Ramps and Pathways

 

Project #3

I recently discovered a book called Ramps and Pathways: A Constructivist Approach to Physics with Young Children. Not only is the book incredibly inspiring for educators of all ages, but it credits the man, the myth, the legend: Jean Piaget.

If you haven't heard of him, I highly recommend getting to know everything about his work.


For now, I just want you to know that  Piaget was a HUGE supporter of physical knowledge.

In Ramps and Pathways, we learn that by exploring with ramps, balls, and risers, children can develop scientific skills at many levels. In fact, I recently put this to the test by building my own set of ramps and gathering various pathways for children to explore with.

Here is the set that I made!

The ramps in the pictures below are cement tubes from Home Depot, playground padding, and carpet tubes. 

Intentional Teaching in the Building Area

Intentional Teaching: Transition from Open Play to Focused Exploration in the Building Area

What is open play?

It's that time of day when educators give their children uninterrupted time to explore throughout the classroom. This is a good thing. There should always be time for this. AND you should be intentional about it. 

For example,

Teacher A opens her block area during choice time. A small group of children use the area to build roads and play cars. They lay unit blocks end to end for their roads and make a bridge to go over the quicksand. The boys especially enjoy crashing their cars into one another. Later that week, the teacher borrows a play rug printed with roads, signs, and buildings, and lays it down in the block area. The next morning, the boys return to their block area to enjoy “zooming” their cars around the rug’s roads. The boys place blocks on different parts of the rug to represent a gas station, their school, and a grocery store.

This is great. The teacher has things out that stimulate the children's interest, but what she's not keying in on is the potential for reflection, dialogue, and developing ideas about some interesting and critical physical science concepts that are presenting themselves.  

Look at Teacher B:

Teacher B also responds to her children’s interests in cars and roads. Bus she decides that their interests could be the beginning of an exploration of building structures and building materials. When children build roads for their cars, she observes their play and, in the context of their story line, invites them to make multi-sensory parking garages for their vehicles. The next day, she uses a few minutes of group time to show children photographs of the outsides and insides of local parking garages. She also shows them cardboard pieces of roof boards and mentions that she’ll be putting them in the block area and at the building center, ahead of time, she’s placed two large boxes of table locks and small cars. She introduces dollhouse people that will be added to the block area, and three children who haven’t shown interest in block play before ask to play there. She also suggests they use clipboards and paper at the block area to draw their structures, just in case they get knocked down. At the end of the day, the group gathers to share a few memories from the day. The teacher invites one builder to share her problem of adding a third floor to her parking garage, and her solution to stand cylinder blocks in the middle of the second floor to support her third floor. 

The teacher builds on the children's interests and has a clear set of science concepts to guide the children's work with the blocks. She's encouraging deeper thinking without interfering in their own process of questioning and exploration.  

So how do you know who is ready for focused exploration?

1. The child is spending their choice time in the building area
2. They have become deliberate in how they build their structures
3. They choose to build regularly

Need some ideas for materials to add to your building area?

sandbags, rice, rope light, battery operated candles, ribbon, fabric, wall molding, marbles, unit blocks, cardboard blocks (for building high), tree rounds, wooden floor samples, paint chip samples, cardboard tubes, baskets (make for easy clean up), PVC pipes.

More ideas: https://www.pinterest.com/puddletownbuild/building-provocations/

Loose Parts

LOOSE PARTS PLAY: FUEL FOR CREATIVITY
The theory of "loose parts" was coined by architect Simon Nicholson in the 1970's. 

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So What?

Loose parts are materials that can be moved, combined, carried, redesigned, lined, up, and taken apart and put back together again in multiple ways. They are materials with no specific set of directions. Having loose parts available in an environment allows children to use the materials as they choose. Often you will find that children would rather play with materials that they can use and adapt as they please, rather than expensive pieces of play equipment.

Encouraging children to use resources as they choose can provide a wider range of opportunities than one that is purely adult led. Children who play with loose parts are using more creativity and imagination and developing more skill and competence than they would playing with modern plastic toys. 

Environments that include loose parts are infinitely more stimulating and engaging than static ones. 












Now What?

Implementing loose parts is about remembering that the best play come from things that allow children explore in many different way and on many different levels.

Some things you should know:

• Having a space that embraces a plethora of materials can be messy. Embrace it. Make it a teachable moment. Take the time to let children explore and make sure there is enough time to guide them in cleaning up. It could take a while.
• Know the difference between enough and too much in the space. Sit back and observe how your children utilize the space. If it is chaotic, minimize the available materials. 
• Make sure baskets or bins are labeled in a way that the children can easily know where to put things when they are finished. If you are working on getting your star rating in QRIS, than this will be right up your alley.

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On a personal note...

I have a common space in my program that children ages 12 mos - 12 years use throughout the day. Loose Parts has been my answer on how to make the space developmentally appropriate for ALL of these children. Big pieces are always left out for the children to use and little pieces are brought out when it is appropriate.

Builder Boards

Project #2

Let's talk about over sized Lincoln Logs. Some companies call them Builder Boards, others call them Timber Stackers. I don't even know what I want to call them. But I do know that these are the most sought after learning material in my preschool classroom!

Lately, they have been used as a space ship. The children put baskets on their heads, create small spaces to sit in, and pack all sorts of things into their shuttle. It's amazing to observe the creativity that goes on while these boards are manipulated!

BUILDER BOARDS

I had some assistance building a jig to space out the notches. Since all of the materials were donated scraps, they needed to be put to size with a chop saw. Finally, I sanded and stained the wood with a non toxic varnish.

The next day, I brought the boards into work and gave the children no directions on how to use them. Why? Because I wanted the teachers to observe how the children problem solved on their own. I asked them to document what questions the children asked through their actions and words. Then, after the observation was over, the teachers were able to develop a study based on the children's interests. We did, however, talk about how to safely carry them. :)

Waldorf Playstand

In the past year or so, I've taken an interest in the tools and machinery in my garage (which I am told is no longer a garage, but a "shop"). With a lot of assistance from my boyfriend, I have begun to explore with creating learning materials for early childhood educators. So here I am, now a builder in my free time. This is my blog about my experiences in the shop and the positive changes the learning materials have made in one early childhood program. Hopefully what you find here will inspire you do amazing things for the children in your life.

Project #1

After going on a tour of early childhood programs in Portland, Oregon, I was inspired to make some changes to the program I work at. I wanted to build things that seemed familiar to people, but had a new twist on them. 

I'd seen Waldorf Playstands before. They foster creativity in children, can be used MANY different ways, and aesthetically provide that "wow" factor for anyone that walks into the room. I wanted one for a space in my program that desperately needed all of those things.

WALDORF PLAYSTAND

I got in over my head with this one. Pinterest makes things look so easy! Don't let it fool you though! For this project, I learned how to use a jigsaw, router, table saw....the list goes on. Anyhow, I didn't get too many photos of the process, but I did find some specs on Pinterest that I somewhat followed and eventually had to ad lib the rest.

                               Once all of the pieces were cut out, we began to put it together:

Here's the finished product!

Looking back on this project, I will say that I learned a lot of new things in the shop. Should it have been my first project? NO. But I do have to say that the results of this piece have given the program I work at some major kudos from children and adults.

Since adding the playstand to our Children's Commons, it has been used as:

• a kitchen
• a reading space
• a climber
• a car wash
• a fort
• a place to calm down