Parents: Play is creative and cognitive!

I was so excited listening to Rae Pica’s program,” How PlaySupports Brain Development”. Her two guests, both experts in the field of early learning, emphasized how play is not an option for children. Children’s brains need play like a thirsty runner needs water! Children’s brains run on play. So why would parents worry if their children play in preschool or kindergarten?

I suspect there are many reasons, including that many parents’ early memories of school include academic instruction, and perhaps their struggles with it. Parents don’t want their children to struggle and they acquire the mistaken notion that doing worksheets and flashcards will give their children an edge. They want to see their kids buckle down and learn, darn it! Play looks too, well, uh…fun.

Another reason, I suspect, is that when they shop for preschools, they run into some programs that say they are play-based, but do now know how to make play the center of learning for the children. The teachers do not have the training to scaffold children’s skills to go deeply into their interests, to pursue and develop their ideas in play. The play these parents see is not high quality play. It is not avid, creative learning. It is just, well, let’s be frank—goofing around. Flitting from activity to activity.  I know this from what my college students tell me.

The most important fact, in my mind, is that mature, high-quality play is creative. Creativity is an innate part of cognition. Once I had a pre-K student who noticed that birds seemed to poop all over the playground picnic tables. He developed a hypothesis that if he made a bird toilet, our picnic table would be cleaner. In the classroom, working for over a week, he used constructive materials (boxes, tubes, and magazine pictures) to create his bird toilet. On the seat, he glued a picture of worms to attract the birds so that they would be motivated to use the facility rather than our picnic table. In the process, he explained his contraption (oral language; cognitive development), asked others to find materials for him (social development), and through trial and error, created his invention. He tested his hypothesis outdoors. Now I would love to tell you that the birds flocked (no pun intended) to his creation, but of course, this didn’t happen. What did happen is that other children began forming ideas of inventions they thought might be needed and began creating them. The bird toilet itself was used on the playground for imaginative, if bathroom oriented, play by many children!

This boy could not have made his invention, nor could other children have taken up the idea of creating inventions, if the program had been either an academic program, or a traditional program that claimed it was play-based, but did not scaffold inventive, creative learning opportunities. In the school where I taught, teaching staff applauded and encouraged the boy’s work. They brought in, and asked parents for, boxes, tubes, tape and other materials to give the children what they needed to pursue their interests. They began reading books about birds, and bird recognition. We found nests in trees to keep an eye on. We rode the wave of creative play.

All of this was documented in picture and text in the halls. Our parents learned the benefits of these types of projects because teachers and administrators put it up where parents could see them. In Rae’s program, one of the guests mentioned using documentation to illustrate the learning taking place in children’s play. For me, this is a deal-breaker. Connect those standards to the documentation. Explain, in text on pictures, or narration in videos, how the play allows children to learn across all domains, and in all content areas. Keep at it. And make sure the right people (administrators, parents) have it in their faces day and night. The effort is more than worth it if more children get the opportunities to learn through the language of play.

The Gift of Water, and Adult Tools

Why buy toys when you can get the real thing?

If I've learned anything, children respect adult tools. Clear rubber tubing and PVC pipes from the hardware store, along with funnels, extend engaging activities far longer than the same old toys year in, year out. 

"It's a water fountain!"

"Did it come out?"

"Let's take turns."

Let's try two funnels, one tube."

"If you have the funnel in one side you can let the water out the other side".

These are some comments I heard while the girls experimented with the tubing, funnels, pipes and water yesterday. Children investigating, forming hypotheses, and cooperating are all part of preschool science. 

Prompted by the first two girls and their excitement, a few boys came to share the fun. What happens if you pour water into a funnel while it is facing down? How many ways can we fill a measuring cup?

The water table was getting crowded!

These are only a few tools that make water play challenging, exciting, and filled with learning. Pair this with Water, by Frank Asch,or Water up, down and all around, by Natalie Rosinsky. This is the season to explore the gift of water with young children.

Space Shuttle or Millenium Falcon?

They are making the control panel for our space shuttle! So far we have colorful straws and buttons for the buttons and levers. The control panel will be placed under the table, and seats will be added.
Straws can be cut easily, and attached. Buttons benefit from Tacky Glue.

Under the table, engineers attach more controls to the soon-to-be rocket engine. We are asked, repeatedly, if they need to create guns. "Like Star Wars", they say. "The Space Shuttle doesn't need guns", we insist. "It is to bring astronauts to and from the International Space Station." This does not compute, in these young minds. No guns!? "Okay, then they're boosters", they decide. Boosters make noise, and have fire. Perhaps that will satisfy the need for firepower.

My Dad was a NASA engineer. I regale them with stories of space flight and design. "Design?".
"Yes," I reply. You need to draw what you want to build. So they do, somewhat after the fact, and rather hurriedly.

"That's the idea", I say. Now let's get building!

Perhaps we can blot the Millenium Falcon out of their minds for a time. At snack today, someone says, "Let's talk about Star Wars". Others moan. "We always do that. How about that Air and Space Museum?"
I smile.

Preschool: Marshmallows and Toothpicks Offer 3-D Building Opportunities

We gave the children the materials to see what they would build. Mini-marshmallows, large marshmallows, and toothpicks created an open-ended opportunity to build, something our class loves to do!

Everything from a "one-legged ostrich" to "New York City"emerged from this activity. The beauty of open-ended, choice-driven activities in centers is that the children can work as long as they like, and make whatever they choose. Teachers are on hand to have powerful interactions with each child. 

The results are immensely satisfying to the individual child, and gives them a sense of accomplishment, nurturing self-esteem.

While older children are building atoms or scaffolding, our preschoolers are building what comes to mind. They deserve and need preschool to offer them time to imagine. This is one way.

Play: What are we losing it to?

Facebook is awash with fantastic memes about the necessity of play in early childhood. I adore seeing them. I also feel some anxiousness because I have noticed that, in a play-based program, five- year old children aren't playing like five-year old children anymore. More of them are playing like three's and four's than I used to see. This has made me anxious and uncomfortable, and grasping for explanations.

While I was looking for an article about Vygotsky for the Infant and Toddler course I teach for my community college, I found this article about play and self-regulation. Self-regulation is the fancy, early childhood development term for self-control. Self-regulation skills are developmental. You wouldn't expect to see a two-year old play by planning the role she would take with another two, then verbalizing what she wanted to do, consulting with her friend. You laugh, if you know two's! They just go in there and do what they do. Self-regulation is a complex of skills that children develop. An infant develops the skill of self-soothing. She is managing her feelings--something she couldn't do at birth. A two can be taught about feelings and how to identify them so that they gradually (some teachers might say hopefully) learn to identify them on their own and, as their verbal skills mature, express them. Adults facilitate this process and work to give the child choices that validate her feelings and problem-solving abilities. This is partly how self-regulation develops.

The authors that sparked my thinking articulate that Vygotsky and his students noticed fours and fives maturing through imaginary play. That play developed increasingly complex interactions, and that these interactions motivated children to inhibit impulsiveness in order to continue to play with their friends. They validated my observations by writing that today's play studies show children are playing at a less mature level than they once did. Imaginary play does not develop. It becomes repetitive, stereotyped, and stunted. The authors speculate briefly that perhaps academic preschool and kindergarten, with their narrowly focused curricula, have created this phenomenon, but their focus is on assessing play, not coming up with theories about how it has degenerated into more primitive skills. 

Years ago, there were justifiable concerns that videos of movies reduced children's play to verbatim retellings, with no variation. Many of my colleagues have noticed this. Ninja Turtles can only do what Ninja Turtles do. Ad nauseum. Disney "princesses" can only do what they do in movies. Frozen--Oy!--Frozen characters are cast in the stone of their plot. A girl asked me to be Elsa, recently. I playfully asked her, "Who's Elsa?" She walked away. I didn't know the plot. Could media be the culprit?

I don't know why preschool pretend play has lost it's maturity. I don't know why children often don't plan scenarios, talk about their roles, or come up with alternative story arcs. I do know that what the authors ultimately conclude is that adult involvement--setting up dramatic play areas that aren't always the same, involving themselves in the play, skillfully developing children's ideas and adding what will help them progress--has been lost. Teachers think that "providing materials", or "setting up play spaces" is enough."Look at what they are doing! They are playing!" For children who are on iPads at home, who watch Star Wars, and play scenes from the movies, more is needed. My bent leads me to conclude that the Reggio way of observing children, documenting their learning, providing "provocations" for more discoveries, and validating their trains of thought makes actual mature play and thererfore learning through play possible. 

Children learn through play when adults involve themselves as both actors, and behind-the scenes facilitators. Teachers take note!

Art Outside

I have written before about outdoor music, and I present workshops on this topic. I am a musician, not a visual artist. But outdoor visual art embraces so many of the values we early childhood educators hold dear. We value creative partnerships between children and teachers. We value the outdoor environment for the health and welfare of children (and teachers!). Children need nature more than many folk realize. Just digging in the dirt enhances children's immunity,  It increases feelings of well-being as well (did someone really have to study this to find out?). Whole community organizations are advancing the idea that learning outdoors is inherently crucial to the development of healthy children.  So why not do art outside? Isn't this a no-brainer?

Painting on a sheet with spray bottles is an oldie but goodie. Liquid water color works well, and children can investigate the way color sinks into or runs down fabric, provoking questions for discussion. Pumping a spray bottle brings up scientific inquiry (how does it work?). Children will most certainly come up with other techniques and ideas. Teachers need to be flexible. If a girl asks to use a brush, then those brushes must come out! Should we say no to mixing color with mud and smearing it on the fabric? No! Everything is food for thought and fun.

Using "loose parts"  is another way to include visual art outside. Use loose parts from nature, such as stones, logs,and "tree cookies". Include manufactured items such as tires. These entice children to create. It is more productive when teachers consciously prepare children with stories, pictures, and anecdotes inside the classroom. A child's imagination needs to be fed something beyond Ninja Turtles and Princesses! Feed their imaginations with stories about  outdoor creations. The work of Andy Goldsworthy inspires all ages. Alexander Calder's early life demonstrates what children can do with found objects and scraps.

Finally, taking children to see outdoor art installations that adults have created legitimatizes this work. They need to know that what they are doing isn't just something adults have them do to fill time! Children need to see that what they are asked to do is meaningful in the adult world. Investigate your community's cultural resources. Not every town has a National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden, but even Marfa, Texas has outdoor art!

I hope this post has given some teachers and parents not only ideas, but reasons for doing art outside with children. I can't think of a greater gift to give.

"Once there was a baby tree..."

"Once upon a time there was a baby tree who was lost in a big, dark woods. She couldn't see her home because it was too dark. She asked a leaf, "Where's my home? Have you seen it?" The leaf said, "I saw a brown tree like you!". "Thanks," said the baby tree. "I see something brown and straight", said the tree, "That must be my home!" And it was. THE END.

This was one of the many stories my friend, Opal, told in our woods. Other children are joining us. I've resorted to using my iPhone recorder rather than writing, as I would in the classroom. Taking dictation is better, because the storyteller sees the progression of the words from left to right, and has to slow down to make sure you are getting all of her/his words down. They patiently repeat what you don't get the first go 'round, which is immensely humbling. But in the woods, writing is awkward. Maybe you could do it. I am using technology. 

In any case, as difficult as it sometimes is to record stories and watch other children in the woods--I am supposed to be supervising, after all--I am delighted to accommodate the storytellers. Their faces shine with the light of discovering that their own imagination can create something very much like the stories they read in picture books. 

The story Opal told also demonstrates that children's stories reveal universal themes of being lost, found, searching for home, and wanting to be with one's own kind. Vivian Paley wrote about this very thing in her amazing books. This video link shows how seriously she took children's words. "Cute" wasn't a part of her vocabulary. A child's words were important to her. And so I will continue to listen to their stories as long as they want to tell them. Ms. Paley would approve, I'm sure.