Lighten up on restricted "proper use" of materials and see what happens! Today I cleverly put out a big pile of play dough and the Letter Stamps thinking it would be a good way to help the ones who are off to KGT this fall. HA! they had their own needs and interests. Two of the children at play are expecting new additions to their families so they needed to work on more important issues ... so lighten up, don't jump in to stop what you might not understand, see where they take their own play! I spent the morning observing what turned out to be elaborate work (messy-sure, but the value of the play is far more important I think) and not anything that I "expected"!
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| Child Builds a play dough baby! |
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| Construction toys double for a bottle! |
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| It takes a village! She gets her friend to dump out a bin of toys to make a cradle! |
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| Baby needs a blanket, tissues are handy! |
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| Dump out another basket of toys to make a diaper bag! |
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| Take your baby to work! Baby sits on the counter at the store they made in the puzzle area(our store would not do!) so that Mom can feed and care for her while earning a living. |
What a great reminder to make it about the child, not about us and what we thought the children should or would do!
ReplyDeleteYour story ties well into the 5th principle that "play is a means to early learning that capitalizes on children's natural curiousity and exuberance".
Great concept of Child-directed VS. teacher initaited. If only we, as Early Childhood Educators, can think like this during everyday play...
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