Tag Archives: play

active learning, children, early education & play, education, imagination, language & communication, nature, outdoor play, parenting, parents, play, psychology, Reggio Emilia, science, sensory play, story telling, teaching

What is That White Stuff Flying Around? Co-constructing Knowledge, Sustained Shared Thinking and Seeing the World Through a Child’s Eyes.

June 2, 2017 rightfromthestart Leave a comment

Disclaimer the links to books referenced in this post, contain Amazon Affiliate Links.

Many years ago, I attended a training course where we were encouraged to follow the acronym OWLS in our teacher-child interactions. OWLS stood for

Observe

Wait

Listen

Speak

Children are naturally full of curiosity. Sometimes questions are asked as a way of thinking out loud and sometimes asked directly to obtain an answer from an adult. In both scenarios, if we follow OWLS we will discover a great deal about the children’s way of thinking and enable them to provide their own hypotheses.

If we are to support, rather than limit, children’s developing understanding, we need to allow them to help us recapture some of the wonder and innocence we have lost and to gain insight into their struggles to make sense of what is often a confusing and worrying world. Teaching is not about imposing our views, concerns or values on others. It is about enabling children to carry out their own investigations and draw their own conclusions. (Margaret Edgington – The Nursery Teacher in Action)

My children watched the fluff flying around the playground and wondered what it was. I’m not sure if they wanted a direct answer from me or a means of discussing possibilities together. I took it as the latter and listened to their thoughts.

The children used their existing knowledge about fairies, clouds, snow and cushion fillers to create hypotheses. They also borrowed ideas from the familiar story Cloudland by John Birningham to create a new story. Their answers could be a springboard to a project where the children create worlds, stories and characters involving the mysterious fluff.

Jerome Bruner explains that when we see children as thinkers, understanding is fostered through collaboration and discussion. The child is encouraged to express their views to achieve a meeting of minds with others with different views.

As the discussion ensued, the girls used their senses to explore the material and build on what they already know about the world to find answers. My role was to build an exchange of understanding between the two children and myself, to find the roots of the children’s systematic knowledge.

As we turned the corner we found a clump of the fluffy stuff.

The children began to construct even more elaborate stories, connecting with worlds they had previously imagined.

Encouraging these moments to develop into projects is described by Carolyn Edwards in The Hundred Languages of Children. She describes the role of the teacher in Reggio Schools.

The teachers constantly pay close attention to the children’s activity. They believe that when children work on a project of interest to them, they will naturally encounter problems and questions they will want to investigate. The teachers’ role is to help the children discover their own problems and questions. At that point, moreover, they will not offer ready solutions but instead help children to focus on a problem or difficulty and formulate hypotheses. Their goal is not so much to facilitate learning in the sense of making it smooth or easy, but rather to stimulate it by making problems more complex, involving or arousing. They ask the children what they need in order to do experiments – even when they realise that a particular approach or hypothesis is not “correct”. They serve as the children’s partners, sustaining the children and offering assistance, resources and strategies to get unstuck when encountering difficulties – Carolyn Edwards.

I wonder how many rich learning opportunities are missed in our school system because there isn’t time to slow down and teach in this way? Perhaps, all the more reason to share these experiences with our children when they are at home.

The children went on to discuss the ‘fluff’ with their friends. One friend told them it comes from a tree and they thought it was Dogwood. The next question was ‘What is a dogwood tree?’. This will be the next step in their discoveries.

active learning, art and crafts, early education & play, education, imagination, learning environnments, motivation, parenting, play, pre schoolers, teaching

Scrap Workshop:What do children learn from playing with boxes and scrap materials?

May 17, 2017 rightfromthestart Leave a comment

One of my favourite workshops to lead at a local play centre was scrap workshop.

I liked it because it was suitable for all ages, it was a natural extension to my heuristic play workshops with toddlers and it gave children the freedom to develop both creativity and skills.

We collected all kinds of scrap materials, large and small and displayed them in separate containers.

Examples of materials

boxes
tubes
plastic containers
fabric
pipe cleaners
beads
shells
pinecones
bottle tops
straws
netting

Sometimes we would give the children a project

make something that moves
make something that makes a sound
build a replica of the Mayflower

or a problem arising from a project or book

invent something to help Rapunzel get out of her tower
Can you build a house that can’t be blown down
How could you be rescued from a desert island?

but best of all we would make sure there was plenty of tape, string, scissors and markers and let them create and explore.

Sometimes they worked on small projects

or larger group constructions

they practised threading

and joining

made things for dramatic play

and problem solved

‘ When children engage with people, objects, ideas or events they test things out and solve problems. They need adults to challenge and extend their thinking. (EYFS 2008 – Active Learning).

scrap workshop — How can you balance 3 boxes without them breaking?

They made choices

Provide flexible resources that can be used in many different ways to facilitate children’s play and exploration’ (EYFS 2008 – Supporting every child).

and tested strategies

they discovered how two different materials could work together

‘ Every child’s learning journey takes a personal path based on their own individual interests, experiences and the curriculum on offer.’ (EYFS 2008 – Supporting every child.)

and nobody asked them “What is it?”

Active learners need to have some independence and control over their learning to keep their interest and to develop creativity.’ (EYFS 2008 – Active Learning).

They worked at a table

or on the floor

and made discoveries using all of their senses.

An open-ended project like this gives plenty of opportunities to observe and work alongside children, guiding them towards their next steps and sharing ideas together.

’ When children have opportunities to play with ideas in different situations and with a variety of resources, they discover connections and come to new and better understandings and ways of doing things. Adult support in this process enhances their ability to think critically and ask questions’ (EYFS 2008 – Creativity and critical thinking)

This child wasn’t interested in joining pieces or making anything. They explored filling and emptying.

This child wrapped and wrapped their construction with tape. They went on to wrap their hands with string. We provided them with materials they could explore wrapping in more depth – paper sheets, tape, string, ribbons , blankets, paper strips with tubes, poles, boxes, and table legs wrapped in string.

‘ Children need and will respond positively to challenges if they have a good relationship with the practitioner and feel confident to try things out.’ ( EYFS 2008 – Supporting learning).

The children were able to work in mixed ages. The youngest children were 2 and the oldest 10. All the children enjoyed the workshops and learned from and supported one another.

‘ In their play children learn at their highest level’ (EYFS 2008 – Play and Exploration).

‘

active learning, early education & play, education, EYFS, imagination, learning environnments, Maths, outdoor play, play, pre schoolers, Uncategorized

Do We Over Complicate Loose Parts?

April 12, 2016 rightfromthestart 5 Comments

WP_20160324_006 For those of you who aren’t familiar with the term loose parts, check out my post on the theory of loose parts. In simple terms, loose parts are moveable objects that can be used to create, explore and discover.

Educators often collect loose parts for their environments. Collections include buttons, feathers, beads, coins, shells and seeds. Loose parts are added to clay and dough, left in baskets around the room, used for weighing and measuring, to create art, on light and mirror tables and added to block play. I think though, that sometimes educators over-complicate loose parts. We get so excited about the different things we can provide for the children and the beautiful ways we can present them, that it is easy to forget the true essence of the theory of loose parts.

I was reminded as I played with my daughter at the park, that loose parts are everywhere. If we as educators don’t provide loose parts, the children will find them. A brick will become a piece of food, a calculator is a telephone, a sheet will become a cloak or torn paper will be money. Playing with loose parts is the way I played as a child, playing shops with empty boxes or filling empty bottles with leaves, petals, dirt and water. For the child, loose parts are everywhere, they probably don’t call them loose parts but they will find them.

For me the theory of loose parts is an attitude to how children play. It is an acceptance that children may use what is in their environment and make their own choices about what to do with it. Materials do not have to be displayed or stored beautifully, they simply need to be there. The following video illustrates children’s natural ability to find and use loose parts creatively.

early education & play, outdoor play, play, Uncategorized

Simple Pleasures

April 8, 2016 rightfromthestart 4 Comments

I believe that sometimes we try too hard to arrange things for our kids to do and it is important to let them be. There are however, some things that I feel we should introduce our children to. The simple pleasures that we had as kids, are sometimes forgotten and lost. If we are going to teach our children anything, lets preserve simple pleasures like these.

WP_20160324_009 — Learning to play hopscotch

WP_20130507_004 — Blowing a dandelion clock

WP_20140320_001 (2) — Making a daisy chain

WP_20140726_005 — Burying yourself in sand.

WP_20160404_002 — Making a paper aeroplane

What are your simple pleasures?

childhood, days out, early education & play, learning environnments, outdoor play, parenting, parents, play, risk taking, water play

You’re My Kind of Mum Friend Because…..

Image March 23, 2016 rightfromthestart 20 Comments

A few weeks ago I went for a walk to the park with my daughter. She likes to climb to the top of the climbing frame and play pirates. The game involves roaming the edges of the park for interesting treasures and on this day, she discovered big rocks. She proceeded to pick them up and roll them down the bank, watching them crash at the bottom. The only other child at the park was a little younger than my daughter and after observing her for a while, she found her own rock. She used all of her efforts to lift the rock and proudly show it to her mum. At which point, she was greeted with a look of horror and her mum quickly took the rock away and ushered her to ‘more suitable’ pursuits.

This kind of reaction is very familiar. When my children were toddlers, other parents would often ask me if my children were okay when they climbed a ladder and slid down the longest slide, as I observed from a distance. I have never been a parent to shadow my child’s every move and rarely feel the need to step in.

It is always refreshing to find a parent who shares my attitude. On a recent trip to the park with a friend, I was so happy to find someone who not only didn’t bat an eyelid when my eldest started paddling barefooted in the cold wet mud but actively encouraged the others to join in. When the children threw rocks on the ground to see if they would break , she gave them advice on how to do it safely, rather than stopping them because it was too dangerous.

You are my kind of mum friend because you let all these experiences happen.

FullSizeRender [345550] — It’s fun to stand on the roundabout, when we fell, we worked out how we needed to balance to stay on.

WP_20160322_003 1 — When you are 5 you can climb a big rock without any help.

WP_20151130_001 — I can test the ice if I stand on the edge and throw sticks to see if it will break.

WP_20151124_005 — I explore the size of the ripples as I throw stones into the pond. If I get too close I might get wet and the water is cold!

WP_20151113_002 1 — Mud is good – the squishier the better!

WP_20140501_005 — We don’t need a swimming costume to get wet.

WP_20140123_008 (1) — Who can find the biggest branch?

WP_20130619_011 — Don’t tell me it’s cold, I need to feel it!

FullSizeRender [345562] — It’s okay to play – even when you’re almost 12.

FullSizeRender [345556] — If I ride on my coat, I go faster.

FullSizeRender [345552] — It’s okay to remove your shoes and coat when it isn’t quite Spring.

blossom — Take off your shirt and play with a stick.

getting wet — I’m going to have a shower. I’m getting very wet, now the rain is staying on me.

And when you let these things happen, with a little bit of support they will have the courage to jump.

2 year olds, active learning, books, children, early education & play, families, parents, play, toddlers

What Toys Should I Provide for Babies and Toddlers?

January 15, 2016 rightfromthestart 2 Comments

Toy shop shelves are laden with toys claiming to be educational. For toddlers and babies, this usually means something noisy, requiring batteries. I have always held that there is little educational value in such toys. In my experience children play with them for a short period of time before moving on to something else.

Alison Gopnik discusses the manner in which children experiment with toys in her book the Philosophical Baby. A toy that worked by moving levers was presented to a group of 4-year-olds. The adults demonstrated to the first group, how it worked, while the second group were left to work it out for themselves. The second group spent significantly more time playing with the toy than the first, who quickly abandoned it once they understood its function.

Another recent study led by Professor Anna Sosa of Northern Arizona University focused on children between the ages of 10 and 16 months old. She gave families three different kinds of toys to play with; books, traditional toys like stacking blocks and electronic toys. The toys that stimulated most conversation were books, closely followed by blocks. The families playing with the electronic toy shared very little conversation, allowing the toy to do the talking for them.

If you are considering which toys to buy for a young child, these points may help.

The most important resource we can give to babies and toddlers is ourselves. Spend time playing tickling games, singing to them, playing rhyming games, blowing bubbles or rolling a ball.
Other suitable toys for babies and early toddlers include small musical instruments for exploring sound ( saucepans, spoons and homemade shakers work equally well), a treasure basket or board and cloth books.
Think about toys that they will play with for a long time. The best toy investments for our family include magnatiles, wooden blocks, paper and pencil, a magnetic drawing board and play food.
Toys do not need to be expensive. Children can have hours of fun with a balloon, pot of bubbles, home-made play dough or a cardboard box.

The infographic below has many more developmentally appropriate ideas for play.

Helping Your Child Develop Through Play by Wooden Toy Shop

early education & play, outdoor play, play

How to Create a Low-Cost Outdoor Playspace in Your Own Backyard.

July 6, 2015 rightfromthestart 5 Comments

I recently hosted a party for friends and their families. I was surprised at the comments I received about my garden being an exciting place for children as I often think of it as small with too many trees and very little grass. I’ve worked hard to make it an enticing play space and most of the materials have incurred little or no cost. Here is a little tour.

Water Play

The water wall is a recent project. The pipe came from an old vacuum cleaner and the other containers are empty bottles. The containers are fastened to the tree using nails and pipe cleaners or threaded through markers for obstacle courses. The tyre at the base is to help my youngest daughter to reach.

The good thing about the water table is that we can move it to different parts of the garden. It is perfect as a water source for the water wall . Other materials can also be used in the water table like the packing peanuts the children built sculptures with in the picture above.

Potions and Mud Pies

This is one of the children’s favourite activities and we have experimented with a variety of potion stations and mud kitchens. This is our current set up. The plastic tub was purchased very cheaply after Hallowe’en and fits perfectly inside a tyre. A split pallet in between is the workspace and another tyre with planks of wood laid over is where I set out materials for them to experiment with. Test tubes, containers and sticks for mixing are conveniently located in storage nearby.

I didn’t know these mud tables existed until one was offered on my local Buy Nothing Group. It would be easy to make something similar with a washing up bowl on a stand.

I have tried different positions for mud table and play kitchen and I am still unsure which works best. Currently they are close to each other but not in the same space so that the mud table, potion station and kitchen can be used together or separately.

Storage on the trees. The containers hold kitchen utensils for the kitchen and pans hang on hooks screwed into the tree.
storage on a tree

Sand

The children love this sandbox that I bought second-hand. It is really sturdy and has held out really well. The trees in our garden offer lots of shade so the girls can often be found making up imaginative games in the sandbox.

I use a storage net from Ikea to store the smaller sand toys, water toys and small balls and hang it from a tree branch.

Mark Making

The girls are always making little paper signs to include in their play so I added a chalk board to the tree. I placed it near to their play shop so that they could use it as a sign.

The spool table another space for mark making

Imaginative Play

My eldest daughter created this puppet theatre using a sheet and a few sticks jammed between 2 trees. I nailed the sticks into the tree to stop them falling and added a board from a broken picture frame for them to write on. This could be painted with chalkboard paint but works just as well without.

We were donated a large amount of fake flowers last Summer and we used them to create a flower shop using an old plant stand and their play till. We could also use the puppet theatre with a table behind it. The girls use cars and waggons as the delivery vehicles.

The Fairy Garden

Quiet Time

Another Ikea purchase but something similar could also be made using a hula hoop and ribbon or tulle. I hang it from a tree and put cushions and books inside.

quiet corner We also use a parasol for a shady spot. The girls recently created a face painting station beneath it. The parasol came with our water table and doesn’t have a stand. I used the stand for my Christmas tree.

Sometimes they use my umbrella propped up on the porch for shade.

Physical Play

Of all of the things we have in the garden, the one that is used the most by all of the children, is the trampoline. We have a Springfree trampoline that I was lucky enough to win in a competition. They are not the cheapest trampolines but based on amount of use and durability, had I bought the trampoline, it would have been a worthwhile investment. The trampoline is overshadowed by trees so the girls keep a broom next to it and brush off fallen leaves and seeds before getting on. They have created a number of games to play, make up shows or practice gymnastics and often my eldest disappears to the trampoline for a bit of peace and quiet.

The balance beam is strung between 2 trees with paracord.

We use tyres to make obstacle courses. Getting rain water out of them is also an interesting challenge for my youngest.

I’ve made ribbon sticks before using sticks bought from a craft shop. These sticks collected from the garden work just as well. The ribbon can be glued onto the sticks or simply tied. Ribbon sticks with multiple ribbons work well too.

Sound Making

Our music garden is housed between small trees. We made a jingle stick by nailing metal bottle tops to an old broom handle.

Observing Nature

My daughter made this nesting box and this year for the first time we were rewarded with a family of nesting sparrows. You could hear the hungry little chicks as their parents flew close to them and we spent a lot of time lying in the hammock watching them going in and out of the bird house.

Other regular visitors are squirrels, hummingbirds and an occasional racoon.

I am always interested in gathering new ideas for outdoor play spaces. If you are interested too, follow my Pinterest boards: Outdoor Play, Children’s Garden Inspiration and Forest School.

active learning, art, art and crafts, books, early education & play, imagination, parenting, parents, play, review

Children’s Imaginations – What is the Adult’s Role in Nurturing Creative Children?

January 16, 2015 rightfromthestart Leave a comment

This post contains an amazon affiliate link.

I had an interesting conversation with a grandmother at one of my recent classes. In the class we decorated pebbles. The children were aged 2-4 and she had joined with a 2- year-old who was fascinated by stones. He drew on the pebbles and then she helped him to add eyes.

When she took her grandson home, her daughter looked at the stones and remarked that it was not his own work. She felt that during her own childhood, her mother had never been satisfied with her art projects. She would always offers suggestions for improvement, rather than accepting it the way that she wanted it and felt strongly that she would encourage her son to express things in his own way.

At the next art session, the grandmother was clearly reflecting on this with interest. She stood completely back from the child as he was scribbling and snipping, without any interference and discussed her daughter’s comment with me.

I found her reaction interesting; she clearly wasn’t comfortable with the distance but wanted to respect her daughter’s wishes. We discussed the balance between taking over and being on hand to help or extend learning. I explained my response to children when they are learning to draw, discussed in ‘I Don’t Know How to Draw Ducks’ Feet’ – How to Support Young Childrens’ Drawing,” Sometimes it is hard not to take over when a child says they can’t do something but a little support can encourage a child to trust in their own ability. Thankfully, I had recently finished reading Ursula Kolbe’s latest book Children’s Imagination: Creativity Under Our Noses
The role of parents in nurturing creative children is the main theme of the book. It encourages parents to see that creative play can arise from the simplest things and that letting go will foster children’s imagination.

If we want to nourish children’s creativity what exactly is the adult’s role?

“All too often we adults feel the need to label, to continually teach, wheras close attention and companiable silence are often more valuable. Valuable because then anything can happen” Kolbe says.

The role of the adult is to:

Provide Resources

The adult’s role is to provide interesting materials. A constant stream of new materials, however, leaves little room for development of expression. If, on the other hand, a variety of materials are easily accessible, children can choose those that interest them.

The greatest possibilities occur, as children ask “what can I do with this?” Perhaps,this is why children love the outdoors, where loose parts are plentiful. At home, I keep paper, pencils, scissors, watercolour paint, brushes tape and glue next to our kitchen table. Most mornings the girls will go to the shelves, take a piece of paper and scissors and create something. My kitchen table is rarely clear but I love to listen to their stories as they draw their latest picture or make a sign for imaginative play.

Observe and Listen

One of the simplest pleasures is to sit and observe a child or group of children at play. The little pearls of wisdom that children offer could otherwise be missed. Observing encourages teachers and parents to question why things happen or how play can be extended . Loris Malaguzzi describes it as

“Catching the ball that children throw us.”

It is easy for parents and teachers to find a wealth of activities for their children to do but most of the time it isn’t necessary. If we follow the children’s lead we can become their supporter, encourager and co-explorer explains Kolbe.

“A steady diet of adult-chosen, one-off activities denies children opportunities to find the extraordinary in the ordinary for themselves”

Time and Space

The most important things we can give children are time and space. Our role, is to provide inviting materials and allow children unhurried time to explore them, revisiting as many times as they would like. Unhurried time is almost impossible at school, where a strict timetable needs to be followed. I think it is vital therefore, to provide this at home. My children were upset recently at a local playcentre, because their things were tidied away before they had finished playing. Leaving things out for a while shows that their creations are valued and allows them to modify and expand their ideas. Ask children if they have finished before tidying or encourage them to clear their own materials, so that you can be certain they are finished.

Show Interest Without Intrusion

If we sit near children as they draw, build, paint and play imaginatively, they will begin to tell us the story behind it. We will learn far more about their inner thoughts and motivations than we would by questioning children about what things are and offering endless suggestions. Let them lead play and show interest in what they do. My children don’t mind when I observe their play, taking photographs and writing notes. They ask me what I am writing or if they can see the photographs. It shows them that I am interested in what they do and value it enough to record their thoughts. I explain that I am telling the story of their play, so that we can remember and share with other people far away. Sometimes I stay indoors and watch from a window or listen from afar. It is important that they have times without any adult nearby, to develop their own ideas and find their own solutions to challenges.

Kolbe’s book is a wonderful insight into the things that ignite children’s imaginations and how parent’s can nourish and support this. The examples in the book are simple but inspiring and don’t require expensive resources or time consuming planning. The close of each chapter includes a written conversation between Kolbe and Susan Whelan, a parent. They talk through their observations of the anecdotes in the book. I particularly liked this aspect, as it gives it a personal element and shows the importance of reflecting with others to obtain a deeper understanding.

I read this book at a time when my youngest daughter is eager to share her stories through drawing and painting, imaginative and sensory play. It reminded me that these moments are precious and to take time to listen and record them.

2 year olds, active learning, clay, early education & play, play, teaching, toddlers, UK

How to Teach 2-Year-Olds: Advice for Teachers Who are New to this Age Group.

November 11, 2014 rightfromthestart Leave a comment

Most Pre-school teachers in the UK are experienced at teaching children aged 3-5. It is rare however, that graduates or teachers with Qualified Teacher Status are appointed to teach children of 2 or under. This may be set to change, as children from disadvantaged backgrounds are offered government-funded early education. There is lively debate as to the ‘best’ type of setting for these children but evidence shows that the quality of the setting is the most important factor. Graduate and teacher led settings have been shown to be the most effective at closing the achievement gap (Matters et al 2014).

‘Early Education’ have published an excellent briefing for school leaders considering offering provision to 2-year-olds. It also offers valuable advice to anyone considering teaching 2-year-olds. In the search for graduate teachers for this age group, it is possible that experienced and well qualified teachers will be asked to take on a new role of leading this provision. This may be daunting. It certainly was for me the first time I encountered this age group.

When I began working in a mixed age nursery environment for 2-5 year olds, I was used to teaching children who could sit on a carpet in a large group and listen, who could draw representational figures, talk and share ideas, were toilet trained and who played for the most part, cooperatively with their peers. Planning for the 2-year-olds terrified me at first but I soon learned that creating an environment in which they could freely explore and move around was the most important consideration.

Our mixed age setting was split into 3 rooms. Sometimes the 2-year-olds were in their own group (and always at small group time) but for a large chunk of time, they were mixed with 3 and 4-year-olds. Teaching in a mixed age setting comes with its own challenges.

Common Concerns About Teaching in Mixed Age Settings

If you are a parent of more than one child, begin by thinking about how you manage the challenges below at home. In a mixed age family unit, compromises have to be made but the youngest children’s experiences are enriched by the older siblings and the older children learn to nurture, guide and understand different needs.

How do you find activities that are appropriate for 2 year olds but also challenging enough for the older children?

Choose activities that are open-ended. Building blocks, small world play, painting, drawing, clay, water, sand and other sensory activities, imaginative play and recycled materials are perfect for all ages. Make sure there are times during the day when children are in a smaller group with same age peers. Build an engaging outdoor learning environment and allow the children to move freely between indoor and outdoors.

How can you ensure safety without denying the older children valuable experiences?

Tools can be kept out of reach of toddlers inquisitive hands but in a place where older children can reach or ask an adult to get it. It is important to me that my children have ready access to mark making materials but when my youngest was at the drawing on walls stage, these were pushed back on the shelf where she could not reach but her sisters could.

If younger children want to use scissors, clay tools or small loose parts don’t deny them the opportunity; simply ensure an adult is sat with them to support them. Keep the materials to one area which has adult supervision.

How do you stop the younger ones spoiling older children’s games by knocking down things they have built or taking toys they are playing with?

Learning to negotiate with younger children is important, learning that children of different ages have different needs and they do not mean to spoil things for the older children. Encourage older children to play at building and knocking things down with the younger children and allow the older children to place their completed models out of the younger children’s reach. Have special places for ongoing projects and ensure that there is some time with their own age group. Projects requiring a finished product or advanced skills are best for small group time.

Additional things I learned about teaching 2-year-olds

They like to move around and explore. Often, they will not stay at one activity for long and prefer activities with lots of space rather than at a table top.

They find large groups distracting. Do not expect them to sit for a story session with 3 and 4-year-olds as they will more than likely lose interest before the end. They would much prefer to be read a short book in a small group, or better still 1:1 on an adult’s lap.

They like songs that are simple and short with actions, puppets, props or simple instruments to maintain interest . Again this is best in a small group

They love messy, tactile or sensory play and are interested in exploring materials. They are fascinated by processes and how things work. This may mean they will use materials in unexpected ways – tipping, throwing or splashing, for example. Try to channel these investigations in positive ways. Do not expect them to create a finished art product.

Some are not yet talking, others may be difficult to understand. It takes time to build relationships with these children and understand their needs. Play alongside them and observe. Build positive relationships with parents and help the children to build a secure relationship with you

They are still learning to use tools and will need adult supervision when using scissors, small items and books.

They learn by repetition, so don’t be worried that your planning isn’t varied. Try to spot schemas and re-occurring fascinations and plan a variety of experiences to support them.

‘Art’ projects work best on a large-scale. Rolls and large sheets of paper, chunky crayons, blocks of clay, pavement chalk and large brushes are all perfect for this age group.

They will assert their independence. Give them plenty of choices – I need you to come and have a drink, would you like a blue or a red cup?

Below are a selection of activities for 2-year-olds or in mixed age settings.

Pretend Play

Do not limit this to a home corner, use your imagination to create familiar experiences like shopping, new ones such as a vets or pure fantasy with pirates or fairies.

Water Beads

These are great for a water or light table.

Painting on the Ground

With paint or with water. Decorating brushes are especially popular.

Water Play

Indoors, outdoors or even in the rain.

Exploring Sound

Create a music garden or sound wall

Clay

An essential material in any early years classroom.

Large Scale Projects

Paint on the ground, use large rolls of paper to print with feet, hands, leaves etc, paint large cardboard boxes, build with big bricks.

Treasure Hunt

Finding hidden objects, How many of a given object can they find, following a checklist, finding different coloured objects, searching for things of interest or excavation.

I hid them in the bushes. Found one! Now I have 1,2,3.4 butterflies, only 4 left to find.

Loose Parts and Nature Play

Loose parts don’t have to be small and young children are fascinated by mud, sticks and other natural materials.

Potion Making

Potion Making is great for water tables or outdoors for sensory exploration and scientific experimentation.

Sensory Materials

Many sensory materials can be made with simple materials, for example, Goop. playdough, slime, or bubble mixture. A list of sensory recipes is available for downloadfrom TES Connect.

Stories and Songs

Bookfinder is an excellent resource for finding books suitable for a particular age groups as are the booklists provided by the National Literacy Trust.

Words for Life have an excellent list of songs for young children complete with lyrics and MP3’s. This list of songs for 2-year-olds from teaching 2 and 3 year olds is also worth consulting.

art and crafts, childhood, children, early education & play, education, parenting, play, pre schoolers, Uncategorized

Why Do Young Children Draw Belly Buttons?

November 5, 2014 rightfromthestart 2 Comments

My youngest daughter (age 4) has recently started to draw detailed pictures. Mostly they are people. She always starts with the eyes, adds a nose and mouth and then draws the circle for a head. After adding hair, she draws a torso, arms, legs, hands and feet. The finishing touch is always a belly button. I found this fascinating. I don’t remember my older children doing this for any sustained period of time, if at all.

In the earliest stages of children’s drawings of people, there is no torso. At this stage they often draw a navel (or circle) between the legs to depict that there is a torso there. I’m not so familiar with children drawing belly buttons onto a torso however.

Clearly, children under the age of 5 do not generally draw clothes on their people. Seeing a navel on her sister’s drawing, immediately led my 6-year old to the assumption that it was naked. As they talked through the drawing together, the picture became one of a daddy and his little girl in the shower and anatomically correct details were added. These didn’t survive into later drawings when her sister was not present but the placement of the belly button continued.

There is a boy and a girl holding hands, the boy is a man and the girl is his child. They are naked because they were in the shower. ( The lines above are water from the shower)

My intrigue grew, when a friend with a child of a similar age shared her daughter’s drawing of the family. There was the belly button again.

I decided to ask an expert and consulted Ursula Kolbe author of Rapunzel’s Supermarket:All about Young Children and Their Art for help. She suggested that children are fascinated by belly buttons and the drawing of a simple round shape is often intensely satisfying. Perhaps then, it is the circles that she finds fascinating. The drawing sequence always begins with eyes made up of a circle within a circle. Kolbe also suggested that children often copy the ideas of other children but since my little one is yet to attend preschool and only has her sisters to influence her this is unlikely in her case.

Often what children include or don’t include in their drawings is determined by the sequence in which they draw. “If a child draws a torso and then legs they sometimes won’t go back up to include a navel even if they intended to do so” says Kolbe. I watched my daughter’s sequence with interest; she always drew the whole person and then went back to draw the navel as a finishing touch.

Sorting through boxes, I came across some old photographs of me as a child. In amongst them was this.

I must have been 4 or 5 years old when I drew this man, complete with belly button. What a magnificent and timely discovery to help solve my conundrum.

Right from the Start

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Why Do Young Children Draw Belly Buttons?

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