Sometimes I Just Ignore the Children.

Confession #1: Sometimes I just ignore the children.

Confession #2 : I am not actually ignoring them. 

They just think I am (if they even notice at all).

I think outdoor play at preschool is such an important time for children to be "away" from adults. If I look busy to them, than they figure it out. They do their OWN thing. Work out their OWN problems. Use their OWN words with each other. They don't shy away from their imagination because they don't like the spotlight of an adult's attention.  This goes back to my post from a couple weeks ago about "Letting the Wander." 

The illusion of being away from us.

I often wonder when people drive by the preschool and I am off on my own shoveling snow or moving rocks if people think I am not paying attention to the children. I assure you that I am fully aware of the games they are playing and I'm usually trying to create some sort of invitation to add to their play.

Today was one of those days. There was a small crowd and they were playing happily on our GIANT snow mountain (made by the plow truck). They were playing ninjas and I thought that ninjas probably need places to hide. 

Without them really paying much attention to me or me to them, I started digging holes. It was a great way for me to get in some exercise too, while they were busy playing. *Local readers are probably thinking I'm crazy for doing extra shoveling this week just for fun.

 The holes quickly became very popular. As they started to "take over" the hideout I was digging, I would just move to a new space and dig another slightly different one.  Before I knew it the game had changed. Everybody was part of the ONE game, even from their separate hideouts. *I won't bother to try and explain the game, as it is most likely too complicated for adults to understand. Something about teams and ninjas and the leader of the just-born team members. 

Photo Op.

At the end of play time, each of the children ran to hide in one of the holes, to see how truly hidden they could be from the parking lot.

Where did the children go? 

Popping out of their hideouts when I called their name.

Please visit the Outdoor Play Party to see how others have been playing outdoors lately! 

The Pack

Most of my preschoolers have been here for at least a year with the exception of a couple new friends. This group has never expressed a lot of talk of "best friends," and I have always wondered why that was. I worried that they were not bonding and clicking with each other the way that other groups in the past had. 

Fall is full of changes.

Over the last month some children's schedules changed. 

We said good-bye to a couple friends and hello to a couple more.

 We have talked a lot about being a community 

and what that means. 

Working together and helping each other.

Suddenly in the last week I've noticed....

Practically inseparable.

All Together.

Cooperation Island Game

This was a game that I found on Cooperative Games for Preschoolers. Until I had read this article, it had never occurred to me that games like musical chairs could easily be about sharing versus competing. In the past I have played musical chairs with enough chairs for everyone, but it always seemed a bit boring. 

We started with three "islands" and 8 preschoolers. They were able to dance around to the music, but when it stopped they all had to get onto the islands. 

I reminded them that because we are working as a team it is was important to make room and encourage their friends to climb in with them. They also needed to help their friends stay in the ring, because it was going to be crowded. 

I was so amazed and impressed with their ability to hold on to and take care of each other. It really was heart-warming to watch their smiles and hear their communication.

I noticed that they hurried to get into the rings with the children that they trusted the most and had the closest relationships with, but were not excluding others.

The bigger kids had no problem encouraging the littler friends who were more unsteady and needed a hand to climb in.  

Eventually after a few rounds of dancing and island crowding, I increased the challenge to two islands and 8 preschoolers. 

They simply amazed me how well they were able to work together and help each other. 

Plus, who doesn't love a group hug! 

Our new Risky Rope

We recently received a wonderful gift of a large piece of rope that was washed up on shore, probably an "anchor rope from a pirate ship."  We still need to make a more permanent plan for the rope, but today we simply tied it around a branch and climbed. 

Risky? The kids think so.

“Children can only learn to take responsibility when given a 

chance to assess and mitigate risk for themselves.”  

   -Gever Tulley

"It’s important to let parents and young people know that kids need some degree of risk

 experience in order to avoid more dangerous risks later."  

-Richard Louv

"Life itself is dangerous. Life is full of risks, and we should hope it remains so. Without 

taking risks, no child would ever learn to walk or ride a bike. No adult would ever take up a

 new sport. No company would ever create new products. Risks are an integral part of 

progress. Thus, the goal shouldn’t be to eliminate all risks from our children’s lives, but to

 manage them and keep them in perspective."  (Read more here.)

-Ken Finch, Green Hearts

And because I have more time for pictures and less time for words, 

here are a few great blog posts on Risky Play:

rubberboots and elf shoes

Teacher Tom

let the children play

Learning for Life

Friendship Story

At circle time I showed the children two little figurines and named them Freddy and Fiona. I started the story and they each had a turn to add to it. When we were all finished writing the story, we started brainstorming what we would need to recreate the story. We needed things the same size as Freddy and Fiona. 

Here is our story.

Freddy and Fiona.

Freddy and Fiona are friends.

They went into a dark cave.

They walked down the path and there they saw a bear.

And a dragon. They were hiding behind the rock and the dragon was blowing fire.

They saw a froggy. The froggy hopped into the water.

They saw a horse. They hugged the horse.

A rock came and rolled down the hill

They got out of the cave because they were scared. They ran (for their lives) out of the cave. They went home.

When they got home they saw that the bear was in their house too. They opened the door.

The bear came to their house because he wanted to be their friend.

He said, "Can I play with you?"

Fiona said, "yes."

Freddy said, "yes"

The bear and the people ran around the house. They were scared of the big monster (one-eyed with a drilling nose).

They ran away to hid beneath the chair.

The bear saved Freddy and Fiona from the monster.

They were safe.

The end.

The cave full of characters and the hill.

Freddy and Fiona behind the rock, hugging the horse.

The froggy in the water.

Fire blowing dragon.

The rock rolling.

Meanwhile back at Freddy and Fiona's house...

After we were all done arranging the parts of the story, they were able to do whatever they wanted. The characters remained the same, but the story took a lot of different turns. :)

Intro to Bears

It has been a great week. We have read LOTS of bear books and we have been working on bear projects. The dress up area has been taken over by a large group of Teddy Bears.  Here are some of the activities we have been playing at this week:

Our Teddy Bear puzzle helps us practice buttons, zippers, snaps, and lacing. 

Building Forests for the Bear Counters.

Acting out "The Bear Feels Scared" in the dress up area.

The Search Party.

The TV hasn't been brought back to the basement from PJ day. They are enjoying pretending its a computer.

It's a picnic.

Creating our own Teddy Bears.

The Three Bears: Fact and Fiction

Baby Bear, Papa Bear, and Mama Bear

Cutting our Mini-Books that show the difference between fact and fiction with bears.

Happy Hanukkah

Our Hanukkah Sensory Bin

Although none of the children in my preschool program this year are Jewish, someday they may be in a classroom with a child who is. When the teacher is pulling out the Christmas activities and a Jewish child in the class speaks up and says they celebrate Hanukkah, I want that to spark a memory for my preschoolers. I want my preschoolers to be the ones who raise their hand and say “I know about Hanukkah! We learned about that in preschool.”  I want them to be the ones to create a feeling of acceptance for their peers. I want them to stand up with that child and help their traditions be recognized.
It is very important for children to learn that there are other cultures and traditions in the world other than those that they celebrate at home. Hanukkah is a great way to expand this knowledge because it usually coincides closely with Christmas.  During the “holiday” season children can become very wrapped up in themselves. This is a great opportunity to open their eyes to the many different ways people celebrate.



The main character in The Only One Club, written by Jane Naliboff, realizes that she is the “Only One” in her class who celebrates Hanukkah. She is so proud that she starts a club, but many children who experience this may feel sad. 

A close friend of mine,  remembers her teacher as a child, centering the classroom around Christmas and making her feel very left out of the celebrations.  In many public schools, the teachers avoid holidays all together, some bring many cultures into the classroom, and some still focus solely on Christmas.

Hebrew Letters Shin, Nun, Hay, and Gimel can be found on dreidels;
which teaches the children that not all letters look like A B C

Potato Latkes are a traditional food served during Hanukkah.
Shredded potato that is fried in oil
and served with applesauce

Focusing on the number 8 and counting 1-8.

Sammy Spider lives in the home of the Shapiro family. Although Sammy is not Jewish,
he learns all about the holiday by watching from up above on the ceiling. There are
also more Sammy Spider books for the other Jewish celebrations.

From the book "The Story of Hanukkah"

Playing Dreidel is a great way to practice using those fine motor skills.
Children feel a huge sense of accomplishment when their practice pays off.