Don't Forget to Play

The Child Care Connection is a resource center for daycare providers and early childhood educators. I receive their newsletter and wanted to share an article with you about-

"The Importance of Play in Early Childhood"

Carol M. Tiggelaar, MA, LCPC Early Childhood Behavioral Consultant

Play is so vital to optimal child development that it has been recognized by the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights as a right of every child. However, its value has been diminished by the promotion of hundreds of 'smart baby products' and the misconception that the earlier children begin to master the basic elements of reading such as phonics and letter recognition, the more likely they are to succeed in school. And so kindergarten has become heavily focused on teaching literacy and other academic skills and preschool is rapidly following suit. Our society has been lead to believe that play is a waste of time. As a result, directors and teachers are feeling more and more pressure to focus on the the 3 R's and limit unstructured play.

Play is the most effective and powerful way for young children to learn. Often it is said that play is the work of children, the primary method for them to learn about themselves, others and their world, scientists have found evidence that play can sculpt the brain and build denser webs of neural connections. This means, when we play we literally exercise our brain cells. The nerve cells in the brain actually thicken and grow as we play.

Following is a summary of some of the serious learning that happens during play (this is adapted from the Your Active Child: How to Boost Physical, Emotional and Cognitive Development through Age Appropriate Activity, Rae Pica (McGraw-Hill, 2003)

1. Blocks and other building materials encourage creativity, reproduce places and experiences in a child's world, develop eye-hand coordination and motor control, encourages discovery and mastery of mathematical and scientific findings for the child.

2. Cooking activities develop small motor coordination and introduce pre-math and reading readiness.

3. Dramatic play encourages the child to try various roles, to interact appropriately with peers and to practice social verbal communication.

4. Play with plants, animals and other things in the natural environment encourages an understanding of the world of nature.

5. Unstructured art activities provide a way for the child to express feelings and ideas. They assist in the development of fine motor control and skills in handling tools.

6. Manipulatives encourage eye-hand coordination and the seeing of similarities and differences in color, size and shape. They also help develop visual memory, practice classification and individual activity and self-reliance.

7. Water and sand play provides the opportunity to develop small muscle coordination and eye-hand coordination. It also provides for cooperation and stimulates verbal communication. It helps regulate mood.

Rooty Tooty Fresh and Fruity Fun

November is Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is food and we are having fun with food in the MWF classes. We started off talking about healthy foods and junk foods. We gave each child a scissors and a grocery ad and the children cut out food and glued on the 'HEALTHY' or 'JUNK' chart. The children were very enthusiastic about this activity. They spread out on the floor around the room and it was just fun! So fun we ran out of grocery ads so I had to do a shout out for more.

I have 3 x 5 cards with fruits and vegetables. The card has an illustration and the name of the fruit or vegetable. I showed the children a card and we identified as a fruit or vegetable. We talked about where it grew (tree, bush, vine, under the ground, etc.)

We gave the children the grocery ads, spread out all over the room and more cutting and gluing. We made fruit salad for snack which was super yummy and overall enjoyed by all the students. We had peaches, pears, pineapple chunks, mandarin oranges, maraschino cherries, blueberries and strawberries. I'll admit it was good!

We recorded if we liked or didn't like the fruit salad. When we record results we use a lot of math vocabulary-more, less, greater, least, etc. We look at the chart and estimate which has more and count. The children are also asked to 'write' the number on the carpet or in the air.

We also read the 'Seven Silly Eaters' by Mary Ann Hoberman and illustrated by Marla Frazee. This was a favorite with my youngest who was a 'silly eater'. Bread and ketchup was his favorite. I know...seriously it was his favorite. Thank goodness children do grow out of food phases. Anyway, Mrs. Peters has seven silly eaters and deserves sainthood for cooking special foods for all of them until a wonderful mishap occurs in the kitchen. The rhyming text and detailed illustrations make it a great addition to your home library or check it out at the library. I did a quick search on YouTube and didn't come up with anything worth viewing. We also wrote about if the children were silly eaters what would they eat.

Want to do more??? At the grocery store (if you have time), spend a little time in the produce section and look at all the fruits and vegetables. Try a new fruit or vegetable. Make fruit salad at home. We had the children help cut the larger pieces of fruit into bite size pieces. Make fruit kabobs. Have some rooty tooty fresh and fruity fun with your child.

The Five Senses

The holiday season is a wonderful time for you and your child to explore the five senses. We have had two science centers in our room for the MWF classes-hearing and smelling. Notice lots of words and picture clues in the center for easy reading.

Want to do more at home??? Two quick ideas...POPCORN. Popcorn uses all five of our senses. We can see the popcorn, hear it pop, touch the popcorn, smell the popcorn while it's popping and taste the popcorn. Soda works, too.

Get a bag and fill with common household items. Reach in the bag and try to guess what you have picked.

While you are out and about this holiday season, pay attention to the sights, sound and smells of the holiday with your child.

I SPY

You are not going to believe this but when my nieces and nephews were little I was the aunt who did the crafts and games during the holidays. We just finished an I SPY unit in our TTH class and the I SPY bottles would be a fun favor for the kids table at your Thanksgiving dinner.

This is the second year for our I SPY unit and again we had great fun. Each child made an I SPY bottle for home. For complete directions click http://metamoracommunityprek.blogspot.com/2009/11/i-spy-bottles.html

We used flavored water bottles for the take home craft. Our classroom bottles are 2 liter bottles. I prefer using bottles with smooth sides for easier viewing.

Want to do more? Go to the I SPY website for games and activities.

http://www.scholastic.com/ispy/games/index.htm

Counting

This is another counting activity we have in our room. We do not use worksheets at our preschool so we have to provide active ways for the children to count. We usually have a basket of die cut seasonal or holiday shapes. Each shape has a number. The students are to count out stickers and have a teacher check for accuracy.

The ICC Child Care Connection has a die cut machine. The cost is minimal (I think it was a dollar last spring). Bring your own paper. Call ahead for hours of the work area. The Child Care Connection is located at ICC North at 54o7 N. University. Click for addtional information and phone numbers. http://www.icc.edu/childcareconnection/

Counting, Sorting and Patterns

The MWF classes are playing with candy pumpkins and candy corn. Before we give the children the candy, I explain many children have touched it and it has been on the floor. Do they want to eat it? NO! They are old enough to realize the candy is pretty fun to count but pretty gross to eat. We also often end our activity by passing out a piece of fresh candy corn! We sort the candy, make patterns and count out ten pieces.

Some days we have the children stand up and we sort children. We sort by who is wearing long sleeves, short sleeves, blue jeans, a hoodie, who has an older brother, older sister, etc. The goal is learning to find a commonality between things.

Counting is a math skill we work on everyday. With this activity, we have each child count out ten pieces of candy. I often have parents tell me their child can count to ten, a hundred or whatever but counting out ten items is a different skill. It is harder because the child has to have the one to one correspondence between number and item.

You can easily count, sort and create patterns at home. This weekend is a great time to start. Empty those Halloween bags and count, sort and create patterns with your Halloween candy.

Click for more ideas!
http://metamoracommunityprek.blogspot.com/2009/10/counting-sorting-and-patterns.html

Green Goo

Preschool Chemistry 101-Green Goo
For letter G and Halloween, we made green goo today. Originally, I had wanted to make the goo in small batches to send home. Aren't you glad that didn't pan out? :-) After a few failures, we went with larger batches. Many of the recipes you find on the Internet (including the one I have) show mixing a teaspoon at a time. Go big or go home, I say. This activity does require adult supervision. Here is what worked for us...

You will need:
Liquid starch
Glue
Food coloring
Small container/bowl for mixing
Spoon (we used Popsicle sticks and then disposed of them)

There are thousands of recipes out there for slime but this is what really worked for us today. I put a several drops of food coloring in the container and then added about 1/4 cup of glue. The kids mixed the food coloring and the glue. When the glue was green, I slowly added the liquid starch (less than a 1/4 cup). The kids stirred and stirred and were able to see and feel the chemical reaction. We let the goo sit for about five minutes and then rolled and kneaded the goo. Store goo in a zip-loc bag in the refrigerator.

I didn't measure the glue or the starch. It's preschool science not rocket science. It was just easier to pour the glue in and then add the starch. The consistency of the goo is between Silly Putty and Jell-o. We talked about chemistry, chemical reactions and molecules. Serious science mixed with serious fun.

If you make goo- try pulling the goo quickly, try pulling the goo slowly, roll the goo into a ball and drop onto the table, roll into a ball and set in a bowl or put on a table. Put the goo into the freezer for about an hour. What happens???

For more recipes search 'slime recipes' or 'silly putty recipes'. There are also lots and lots of video demonstrations on YouTube.