Connecting Kids with Nature

http://www.nwf.org/kidsoutside/pdf/CKN_full_optimized.pdf Click on link above for "Connecting Kids with Nature" report from the National Wildlife Federation, new report on outdoor play research and policy solutions for getting kids outside.

Sensory Table Ideas

There's been a recent discussion about the use of food in sensory tables. I do use food, I've used the same rice & beans for the last three years, so it's not like I am consistently wasting food. Considering how difficult it is to get rice these days I would not buy new rice to use. I actually inherited my rice from a head start program when their policy against food items in the sensory table went into place. We do jell-o and pudding finger painting as sensory activities as well--of course those are done on individual trays! I would reconsider my view if I was in a situation where I did have children who were not getting enough to eat, but so far that hasn't been the case (and it is unlikely to be the case--since those parents don't often pay for private preschool). I figure if I get really desperate I can count that as my food storage. ;-) Not sure how the colored rice would work, but the beans should be fine! I've also used cooked spaghetti, both cooked and uncooked popcorn (under supervision--since it is now considered a choking hazard), and corn meal. My favorite this year was the good, old fashioned sand. I actually took a trip to the sand dunes & filled a bucket full of real sand-dune sand (it's legal--I did check!!!), and the kids have loved it. I've suggested rotating other materials several times, and have been out voted. Our sand/water table is outside, inside I use a large tupperware box (the under-bed storage type). I also had beach sand that we used inside with our hermit crabs, that was a favorite. We finished off this year with colored ice cubes, to conclude our year-long investigation on color mixing. The kids enjoyed that--more so the melting the ice cubes than actually mixing the colors. Thinking back, I kind of wish we'd had the light table out for that project--could have been interesting! There's a great list at preschooleducation.com, I hope this link works! http://www.preschooleducation.com/ebook/sand.pdf Curious for those that have water tables--do you have any trouble with licensing? For our water area outside I have a large washtub filled with water--I dump it out after every use. But since I think it is deeper than 24" I am wondering if licensing will allow that next year. I have loved it so much better than the plastic tubs I was using, I hate to switch back! I'm also wondering about rain barrels--how have those worked for those who have them?

Update on our garden area

On our (very tiny) playground space their was a large box full of rocks left over from a landscape project. Besides being an eyesore, the box was attracting wasps, so I finally got a friendly neighbor to volunteer and had him come haul the rocks out of the box and drag the box away. I was thinking of putting a butterfly garden in the bare space it left, so I stacked the rocks around the side & dumped some soil in the middle, meaning to get back to it later. Yesterday the kids all piled into the space (about 2 ft x 2 ft, barely fit eight kids!) and dug to their hearts content. Needless to say, while I may let them throw a few seeds in there just for the fun of it, we will not be having a butterfly garden. My "playground" is about 400 square feet, and I can't make any major changes to it. We do have a large grassy area the children can run around in, but I wish I could add some mulch for our stumps & boards (so far nobody's been hurt falling on the grass, but if my insurance agent knew about that he would not be happy!), a space for a garden, and a few trees.

Ramblings on Natural Environments

I'm wondering how those of you who are licensed get away with allowing "risky" explorations like skating, bike riding, and playing with loose lumber! On one occasion when I was attempting to get licensed I was chewed out for allowing a child to climb a tree. He was more than three feet high, with only grass underneath. Grass is not an appropriate surface for climbing structures, which now apparently includes trees. I don't want to know what she would have thought about letting a four-year-old haul around a two-by-four. I've been trying to replace the Little Tikes play materials with more natural explorations. I just added a couple of tree stumps in addition to a large lawn and several smallish trees, which the children DO climb. I would love to find some tires and boards! Maybe I need to try free cycle! I want to add a butterfly garden, but haven't yet managed to convince my parents to give me a plot of ground (I am working out of their basement & using their backyard). I have a very small area (about 300 square feet) in between two outer buildings which is "mine", the rest of the yard I can use as long as we don't kill the grass (so no permanent structures, but I think tires & boards would be okay!). I also wish we had space for riding bikes, but we only have one small section of cement and the only blacktop we have is a small private lane. I've drawn the line at allowing them to ride bikes there. The neighbors are good at watching out for kids, but the Fed-Ex guy isn't! After reading Leslie's post about campfires and jewels, I wish we had more dirt! We do have a sandbox & I fill plastic tubs with soil and water, but it's just not the same. As a child my backyard was a child's wonderland (it was actually described that way in a homestudy my parents had done). I had access to a huge box of sand and a hose. I spent hours flooding the sandbox, digging and burying things, and making a huge mess. Unfortunately, that sand box is now covered by cement. The make-shift garden plots and the old hand pump where I got water for stirring "chocolate milk" for my younger brother to drink have been covered with manicured grass and carefully thought out arrangements of environmentally appropriate shrubs and flowers. The lilac bushes were torn out to make room for a private driveway. Heaven forbid anyone find a dandelion, there goes my hours picking leaves and inventing various salads. Remembering how I used to show up at preschool with bottles full of pill bugs, I took the kids for a "bug hunt" the other day and all we managed to find were a few spiders. I'm having to import caterpillars and ladybugs for our upcoming project on insects. And the huge trees I used to climb (and yes, fall out of--once resulting in a trip to the hospital, though I never broke a bone) were cut down years ago. Not to mention going from a huge yard with rabbits and ducks and nearly an acre to roam with cousins and grandparents in the backyard, to five homes on the same space, with neighbors who are virtual strangers, all in the name of "progress". And our yard is still significantly larger than the new homes that are being put in, so close together that you can watch your neighbor's TV while sitting in your own living room. I'm only 25 years old. If this much has changed in my relatively short lifetime, how much more limited are my children's experiences with the natural world going to be???? I would love to buy a few acres in the middle of nowhere, but that's not going to happen on an early childhood educator's salary!

Preschool Standards

Our state just released voluntary pre-kindergarten standards next year. I was a bit nervous before the fact, but looking over them felt that for the most part the standards are developmentally appropriate. Actually, I was quite pleased with the thought that having standards in place might actually improve the quality of care in the state. Unfortunately, so far I haven't seen that happening. I do voluntary adhere to the standards. Initially I started out offering set standards based activities in addition to our project work, learning centers, etc. but I soon found that was not needed. The vast majority of the standards can easily be incorporated with projects and play activities, with very little advanced planning and no mandatory activities whatsoever. A few of them did require more planning & carrying out "special" activities, but they were easy to do in a low-stress manner (for example, for learning about "night and day" we had a pajama party and casually discussed things we do during the day and things we do at night--the kids loved it). This year I did developmental checklists based on the standards for each child. Next year I'm doing away with the checklists completely, and replacing them with learning stories and project documentation. I think I've finally reached the point where the parents see their children learning and progressing & don't need the "proof" that checklists offer. I will probably do checklists for the class, but again focusing on integrating the standards into existing activities that the children are already involved in rather than teaching to the standards. I think the point of standards is to ensure that children receive a quality education, and I am not against them if they are developmentally appropriate & if they do not mandate a certain curriculum approach or program. If you're up to it, I would see if you can get a group of early childhood educators together to work with the department of education and help ensure that the standards are appropriate. Our standards were a result of a joint effort between the department of health and the department of education, with the input of many early childhood experts. There is a database of the standards for different states here: http://nieer.org/standards/

The standards for Utah are available here:

http://www.schools.utah.gov/curr/preschool-kindergarten/PDF/PreKindergartenGuidelinesFINALDRAFT.pdf

The Light Box

After 1 1/2 years of wishful thinking, I finally got my light box! At the last child care conference I went to I met someone who custom builds furniture & asked him to build one for me, he put it together for $175.00 He also made me some tables & I was going to use the light box on the table, but the tables are a bit higher than I anticipated and with the box on top it's a bit high for the children. So I was thinking of just setting it on the floor (or rather, on a table top I have on the floor in our blocks area) & having them kneel around it. We'll see how this works.

I am guessing the children will all want to crowd around it initially! I'm also wondering if it is better to put it out during our opening work time (which is about an hour to an hour and a half as the children come in) or if I should bring it out during our morning meeting and discuss it before putting it out for work time. I am waiting until after our spring break to introduce it, as I've just made several major changes to the room & don't want to make too many changes at once. It's going to be an interesting provocation!

Autism & ABA

I was an ABA therapist for just over a year. It would have been just over a week, but I'd signed a contract and didn't feel I could break it. It was apparent to me within the first few sessions that ABA did not fit with my belief about how children learn best. I eventually trained in DIR/Floortime, and this "fit" a lot better for me. Yet there are VERY few parents in this area who use a relationship-based approach, and I haven't been able to find any private families to work with. I did have one child with PDD-NOS who was going to enroll in my program, but mom was very ABA-oriented & couldn't stand the "chaos" of a play-based program, even though the child was engaging & following the routines as much as could be expected for a first day. Yesterday was the whole "autism awareness day" thing, and one of the TV stations did a special on it. ABA was proclaimed as the ONLY effective treatment for autism. Other approaches were not even mentioned. Drives me nuts! Don't get me wrong, it may be right for some children and their families, but I wish they could focus on a holistic approach to education. Of course, we can't manage that with our typically developing kids, so why expect it for those children with special rights?