SNOWBALL FIGHT!!!

January is such a fun month for the young and young at heart!  If you live in colder climates like I do, we have SNOW much fun this time of year with wintery activities!  Head off cabin fever and bring some wintery fun into the classroom or home with this novel activity!

Most of the preschoolers that I have worked with over the years have communication delays.  Several years ago a speech therapist shared this fun activity with my class to help them develop their oral motor skills.  Now that I use Conscious Discipline I am always looking for ways to help my students learn to control their breath, I use this activity for that purpose too!

Begin by gathering a group of children (and adults) around a table.  Have everyone get down on their knees so their chins rest on the table. 

Grab a snowball or two (ping pong balls) and let the fun begin!  Encourage each child to take a nice deep breath and blow the ball across the table to their friends.  They better pay attention or else they might get hit by a snowball right upside the face!  No worries though, these snowballs are harmless!   

We encourage the children to put their hands below the table or behind their back so they aren't tempted to use them.  Our goal is to keep the snowball on the table without touching it with our hands!  As you can see, they often use their hands anyways!  LOL!!!

For some added fun, you could make some obstacle courses for our little snowballs.  You could let the children build some "hills" that they could try blowing the balls up and down.  You could make some tunnels out of paper towel tubes to blow the snowballs through the tunnel.  You could also turn this into a hockey game and let the children use bendable straws and make some goals to try blowing the balls into the goal with their "hockey sticks".  There are lots of fun ways you can ward off the winter blahs with a ping pong ball and a little creativity!  What other ideas can you come up with?

Have fun and make sure you stop by my blog for lots more fun winter activities to do with your little ones in the next few weeks!  Keep shining!!  Jenny Spencer, Conscious Discipline Certified Instructor  (Ignite Learning LLC)    

Back to School: Reading Camp Movement Fun! Dancing to Stories

August 22, 2012

 Back to School: Reading Camp Movement Fun! Dancing to Stories 

Bookstore Story/Movement Time!

More Movement Fun and Games!

Hello EC Community,

I am temporarily interrupting my DANCING THROUGHOUT THE DAY series (which will return next month with Part 6:  A Movement Exploration That Addresses Social Studies)  to bring you some ideas for dancing to three favorite children's books.  I helped to develop a curriculum for a six-week reading day camp this summer.  The camp's mission is to help bring children up to the 3rd Grade reading level.  Thirty books were studied, one each day, and my part in the lessons was to get the children up and moving, while reinforcing the learning.  Right up my alley, of course!  On the list of books were a few that I had already developed for movement activities, but most were ones that I have not used before.  The books are a little more advanced than the early childhood levels, but I have found that the preschool set loves to dance to stories such as these.  

Moving and dancing to the stories can help the children, through kinesthetic learning, with sequencing, identifying with characters, exploring and learning about the setting and background, vocabulary acquisition, and many other valuable pre-literacy and early language skills.  

So, I decided to share in this month's blog entry three of the activities that I developed, in order to pass them along to you and your students.  School is starting soon -- I hope you can incorporate some of these lively and fun ideas into your children's day!  Photos on this page are from recent visits to bookstores where I presented workshops about dancing to books and stories.

Children Dancing to Stories

1.  Imogene's Antlers, by David Small

This is one of my favorite children's books.  A creative, imaginative story told with fun and grace, your students will love this dramatic play and dancing activity after you have read the story aloud.

Music:  One lively, upbeat instrumental musical selection

Space:  The children can move all together in the shared space, or you can divide them up into two or three groups, one group dancing while the others watch.  Give the audience group a task, such as, What do you think it would feel like to have enormous antlers on your head?

As you give a movement prompt, allow time for the children to develop each idea in movement.  Say to the children:

Imagine waking up in the morning.  Stretch, yawn, and suddenly you notice something unusual coming out of your head. You have antlers!  Feel all around your head. Reach as high as you can -- they are very tall antlers! Let me see your surprised face, your happy face, your scared face, your silly face.  

Now jump out of bed and run to the mirror.  Let me see your surprised face again! Try to get dressed.  Can you pull your shirt over your head?  Get your shirt stuck in your antlers like Imogene did.  How about trying to comb your hair?  What else do you need to do to get ready this morning?

Now try going through the door.  Imagine you are bumping your antlers.  Let’s try it three times, 1, 2, 3  . . . but you can't do it!  Figure out that you have to turn sideways and scoot very carefully through the door. 

Now let’s slide down the bannister, here we go!  Uh-oh, your antlers are stuck in the chandelier!  Twirl around as you hang from the chandelier! 

Imagine you are Imogene’s mother when she first sees the antlers.  Gently fall to the floor as if you were fainting.  Now imagine you are the person carrying her all the way upstairs.  It is hard to carry someone up the stairs, isn’t it? 

Hang some towels to dry on your antlers!  What else can you hang on them?  Put some donuts on the antlers.  Go outside and imagine all the birds coming to eat food off of your antlers. 

Imagine you are a bird -- fly through the sky! Come in for a landing.  What an exciting day!  Now stretch, yawn and get ready for bed. Lie down and pretend you are sleeping. It's difficult to find a way to put your head on the pillow!  You have had quite a big day, dealing with those huge antlers.

Now it is the next morning.  Wake up, yawn and stretch.  Suddenly you remember about your amazing adventure yesterday with your antlers.   Reach up to touch your antlers.  Surprise -- they are gone!  But now, another surprise -- peacock feathers! Imagine you are a strutting peacock, showing off your tail. Now take a bow with your enormous tail to end our story.

  Play the music and ask the children to do a free dance about all of the movement ideas they just explored. Finish once again with a big bow and a flourish of the imaginary peacock tail.

2.  The Keeping Quilt, by Patricia Polacco

This is a story about how a beautiful family quilt can be passed along from generation to generation.  The quilt is used in many different ways, which sparked the idea for this movement activity.

Music:  One lively, upbeat instrumental musical selection

Space:  Divide the class in half.  One group will be the first to dance.  The other group will be the first group to be the audience.   Give the audience group a task, such as, Do you see anyone imagining their fabric is a magic carpet?

Materials:  Bring scarves or fabric scraps about 12" square (the fabric squares should all be the same), enough for about half of the class.  

After you have read the story, show the class one of the squares of fabric.  Prompt the children to imagine the fabric square can be many different things.  Offer them some ideas, starting with ideas from the story:  a babushka to dance with, like Anna; a quilt; a tablecloth; a bedspread, a baby blanket.  Then ask them to imagine the fabric can be other things, such as a tail, wings, a superhero cape, a magic carpet, a bridal veil, etc.

Once the children have mentioned many ideas, pass out the fabric squares to the dancing group, one fabric square per child.  Play some lively music, and ask them to dance about all of the many different ideas that were mentioned.  At the end of the music, ask the children to take a bow, holding their square of fabric high in one hand and then bringing it across their body as they bend over for the bow.

Switch groups, and let the second group dance about all of the ideas.  Finish with a bow as above. Repeat the activity as long as the children are engaged.

3.  Owl Moon, by Jane Yolen

This is a beautiful book with a simple, magical story, and different animals hidden on the pages.  It takes place in winter, so it can be incorporated into any lesson plan about that season.  Once you have read the book to the children, try this movement activity:

Music:  A soft, instrumental musical selection, such as a selection from Wyndham Hill
Space:  The children can move all together in the shared space, or you can divide them up into two or three groups, one group dancing while the others watch.  Give the audience group a task, such as, Watch the children dance and see if you can imagine what an owl looks like when he is flying through the forest at night.

Say to the children:

Now that we have read the story,  let’s imagine we are the owl from the book.  You have big owl eyes that can see in the dark, you can turn your head very far in both directions, and you have huge, feathery owl wings.  I will play some music (lyrical, quiet music) and we will take off from our branch high up in the tree, and fly into the forest.  What does it feel like to be an owl?  What do you see far down below? (Allow time for the children to develop each prompt through movement, picking up on their ideas as well.  Then move on to the next one).  

Continue the activity:

What other animals might you see in the forest at night?  Did you see the bird, the deer, the fox, the raccoon, the field mouse, in the pages of the story?  Let’s dance about each of those animals now.

Now let’s imagine we are the little girl, trudging back home in the snow.  The snow is very deep!  Take big steps and lift your legs high to get through the snow.  Make shapes with your footprints:  circles, squares, what other shapes would you like to make in the snow?

Conclude the activity:

Look, there is your house in the distance!  We are almost home.  Imagine you go inside and are finally warm.  Walk up the stairs, lie down in your bed, pull the covers up, and think about the amazing owling adventure you had in the cold winter night.  What will you dream about?

Use these kinds of simple activities for other favorite stories.  You will be amazed how many movement ideas can be generated from books -- and children love to dance!


Have a great start to the school year, and 

Keep on dancin'!

Connie

Moving is learning!

www.movingislearning.com

LOVE LANGUAGES and LEARNING

RECOGNIZING THE DIFFERENT WAYS 

IN WHICH WE LOVE

Hello!  If you're new to this blog, welcome and I encourage you to scroll through the many blogs of my colleagues.  From Debbie Clement to Dr. Danny Brassell to Mimi Chenfeld and many more.  My blog today is actually a vlog.  A story told almost completely in video.  Enjoy how teachers Melissa and Edith from the Santa Rosa Head Start program in Tucson, Arizona have used Dr. Chapman's Five Love Languages to elevate how they connect with children and their families.  You'll see how they have created a child-created resource that is helping parents understand their children in a deeper, more meaningful way.  Click and enjoy!


Buen Dia!  Si eres nuevo a este blog, bienvendio!  Te animo tambien a ver los blogs de mis colegas que estan escrito arriba en íngles.  Mi blog hoy es verdadermente un vlog.  Un cuento dicho con video, pero como algunos no hablan íngles hay mucho en español escrito para ayudar a mis colegas del mundo Latino conocer mas de esta tema.  Las maestras Melissa y Edith son de la programa prescolar Santa Rosa Head Start.  Ellos han usado la información del libro "Los Cinco Lenguajes de Amor" (Click para ver el libro en Amazon) de Dr. Chapman para elevar como ellos conectan con los niños  en su clase y sus padres.  Tambien, crearon un libro con los niños que se usa para ayudar a los padres entender mas sobre esta tema.  Con amor y un abrazo fuerte! 

Enrique Feldman
Founder and Director of Education, F.A.M.E. Foundation
Lead Facilitator, Arts Integration Solutions
National and International Presenter
Film Composer
Author

LOVE LANGUAGES and LEARNING - PART I (1:26)

LOVE LANGUAGES and LEARNING - PART II (3:14)

LOVE LANGUAGES and LEARNING - PART III (3:13)

I encourage you to know your love languages and use that critical information in how you invite children into learning environments.  Thanks again to Melissa and Edith!


Te animo a conocer los idiomas de amor para usar esa información crítico en como invitas a niños al aprendizaje profundo.  Gracias a las maestras Melissa y Edith!

Enjoy this screen shots from the videos which highlight how the children and families "knew they were loved."


Aqui tienes un imagen del video que te enseña que los niños y padres estaban aprendiendo sobre los idiomas de amor.

CAN YOU GUESS WHICH LOVE LANGUAGE EACH RESPONSE REPRESENTS?

Physical, Words, Quality Time, Gifting or Acts of Service?

PUEDES ADIVINAR CUAL ES EL IDOMA DE AMOR CON CADA RESPUESTA?

Físico, Palabras, Tiempo de Calidad, Regalos, or Actos de Servicio?

Each answer gives you an idea of how each individual child "recognizes" that they are loved.


Cada respuesta te da un idea de como el niño reconóce que el o ella están amado.


Below is one response where the child says his daddy gave him a telescope so he could see his daddy when he was away.  


Abajo la respuesta del niño dice que su padre le compró un telescopio y asi el niño puede ver a su padre cuando el no esta en casa....ahhhhh.

This response was in Spanish.  The translation is "My daddy shows me he loves me when he takes me to work and I get to be big.  My mommy shows me she loves me when she takes me to school.... she cares about me."


Abajo la respuesta es en español.  Puedes leyerlo y pensar sobre cual es la idioma de este niño.

How do you show others you love them?  How do you like to be loved?  Just thinking about these questions can create changes that improve the quality of life for you and everyone around you.  


Como enseñamos a otros que los queremos?  Como te gusta ser amado?  Empesando con estas preguntas podemos elevar nuestra calidad de vida y la calidad de vida para todos en nuestro mundo.


Below is an example of a child who's love language is "Acts of Service".  Enjoy Anthony's artwork and his response to the question "How do you know your family loves you?"  Keep in mind that this is very different from the question "Do they love you?"


Abajo tienes un ejemplo de un niño y su idioma de amor es "Actos de Servicios."  Goza al arte del niño Antonio y su respuesta a la pregunta "Como sabes que to familia te ama?"  Toma en cuenta que esta pregunta es muy diferente a la prejunta "Te ama tu familia?"

New images coming soon!  Nuevos imagenes pronto!

NEWS FLASH! FLASH MOB DANCE AT OAEYC!

Hello EC Community!

I have just returned from the Ohio Association for the Education of Young Children's annual event, the Ohio Early Care & Education Conference in Columbus.  I helped to plan a flash mob dance which would "interrupt" the  Keynote presentation by Holly Elissa Bruno and Luis Hernandez – both very fun people who love to dance. Their Keynote yesterday morning (Saturday, April 21) was entitled Laughter and Joy: Modeling the Best of Who We Are.  On a pre-arranged cue, a group of us ran up on the stage and began dancing to Taio Cruz's "Dynamite."  The volunteer participants had all put in many hours learning and practicing the dance in the months leading up to the conference.

I decided to use this blog post to display some of the photos from the dance (sent to me in record time by Beri Tiffany-Smith and taken by her husband).  The message of the Keynote was to encourage us all to discover many ways to bring fun into our lives.  I have a favorite quote, and it is apropos to this event:  "There are short cuts to happiness, and for me dancing is one of them" (Vicki Baum).  Clark Kugler, of The Adventurous Child, was one of the participants.  After the dance, he said he was very glad he had done it, as dancing in a flash mob happened to be one of the items on his bucket list! 

O-A-E-Y-C!

I want to thank all of the energetic and spirited participants who danced in front of a very large and enthusiastic audience, I want to thank Beri Tiffany-Smith for all of her help throughout the months of preparation, and I also want to acknowledge the talented and exciting speakers, Holly Elissa Bruno and Luis Hernandez who graciously "loaned" us some of their speaking time for our dance.   Finally, I want to thank all of the organizers and participants of OAEYC -- you rock!


Keep on dancin',

Connie

Surprise Silly String Ending!

Providing Props for Language Learning

by Pam

When you help a child unlock the secrets of language and communication, you give the child the gift of a connection with others.  Once a child understands the power this brings, he is able to take learning to a whole new level!

(Keep in mind communication can come in the form of verbal words, signs, pictures, gestures, eye gaze or body language.  All can be purposeful language and communication!)

One of the most challenging elements of teaching my preschool special education classroom is the fact that the children come into my classroom with extremely limited language and communication skills (most are non-verbal) and have very limited expressive and receptive vocabulary. When you pair that up with limited experiences and limited cognitive understanding...it can lead to some very quiet days at preschool! 

Often when children have very limited verbal language, adults and other children begin
using less and less language when communicating with that child. Of course, we often need to simplify the language. But, I think it is very dangerous to significantly decrease the amount of verbal communication we provide to the child; even if we are receiving very little back.  

In my experience, the only way to increase expressive communication (either verbally or with picture communication) is to begin by increasing receptive language.

Remember, children who have verbal language are probably hearing MANY more words and are naturally learning MUCH more vocabulary than a child who is struggling with verbal communication! They are hearing this simply because they DEMAND it through verbal questions, conversation, games etc. The child who is limited in verbal communication is not demanding this in the same way. It is NO LESS important though!

So, how do you teach language and increase vocabulary when you often don't have many peer language models in the classroom? One way I do this is by providing many, many opportunities to explore either REAL objects paired with language surrounding them or VERY similar replicas of real objects.  (other ways include being the language model, using "self-talk" and by providing many opportunities for shared experiences with children with more advanced language and communication skills)

Along with the real object I often provide a picture to represent the object or a whole communication board to use with the object. In this way we can begin working on the idea that the picture represents the real object we are exploring.

When you use real props or replicas that are very close to the real object, children with limited language and cognitive understanding are able to participate more fully and are able to grasp concepts that they certainly wouldn't if given a 2 dimensional representation of that same object.

Recently, we've been using the fabric fans shown below in the simple rhyme. Not only are we working on language and vocabulary, but the children are exploring alliteration with all the "f" sounds, they are listening to and counting when possible, they are exploring what happens when removing an item and they are listening for and responding to their name.

These are our colored fabric fans from the Dollar Store.  After enjoying the rhyme below many times, one child lay down at nap time, looked up at the slowly rotating ceiling fans and remarked..."Fancy fancy"! :) 

Five Fancy Fans!

"Five fancy fans,

unfolded on the floor.

Five fancy fans

for us to explore.

Along came ___________

One bright and sunny day.

He found a fan

and ran off to play!"

(continue with 4,3,2 and 1)


I like to use a real object or close replica for a length of time, then add a flannelboard story using that object. This way the children can go from understanding the real object to hopefully grasping that the flannelboard piece is representing that same real object. I often jump back and forth between these two (real and flannelboard pieces) for several days to help the children cement the idea that this is a representation of a real object.


In this case, I simply set out the plastic eggs in the baskets and provided a few other props including the egg cartons. I knew the children probably had enough experience with this already that they would begin to include some dramatic play ideas. By joining the children in their play, I was able to add additional vocabulary to their already shared experiences with eggs! The children took them from the baskets and put them in the egg cartons and then put them in the frying pan. One child even decided to count all the eggs in the carton...and for the first time counted to 12!!



Of course, you may not be able to do this with everything. But, when it is possible it can truly increase a child's language, vocabulary and cognitive understanding of basic objects they may see! It can also be beneficial to use objects that you know the children will have an opportunity to interact with at home. In this case, the plastic eggs and small baskets were introduced around Easter. 

This is simply some very tiny Dollar Store Easter baskets and plastic eggs.  By providing some language about putting eggs IN the baskets, taking them OUT of the baskets and pretend play with the baskets and eggs, the children will have a wide variety of experiences to draw from.  Because they will be using these immediately after Easter, I expect that most of the play will revolve around hiding and finding eggs.

Instead of using these only on a holiday or right before the holiday, I opt to provide this immediately before and then until the children begin to grow tired of them. This gives the children more time to internalize the vocabulary and experience.  We will use these in games, dramatic play, color matching and one to one correspondence. And every day, several times a day, they will find their way to the dramatic play area to be used in play. If I forget to take them over to the dramatic play area...believe me, the children will remember! In this way, we will be able to weave the language and vocabulary involving these items into the routine of the day for an extended period of time.

When language and vocabulary are used in context and through genuine experiences it means so much more to the child than if we were to pull it out and provide a stagnant experience with the object. 

For most children, learning language and vocabulary is a natural process and seems to draw energy from itself: the more language and vocabulary a child has, the more language he/she hears from others...and therefore, the more he/she learns.

We need to remember for some children we may not be able to simply wait for the child to initiate verbal communication!   We may need to step back and simply introduce children to some basic vocabulary in a non-threatening way (through play and games) and interwoven within the fabric of the day.  We also may need to provide communication supports in the environment through the use of picture communication boards.

So, I challenge you to plan purposeful language and vocabulary building experiences for children with limited verbal communication each day!  It can truly open up a whole new world for the child!

I write about our preschool adventures in my preschool special education classroom at my blog:  How Long is This Hall?!  Come visit us there anytime...but be prepared for a long walk down the school hallway! :)

DANCING THROUGHOUT THE DAY Part 2: A Circle Time Dance Activity

DANCING THROUGHOUT THE DAY

Part 2: A Circle Time Dance Activity

Hello EC Community,

As a way to further my passion for offering many different dance opportunities to children, this blog entry is the second in a series of activities based on the daily routine of young children.  They are simple and ready to use!

Movement is a wonderful way to reinforce many of the important concepts of circle time, such as cooperative learning, taking turns in an activity, sharing ideas, and feeling included as part of the group.  Pass the Movement helps children focus on the movements of the other children, contribute ideas, and participate with the group.  The final dance is the accumulation of all the movement ideas contributed by the children.

                                       

                           Pass the Movement

Adapted from One, Two, What Can I Do?  Dance and Music for the Whole Day (Redleaf Press, 2011)

While the children are sitting in the circle, say to them:  Do you know how to play the game Telephone?  You play it with words, by whispering a word into your neighbor's ear, and she passes it along by whispering the same word in the next person's ear.  This game is like that, except we will be passing movements instead of words!  I will think of the first movement, and then one at a time, we will pass it all the way around the circle.

Begin with something simple, such as crossing your arms over your chest and opening them.  After the movement has traveled all the way around the circle, the next person will think of a movement and pass it around.  Once everyone has contributed a movement, try to remember all of the movements with the children, and then do them in sequence.  

Play a selection of music and try all of the movements in order, then try it standing in the circle.  This movement sequence becomes a dance!  You have each contributed a movement idea to the dance, and then put them all together, and performed them with the music of your choice.

PASS THE MOVEMENT!

LET'S TRY ANOTHER ONE!

Tips for expanding the activity:

*Try the same sequence, this time allowing the children to move throughout the shared space, rather than standing in a circle

*Try different musical selections with the movement sequence

*Ask the children which movement in the sequence was their favorite.  At the end of the music, suggest to them that they freeze in a shape from that movement.

Next up in the DANCING THROUGHOUT THE DAY series: 

Part 3:  A Fun Transition Activity

Keep on Dancin',

Connie

Copyright 2012, Connie Bergstein Dow

Creativity + Caring: Nurturing Independence thru Art

Happy Month of March to EVERYONE!!!
What an amazing response to my article last month on the differences between 'process and product' in children's Art.

My post today will be a follow-up to those thoughts and the many passionate communications from readers that have been shared via Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, on the article itself, on the follow-up article on my blog, from emails in my inbox to old school phone conversations!! I'm amazed and encouraged by all of the insight shared and feel the discussion deserves further expansion.


Quick review: I am an advocate for 'PROCESS' experiences with young children.

To set the stage this month, let's hear from some brilliant people on this issue. 

As much as I like getting from A to B, it is the traveling EVERYWHERE that fascinates me the most. Thank you Einstein for that pithy remark and brilliant insight. Let's think about 'imagination' and fostering it. Can we develop imagination in the same way that we can develop muscle control?

Allow me to share the comment from our own contributing author Deborah McNelis, wonder-woman on all things connected to brain functioning and optimizing the brain for young children -- from her comment on my article last month, "The highest functioning brain areas are activated and are developed through the opportunity to create, imagine and explore. This happens when children direct the process!"

It is in an all encompassing comment such as Deborah's that reinforces me to continue speaking on this topic. Thanks for sharing Deborah. Now let's examine a few of the other comments left on last month's article.

I was truly taken aback by our contributing author, Ayn Colsh's sharing of her own professional experience in her comment, "Great post on a very conversational topic! I got into trouble in the very first school I worked at because I put children's art into the take home folders that wasn't "perfect". Those pieces were removed and replaced with carbon copy art work."

 Little did I realize that this discussion was the least bit controversial. I couldn't wait an entire month to respond here, so I continued the 'discussion' on my own blog in this article. I shared a couple of images of the sort that I thought Ayn was probably referring to: artwork that had 'imperfections' within the context of the project.

Oodles of teachers went on record to say that they ALWAYS allow children's artwork to stand 'as-it-is' to be their own.... to be displayed as completed by the child.

 And then it happened!

A whistle-blower reported in.

"I'm sorry, but I'm a preschool aide, and I've worked with a lot of teachers that "fix" the kids projects to make them look "better". The teacher I am with now, and I, only help when necessary (like squeezing glue bottles, tearing tape, etc.) I find it somewhat unusual that none of the teachers or aides or parents that have commented have admitted to "fixing". I guess none of the guilty parties want to comment about it! But, there are teachers out there that do it!"

This week I had a delightful invitation to visit a setting for YOUNG children here in Florida.

I arrived early to document the surroundings for my readers.

The first room I walked into was that of the youngest children -- filled with two year olds!

It had a BRIGHT and BEAUTIFUL bulletin board that attracted my eye upon entering.

Turns out that these bright paintings were part of an 'I-is-for-Ice cream' party. 

YEAH! Happy explorations with paint by two year olds!!!!

Then it happened.

I saw something quite suspicious.

What's going on here? What message are we sending to this child?
The subtext I get is, "you are not capable to direct this effort. I must help you.... or perhaps more accurately, I must 'do' it for you."

The director at this program, shared with me that she had pulled the parent helper aside after this 'ice-cream-encounter' for a little heart-to-heart on how they want their volunteers to interact during art time. So the learning experience was not all together lost. So there are parents 'guilty' of this 'fussing' over children's work.

Several of the comments left by directors eluded to this need to help 'educate' the parents on their role in allowing their child to experience independance, even if that meant experiencing some frustration along the way. Other directors commented that they would use my previous article for a portion of staff development.

Of all the many comments left directly on the article those that most alarmed me the most were from some of our most creative contributors.

Many of the direct conversations that I have had personally since last month have revolved around 'creativity' and how it seems to 'evaporate' out of children as they grow older. I am wondering out loud here, but what if its not that creativity evaporates -- as much as children grow weary of having their work being overtly 'handled and manipulated' by the adults nearby?

• What two year old wants to be directed when it comes to paint?
• Why is it that the adults are 'fixing' art for children?
• Is it a sense of control?
• Is it a sense of competitiveness?
• Is it a sense of unrealistic expectations?
• Is it some sense of helpfulness that knows no boundaries?

Perhaps its time to return to an image I also shared last month. It was part of the 'homework' turned in for the celebration of the kindergarten 100 Day party.
                           Remember this image?

 

What does the kindergarten child learn in this piece of cooperative work with their parent?

What leads the parent to 'create' this type of response on behalf of their child?

Again I wonder about 'competitiveness.'

How much parental 'competitiveness' do you see?

How do you address is?

Ye gads..... let's make a committment to allow children to own their own 'work.'

If we want children to be creative we must allow THEM to create!!!

With it now being the month of March, I know there will be adventures celebrating all things Seuss in many programs. I'd like to share this image of a bullentin board created by the mature PreK crowd in Mansfield, OH. When I took the picture a couple of years ago during one of my Author-Illustrator School visits I was thrilled to see that it appeared that the children had indeed created their own work.... that they had been given freedom in the creation of their stripe-i-dy hats, that they had not been micro-managed = that they had worked independently! PRICELESS! It can be done.

Here's an idea I captured last fall, from tiny wonders.

The very same concept could be followed to allow children to create spring trees.

Let them bloom.

Let them burst forth in the colors of spring, of a world returning to all shades of green!

Let's conclude with our two thoughts from Einstein on this topic.

Bookends on our easels.

The critical piece in my mind is how we foster imagination and creativity in the children we serve....

And how we encourage their independence in the creative process as they grow.

As always, we look foward to your comments and insight.

Please join the conversation in the comment section below.

****The concern over igniting creativity and reviewing the entire educational process as we know it was addressed earlier this week by Seth Grodin in his 'manifesto' which you can download for free here. His thoughts at "StopStealingDreams.com" look at our entire educational 'system' and speak of reform needed.

Required reading for those of us that dream on behalf of children.

Required reading if we want to build responsive and creative systems for education.

-- Debbie --

I invite you over to my personal blog at RainbowsWithinReach. I've had an interesting series on kindness lately. The newest post in that series has a 'kindness counter' you'll appreciate seeing. 

Yesterday's post was about an amazing 'system' to organize your pretend kitchen space..... teaching children the basics of cleaning up after themselves. You owe it to yourself to see the shelves of a Preschool in central Florida I visited last week.

The dot com that warehouses my CDs, picture books and DVD awaits as well.