The Adult Role in Free Play

Once again, I’m inspired to post an article from the Environments’ archives. This excerpt, from the original article “You are the Infant/Toddler Environment,” explores the role of the adult in free play. I’m sure you’ll enjoy it!

“Me do it!” is a common call of toddlers. They are expressing their increasing desire for independence as well as an interest in doing more self-directed exploration. At this stage of development, it is very important for children to make choices about not only what they are playing with, but also how they are playing with it. Essential thinking skills are used as children construct their own learning through open-ended experimentation.

Toddlers move from one thing to another very quickly, so be sure to have a full variety of materials available for child choice. A one-year-old may pick something up, do something with it, then put it down – only to return again to repeat the process. This self- imposed repetition is a core practice toddlers use to learn about the nature of things in their world.

Adult-Child Interactions
Some of children’s most important understandings are learned on somebody’s lap! While we all know that children learn through their free exploratory play, we also know that the process of interacting with an adult is essential to brain development. The closeness of sharing a manipulative or a puzzle is fundamental to stimulating and developing the pathways of the brain that produce cognitive and social-linguistic knowledge. By demonstrating enthusiasm for a child’s exploration and thinking, and by asking just the right question or following a child’s lead, adults empower a child’s
natural learning. Through your use of language to illustrate the collective activity, children gain receptive (and some expressive!) vocabulary words that describe actions and things.

Open-Ended Questions
What do you say when you introduce a new toy to a child? Ask a divergent (open-ended) question. These are questions that do not have a right or wrong answer and which invite children to explore in their own way and with their own timing. An open-ended question sets the stage for both you and the child to make discoveries. The child will discover what the toy does and what she can do with it, and you find out by observation and further questioning about the child’s developmental level.
      Some Questions to Ask
• What can you do with this toy?
• What can you do to make this toy work?
• Can you try it another way?
• Can you do it faster?
• Can you make it move (go)?
• Can you put something inside?

Open-ended questions should be used with respect for children – to engage them as partners in exploration and discussion. The purpose of the questions is to promote critical thinking – not to quiz children.

Following the Child’s Lead

“I think this article, one of Environments’ Teacher Training aids, is an excellent guide for supporting children at play in the early childhood learning environment.  Enjoy!”

How does one follow the lead of the child?
By respecting that young children need to explore, discover, and construct their own learning and understanding, and by allowing them opportunities to do so.

Although “following the lead of the child” focuses on child-initiated learning, this approach does not rely on chance. Adults must still “set the stage” with stimulating environments enriched with materials that are both developmentally and individually appropriate. Adults need to serve as guides, facilitators, and scaffolds. Just remember that it is very important that many activities should follow the lead of the child rather than the lead of the adult. In other words, many of the activities that children engage in should be child-initiated rather than teacher-directed.

It’s about children’s choices: Creating a physical learning environment that is appropriate to the needs and abilities of young children enables them to…
• follow through on their own interests,
• try out their ideas, and
• seek answers to their questions.

Child-sized furnishings, storage and display arranged in developmentally appropriate learning/play centers, and safe, authentic educational materials give children the means to make selections and to follow their interests independently.

It’s about adults’ observations: Tuning in to the choices children make, listening to their comments, and watching the way they interact with their world give adults clues about what catches the children’s interests. Planning activities around topics that children find intriguing increases their engagement and strengthens the learning that takes place.

It’s about everyone’s involvement: Interacting with children, being an active participant in their learning, and taking part in their play help the adult be an
informed decision maker. It is much easier to get a sense of what is really happening when the adult is engaged with the children and sharing their experiences instead
of acting as an on-looker or an instructor.

It’s about conversation: In language and conversation, adults can also follow the lead of the child. Early infant/toddler vocalization elicits adult response in a “game
of language” which builds interconnections between spoken and receptive language. This two-way communication helps children understand the meaning and usefulness
of words and consequently builds early literacy skills. It also mirrors a positive reaction to children’s attempts to communicate and establishes secure and pleasant relationships in their lives. Children feel listened to, and they gain a foundation of confidence which supports success in further communication. They feel more free to express
opinions and ask questions. And they are more likely to listen to others.

Important guidelines to remember
• When selecting topics and themes for integrated learning, choose those that match the children’s interests.
• Ask the children what they would like to find out about the topic, and use this information to tailor a theme to their interests.
• Provide a choice of materials and the freedom to adapt activities to allow children mastery over their own learning.
• Be prepared to stop or to follow a new path as children’s interest in an activity or topic changes.
• Make certain that the focus is always on children’s involvement and their learning – not on the activity itself.
• Allow for individual variations among children in their attention spans and levels of curiosity.
• Ask open-ended questions that encourage children to think and to respond with their own creative answers.
• Provide sufficient time for “free play” to give children opportunities to choose and explore activities of particular significance to them.
• When you allow them to take the lead…
…children learn to value their own interests.
…children learn to make informed choices.
…children learn to trust their instincts.
…children learn respect for themselves!

Whoosh!

We love the Whoosh Tube. (Imagine the sound of rushing air when you read that!) While simple in design and implementation, it’s a great early childhood science manipulative. Take a look at our new learning video and let us know what you think!

Whoosh Tube Video

 

Of Mud and Media

“The future will belong to the nature-smart—those individuals, families, businesses, and political leaders who develop a deeper understanding of the transformative power of the natural world and who balance the virtual with the real. The more high-tech we become, the more nature we need.”  —Richard Louv, author “The Nature Principle”

Over the past month as we’ve worked on developing learning videos for our product line – which has taken all my attention, hence the gap in blogging – several articles have crossed my desktop. Two in particular have stayed with me, forming a connection that feels important.  The first was the draft of the NAEYC and Fred Rogers Center for Early Learning and Children’s Media draft statement on Technology in Early Childhood Programs.  The second was a report on International Mud Day.  I read both documents as well as many of the comments both inspired. While opinions range widely on the issue of technology in the early childhood classroom, those who commented on or participated in Mud Day seemed positively bucolic in contrast.

I understand. I grew up in the days of mud pies and digging holes to China in the backyard. I often came home from playing or kindergarten smeared with dirt and tempura paints and smelling like I’d had big fun. I built dams out of sticks at the edge of the puddle and built towers from Legos and Tinker Toys.  We made paste from flour, salt and water and formed people with movable arms and legs from pipe cleaners. That’s how it was. Basic. Natural. Froebel would have been proud. Nobody worried about too much screen time because there were only 3 channels on the black and white TV (four if you count UHF) and the only daytime programming was the Dinah Shore Show and The Edge of Night. Personal computers hadn’t been invented yet. And, no, I did not walk to school uphill, barefoot, in the snow, both ways.

Things have changed since the earliest days of Kindergarten, and for many people the classic early childhood practices seem outdated. Technology is ubiquitous, from in-home game systems to iPads to Smart Boards that take up half of the classroom wall. Parents are as apt to hand their toddler their smart phone to distract them as to hand them a rattle. And yet, studies and experience show that hands-on, experiential play is still the basis of a good early childhood education program. I would venture to say that it is still the basis of a good early childhood. Period.

So, where does mud meet media? It is this question that lies at the heart of the discussion. The present and future seem to require a new paradigm. Our little ones will grow up in a world where an inability to navigate developing technology will leave them far behind. Even I, classic naturalist that I am, design art on a Mac computer using Adobe software and am not sure how well I could function without my Blackberry. But I would not be the woman I am today without the early experiences. It is because I dug with a spoon in my backyard and can remember the feel of tempura paint squishing through my fingers that I can approach my computer screen with a curious and open mind.

There seem to be 2 very important points to consider – developmental appropriateness (to an 8 -month old an iPod is a teether, and to a 2-year old it might be a hammer) and an understanding that appropriate use of technology “does not replace activities that are important for children’s development like creative play, real life exploration, physical activity, conversation, and social interactions.”

I agree with Richard Louv. The more high-tech we become, the more nature we need. And blocks. And digging tools. And puzzles with chunky pieces.  And pull toys.  And bird feeders and banners that flap in the breeze. Things we can hold, stack, taste, feel ­­– things that will continue to work even when the batteries are dead.

 “In just-spring when the world is mud-luscious…and puddle-wonderful…”  e.e.cummings

Every Block Has a Story

Our first product video is finished and I’m excited about it. Since it’s founding over 40 years ago, Environments has been dedicated to traditional learning through the use of manipulatives and a belief that children learn through natural interaction with their environment. Creating an environment that is beautiful, nurturing, safe and appropriate has been our focus since day 1. To that end we have a catalog full of items that are well-made, standards-based and inviting to use. From our unit blocks to our classroom equipment, each item has a story and a specific purpose in a child’s creative play.

Our first product video shares the story of our classic playhouse and play furniture. The materials are designed to be open-ended and to inspire “play without boundaries” for pre-toddlers and up. There are no batteries. No plugs. No room dividers. Instead the playhouse can be used with two-sided wall blocks and wooden furniture that a child can place anywhere he wants to determine his own living spaces. There are wooden block people that are easy to hold and handle. The people are representative of different ages, cultures and abilities and little people can move them about to tell the stories that have meaning to them.  Even better, all of the pieces are designed to be compatible with unit blocks to extend play/learning opportunities.

Unit blocks are still the core of the early childhood education experience. From renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright to Cal Tech’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) engineers, the early experience with blocks provide a springboard for continued exploration and discovery.  It’s great to carry on and add to that tradition. Take a look at the video and let me know what you think.

What Does Learning Look Like?

There is a magic moment where play, work and learning all look like the same thing. It’s when the participants are engaged, interactive and open, and the process becomes the focus. Sometimes the moment looks like children taking turns and laughing in a game of  “Mother May I.”  It can be in a group of children carefully crafting a castle out of a tower of blocks – and starting over again to make the structure sturdier when somebody knocks it down.  It can occur as the string is let out slowly on a colorful kite, and we watch what happens when it’s caught on the wind. The moment sometimes arrives wrapped in the silly consonants and onomatopoeia of a “Swamp Song.”

The moment might be seen in a little boy running around the room with a “magic wand” that looks like a paper towel tube. It might sound like giggling children curled over their knees on the floor pretending to be turtles. (Oops! A “snapping turtle” just grabbed another student’s leg!) It could look like a game of  “going to the store” in the dramatic play corner or like a child quietly scooping water into a bowl again and again and watching it overflow. It could make itself known in a girl bent over a desk carefully creating a picture of a snail with backyard leaves, pebbles, a glue stick and an orange crayon.  It’s in the rapt attention paid to an engaging story or a child with a toy truck who just realized he can’t fit all the blocks into the back and so he makes two trips across the carpet, “vrooming” all the way.

I’ve been caught up in the magic while sitting in front of a computer experimenting with techniques to create the image I need for an assignment. In that moment I am not focused on the end result, only in the experience.  I am fully engaged – caught up in the process and the flow of creation. Work has become play. Learning has becomes play.

In The Power of Play David Elkind, Ph.D. identifies these 9 elements that often occur in that magic moment where play, learning and work merge:

1. There are clear goals
2. There is immediate feedback
3. There is a balance between challenges and skills
4. Action and awareness are merged
5. Distractions are excluded
6. There is no worry about failure
7. Self-consciousness disappears
8. The sense of time becomes distorted
9. The activity becomes an end in itself

Sure, eventually we make judgments: Did we accomplish what we set out to do? Was the assignment completed? Do we know something we didn’t know before? Have we added to our skill set? Can we use what we’ve learned? These are good evaluative questions. They address the goals and intents of learning and working. But the moment where these things were accomplished? Well, that was play.

What Is It?

What’s your first answer?  A circle? A block?  What do you see when you look at the picture to the left?  When I pull this item out of my bag during a Playshop and ask that question, most adults gaze at me strangely then give me the “correct” answer. I  nod then ask the question again, “What is it?” Now the looks are both blank and a little concerned.  Didn’t they already give me the right answer? But I persist. Holding it up higher, I ask again. Finally someone ventures, “It could be a sun….”  “Yes! That’s great!” I encourage. I ask the question again. Slowly the participants began to look at the object in my hand differently.  “It’s a hockey puck!”  “It’s a clown’s nose!” “It’s a yo-yo!”  “It’s an earring!” The lid lifts off the Only One Right Answer box. And we begin to play.  We move beyond the limits of our experience with the item and begin to think in terms of possibility. We move from concrete to concept. It is here that innovation begins.

In Dr. Stuart Brown’s book, Play: How It Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul, the author tells the story of Cal Tech’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), which had been the United States premier aerospace research facility for more than seven decades. In the late 1990’s, though, JPL was experiencing a problem. The engineers who had come onboard in the 1960’s were beginning to retire in large numbers and those who were hired to replace them, though coming from the most prestigious programs with the highest academic excellence, seemed unable to handle the difficult challenge of moving from theory to practice. Being engineers, the JPL management analyzed the problem and decided they were looking at the wrong metrics. But what were the right ones? Then came the discovery: those who had worked and played with their hands as they were growing up were more open-ended in their approach to challenges and thus able to see solutions that those who hadn’t played with manipulatives could not.

As Early Childhood caregivers and educators we have the wonderful opportunity to practice open-ended thinking – the stuff of creativity and innovation – with the little people in our care. This is play with a purpose. But it’s not just for little people. When was the last time you cracked open your “Right Answer” box? It can be fun!  And as easy as asking the question, “What is it?”

No. Really. I want to know. How many possibilities do you see in this next picture? Write and let me know!

Appreciation Day

I don’t remember what Mrs. Dodge looked like. I was in her kindergarten class at #4 School in Rochester, New York. The room smelled of crayons and tempura paints. There were small chairs and tables just my size and lots of light brown paper, which tore easily but felt smooth under my 5-year-old fingers. I don’t remember any of the other children in the classroom or even what learning materials were there besides the art supplies.  I discovered I could draw in that classroom. As I bent over the sheet in front of me, making thick waxy lines with the stubby crayons stored in the old coffee can on the table, the other children would cluster around and ask me to draw pictures for them. I liked kindergarten. And I liked Mrs. Dodge, even though I don’t remember her face or even her voice these many decades later. But there was one thing about her that I never forgot.  Mrs. Dodge could read upside down. Every day at reading time the children would sit in a semi-circle at Mrs. Dodge’s feet as she read from a book on her lap. The book would be balanced on its bottom edge with the pages facing outward so that we could see the pictures while she read to us, taking on the voices of characters and turning the pages slowly when it was time. It was the most magic time of the day. And I looked forward to it even more than art time. More than anything, I wanted to learn how to do that. This was in the days when we weren’t expected to read in kindergarten. The only way the stories in books could become real to me was through others. Mrs. Dodge opened that door for me in a way that has stayed with me forever.

I thought about Mrs. Dodge when I received an email reminder that May 6^th is Provider Appreciation Day. What an excellent opportunity to let those who educate, guide and care for the littlest ones know how valuable they are. Early childhood educators can make an impression on the lives of the little people in their care that is deeper than any that comes after.

Not so long ago I was sharing stories of parenthood with the founder of Environments. She said, “My daughter is 33 now.  One day, a couple of years ago, I asked her what had been the most meaningful period of her life. I was expecting her to say something like ‘When I went to Europe’ or about some other great experience we’d provided for her. But instead she said, ‘When I was in Miss Linda’s Montessori school’.” Mother/founder then paused and told me, “That’s when I knew my life was on the right track, and I was doing what I’m supposed to be doing.”

To all of you who work in the early childhood community — as teachers, administrators, curriculum developers, care givers, and in myriad other ways — I say thank you.  Good job. What you’re doing makes a difference.  And, yes, I can read upside down.

In Praise of Tadpoles

When my mother found the tadpole eggs floating in the kitchen sink, she drew the line. Loudly. My older brother and I scrambled to scoop them out, complaining all the time, “We just wanted to watch them hatch!” My mother was not moved. And, following the relocation of the potential frogs to a bucket on the porch, we were given SOS pads and were set to scrubbing anything the jellied mass might have touched. Given my mother’s nature, she handled it pretty well — at least better than she did the day my little brother’s king snake escaped from the box under his bed and met her on the staircase as she was coming up with a stack of laundry. I remember that incident being much louder.  And messier.  I think I owe my mother something really special for Mother’s Day.

But this isn’t about deserving motherhood. It’s about the wonderful opportunity my brothers and I had to explore the world around us and to discover its mysteries. As we wandered the universe of our back yard or the neighborhood, we had authentic experiences with our environment that piqued our curiosity. (How does a mass of eggs turn into frogs? Can I catch that snake before it gets away?)  We dropped rocks into puddles and built walls out of mud to create dams. We made “honey” from flower blossoms and water. (Okay, and I tried to get the little kid next door to eat it, but that’s another story!) We played freely and learned experientially.

There’s something about free play that fuels creativity and exploration. Unconsciously we begin to ask important questions like “What if?” and ”Wouldn’t it be cool if…?”  And we’re off learning and growing. Free play brings the gift of innovation and creativity.  After all, we don’t know how high we can build or how deep we can dig or, even, how fast that garden newt can run, until we play and see.  Free play offers the opportunity for discovery.

When my training partner, Ellen, and I work together we always like to allow some time for free play with the materials we provide. This is harder for some adults than you would think. By adulthood we are vested in expected outcomes. Sometimes it takes a while before our workshop participants allow themselves to explore materials openly and discover what they can do or be. It’s exciting when they let themselves go and become like children.

So – how can we provide opportunities for free play with the little people we care for from day to day?  Amidst the structure of curriculum and busy schedules, can we provide the time and space to allow them to discover the environment around them, whether that be a back yard, a classroom, or a learning center?  What would happen if you left a bowl of pasta noodles by the paint easel? What if toys from the water table were discovered in the playground? I’d love to hear about free play experiences that you might have.  And if they involve tadpoles – well, all the better!

What’s In Your Purse?

It’s always fun to see what’s in someone’s purse. During our April 4th training day in Kansas City, all kinds of items were pulled out of totes and shoulder bags and placed on the tables. No, it wasn’t a massive key search. It was an exercise in using open-ended materials to teach. Ellen Booth Church, the lead presenter, asked us to pull two items out of our purses and place them on the table in front of us. Then, we were to sort the items into categories. At each table we began to note commonalities — “well, the eyeglasses and the earphones are both worn on your head, so they can go together….” or “this pencil is yellow and so is that ipod…” Eventually we were all satisfied with our categories. “Good,” Ellen said. “Now mix things up and re-categorize.”

Once again we began sorting and asking ourselves the questions, “How are these things alike? How are they different?”  There was laughter and discussion as we began to look at the items in different ways. If prizes were given, I’d have to give first prize to the table that not only had the most unusual criteria (“All of the things in this group could fit in your nose.”) but also the most unique items (It’s amazing the things folk carry around!).  Even more amazing was how this exercise began to open up our ways of thinking and challenge what we thought we knew. And this, after all, is what education should do: Open us up. Turn the light on. Allow us the opportunity to be creative and innovative.  Education should move us beyond facts and into possibility.

That’s what I love about open-ended materials and experiences. They go beyond work sheets and create authentic “A-ha!” moments. Open-ended learning experiences encourage us to interact in new ways with our environment. Just like play. For the young child play and work involve the same actions: interacting with people, manipulating objects, and making discoveries that help make sense of the world. Learning happens naturally through play.

Why not try sorting activities with the little people in your care? Discovering how things are alike and how they are different is a great way to spark creativity no matter what the age.
So – what’s in your purse?