Re-Thinking Loose Parts
There is so much written about loose parts. I have recently enjoyed reading about loose parts in an “untraditional” way. As I am wondering about and embracing the philosophy that nearly everything can be a loose part, I find it’s really a mindset for your classroom rather than about any specific materials.
When we think of loose parts we are likely thinking of those objects we add to the environment rather than the environment itself. Tree cookies, velcro hair rollers, sticks, boxes, clips, and tires quickly come to mind as materials that children can use any way they can imagine. But what about tables, chairs, all weather and even art materials.
If we are not directing children as to how they must use these materials they will undoubtedly use them as loose parts. As always there are safety guidelines that need to be followed.
How will you see your child care surroundings differently?
Skills and Natural Exploration
Readiness Skills and Natural Exploration with a nod to Susan Gallagher for beginning this list
Fine Motor Skills:
- Pick up small acorns, pebbles, sticks, and pinecone
- Find small invertebrates, insects
- Draw in dirt/sand with sticks
- Scissor skills
- Cut or hole punch leaves
- Cut Grass
- Cut garden plants
Gross Motor Skills:
- Open space for running, jumping freely
- Climb a low tree
- Play with a ball
- Move tires and stumps
- Jump in leaves
- Sled
Eye-Hand Coordination:
- Toss a ball through a hoop, into a basket, or to a person
- Dig and dump
- Stack sticks to make structures
Language and Literacy Skills:
- Letter Recognition, Upper and Lower case
- Letter sound walk
- Read books
- Look for letter shapes in nature
- Make a nature alphabet book
- Draw letters in the sand/dirt/air
- Sequencing
- Talk about the order of doing things
- Discuss being prepared for outside in all weather
- Discuss how animals forage for and store food for winter
- Look for pinecones that have been nibbled on
- Matching
- Match natural items by color, size, shape and sound
- Opposites
- Explore a variety of textures in nature and describe them
- Visual Discrimination
- Classify and group objects
- Same and different
- Positional words
- Use words to describe, above, below, up, down, next to
- Rhyming
- Sing nature related songs and fingerplays
- Make up songs
Math Skills
- Counting
- Count natural objects, sticks, rocks, pinecones, leaves, acorns, seeds, flowers, trees
- Sorting
- Collect and sort natural objects
- Graphing
- If you can collect it, you can graph it
- Graph how something feels
- Graph experiences
- Graph flavors if you’ve grown vegetables
- Measuring
- Bring measuring outside, rulers, cups, thermometer, rain gauge
- Use a balance and a scale
- Number recognition
- Draw numbers in the sand/dirt/air
- Count objects you find
- Use natural objects to create numbers
- Size recognition
- Compare natural objects
- Patterns
- Look for patterns, scales a pinecone, the rings on a tree stump
- Makea nature pattern, one acorn, one pinecone, try more difficult patterns
- Shapes
- Have a shape scavenger hunt
Science
- Properties of water in different seasons
- Watch the tree, plant, insect, animal, and water cycles
- Explore temperature
- Watch the clouds
- Plant a garden
- Name the parts of plants, animals
Self Help Skills
- Hang up coat
- Put on coat, mittens, hats
- Carry food bag
- Open food containers, wrappers
- Clean up
Exploring Big Feelings
How do big feelings present in toddlers and preschoolers and how do adults support these feelings?
Children should be allowed to express their feelings in a safe place as they learn self-control. What does this look like for a child? It might be falling down on the ground and flailing about. It might include screaming, yelling, and/or crying. Commonly called a temper tantrum! There could be an element of being physical in the form of biting, scratching, hitting, kicking or destroying property. This is all a form of communication. We must check in with ourselves and handle our own emotions first. We must help children negotiate these feelings instead of breaking down ourselves.
First, allowing big feelings is important, this is the way a child learns to communicate. We do not like it if someone tells us, “You are OK”, or “to get over it”, or to stop feeling a certain way. We do not want to be told to “stop it” so why should a child be able to negotiate accepting this. We must check our own feelings first and then support theirs very calmly by naming their feelings and accepting them. We are supportive in positive feelings but tend to shut down the negative emotions.
While the latter is not ideal, we still need to provide a safe place for the expression of feelings. Sometimes we must step back and let them be physical in a safe place as they negotiate these big feelings.
Reach out if you want to discuss further!
Do you have questions about child led curriculum?
This is how we “do” curriculum at FG. Our curriculum is child-led and play based meaning the children choose or show interest in topics and with our support the delivery is through play. First, we observe the children. Next, we consider the season that we are experiencing in our outdoor program. We then make a rough outline for the week. We include activities that incorporate the MA Learning Guidelines and Standards in the areas of small and gross motor skills, the arts, language and literacy, self-help and science. We add activities that we think the children will find interesting based on our observations. If they do not, we might re-introduce an idea or we might watch and choose to scrap it.
We continue to observe and introduce new elements that might extend play and learning. This looks like children playing all day with not much teacher intervention. The children make hypotheses and test theory. They explore natural and man-made sensory experiences. They are read to and read to each other. They paint and draw with many mediums. They listen to music, they play music. They explore sound with their own voices and objects or they use objects to make sound!
They eat when they are hungry. They get emotional and explore feelings both with adults and each other.
If you have any questions about our curriculum, please ask us.
Toddlers and Music
A teacher started their music app and set the phone on the counter. A few seconds later, one toddler was swaying, dancing, and singing. Two more joined in they held hands. All together four toddlers without any interruption, oversight or “help” held hands and swayed to the music laughing and enjoying themselves.
This lasted through one song and just into a second song before they drifted apart. Have you ever tried to organize children for a event like this, and it doesn’t work out? Children need the time and space to come together on their own without the pressure to perform. To me this is what an inviting, child led, play based quality experience looks like.
Did you sway, sing and dance uninterrupted today?
A Look Back
I spent several hours cleaning out my file cabinet of “teaching” ideas. It was fun to see my own evolution through the years.
I had folder after folder of cute crafts with samples. We no longer do crafts but rather explore the open- ended process of art through different mediums.
I had folders of science ideas. We now explore what crops up seasonally in our space and add “experiments” as are relevant.
I had old posters, magazine cut outs, instruction pages, samples; it’s all obsolete to where my path of learning has taken me with the children. If I stand back and I am observant with an open mind, I am the one who is learning. Our children learn while freely exploring and expressing.
How do you learn best? Is it by following someone’s idea about what you should know or do you explore your interests?
Made Up Games
When we give children resources they create their own games. This group of children used materials to create a “basket ball” game up off the ground.
We too often limit children’s imagination with our own constraints. The joy of children making up their own games and playing them teaches so many skills at once. Collaboration, communication, consequences, risk assessment, eye hand coordination and other skills are innate to play. These skills are skills we think we should teach. We do not need too if we just let the children be.
What will you allow children to do today?
Rivers and Lakes
After a rainy morning, the children discovered some dry “river beds” that the heavy rains left. They thought of a variety of ways to recreate the flow only to discover that the earth kept soaking it up.
The activity did not last long however the children involved worked together cooperatively to test their hypothesis that they could re-create a river and lake. Natural resources science lesson for the day, check! We must continue to follow the children as they create our curriculum based on their interests.
How often do you use what is naturally occurring around you as your curriculum?
Collecting Water
The children are learning the concept of conservation. They have discovered different sources for collecting water. One idea was to put out buckets to capture the rainwater. They quickly found that the air conditioner run off tubes were much more consistent source of water than depending on mother nature’s rain fall.
Surprisingly on our hot and humid days they were able to collect bucket loads which they enjoyed in a variety of ways.
What concepts are important in your program/life?
Reading and Constructivist Theory
A Reflection on Reading a Story and Constructivist Theory
Definitions
Constructivist Theory: A theory which states that children construct their own understanding and knowledge of the world, through experiencing things and reflecting on those experiences.
Physical knowledge: Physical knowledge is discovered using one’s senses to explore objects and notice their qualities. It forms the basis of logical-mathematical knowledge.
Logical-Mathematical Knowledge: Logical-Mathematical Knowledge is constructed by each individual, inside his or her own head. It cannot be taught. It cannot be seen, heard, felt or told.
Social Knowledge: Social Knowledge must be told or taught by others.
A second reflection on the construction of knowledge.
In an interaction with two children, age 3.5 year old, one male and one female, the female grabbed a book off the shelf. She brought it to the chair I was sitting in, she thrust it into my lap and hoisted herself into my lap as well. She simply stated, “read this”.
Before I could read the book, she looked at, it opened it up and set it right side up (physical knowledge). She told me what the book was about by naming objects on the cover. I began to read the book. She interrupted with comments and an occasional question.
I continued to read the book adding a little commentary (social knowledge) to which she responded, “no, no not like that”. (logical –mathematical knowledge) I remembered to ask open ended questions and require her to find her own answers to which she did not respond.
I observed that the community culture of how to read a book must be an experience of turning pages then talking about the illustrations on the page and expecting certain answers. It seemed as though she had an expected answer for each page as she turned it. She answered her own questions and asked me for a confirmation from me and then she turned the page.
I occasionally added to her vocabulary (social knowledge). In actuality, she was reading the book, not I. I pictured in my mind what “reading” meant to her at this age and what “reading” means to me. Again, I was reminded to accept the child’s discovery of a book on her own terms. She was constructing a knowledge of reading and I was constructing a new knowledge of “reading a book”.
Upon continued reflection I thought about how many times I stopped learning from happening. My past cultural expectation is that we sit quietly listening to a reader read a book. My former community culture was to “sit quietly” which was a constraint of my mind only. The worry about interruption or “finishing the story” did not allow for authentic interactions and learning. The constraint of listening did not allow for the child’s meaningful, purposeful task.
The idea of not interrupting children’s learning is coming into the forefront of my observations of myself and other educator’s.
I am constructing new knowledge scaffolding on the old and accommodating a new idea into my practice. I accept the challenge of figuring out when to add social knowledge and when it is not necessary to interrupt what he child is constructing.
I recognize that this is an ongoing quandary since we are always imposing our own timeframe, observation, prejudice and bias to create our community culture. How do we know that the moment that we chose to speak or move is the precise moment that the child is on the edge of his/her own assimilation of knowledge. Are we scaffolding or interrupting? This is my current inquiry.