOVE her classroom set up that she shares.

Inquiring Minds – This is a kindergarten blog that also focuses on Reggio teachings. I enjoy browsing through her blog.

Please, don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss a post!

Child-Led Play

December 23, 2017 2 Comments

There are many ways for children to learn through play. My favorite way to see them learning through play is child-led play. Child-led play is just as is sounds: play that is child-led. That doesn’t mean that children run the show, but they do have an equal say in everything that goes on. Child-led play is play that is directed by the child. It is play that explores the world and how it works. Child-led play is art created with adult guidance but not done by adults (also known as process art). It is play that is at the child’s level that works at their developmental level.

Why I Love Child-Led Play:

I love child-led play. I feel like I can get to know the kiddos in my group better by using child-led play. Child-led play makes me observe and think about what the children are doing. It takes some thoughtful planning to set up the materials in a way that interest the children and keeps them engaged for more than two minutes. Child-led play also allows children to really interact and play with each other. They are able to work on communication skills, problem solving skills, and their imagination. All of which I think are very important and beneficial as children grow!

How I Use Child-Led Play:

I try to incorporate child-led play into every part of our day. The morning is our prime-focus time as we have kiddos who get picked up from 2-5. After breakfast we have an activity. That activity can be a specific group of toys out, sensory bins, coloring, or puzzles. I base it off of what I am feeling as well as what the children request. Some days I don’t want to sweep up piles of sand from our sensory bins. Even though I remind them we keep the sand in the bin, it always makes its way onto the table…and chairs…and floor.

I try not to repeat activities during the week, but bring them back out in later weeks if the children were really engaged. I will also add or remove something if an activity didn’t work. Sometimes the children will request an activity that we have done earlier in the week that we will take out for the second time that week. When that does happen, I add different materials so that it seems like a new activity. I do this so the children are more engaged while they play instead of getting bored of the same activity every day. I find that switching up the morning activity encourages and increases engaged play and learning.

My Role in Child-Led Play:

With child-led play, adults should be in the passenger seat, along for the ride. Children aren’t given the drivers seat that often. Child-led play gives them the wheel to learn and play with what they want. When I introduce the play to the children, I let them decide where to take it. At times I will sit back and observe them playing.

Observe

When I observe their play I look at commonalities between the children. How many are really into transferring materials between cups, building high or building wide, and creating characters out of the materials. How they interact with the materials is a window into their mind, how it works, and where they are developmentally.

Play

I also will play with them. Like I said before, I’m just the passenger. I follow the children in their play. If we’re playing with play-doh and dinosaurs and they turn the play-doh in beds, I’ll do the same. What I do add to the play is my self-talk. I talk through what I am doing with them. “Oh, my dinosaur is so sleepy! He wants to lay down! My orange dinosaur is going to tuck him in. Good night dinosaur!” More often than not, the children do what I do. As that starts to happen I let the children really develop their play after my addition.

Scaffold

I will ask them what they are building or doing with the material. If they seem stuck I’ll give a suggestion. If we were building with toys and it kept falling over I would ask, “What if we make the bottom bigger?” Usually they say no becasue then they won’t have all of the materials to build it high. I know how science works, but children don’t and this is the best time for them to be exploring how everything works. They don’t have to take my suggestions, I don’t force them to.

Childrens Role in Child-Led Play:

As I said in the beginning, the children lead the play. This type of play is specific for children.

I don’t do it as “traditional” as some would, but I do allow the children to have the control while playing. I just set the materials out for them, which is based off Reggio Explorations. I’ll talk about that in another post.

Even though I set out the materials in the morning for the children to use, they still are able to decide how they are used. With our free play, that play is 100% child-led. They choose what toys to play with, when they play with them, for how long, and who they play with.

During our morning activities I set up materials such as play-doh and cookie cutters, knives, and bowls. After I set it up, I let the children take control. If they ask for another toy to enhance their play, I let them. There’s no need to say “no” to every request. That’s limiting their play, which isn’t the point of child-led play.

Why We Should Say Yes to Children – My Beliefs

November 24, 2017 Leave a Comment

I have many beliefs in children. I believe children are great. Children are undervalued in society right now. They hear “no” too often in their short lives. Granted, “no” can’t be 100% avoided, but saying “yes” is easier… and a lot more fun! Let’s say yes to kids! I’ve seen so many parents shielding their child from the world. We can’t let them get hurt, they can’t test their limits physically, they can’t give thoughtful comments, they can’t be sad–only happy emotions are allowed. We aren’t letting them experience all the wonders this world has to offer!

Sensory

Positives of Bringing Nature Inside:

Negatives of Bringing Nature Inside:

10 Must-Have Early Childhood Books

Surprise! Here is an extra book just because I can’t help myself!

Honorable Mentions

What is Play?

Stages of Social Play

Solitary Play

Onlooker Play

Parallel Play

Associative Play

Cooperative Play

Stages of Play and Cognitive Development

Sensorimotor

Functional

Constructive

Symbolic

What do I do with this information?

What is Sensory Play?

Benefits of Sensory Play

<img loading="lazy" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1154" src="https://i0.wp.com/www.playlandprek.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Sensory-Play.png?resize=940%2C788" alt="Benefits of Sensory Play | Playland Preschoolers" width="940" height="788" data-recalc-dims="1" />

Sensory Seekers and Sensory Avoiders

Sensory Play

Our Play

Water Play

Memories will be made. Messes can be easily cleaned.

Reasons I Don’t Teach with Weekly Themes:

Reggio

Montessori

Emergent Curriculum

Play

Back to Weekly Themes

As always, thank you for reading!

Ingredients

<img loading="lazy" class="aligncenter wp-image-1041 size-full" src="https://i1.wp.com/www.playlandprek.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/20180209_143824.jpg?resize=4032%2C3024" alt="DIY Snow Ice Cream | Playland Preschoolers" width="4032" height="3024" data-recalc-dims="1" />

Making Snow Ice Cream

Why I Love Child-Led Play:

How I Use Child-Led Play:

My Role in Child-Led Play:

Observe

Play

Scaffold

Childrens Role in Child-Led Play:

Story time. [Read more…] about Why We Should Say Yes to Children – My Beliefs

kaylacoffeechats

Story time.
[Read more…] about Why We Should Say Yes to Children – My Beliefs