Friday, December 30, 2011

The Tossing Game

Throwing things has always been an activity that I try to discourage indoors but I have found it impossible to eliminate.  Long ago I decided to give the children a throwing activity that could be done indoors and still be safe for the children and the contents of my home.

I bought brightly coloured plastic pot scrubbers from the dollar store.  Their texture is interesting and they are round like a ball but because they are soft and lightweight they do little damage to people and property.  To make this activity more that just a physical challenge I also purchased some brightly coloured baskets.  I encourage the children to throw the scrubbers into the basket that most closely matches the colour of the pot scrubber that they are tossing.

I’ve brought this game out several times this month;


I usually let the children decide where to place the baskets.  If necessary I will offer some assistance in determining places that allow enough distance between the ‘standing’ spot and the targets.


I discourage competition between the children but they can ‘keep score’ if they want to compare the progress they make from one turn to the next.

Recently the children have been adding some new aspects to the game like juggling the ‘balls’ before they throw them.  Often this works a little like shuffling cards – it adds a bit more ‘chance’ to the outcome;


Seriously, I need a better camera or improved reaction time or something – these pictures just don’t capture what the children are actually doing.

I was a little apprehensive when one of the children suggested ‘tossing the basket’ but I let him show me what he meant.  He demonstrated a technique that was similar to a chef tossing food in a frying pan;


It actually took a fair amount of force to get those scrubbers airborne – and an enormous effort to ensure the landed back in the basket.

So many activities from simple everyday items – enhancing child development through play.

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

That's Not a Christmas Tree

I used to do a lot of decorating for Christmas.  I hung garland and swags on railings and door frames.  I put decorations on every available space on walls and shelves.  There were lights for all the windows.  My children helped me decorate our tree – we had more ornaments than we could possibly fit on the six foot tall tree.  I put the tree on a two foot tall table so the top of the tree touched the ceiling and there was plenty of room for plenty of gifts underneath.

I began all this decorating on the first day of December and took it all down on Boxing Day.  I felt it was a lot of work – it was something that I considered a duty not something that I actually enjoyed.  Some other members of my family would occasionally agree to help but I found out that they only did it because they thought it was important to me.  Huh?  I only decorated for them.

As my children got older I decorated less.  We bought a four foot tree and later I recycled the old six foot tree as part of the nature area in the playroom.  It was still difficult to persuade anyone to help me decorate the four foot tree and no matter where I put it it always seemed to be in someone’s way.

I got a two foot tall tree – I selected all the smallest ornaments and only decorated the tree once.  On Boxing Day I put the still decorated tree in a box and tossed it in the attic to wait for next year. It took just minutes to get it down, plop it on the table and fluff it up a bit.

This year I forgot to get the tree down at the beginning of December.  Maybe it was the warmer weather and lack of snow but I didn’t even think about decorating until it was almost the middle of December.  I put up my winter village – it stays in the window until spring.  I didn’t bother getting the tree from the attic.  I didn’t even put the window clings on the windows.  Nobody seemed to notice though.

Then last week one of the daycare children asked ‘Hey Cheryl, where’s your Christmas tree?’  I was going to tell them it was in the attic but instead I said, ‘It’s in the nature area’. There was silence as the children looked at each other – they seem puzzled.

There is no Christmas tree in the nature area.’ one of them said.  I pointed at the pine tree in the corner;


That’s not a Christmas tree’ they said in unison.

Why not?’  I asked

It has no decorations.’ They replied.

‘We could decorate it,’ I suggested, ‘but my decorations are in the attic so we’ll have to make some.’  I had seen a Christmas decoration craft over at The Crafty Crow that I thought would be suitable for all the children – and I had some sparkly poster board that would work for this purpose.

I gathered some supplies and started cutting out the circles and some pieces of yarn.


The preschoolers were most interested in the scraps that were left over after I cut out the circles.


The cats liked them too.


We got busy making decorations.  Everyone had their preferred method.  There were intricate designs with multiple colors and simple designs that had really long loops for hanging.  Some children spent a lot of time on each ornament and insisted that each one they made was different from every other one.  There was one child who mass produced a dozen identical ornaments in less than 15 minutes!


We hung all the completed ornaments on the tree;


There was still plenty of room on the tree and enough supplies to make many more ornaments so I’ve left the tray out in the sun room.  Each day there are some more ornaments to add to the tree.


Now we have a Christmas tree.  It’s ours and we love it.  There are no Christmas tree rules – each tree is special and unique.  Small or large, exquisite or plain, artificial or real, traditional or unconventional; it’s your tree – you decide.

Go check out some of these interesting Christmas tree creations

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

The Christmas Gift

When I signed on for the Post-a-Week 2011 challenge I also began following their daily posts for topic ideas and inspiration.  Many of their suggestions for post topics have been very interesting – some I thought would be fun to answer.  Others like the one from October 2ndIf You Could Change How Schools Work….’ I would have loved to answer but they would have taken a huge amount of time and probably a whole series of posts.  Generally though, I have enough ideas for post topics that I don’t need any more suggestions.

The suggestion from December 11th was one that I couldn’t ignore.  They asked ‘What’s the best gift you’ve ever received?’ I immediately knew my answer to this question.  There was no deliberation, reflection, or consideration.  For me the answer was instantaneous.

I didn’t have time to write that day but I couldn’t stop thinking about it.  I was out shopping for most of the day.  I noticed the items in other carts.  Were these things gifts for others?  Would the recipient think it was the best gift they had ever received?  If so, for how long would the item remain at the top of their list?

I suppose the answer would depend on the recipient’s definition of ‘best’.  Whether the gift was something they desperately needed, had the hottest new technology, or something they considered to be special in some other way. For me the gift that came to mind was not the ‘biggest’ gift or the ‘most expensive’.  The item itself was not particularly rare or unique.  I did not receive this gift from someone who was a prominent part of my life.  However, this gift is the one that I consider the most memorable and it has remained so for more than 40 years.

First, I should start with a little background.  As a child I was extremely withdrawn.  I rarely spoke to anyone – especially not unfamiliar people.  Visiting the homes of family or friends I would sometimes disappear behind the couch or some other large piece of furniture and not come out until my mother announced that it was time to leave. In school I was frequently paralyzed with fear when called on in class – unable to do anything except stare blankly at the teacher.

My father was in the military and when I was 7 years old our family moved to Germany.  Not knowing the language seemed to make my silence a much more acceptable behaviour. We lived in a small town about 20 miles from the air force base.  Our family was befriended by a German family who showed us all the local attractions and taught us about their culture.

As Christmas approached there were many ‘new’ traditions for us to experience.  The decorations are what I remember the most.  One day when we went to visit our German friends there was a Nativity scene set up on a table in their living room. I was immediately drawn to it and spent the remainder of the visit sitting on the floor by the table.  I examined it from every angle mesmerised by the intricate details.

As I gently touched the figurines I remember thinking of all the painstaking work that must have gone into carving each piece.  I’m not really sure if I was ever told that it had been hand made but that was what I envisioned.  I never picked up any one of the pieces – I couldn’t imagine disturbing any part of it.  Everything was so perfectly arranged I was certain that moving a piece would disrupt the entire scene.  Each time we visited our friends’ home I went to the table and stayed there until it was time to leave.

Traditionally our family opened gifts on Christmas morning but our friends’ gift exchange was held on Christmas Eve.  They invited us to attend their evening celebration which began with an outdoor event — some sort of parade or march through the streets of town.  Those details are unclear, it was so long ago.  Afterwards, we returned to their home for the remainder of the evening.

As we gathered in their living room I took my customary place by the Nativity scene, but something was different.  Beside the familiar display there was another table.  On it there was a second Nativity scene – smaller and simpler but still stunning.

As I sat there comparing the two I was vaguely aware that someone was speaking.  I looked up to see our host standing in the doorway.  He smiled at me and said something but I couldn’t understand the foreign words.  I looked at my mother for translation and she said “He’s telling you that that smaller one is yours to keep”.

I still have those figurines.  The original stable I’ve had to replace, it did not survive so many years of moving and storage.  Each Christmas I set it up and remember the day I received it so long ago.  A small gift given to a child who tried so hard not to be noticed – but was.

Friday, December 9, 2011

Sculptures

We often use play dough as a sensory play activity.  As they explore through touch — squeezing and squishing, rolling and cutting – they enhance fine motor skills too. With the addition of food coloring and spices the dough can excite the sight and smell senses also.  Of course there is always at least one child who insists on tasting.

When I make a new batch of play dough I divide it up into individual portions and put them in sandwich bags. The sandwich bags are then placed in a container and stored in the refrigerator until we want to use it.  I love watching the expressions on the children’s faces when they eagerly grab their ball of play dough and then quickly drop it back on the tray.

“Ooooh, it’s so cold!”  Feeling the change in temperature and texture as they work the dough adds a little science to the activity.

Using this storage method the play dough lasts much longer than if it was left at room temperature but it still doesn’t last forever.  Inevitably the dough will begin to loose its usefulness I need to make more.  The new batch will have different characteristics – maybe even some glitter or sand.

When I saw this activity over at Nurturing Young Minds I thought it would be a terrific way to extend the interest the children had shown for following the animal tracks in the snow outside.  I still had the ‘pumpkin spice’ dough we had been using but I didn’t think it would be a good substitute for snow.  Instead of just tossing it out I decided to let the children make some sculptures that they could take home.

I introduced the activity to the younger children in the morning when the older ones were in school.  They were thrilled to cut and shape the familiar dough but initially left the decorations untouched.  I think they may have been unsure about adding ‘stuff’ to the dough because usually I throw out the dough when it gets ‘dirty’.


I took some dough and supplies and made my own little sculpture as an example.  Tentatively they started making their own creations.


I left them to enjoy their creative process while I gave the baby his bottle.  I observed them from a distance as they made sculptures and then carefully separated all the ‘stuff’ from the dough and then made something new.


This process kept them engaged for over an hour! They seemed unconcerned about their lack of any ‘product’.  When I said it was nearly time to clean up for lunch that they hastily added a few loose bits to their ball of dough and placed it on the tray to dry.

The older children got their turn with this activity during quiet time in the afternoon when the little ones were napping.  They immediately dove in, rolled out their dough and stuck on some decorations – a process that lasted less than five minutes.  Then they moved on to other quiet time activities.


We’ve been watching the sculptures dry — checking daily to see if they are firm enough to pick up.  Today they will take them home.


For some it was all about the process and for others it was the product.

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Snow Starved

The children want snow.  There was snow in the forecast for last weekend but it produced little more than a light dusting on the deck. On Monday when we went out to play the children tried to pick up some of the light fluffy flakes — it was nearly impossible.

They need more snow.  They long to dig in snow and explore.  They yearn to jump into piles of snow.  They dream of building stuff with snow.  The little bit of snow that is in the yard has been trampled down and compacted to the point where it is really just a hard coating of ice on the ground.

The children play tag.  They enjoy tag but they want to do more.  Tag is becoming mundane.  We’ve tried adding some new movements and characters to the tag game.  Things like animals stalking prey or bumper cars but it is still just another version of tag.

We reminisce about the last time there was new snow.  They were so excited.  Look what we found!


“I think those are Mindy’s” (dog tracks).

“Hey I found some more over here in the garden.  These ones are too small to be Mindy’s – maybe there was a rabbit looking for food”.


Those don’t look like rabbit tracks – it was probably a cat.  Let’s follow them and see where they go.
They tried so hard not to step on the tracks.  They examined the imprints that they made with their own boots.  That seems so long ago — almost an eternity in preschool years.

Let it snow – please….

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Mirrors

There are mirrors all over my house – I counted them and let’s just say there are a lot of them. Some of the mirrors serve a useful purpose but many of them are simply part of the décor. It is the mirrors in the play room that I want to talk about today.  There are currently five mirrors in the play room.  There is the big one under the loft;


There is another one by the dress-up clothes in the housekeeping area;


I put a little mirror near the floor in the music area.  I thought the baby might enjoy having this one here when he was getting some tummy time on the floor.  However, I noticed that he never really paid much attention to it but several of the older children spent time laying on the floor and checking out this new perspective.


On the sensory wall there are two mirrors – one set on a diagonal and one convex mirror for a special effect;


I had several other mirrors in the nature area before I began renovating it.  They were removed during demolition and most will be put back eventually when I decide where the best place for them will be.  Right now I’m still observing how the children are using the space first.

The big mirror under the loft is the most popular.  Often the children use this mirror to watch themselves play.  They sit or stand in front of it and experiment by making various facial expressions. Of course singing and dancing in front of the mirror is also very appealing. This fellow is pretending that the loft is a ‘shower’;


This mirror isn’t only used for dramatic play though.  Having the blocks under the loft allows the children to use the mirror to add another dimension to building projects too.


The thing I find most interesting though is how often the big mirror is used as ‘screen time’.  We never really watch TV or play video games here but the children like to pretend to.  Here one of the children has been using the mirror as the screen for a computer;


This group of children is playing a ‘video game’.  There are actually dozens of different items that the children use as ‘controllers’ but in this case these three children are playing a ‘two player game’ and instead of getting a third controller they have opted to take turns.


Whether they are pretending to play a video game or watching a movie they narrate what they are ‘seeing’ since no one really sees anything other than their own reflection.  It demonstrates their imagination, vocabulary and story telling skills.  There is the occasional argument when one child uses a remote to ‘change the channel’ and another child yells “Hey, I was watching that!”

I love mirrors :-)

Monday, November 28, 2011

What is the Problem With Lunch?

Our current menu has been in place for less than a year but I think there are too many items that the children do not eat.  Many of the menu items had brought rave reviews when they were first introduced last year but lately the children have been eating very little.  I will admit that I am a little perplexed by their lack of interest in eating lunch.

I’ve never had much trouble getting these preschoolers to eat in the past.  It was usually the school-age children that were the pickiest eaters. Often they had not been here as preschoolers and they were very finicky about what they would and would not eat.  For them, fruits and vegetables were usually the most contentious items – sometimes limited to apples and carrots or none at all.  The preschooler’s enthusiasm over all food groups could sometimes entice the older children to try something new.

This year I have no school-age children here for lunch on school days and the preschoolers seem to have become apathetic about almost every lunch menu item.  Recently I’ve been trying out some new recipes to see if I can inspire them to eat lunch regularly.  I haven’t been very successful.

Soup and rice were items that these preschool children specifically requested yet they don’t eat them — ever. Potatoes of any kind have never been popular with this group.  So far pasta dishes are proving to be unpopular. They usually like spaghetti but lately even that is just barely acceptable.

Tuesday’s have traditionally been ‘sandwich day’ here and this is the one day of the week that everyone will eat lunch. The curious point here is that most of them don’t finish a whole sandwich and they used to often have seconds and they are not finishing their veggies either.

I began to think that maybe they just were not hungry so I tried moving morning snack a little earlier in hopes that this might improve their appetite.  The children who attend school in the morning have a snack there and I am unable to change the time that they eat.

Afternoon snack has now become the most popular meal of the day – I assumed that this is because they are really hungry by then. They often ask for seconds of afternoon snack even when the menu item is something that they were blasé about in the past.

I started this post with the intention of highlighting some of the lunch recipes that I have tried and would hopefully add to the regular menu.  However, as I’ve been writing I’ve also been reflecting and speculating.  I was trying to come up with an effective transition from the children’s poor appetites to the introduction of new recipes – hopefully some they really like.

Then I had an epiphany. What if the appetite problem isn’t related to the type of food or the length of time between meals? What if they are not hungry at lunch because I changed the schedule and we no longer playing outside before lunch?!?

Seriously?  I cannot believe that this didn’t occur to me before.  I know the value of outdoor play but I was so focused on the food that I didn’t even consider this.  It also explains why afternoon snack has become so popular since we now go outside for the period between nap and afternoon snack.

I’m still changing the menu.  The current menu has been in place since last January and many of the meals were chosen to accommodate our ‘we have to pick-up the kindergarten child before lunch’ schedule.  Since we are now here and inside before lunch I have more prep time available.  It may be more difficult to determine which items the children like or dislike but at least now that I have realized that the lack of outdoor time before lunch is also a factor to consider.

So, since this post is long enough already, stay tuned for a separate post about new lunch menu recipes – and don’t forget to go play outside — it is essential for a good appetite!

Friday, November 25, 2011

Favourite Fingerplay

We have circle time every morning.  In other posts like Telling Stories and Show & Tell I’ve covered some additional aspects of our circle time but we regularly do a calendar activity followed by poems.  I designed a calendar template that can be modified for each month allowing to opportunity to include all our special events.

Every month I print six copies of the calendar and place them in sheet protectors.  At circle time each child is given a copy of the calendar so they can follow along and they are encouraged to add personal information to the conversations.

Alphabet tapes have been placed along the bottom of the sheet protectors – A to M on the calendar side and N to Z on the poem side.  As we recite the alphabet together we include a word beginning with each letter and the names of anyone in the house as well – A for apple, B for Ball, C for car and Cheryl and Curtis, D for duck and Dylan and so on.

The current poems are placed on the reverse side of the calendar.  I choose the poems based on the season or other interests of the children. Sometimes the children learn them quickly and then get bored.  Occasionally they don’t connect with the poem and loose interest in participating in circle time.  I usually change the poems several times each month so this doesn’t happen.  I also like to include pictures alongside the poems and at least one of the selected poems will have actions.

It was about seven or eight years ago that I first used the Tommy Thumb poem for circle time.  It was one of the favourite finger plays for that group of children and they continued to recite it throughout the days long after new poems were introduced.

 Tommy Thumb
Tommy Thumbs up (Point thumbs up)
Tommy Thumbs down (Point thumbs down)
Tommy Thumbs dancing (Bounce them to the left)
All around the town (Bounce them to the right)
Dance them on your shoulders (Bounce on your shoulders)
Dance them on your head (Bounce on your head)
Dance them on your knees (Bounce on your knees)
Tuck them into bed. (Fold arms hiding hands)
Peter Pointer… Baby Finger…
Finger Family…

This finger play has continued to be a favourite with subsequent groups of children.  I brought it back for circle time at the beginning of this month and the children are still excited about it so we have had the same poems for almost four weeks now.

I tried to take some pictures of them but their enthusiasm made this quite difficult.  This is the best I was able to do;

 

Ok, so I was holding the camera with only one hand — I had to do the actions too!

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Hoarding

There have been many television shows and news reports that feature people who are considered to be hoarders – they have too much ‘stuff’.  I hate those shows.  You see, for me they hit really close to home.  To hoard can also mean to save, store, amass, collect, stockpile, accumulate, gather, or put aside. I could be considered to be a hoarder.

Now, I’ll admit that some of the people on these shows are really out of control.  If you can’t walk across a room because there is loose stuff all over the place then it is definitely time to clean up.  Sometimes these shows offer really good suggestions on how to de-clutter and organize.  However, they also annoy the ‘green’ side of me.

Just because you haven’t used something in a year or more doesn’t mean it is useless and even if you could buy another one doesn’t necessarily mean you should just throw something out.  That is just wasteful.  Sometimes I even covet the stuff they throw in their ‘trash’ piles – OMG do you know what I could do with that!?!

Certainly there are days that I wish that I could move all my ‘stuff’ to a warehouse where I’d have room to properly go through it all.  I love the idea of being free of useless clutter.  I detest when I have to go to the store to buy something that I can’t find but I know I have in my house somewhere.  Whenever possible I also prefer to make things instead of buying them too.  Reuse and recycle.
I had to laugh though when I saw these bread clips on my kitchen counter…


I picked them up and tossed them in the garbage.  My husband looked confused and said “I left those there for you – I thought you saved them”.  Yes, I had saved bags full of them — eighteen years ago when our son was in Kindergarten and his teacher collected them to use as math counters in her classroom.  Can you imagine how many bread clips I would have if I had continued to save them for eighteen years!?!  Now that would be hoarding.

Last week I watched as the baby took various toys and placed them in the toolbox and then dumped them out.  It reminded me of something I had made many years ago…I had seen it again recently…where was it?  It took less than five minutes for me to find it again. Lids from frozen juice containers and a coffee can with a slot cut in the lid;


Baby still likes that tool box better;


The preschoolers like the coffee can and tried to teach the baby how to put the lids in the slot.  They call it the ‘clean-up game’ — dump them out and put them back in over and over again.


No one has used that thing in at least three years but I’m really glad I didn’t throw it out.  Next week we might try some other activities with these lids.  All fifty of them are numbered and some have stickers.  We can use them for matching, sorting and sequencing too.

I am an ECE and I walk a really fine line between hoarding junk and saving useful stuff.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Bringing Outdoors In

It was back on November 4th that I tweeted “Guess who’s making plans to renovate something again”.  I didn’t give anyone any details other than admitting that it was the nature area that was going to be refurbished.

I planned to complete the remodel last weekend but the detail work was more time consuming than I anticipated and there is still more to do.  Shopping trips and errands took up big chunks of time too – 14 stores over three days – yuck!  I hate shopping but there were things I needed and of course couldn’t find, hence the delay in completing the project.

I’ll give you a brief description of what has been done so far.  We started with some ‘landscaping’ – my husband helped when I needed extra muscle and power tools.  The trees were relocated and the ‘river’ was diverted to the other side of the room.  Then we built some shelves.

It was the shelves that required the most time and effort.  You see, the last time I revamped the nature area I ‘planted’ the trees close together with the intention of someday building a tree house in the space between the trees – this never came to fruition mostly because I could never devise a plan that would meet our needs. The new shelves will.

There are three shelves under the window.  Each shelf is divided into three sections so in total there are nine sections.  They are the forest, the garden, the beach, the mountain, the winter scene, the desert, the bedroom, the kitchen and the living room. Not all of these sections are complete and knowing me they never will be.  Seriously – nine ‘rooms’ to plan and arrange and rearrange and remodel and rebuild…. Depending on when and if I find the supplies I want some of the sections may be changed in the future because there were others I considered like the farm and the jungle/rainforest.

Here are a few pictures of the current – not yet complete – nature area;



The ‘grass’ was really popular — so fluffy and soft;


There is space on each shelf for little people and animals to live and play;


I’ll give more detail on each individual shelf in a future post when they have all been completed and I can add details of how the children use them.  For now it is still a work in progress.

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Out of Time

Last week was a short week and I didn’t write a single post — first time I was unsuccessful on the postaweek2011 challenge :-(   I could write a list of excuses why I didn’t have time to post anything but I don’t have time to make the list and I don’t really have much time to write now but mybe just a few lines;

One of the preschooler’s favourite activities last week was playing the Sandwich Stacking Game. 



Of course we also went outside too — there was SNOW!  Not much snow but the children gathered up all the snow from the yard and made a pile on the deck.  It wasn’t huge and in fact, it got smaller each day.

The children rarely ventured off the ‘iceberg’ — they were polar bears and they love ice and snow.  There was a quiz you had to answer before you could set foot on the iceberg.


Apparently if you can’t correctly answer questions about polar bears then you don’t belong on the iceberg because you might harm their habitat.  Mini environmentalists :-)   We’ve checked the Polar Bear Cam a few times but haven’t yet seen one.

I must get back to real work now — even with a long weekend I’m running out of time.

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Imagination

There’s an extra hour this weekend due to the time change.  Trying to make the most of the bonus time I planned so much stuff and now I’ve probably ended up with less free time than usual.  Still, I have to take a moment and share some of our adventures from the past week.

Building log houses has been a popular activity;


 
 
So was making ‘slushies’ for our friends.  What kind do you want?


Then there was this game;


I chose to ignore their re-enactment of a video game and just focus on their ability to find all the monkeys and apes in the room (grouping similar objects) and identify letters on the keyboard.

The most amazing part of the past week has to have been the weather.  It is hard to believe that it is November.  Look at the wildflowers (and weeds) in the planter!


Weather this amazing means the ice cream shop was open for business.  I ordered mint ice cream with chocolate sauce from the clerk at the window;


There was food being served on the patio too;


Some even had sushi;


Others discovered that empty plates make ‘music’:


And of course nice weather mean that construction crews are busy.  Digging holes and laying pipes;

 
And building hotels;


And then there was the most popular activity of all — ‘Stomping on the Alligator’ — they played it every day.  I never really understood all the rules but the goal seemed to be to sing and dance on the bridge until you woke the sleeping alligator;


Then it was your turn to be the alligator and have someone else jump on the bridge over you.  Use your imagination.