Studio3Music Blog

Posts Tagged ‘pretend play’

Aug
20

Inspiring Natural Curiosity in Children

Posted in Child Development, Things to do

“Children who are allowed to explore freely in a safe environment become eager learners. As we encourage natural curiosity, we validate their innate need to know. So let them loose in the Tupperware drawer! Cover the deck with flour and give them a bucket of water. I’m always amazed at what they come up with!” – Carolyn Hornell (one of my favorite people and a Kindermusik Educator and owner of Notable Kids in Vancouver, BC.)

Here are some other ideas to encourage creativity:

Make a big plastic container of jello. Add some extra packets of plain gelatin to the mix so it is firmer. As it is solidifying, add some plastic animals, small colored rocks, and other objects like corks, bottle caps, marbles, etc. In the backyard (or the empty bathtub), provide your child with plastic utensils (yes, even a plastic knife!) and let them go for it.

Collect starch-based packing peanuts and give your child a boxful along with a little cup of water. Show your child how to dip the end in a little water and stick it to another packing peanut. Be sure to take pictures of their creations!

Pack a box with totally random craft items you might have around the house (just a few of each) – feathers, googly eyes, pipe cleaners, glitter or glitter glue, dried pasta, buttons, cut up straws, fishy crackers, empty toilet paper rolls, etc. Hand your child a couple pieces of construction (or plain) paper and a glue stick or glue bottle – AND NO DIRECTIONS. This is about the process, not the end result!

Find some unusual building blocks – a whole box of plastic or paper cups, stacks of paperback books, plastic bowls and plates. Provide a few matchbox-type cars or a small ball and watch what happens.

Hand your child a spray bottle filled with plain water and some sidewalk chalk. Send your child outside. Alternately, put fill two spray bottles with two different colors of water (or even the 3 primary colors – red, blue, yellow), and put an old (or cheap) white sheet down on the ground outside. Made those starch packing peanut creations recently? Have your child spray them with water to make a little magic.

Here are the rules:
No hovering
No directing
No explaining what to do (unless your child has never used a glue stick or squirt bottle before.)

This is all about fostering natural curiosity. Yes, there are certainly times when we should be right there guiding and teaching our children. But not all the time. You are your child’s best teacher, but our children don’t always require our presence in order to learn. And sometimes, when left to their own devices (with some objects to work with) they discover things about the world they might not have learned otherwise.

-posted by Miss Analiisa, who warns you that the combination of child, markers, scissors and dog will end up being a learning experience for you, not for said child.

Tags: games, learning, Miss Analiisa, preschoolers, pretend play, Things to do, toddlers

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Jun
15

Interpersonal and Intrapersonal. One little letter makes a big difference.

Posted in Child Development, parenting, Things to do

Today’s blog on getting practical with the multiple intelligences theory is all about Interpersonal Intelligence and Intrapersonal Intelligence. Now those are terms we don’t use very often, so here’s an easy way to tell them apart:

The one with the E: Interpersonal – think “internet”, which is a readily accessible, vast network. And “personal”, so it has to do with people.

The one with the A: Intrapersonal – think “intranet”, which is a smaller, restricted access network. And “personal”, so it has to do with people, too.

So let’s get right to your interpersonal and intrapersonal children.

Interpersonal Intelligence (People Smart)

Even at a young age, these children have the ability to understand and interact well with others. They are the social butterflies of the world, and enjoy meeting new people, often having a large circle of “close” friends. They are highly empathetic, and seem to intuitively know what people are feeling. They love to be part of a group. They are good at conflict resolution.

These children are excellent communicators, both verbally and non-verbally. They love to play games, and are naturally drawn to helping and teaching others. They learn best by working in groups, and can be either leaders or followers. People-smart children grow up to be teachers, social workers, actors, politicians, and psychologists.

How to Encourage Your People Smart Child:

play dates
board games
community service (helping others)
work on projects (cards, cookies, etc.) to give away
parties and celebrations – let them help with the planning!
playing school
dress up box
lots of puppets, dolls, or stuffed animals for pretend play
act out stories together (emphasis on the together part)

Interpersonal Intelligence (Self Smart)

These children are independent, self-directed, and self-motivated. They have a good understanding of who they are, what they are feeling, and what their strengths and weaknesses are. They learn from their own mistakes and successes. They have high self-esteem, and do not tend to seek the approval of their peers. They tend to have a smaller circle of friends. Self-smart children are often described as “marching to the beat of their own drum.”

Not surprisingly, they can be shy and introverted, and like to work and play on their own. They might also have a hobby that they don’t talk a lot about. Self smart children are often the ones who know what they want to be when they grow up, and they frequently become scientists, therapists, writers, lawyers, philosophers or spiritual leaders.

How to Encourage Your Self Smart Child:

time alone (they really enjoy alone time)
a cozy place to read, write or think
self-paced projects
free time and space to choose what they would like to do
learning how to set and reach goals (Love with a capital L!)
“how to” books – like Klutz books
a journal or diary to write in
books on subjects or people that interest them for “research”
toys and computer games that allow independent play

We’re halfway through. Are you starting to recognize yourself, your children or your spouse? Remember, you can have more than one intelligence. You’ll probably see yourself in a couple of them.

-posted by Self Smart Miss Analiisa, who laughed with her People Smart husband Karl tonight when recalling that these particular intelligences were the reason for most of their conflicts when they were first married.

Tags: brain, learning, Miss Analiisa, parenting, pretend play

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Apr
6

Getting Dirty in the Garden, Together

Posted in Bits and Pieces, Family, Things to do, Things We Love

Finally, spring is here! The weather is warming, the sun is shining, and flowers and trees are blooming. April is national gardening month, and now is the perfect opportunity to get outside with your children and get your hands dirty. Gardening with your children, even at the most basic level, has many varied and wide-ranging benefits. Besides being a great opportunity to take in fresh air and get a little exercise, gardening creates teachable gardening moments that can last all the way through summer and into fall.

To begin with, a gardening project from the smallest pot on your back porch to a full-fledged vegetable garden requires planning. Being able to plan a project, implement it, and see it through to the finish will bring great satisfaction and increased self-esteem as you and your child work together as a team.

Meresa in her garden at age 4, with her cat Max.

Gardening together can be such a positive bonding experience. Some of my earliest happy childhood memories are with my mother in our family’s vegetable garden planting green beans. We would set up the bean poles and string twine between them for the vines to grow up; then my Mom would show me how to poke a hole in the dirt with my finger, place one bean in, and cover it over again–a great exercise of fine motor skills!

Did I mention that as a child I absolutes loved green beans? I devoured them every time my Mom made them. When I was four, my Mom took me to a u-pick field, gave me my own bucket and went a little further down the row and left me to merrily pick. When she returned about 15 minutes later, she was shocked to realize I had picked enough to fill the entire 5 gallon bucket. (Did I mention I loved green beans?) I figured, the more I picked the more I got to eat.

This brings me to my next point. Children who grow or pick their own food are more likely to eat fresh fruit and vegetables and make healthier eating choices. Now, I can’t guarantee your children will love vegetables as much as I did (and still do), but I bet if your child has the satisfaction of being involved in the process of growing and harvesting what they eat, they will be much more likely to at least try it. And, who knows? Maybe you will turn out to have a ravenous green bean, broccoli, or tomato eater. We can all hope.

Furthermore, planting and tending a garden provides real-life examples of life processes and opportunities for an increased understanding of ecology, interconnections in nature, and responsible care of the environment. An easy and inexpensive small project you can do indoors any time of year is to make a terrarium. There is a fantastic guide on how to make one from a soda bottle at www.nationalgardenmonth.org.

Another great resource for gardening with children is the Parents’ Primer at www.kidsgardening.org. It will help you learn all you need to know to get started gardening with your children.

-posted by Miss Meresa, who encourages you to let the horticultural adventure begin! And wishes you the best of luck as you start planning, planting, and growing together.

Tags: learning, Miss Meresa, parenting, physical development, preschoolers, pretend play, Things to do, toddlers

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Jan
20

Less TV? What’s a Parent to Do?

Posted in Bits and Pieces, Family, parenting, Things to do

If you were one of the people to take to heart my blog on watching less TV, I’m following up that post with one chock-full of specific ideas that can help fill the vacuum left by turning off the tube. I discovered a couple of prolific authors that write about activities to do with kids. Steve and Ruth Bennett have written six books to help parents keep their kids experiencing simple fun under all kinds of circumstances: outdoors, in a waiting room, while traveling, and the one I picked up: 365 TV-Free Activities You Can Do With Your Child. I bet being their kid is lots of fun.

I chose to share with you a few of their cool ideas for children of a variety of ages:

Adopt A Tree—This takes making tree rubbings to a new level. The Bennetts suggest you encourage your children to adopt a tree in your neighborhood or a familiar park in order to make a “personal connection” between your child and the environment in which he or she lives. Treekeepers, says Bennett, must get to know their tree by “doing bark rubbings in the winter, press leaves in the fall, look for flowers and fruit in the spring and do leaf rubbings in the summer.” Kids can bring along a drink of water for “their tree” and a tape measure to note its growth. Older kids could keep a book to record characteristics, changes, bark patterns and so on. Taking pictures of the child by the tree provides a fun record of growth—of tree and child.

Food Face—For kids who love scissors and bright colored magazines, this game is a winner. Find magazines that have lots of pictures of food—like Family Circle or Woman’s Day, or Sunday paper ads– and find pictures of food that could be used for a face—like a banana mouth, or cookie eyes. Cut out a bunch! Trace the bottom of a pot on paper for the face and paste away. The Bennetts note that another version of this game can be “Car Face” or “Machine Face.” If the kids are too young to cut, you can clip for them before the game begins. Make sure to have fresh glue sticks on hand.

Animal Footprints—I’m still smiling when I think of the fun kids might have strapping foreign feet to their own and traipsing through the snow making funny footprints. I know finding snow may be an issue, but when the fluffy stuff falls, you’ll have a good idea ready. Have kids draw large funny footprints on heavy cardboard. (Save a box or get one at the grocery store.) Then tape them to the kid’s feet using duct tape and let them make tracks in the snow. A fun version has one child making tracks and the other tracking the crazy animal to its “den.” Make sure the feet aren’t so big that the kids can’t walk easily or safely with their “feet” taped on.

Post Office—This one is mostly a reminder about how fun it is to play with mail. The Bennetts cleverly suggest that an open-backed chair makes a great post office window. And we all remember any box can be converted to a mail box by cutting a flap or a slit. For lots of fun provide: a kitchen or bathroom scale, rubber stamps and non-toxic ink, stickers and/or squares of paper and double-sided tape, and lots of junk mail. For older kids, the Bennetts suggest that you use a world map and have them decide postage based on distance. Kids usually recognize these sneaky attempts to make their fun educational, but you may get away with it for a while.

Homemade Dashboards—I saw a plastic version of this, but how much more fun to make one. Take a cardboard box, at least 18 inches wide, and attach to it a Chinet paper plate with a paper fastener (brad) for the steering wheel. Attach yogurt container lids the same way and mark the “dials” with a permanent marker for a speedometer and gas gauge. Bottle lids make great buttons to push and a paper towel tube can be a gear shifter. Cut a hole in the box for the ignition. This homemade toy can occupy backseat drivers or be fun off-road.

Here’s the info you need to read the other 360 ideas the Bennetts suggest for TV-free living: 365 TV-Free Activities You Can Do With Your Child by Steve & Ruth Bennett. Their other books include:

Waiting Games: 202 Instant Activities for Turning Time to Spare into Time to Share

Table Talk! 365 Ways to Reclaim the Family Dinner Hour

Cabin Fever: 202 Activities for Turning Your Child’s Rainy Days, Snow Days, and Sick Days into Great Days

Kitchen Time: 202 Activities for Entertaining Your Child While You Cook

By Land, by Air, by Sea; The Ultimate Family Travel Activity Book

Kick the TV Habit: A Simple Program for Changing Your Family’s Television Viewing and (more)

-posted by Donna Detweiler, who liked the Bennett’s description of living in a home-based activity laboratory.

Tags: Donna Detweiler, parenting, preschoolers, pretend play, Things to do, toddlers

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Jan
18

I am a Superhero

Posted in Bits and Pieces, Child Development, Education

Superhero play is inevitable. We see it all the time. A child runs around with a cape around his shoulders and says “I am shooting fireballs!” Sometimes, to adults, it can seem scary. Children are loud and are often enacting rough play with things that kill or destroy. However, superhero play is a powerful tool for parents and teachers by opening up the dialogue to teach children about helping others.

Superhero play helps children move their bodies by jumping, running, and trying new gross motor skills like climbing across the monkey bars. It also helps children feel powerful and in control when they are in a world that usually makes them feel just the opposite. Children engage in superhero play to feel as powerful as adults.

Although typically with less rough-and-tumble play, girls are superheroes just as often as boys. They may be less physical than boys, but they require just as much attention from adults. Just the other day, a child made a mask and cape at school during a craft project. She was using her “loving powers” to help people feel better who were sad or hurt. Later, she went home and with her mom, made hearts to bring to school the next day. Then she handed them out to other children at school.

That same week a 4 year old boy used his super brain powers to help others solve problems they can’t figure out. He could give them parts of his “super brain stuff” to help them “do hard stuff they can’t do by themselves.”

Superhero play in the classroom

When children play as superheroes, they learn how to respond to the needs and wants of others. They have to be able to operate in a group setting where everyone has different ideas about the game. Who has what super powers? How do they work? Are there bad guys and good guys? What’s fair in this game? Teachers and parents can help children distinguish between things that these characters do that hurt versus things that help. It’s important to open up the conversation that addresses qualities that superheroes have which help and benefit others.

Children who may find it difficult to voice their opinions are often empowered when pretending to be a superhero. It’s so wonderful and attractive to a child to be something strong and powerful. This is when a child who is quiet most often in play all of a sudden is shouting loudly with a big smile. By taking on another persona, a child can practice being brave or responding to difficult or stressful situations. Here is an anecdote from last week that illustrates how a child used his superhero game to help a classmate:

Kaveh: I can move so fast!
Me: Wow, I could really use your help.
Kaveh: I can do anything
Me: Can you help me rescue someone? She is in trouble.
Kaveh: I’ll help you
(he and I race off to a girl who is crying on the other side of the room)

We then helped her feel better about missing her mom. It was a wonderful lesson in empathy. They both played together later in the day as well, which was the first time at school the two of them ever played together. Kids engaged in superhero play use their imagination and learn to work well with others.

Setting limits

Superhero play, like other kinds of play, can become emotionally or physically harmful. So as parents and teachers, it is our job to guide play when it no longer solves problems or helps others. Children don’t know their physical limits and sometimes that means that they hurt others. We want to show them how to start play and how to be conscientious of others needs in the game.

Establish rules from the start. For example, no pointing sticks or other props used as weapons directly at another person. These rules may need to be discussed several times. Listen to feedback. Kids can find creative ways to satisfy their interests while following directions and being safe.
Be specific about what aggressive behavior is. Is it touching another person’s body? Is it using certain harmful words?
Respond accordingly either by interrupting the play to stop aggressive behavior or talking about it afterward. The discussion can also address the story created, children who felt excluded and interesting twists and turns in the plot.
Make sure there is an appropriate amount of space for safe play.
Talk to the kids about real-life heroes, both male and female, and focus on their positive characteristics — for example, helpfulness, perseverance and diligence.
Use this play as an opportunity to build problem-solving skills. When there is an issue, resist resolving it for the children. Ask for their ideas.
Be positive. Acknowledge children’s new accomplishments and skills. Help them feel powerful.

-posted by Teacher Aaron, who if he could have a super power, it would be getting up in the morning without coffee.