Friendship Soup 2015

Every child brought an ingredient of their choice in to share. We all worked together to prepare the soup and then had a feast. The children were very proud!

Day 1

Day 2

A Balancing Act

The best part about having my own program is following the children's lead. That doesn't mean that I don't have a plan for each day. It means that sometimes the children's interests steer us in a different direction and that is okay. 

It was very clear by 8:30 a.m. that these little bodies needed to be MOVING today.

 Think quick! 

How do I keep them busy until outside time?  

Give them something to stand on and jump from.

As more children started to gather. I realized we needed more supplies.

I sent a couple children into other areas to gather my requested materials.

They had so much fun experimenting and moving.

Lots of moving. A little bit of risk assessment. Math. Science. Problem Solving. What a "productive" day!

I am hoping they will gather the materials on their own next time the have the wiggles. 

Projections of Ourselves: A Preschool Out-of-Body Experience

The other day I took out a projector for the first time with the children. I was using it to show them photos of Iceland. 

They were more interested in making their shadows on the wall. Obviously.

I decided to turn my laptop's camera on and point it towards them. It was very exciting for the children to see themselves on the wall.  

A couple days later it was too cold and windy to go outside so we decided to do some dancing instead. This group has not been especially interested in dancing and I decided to connect the projector again to see if watching themselves would make it more interesting. This was a different group and they were very excited to see the "TV," since we don't have one at preschool.

I am not sure that it actually increased their interest in dancing, but it was certainly an interesting learning experience for them and myself. 

It was fascinating to see who watched themselves, who watched others, and who still looked over towards the radio where the music was coming from. 

During the beginning of our dance party, I decided to hit record on the laptop camera to show it to them later. I have watched it so many times. I watched it once for each child to watch what they were doing. I love some wanted to see their whole bodies move and others just wanted to peak or twirl their hair. They were all trying out different ways to observe themselves.

Without really knowing why, in the middle of the song I decided to stop it and hit play. 

I wish I had a video of their faces when suddenly the same song was playing and they were still on the screen, but the images were not following their movements.  They all looked liked they were having an out-of-body experience. 

Some of them just stood there and stared and others tried to imitate what their "other self" was doing on the screen. They kept looking at the screen and then down at their own bodies with amazement and confusion.

Finally a four year old said:

"But who is controlling us?"  

I didn't answer...

"Wait it's doing what we WANT to do..."

"It's doing what we WERE doing..." 

When it stopped they asked me to show it to them again...and again.  They loved narrating what they were doing. They remembered the actions from the first time they had done them. It really encouraged a lot of language and conversation between them.

Then they moved on to costumes.

I can't wait to see what happens the next time we use the projector. There are so many learning experiences that can come from it: science, movement, technology, sensory, creative arts, social-emotional and so much more.

  The most obvious thing I have noticed so far is a huge increase in language and conversation between them. What 2-5 year old doesn't love talking about themselves? :) 

Hidden Treasure: A Metal Playground

Many years ago I attended a conference where Lisa Murphy of Ooey Gooey Inc, was the keynote speaker. I enjoyed her keynote so much that I ditched the rest of my planned sessions for the day and attended only her sessions instead. 

One of the things she talked about was the old metal playgrounds and all the childhood experiences that are being taken away, because of adult concern for liability.  She often posts photos on her FB page about "spicy slides" she discovers in her travels. 

I don't usually share photos from my personal time, but this weekend on a mini-vacation to Campobello Island, New Brunswick, my family and I discovered one of these old playgrounds. 

We had so much fun. 

"When we strive to remove all risk from childhood we also remove the foundations of a rational adulthood, and we eliminate the very experiences that will help kids grow up to be the empowered, creative, brave problem-solvers that they can and must be. 

-Gever Tulley. Beware Dangerism!

Full sun: SO hot and spicy! Didn't stop them and nobody got hurt. 

For extra risk... the swinging metal ladder. :)

The evolution of playground equipment has been to this ever safer, less challenging, less interesting assemblies of equipment.

Gever Tulley

My kids love finding these on playgrounds. 

The Giant Metal Seesaw

Giant metal rocking horse, which was great for cooperation and teamwork. 

The shorter wider, Toddler slide?

Even if it isn't risky, my kids will find a way to make it so.

"Real protection means teaching children to manage risks on their own, not shielding them from every hazard."

 -Wendy Mogel (The Blessing of a Skinned Knee)