Children Need Open-Ended Play: A roundup of recent links

I just came across this article in the NYT Health and Fitness blog about the play deprivation facing today's youth.  Amazingly, the article reports that children spend an average of 7 1/2 hours hours in front of a screen per day (what?!?).  

And, well, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.  My professional mentor Rachel has linked up this list of PBS shows that are of higher quality than the average show.  Zoom in to read the article that is linked.  I have to admit, our 9-year-old nephew stayed with us during the holiday break and when he woke up before I was ready to make breakfast, I would automatically turn on the TV so I could go back to bed. 

This article on outdoor play addresses the advantages of playing outdoors (like we did when we were kids, remember?).  Beansprouts kids get lots of outdoor play during the week (about 2-3 hours per day during the winter,  3-4 during the other season!).

I'm amazed at how the kids convene with nature in our humble little backyard.  They dig in dirt, collect natural objects like stones and sticks, they find puddles and worms and bugs, they listen to birds and watch squirrels scurry by.  They find the oldest and dirtiest objects in the yard and have the most fun with them. 

Of course, a most exciting part of our outdoor time is seeing the occasional airplane or garbage truck, or watching the neighbors' gardeners work on the lawn, or seeing Roger come to collect landscaping equipment from our garage.  Other advantages to outdoor play:

• Walking barefoot over bumpy outdoor terrain puts pressure on nerve receptors in the feet that stimulate the brain and organs.  
• Fresh air is important especially during winter months where airborne germs hover generously in the classroom.  
• Sunlight allows the body to produce vitamin D.  
• Space, glorious space, is abundant in the yard.
• There is maximum opportunity for open-ended play outside, as most objects are functional (like buckets, shovels, bikes, climbers) but there aren't very many pre-scripted toys (the most scripted toys would be the construction vehicles in the sandbox).
• Getting messy in the yard is just not a big deal.  Being covered in paint inside could get a little inconvenient for the teachers.

Last up, if you get a chance, check out this article from my friend Annie over at Explorer Preschool.  She speaks to the importance of open-ended toys versus, as an example, battery-operated toys that "do most of the playing FOR the child".

Do you know the Muffin Man?

Yesterday we made muffins!  Now that the children are bringing their own lunch to school, we thought we would spice up the snack menu a bit.  This means trying to limit servings of over-processed crackers and cereals and doing more homemade and wholesome foods.  Over time, we hope that snacks become a time where children participate more in the preparation of their food, and where we can offer new and exciting treats.  Looking at the snack menu this week, one can see how the snack menu has already evolved drastically!  Goodbye monotony, hello...


...muffins!

How is it possible to do baking projects like this with twelve children, you ask?  Don't they go crazy in their chairs just watching the teacher do all the work?

Well, first of all, they all know that eventually they will get a turn doing something, even if that something is simple pouring in the vanilla or measuring out the baking powder (they are excited even by getting to scoop out baking powder and leveling it off on the leveler that comes in the container!).  That is usually motivation enough to sit and watch.  Sometimes when we're done mixing they get to taste the ingredients.  Because most of our projects are vegan (they don't contain animal ingredients of any sort), they can even taste things like cookie dough and cake batter without the risk of ugly things like salmonella.  (Well I guess that's not entirely true now, is it, in light of recent spinach, peanut butter, and celery recalls?)

Another thing that keeps kids focused: it's an optional activity.  If and when the sitting down gets to be too much, they can leave the project and go play.  More often than not, they all want to stick around.  What's more motivating than food, anyway?

We also have different ways of making these projects manageable for ourselves.  I often tell our student teachers that if they want to do a cooking project they should do it with a very small group of kids.

Another way that I keep kids engaged is that if it's a very wiggly group that day, I give them all something to hold as they wait for their turn.  A wooden spoon, utensil, the bottle of vanilla (depending on the kid, of course), or another mixing bowl.  Somehow having a prop to hold keeps them more centered.

Leslie had a brilliant way of making the project manageable for herself yesterday.  When she brought out the tray with ingredients, all of the dry ingredients were in separate bowls, pre-measured.  This way the children could scoop from one bowl to the other without a concern for accurate measuring.  She knew that whatever was there would eventually be sifted into the dry ingredients.

[drumroll please]  And now, the recipe.  Notice it contains no refined sugar.  Did they scarf down the muffins anyway?  Yes!

---
Cinnamon Swirl Muffins
Adapted from FatFree Vegan Kitchen

1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons ground flax seeds*
1/3 plus 1/2 cup nondairy milk**
2/3 cup orange juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup agave nectar

Preheat the oven to 350.  Prepare  silicon muffin liners or grease a muffin tin.  We also used paper liners and they worked fine.  Whisk together dry ingredients in a large bowl.  Mix wet ingredients in a small bowl.  Pour wet into dry and stir just until thoroughly moistened.  Scoop batter into muffin cups and stick them in the oven.

Bake for 17-22 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.

*You can probably substitute the flax seed meal with an actual egg or two.  Add the egg to the wet ingredients and adjust liquids accordingly.
**You can substitute 1/3 cup of the milk with dairy or nondairy yogurt, which is what the original recipe calls for.

Yields 12 regular-sized muffins, or more if you make them smaller.
---

Thanks, Leslie, for doing our first baking project of the new year!

Here are some more muffin recipes from Te's family...they bake them in tiny silicon baking cups and then send the whole muffin (baking cup and all) into Te's lunch.  These baking cups come in many different shapes and sizes and can be found here and other retailers.

Applesauce Oat Bran Muffins from eat me, delicious
Chocolate Chip Granola Bites from another lunch

*Stephanie*

Lunch = HUGE SUCCESS!

Before 9am this morning Beansprouts was already a buzz about who brought what for lunch and all the cool new lunch boxes!  I'm not exaggerating.  The majority of my greetings this morning, after a two week long break, involved the hot new topic of lunch!

Excitedly bringing lunch boxes out to the patio.

I want to give you a little background before I dive into how amazingly well lunch went today.  One of the first things I loved about Beansprouts was the healthy and very delicious looking food served here.  We have great parents who express care for their children's nutrition, but I've seen so many kids live off of donuts, goldfish and chicken nuggets, that I was over the moon with a preschool that ensured it's students were being served at least one healthy meal a day.  I loved how Maria would be in the kitchen every morning cooking up something delicious and nutritious.  It wasn't long before I realized the kids weren't nearly as excited by all this meal planning.  I can't tell you how many lunches I've sat down to and watched the kids throw away nearly everything on their plates.  It got to be such a guessing game.  Maybe if we try... We tried just about everything, to no avail.

Everyone did such a great job unpacking their own lunches.

It was with much hesitation that we introduced the new lunch protocol.  We thought and discussed, thought and discussed until it was just time to try it.  No more excuses were left.  The kids weren't eating.  It was just that simple.  Once the decision was made, I was confident it was the right one.  Little things kept reminding me how poorly our lunches were going and I began to look forward to the new routine.

I would be lying if I didn't acknowledge feeling a little nervous leading up to our first day of lunches from home.  Lots of what ifs were floating around and the big question was looming, "Did we do the right thing?"

It's only been one day (and I know the excitement will simmer down), but I am soooo happy with the decision to bring lunches.  I firmly believe that if I could sit each and every parent down and show them what lunch has been like for the past several months and what it was like today, it would wash away all the concern and skepticism.

The lunches were so impressive.  Lot's of healthy options and well balanced meals consisting of food the kids know and enjoy!  I'm proud of our parents for giving this big change a chance and I'm proud of the kids for handling it so well!

Lots of healthy choices for everyone.

Some adorable presentation!

A few highlights from the day include:

• Ak marched into the classroom with her new lunch box and immediately started showing me all she brought for lunch.
• All the kids were so excited about their lunch boxes they all took them out of their cubbies after circle and were disappointed when we reminded them that it was actually snack time, not lunch time yet.
• Beansprouts did a great job learning the new routine, putting lunch boxes into their cubbies, getting them out for lunch, pulling out all the food items and storing the boxes under their chairs.
• One of our pickiest eaters sat at the table for thirty minutes!
• Em brought both a fork and chopsticks!
• A child who typically doesn't eat without prompting and encouragement ate independently and ate well!

The kid's excitement could not be missed. There was lots of, "look what I brought today" and no, "I want your lunch instead of mine."  Our time at the table was doubled for just about everyone.  So many kids would ask what's for lunch and decide not to eat before we even started serving.  We would ask them to sit for a while, but usually, the decision had been made.  More time at the table also meant LOTS more eating.  I can't emphasize how much of an improvement this was!  We loved seeing all the fun lunches and we're already learning more about what the kids like to eat at home.

We store our lunch boxes under our chairs while we eat.

We will run into some bumps along the way, I'm sure, but the progress made today is hard to deny!

--Leslie

Welcome Back

Hi everyone!  Happy New Year!

Boy, it's been two whole weeks (feels like longer) since we've seen the kids and families and I admit that I'm ready to get back into the preschool routine!  This has been a real vacation... relaxing, unwinding, and really getting out of work-mode (which is hard to do when preschool is at your house!).

My friend Katy sent me this awesome article on play-based preschool programs and I just loved how it brought to light the important things that we help children work on each day.  Impulse control, coping skills during transitions or times of emotional upset, turn-taking, inquisitiveness, problem-solving (individual and collective), becoming flexible, making meaningful decisions...these are all things that children get to practice each day in play-based programs.  I know many adults that lack some of these very basic life skills.  In fact, I lacked them when I got into this field...it was by reflective teaching practices and a commitment to personal growth (and some really amazing mentors) that I've been able to get a good quality preschool education myself.  It's such an honor to be able to work with these children and watch them develop valuable life skills that will help them not only in the block area today, but in elementary school next year and in the workplace years later.

When you walk into a developmentally appropriate early childhood education environment (what a mouthful!), there is a palpable feeling when the teachers are doing it right.  No, no, not that there's a right and wrong way, but there are underlying tenants that should drive our teaching--I won't go into it here but there just are, in my opinion.  And when children are in those high quality environments, it shows in their interactions with each other and the adults, how autonomous they are in their play and self-care routines, and in many other ways.  I also think a necessary component in all that is love, but that's also another post.

The last circle time that we had here (it was the last Friday we were open) I got very choked up as I sang holiday songs with the children.  I looked around at the kids, deeply engaged in the collective music by singing enthusiastically or listening, and I got to really appreciate the community of children that we've created at Beansprouts.  I truly believe it's because we are play-based, because we do what we know and what the research says is best for children.  I think that Beansprouts is a really, really good place for children, and it shows with how connected the children are to each other, the teachers, the curriculum, and themselves.  I'm so grateful for and inspired by this.

Looking forward to seeing everyone tomorrow...hope you are enjoying the last hours of your holiday vacations!

*Stephanie*

Hanukkah at Beansprouts

I just love the holidays and the built-in curriculum that goes along with them.  Here is what we did at Beansprouts this Hanukkah season:

Shoe box lids make great dreidel platforms as they keep them contained.  It was also fun doing on the table and doing spin passes to each other.

Candle crowns adorned with foil stars

The wooden menorah with wooden candles was fun and meaningful once they had seen us light the real menorah.

We also made a new Hanukkah candle work for number matching, counting, and one to one. They used the helper candle (or shamash in Hebrew) to light the other candles.

 We made latkes on the 8th day of Hanukkah.

 One of the families brought these great styrofoam dreidels with plastic colored pins.

 A menorah collage

 Making the star of David with triangles and decorating with glitter.

Each day at circle time we would light candles for Hanukkah.  We don't know the prayer to sing so we sang "This Little Light of Mine" while the teacher lit the candles.  We would let it burn during circle and then in a very untraditional manner would blow them out at the end of circle for "safety".  During circle, we would also sing different Hanukkah songs in English and Hebrew and occasionally talk about what our Jewish families do at home to celebrate the holiday.  We tried to keep the focus on spending time with families because sometimes the history behind the holiday is hard for them to understand.  By next year we will be able to give more meaning to the miracle of the lights.

Happy Holidays!
*Stephanie*

Helping or Hindering

An out loud reflection:

We give the kids words as tools.  Then we teach them how to appropriately use those tools to be successful in communication.  This isn't just a preschool tool, it's a lifelong tool.  I firmly believe I am helping my students to be successful in life simply by guiding their social development here at preschool.  That being said, I recently observed a scenario that made me second guess how often I am coaching the kids to use their words.

First I observed this exchange:

"Can I play with you?"
"No!"
"Okay.  Can I have a turn when you are done?"
"Yes!"
"Okay!"

Sounds great doesn't it!  I love when the kids use their words and it works!

Here's what happened next:

A different child walks up to the same group and just starts playing.  No questions asked and he is immediately accepted into the group and part of their game.

I can't say for sure, but I'm guessing that if that child had asked to play, the answer would have been, "No!"

Both kids are building social skills.  Is one more successful than the other?  More developed socially?  What about future social skills?

Both kids are doing what has been working for them.  Maybe this is just a question of development and age appropriateness.  I know teaching them to ask as a way to engage in play will benefit them in the long run.  I also know that learning to acknowledge and respect the boundaries of others will come in handy in so many other ways.  But, maybe just that once, I wish the first child didn't use their words.

The lesson for me is that I need to teach a balance of jumping in with both feet and proceeding with caution.  The best way for them to learn is to just try it out.  I will be here when/if they need me.

--Leslie

Bullying, Empathy, and Human Nature

Is anyone else having a seriously hard time recovering from that long Thanksgiving weekend?

Well, welcome back to the real world : )

I just came across this NY Times article Fighting Bullying with Babies.  The article talks about the problem of bullying in our country's children (it doesn't seem to stop there, though, does it?) and a group called Roots of Empathy who has attempted to combat the bullying problem by bringing babies into classrooms.  Yes, that's right.  They get mothers and babies to come and do classroom visits in order to create an  empathic and compassionate response by the students.  It's an amazing article that I encourage you to read.  The gist of what I got from it is that bullying comes from our natural tendency toward selfishness and aggression, but it can be replaced by developing empathic connections to others (an ability which is now believed to be hardwired in our brains).

When the trained instructors accompany the mothers and babies on the classroom visits, they point out new developments that the baby has made since the last visit (like sitting up, eating solid food, rolling).  They encourage children to try to understand the babies feelings, even having them lay on their backs and imitate a babies sense of limited movement.  They are trained to bring out compassionate responses from the students. 

The baby visits have proven meaningful based on statistics and also teacher's impressions.  Bullying rates go down, tough kids loosen up.  While on one hand, it seems that the baby visits might induce oxytocin, the bonding hormone that mothers feel toward their children, and that the empathy response it hormonal.  By empathy response, I mean that they have seen the incidence rate of bullying go down by 50% in one program studied.  On the other hand, it could also be that the baby visits call upon the part of the human brain responsible for empathy.  The author suggests that the part of the human brain that gets stimulated when a mother looks at her child is the same part of the brain that is active when someone sees a stranger get bullied.  There is an innate sense of empathy in humans.  Whether the success rate of this program is due to oxytocin or brain function (or both), the results were seen to scale as well as on a longer-term basis (three years after the program ended!).

As one reader of the article posted in the comments, this article has "restored my faith in human nature".  I have to agree.

I hope that our baby area in the classroom has elicited a similar response as the baby visits studies, even if on a much smaller scale.  It reminds me also not to take for granted that just because the kids are playing with pretend babies doesn't mean they are fully getting the perspective-taking opportunity of playing the parent role.  It is my job as the teacher and facilitator of play to bring in dialogues that involve the parents' role, the babies' needs, the child's thought process.  My job is to help that empathy experienced while playing with babies and pretend families reach the conscious from the subconscious.  The founder of Roots of Change, Mary Gordon,  envisioned their program as "a seriously proactive parent education program – one that would begin when the mothers- and fathers-to-be were in kindergarten."  I hope that's what we're doing here at Beansprouts as well.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We made a Thankful Tree at preschool this week.  The kids actually seemed to get (and enjoy) the concept of being thankful.  Most of the kids started out with talking about loving their families, and then opened up into things they enjoy like "bikes" or "games".  We talked about our Thanksgiving Feast as a way to celebrate being thankful at preschool.

May your holiday be filled with gratitude and joy!

You Have the Right to Remain Silent

A few weeks back Stephanie and I had a long chat about child-initiated conversations.  What does it mean?  How does it work?  What does it sound like to let a 2 or 3 year old completely initiate and lead the conversation?  There are many answers to these questions, so I'll just keep them rhetorical.

Instead, I will tell you a story about how I reflected on these questions and was surprised by what I found.

I decided to be more selective about initiating conversations with the kids.  I basically spent a day letting all the conversations come to me.  This was mostly business as usual until I saw this:

I definitely wanted to ask about this!  I was curious to hear the hows and whys of this little stamping party.  I fought the urge.  I didn't ask.  Why bring it up?  This decorating took place the evening before and her mind was far from the going ons of last night.  She was busy playing and there was no reason to initiate a conversation just to satisfy my curiosity.  So, I let it go.  

I swear not 10 minutes passed and guess who came over to me and said, "Hey look at this!"  Let the conversation begin!  

I learned a long time ago to be a wallflower kind of teacher.  I sit back and let them do their own things.  I don't interrupt an art project by inserting my own opinion or observations.  I don't walk up to children while they are in the middle of play and bring up random conversation.  I have respect for their concentration, even when it doesn't look necessarily important to me.

I'm not suggesting that you never initiate conversation with the kids, but I do encourage you to observe how often you let them initiate.  All you have to do is sit quietly nearby.  Before you know it, you'll be having all sorts of silly conversations!

--Leslie

Don't say don't and never say never

This post is as much for teachers as for parents.  Stephanie and I recently attended an early childhood education conference where we heard a keynote speech from one of ECE's most acclaimed teachers.  It was useful for so many reasons.  I always enjoy hearing what other teachers are doing.  Talking to fellow preschool teachers is the best way to learn about cool new projects, ways to handle to behavior, how to arrange the classroom, etc.  Teachers are such a great resource for teachers.

Where it can be a challenge is when teachers start thinking that their way is the only way.  We are all teaching in different environments to a particular group of individual children.  What works for one classroom can not work in every classroom (this is one area where our public education system fails children AND teachers).  Truth be told what works for me on Monday may or may not work on Tuesday.

Calendar was thing we were told "never" to do with the kids.  The Beanpatch kids love when we do calendar....

I enjoy celebrating the different types of education out there.  I like to pull a little from each philosophy and apply it where it will work in our classroom environment.  I also believe I have more to learn from other educators who aren't tied down to one philosophy.

A surefire way to make a learning experience feel unnatural is to tell teachers or parents exactly what they shouldn't say or do.  How can I have a natural conversation with a child if I have a list of things that I'm not supposed to say?  I will constantly worry that I might say the thing I'm not supposed to say.  I will spend time searching for other words or other ways to interact instead of paying attention to the child I'm interacting with and letting the conversation flow naturally.

Of course, there are many wrong ways and many right ways to handle an interaction with a child.  What is the best way to teach a teacher how to teach?  I don't have much experience doing this, but from the students perspective I can tell you I learn best when I am given a goal and given the means to reach that goal on my own, without very specific instructions influencing my interactions.

So, don't say don't.  You can tell me what works in your classroom and your reasons for your practices, but simply telling me not to do something doesn't teach me anything.

And never say never.  Maybe something will never work for you or in your classroom environment, but my situation is different and my kids are different.  What doesn't work for you, might work like a charm in my classroom.

--Leslie

Bike Painting

I really can't believe I haven't posted this...we did it last week or so and we took lots of pictures intending to blog about it.  Must have slipped my mind!

We had some nice long pieces of cardboard left from our cardboard Halloween maze, so we used it as a road to paint on!  Shortly after starting this activity, we saw how beautiful the tire prints were and decided to "keep" the activity.  We lined the cardboard road with white butcher paper saved it when we were done.  It's on display in the classroom now!

 We started with Em using chalk to demonstrate what she thought would happen when the kids rolled their bikes through the paint puddles.  Bl looks like he's considering his own plan of what will happen.  Mitch, as usual, wants to watch from a distance.

 It would go all the way to the end

Here are the first two tire marks (or three)

 The paint wasn't making it to the end so we added more paint to the puddles.

 Sa wanted to walk his bike through the paint but that didn't seem conducive to our plan to keep the paint on the cardboard.

Then again, neither is letting dogs walk through paint.

Here is culprit #1 (Dexter), but they were both caught pink-pawed! 

Everyone got multiple turns who wanted them.

A "turn" was going around once and passing the bike to someone who was waiting.  Now that we've done this activity, we'll probably let kids take as many laps as they want before passing the bike.

Be chose to just watch but did a great job of moving the climbing structure out of the way so the kids could pass on the bikes.

Our print in its beginning phase.  Look how cool the pattern is, with different colors on different parts of the tires' circumference.  

Clean up was almost as fun as painting.  We washed the driveway so it wouldn't stain (the downside of renting our space is keeping things clean!).  Puddles are always fun, though, whether paint or water.

It looks like I must have left out the pictures where Ha and Te found that I had left gallons of paints (with pumps like you find on ketchup and mustard dispensers at the concession stand) sitting unattended.  You see them in the background going to town.  What was I thinking?