Our Youngest Children
Risky Play
Risky play is defined as: kids experimenting and pushing themselves to figure out what will happen, without knowing the exact outcome.
Our after schoolers love climbing the trees in our backyards! What an accomplishment!
Playing at great heights is very exhilarating for children!
Remember to let children take risks - they learn through play. ~Tanya MacFarlane
For our two's, this is quite a jump!
There are 6 factors to risky play
- Great Heights (climbing, jumping from still or flexible surfaces, balancing on high objects, hanging/swinging at great heights)
- High Speed (swinging at high speed, sliding at high speed, running uncontrollably at high speed)
- Dangerous Tools (screwdrivers, hammers, knives)
- Dangerous Elements (cliffs, deep water or icy water, fire pits)
- Rough and Tumble (wrestling, fencing with sticks, play fighting)
- Disappear/Get Lost (go exploring alone, playing alone in unfamiliar environments)
Risky play helps develop a child's self-confidence, resilience, executive functioning abilities, and even risk-management skills.
This adventure was so much fun with our Two's! They enjoyed throwing rocks in to the river!
Learning how to use tools is a practical part of life - why not start it with preschoolers?!?
Block Play
Children are thinking as they play with blocks and they are developing concepts that will be important throughout their lives. ~Reifel
The wonder of blocks is the many-sided constructive experiences they yield to the many-sided constructive child - and every child is such if guided by a many-sided constructive parent or teacher. ~Harriet M. Johnson
Big ideas that emerge from block play:
- Architectural Features
- Aesthetics
- Attributes
- Balance
- Cause & Effect
- Classification
- Comparisons
- Counting
- Descriptions
- Dimensions
- Estimation
- Fractions
- Geometric Solids
- Gravity
- Mapping
- Measuring
- Mazes
- Perspective
- Predictions
- Properties of Matter
- Proportions
- Serration
- Shadows
- Simple Machines
- Tessellation
- Topological Concepts
Mud
Long uninterrupted periods of "messing around" with the materials are absolutely necessary in order to build the kind of relationship-thinking that comes when children can try their ideas over and over...
~Hill (1997)
Valuing Children Means...
The way we talk to our children becomes their voice. ~Peggy O'Mara
Children's emotions are as real as yours. Just because they might get sad over the colour of their cup, does not make their feelings less real. ~Rebekah Lipp
Valuing Literacies
In the end, what's important for teachers to remember is that every encounter with a picture book is simply saturated with literacy-learning potential.
~Wood Ray & Glover (2008)
Valuing Children's Names
Children feel a strong personal connection to their names and to the names of people and animals and places that are important and meaningful to them. This personal connection enhances children's literacy development.
~McNair (2007)
