We Can Fix It!

For quite some time now, one of the most-used materials in our class has been the toolbox and the variety of tools it contains. The hammers are probably the most favored tool, which is not that surprising considering the fact that I've only met a handful of toddlers over the years who don't like to bang. But, this group has really branched out with their use of tools. They can name most of the tools in the toolbox, even those that are not so common. Thankfully my dad was quite handy so I can give them the names and tell them what they are used for if they happen to ask.

I thought that adding tools to the play dough box would be extremely appealing to them. It combined two of their favorite activities into one. But, they weren't nearly as interested as I imagined they would be. They did use them a for a while with the play dough but, they had bigger and better ideas than I could come up with. They were much more interested in using the tools to fix things in the classroom.

Since the tools were in the play dough, I brought out a tool puzzle as a substitute. It wasn't long before N. found the drill in the puzzle, laid himself on the floor and set to work 'fixing' the table.  Some days he spent a good portion of his mornings engaged in activities like this.

Others followed suit and it was pretty common to see someone under the table, a rocking horse flipped upside down or the garage on its side as they set to work 'fixing' all the broken objects they could come up with.

After winter break I decided to introduce a more realistic way to use tools. I purchased a small pack of golf tees to use as nails. I had been saving a printer box since before break, just waiting for the perfect opportunity to use it. Since it is tall, it makes the perfect tool bench. after gathering up the three boys present who were most interested in tools, I showed them how they could use the golf tees as nails on the top of the box. I was a bit surprised at which boy picked it quickly, concentrating as he held his nail in place to get the hole started.

They hammered away for a good portion of the morning before discovering the holes on the sides of the box from the carrying handles. I should have known to tape them shut before starting. Instead, I had to reopen the box at nap to fish out all the hammers and nails. My original plan was to keep this activity just for the older toddlers since the golf tees are fairly sharp. However, a couple of the younger toddlers were interested and they did hammer for a bit. We just made sure we put the nails in before they came over. They were pretty content to just hammer on the box, with or without nails. We even took the box outside today since it was such a nice day. This gave the older group some time to work on it without worrying about the younger children.

Through all this tool play over the last month, we have learned more about the children. We have seen how much time they spend focused on an activity. We have seen children expand their play, adding new elements and depth as the weeks passed.  We have seen children come back to the same activity again and again until they feel they have mastered it and then find a way to take it to new levels of complexity. They have practiced waiting, taking turns and trading tools with friends. I dare to say some negotiating skills were practiced, too. They have spent large chunks of time engaged in the same activity, oblivious to the potential distractions around them.  They have learned some new words and participated in conversation with peers, actually hearing what was said and responding appropriately. They have picked up new ideas by watching a friend and trying to imitate them. All of this learning happened during  free play time, in activities the children selected and carried out on their own, with minimal support from the teachers.

The next challenge is to design a project that lets them really build something. With any luck, there will be an update before the semester is over.

Reflections on a Busy Year

What a difference a year makes! At this time last year, we were taking a deep breath and trying to relax a bit. The previous semester had been rather intense and we had made several changes to our daily schedule and routines as we focused on developing coping skills with some of our more intense personalities. Many of them moved up to the preschool in January and their replacements temperaments were more flexible. The spring had its challenges but by summer, we were able to move past most of those and settled into a calmer routine. Even the introduction of one year olds in the fall and a change of classroom space didn't do much to disturb the harmony we had achieved. Even with all of the challenges, we accomplished a lot last year.  I can't tell you the last time we used time out. Partly because it wasn't needed but also because,even with the challenges we were presented with, we learned that time out really wasn't helping.  Keeping the children engaged goes a lot further in developing social skills, critical thinking, problem solving, language and all those skills and concepts we deem necessary for children to be successful. Here is a look at some of the engaging activities we offered in 2011, most of which have not been featured in my blog to date.

Snow

Exploring tubes

Our favorite book My Truck is Stuck

Snow painting

Vehicle painting

Building from plans

Dance class

Tae Kwan Do

Dress-ups

Painting our construction site (from a plan)

Visit to the lake

Making chapati

Flower shop

Teddy Bear Picnic with the librarians

Preparing the garden

Planting seeds

Trucks and play dough

Summer picnic

We LOVE balls of all kinds

Assembling our new stroller for the little ones

Making applesauce

Apple prints

Cinnamon painting (from Pinterest)

Balls and tubes

Apple size sorting

Baby bath time

Glue pictures

Drums

Sensory steps (from Pinterest)

Straws (from Pinterest)

Ball painting

Homemade stacking rings

Play dough with tools

Musical instruments

Trying to work together to push the wagon

Water play

Doctoring my hurt knee

Raking to stay warm

Where the Ideas Come From

I used to be one of those teachers. You know the kind- the one whose themes were pretty much the same from year to year. And while I was pretty good at tweaking my themes to match the interests of the children, it seems like light years away from the way I do things today.  It started about four years ago when I had one of those classes. The kind with lots of big personalities, big highs and low lows.  When one child started something interesting but not-so-appropriate, it took mere seconds for several peers to join in and escalate the situation into chaos.

That was the year my strategies started to change. I happened across a book about Charlie Parker, the jazz musician, and thought it might interest one particular child. It had a recording set to a piece of Parker's music and this particular child had a strong musical inclination.  What I didn't expect was for the majority of the class to fall in love with the book. In a very short time, I think we had it all memorized. I started planning some activities to incorporate more music. I took a big risk by leaving the rhythm sticks out all day long, as this group could get physical with each other quickly and over unexpected things. But they rose to the challenge and used them to make music and for pretend play. We made all kinds of shakers and even ventured into making trumpets.  The more I incorporated things that interested them, the easier our days became. There were still challenges but they were easier to overcome most of the time.

From that point forward, I started incorporating more of the children's ideas into my planning. I think last year was probably the first one where every theme and activity related to the children's interests rather than things I felt they needed to learn.  The question that comes up the most, though, is how to figure out what toddlers are interested in, especially when you consider some of them are barely talking still. For some reason, I tend to pick up lots of ideas when the children are on the playground. That is where I observed several children shopping at the 'dollar store' and showing an interest in the sunflowers. Both of these led to great projects and discoveries for me. I watched a two year old practice one-to-one correspondence as she shopped at the dollar store, placing one dollar on each item and discovering she needed more dollars. Happily, her friends were more than willing to help.

The sunflower discovery led to one of my favorite art projects to date, a mural that covered our whole wall. The children decided what we needed- pumpkins, since it was fall, and a gate to put them on, trees and falling leaves, since it was fall, squirrels to live in the tree and what tree would be complete without a squirrel. The children even did all the cutting, as we had a couple that had taught themselves to cut on a line. We worked on this mural off and on for well over a month. Even though I knew I couldn't keep it up forever, I was sad when we finally took it down. I did save two of the flowers, framed them and hung them in the new classroom this year.

I am always amazed to see how a group of toddlers unites behind an idea. Sometimes that lasts for a day but often it can last for weeks at a time. This group is no different. On the playground last month, we had a little argument over a reusable grocery bag.  There was one on the playground with some dress up items in it. One of the boys dumped it out and started putting other things in the bag. Soon another child wanted a bag and since the first wasn't ready to be finished with his turn, I went to look for the other bags with the boy who was waiting. We thought the bags were lost until we decided to check one more spot and hit the jack pot. We excitedly took them outside and offered them to the other children. It didn't take long before they were all headed to the grocery store. We asked what they were buying and most of them named some of their favorite foods.

After a couple days, we talked to the older children about transforming the kitchen into a grocery store and they eagerly agreed. With the help of donations from the families we had a fully stocked grocery in no time. Even without the cash registers, the amount of learning happening was amazing. We watched as one child, who had been struggling a bit entering into play, quietly walked over to another and asked for some yogurt. They played together for a while, even cleaning up the pretend spill together when the container dropped onto the floor.  We listened to many of the children use new words to categorize food or identify foods based on the familiar label or logo (emergent literacy in action!). Boxes were used for stacking and building. Spatial relationships were developed as they tried to find the best way to fit all of their items into their basket or bag. Spontaneous turn-taking, helping others and social problem solving happened over and over. Learning to wait (and they will wait when they are invested in something) to follow another child's lead. And all of this through play. No formal lesson written, but lots of planning and support from the teachers.

 

So far no new theme has bubbled up so we are going with an old stand-by, camping under the stars. The tent came out today and the stars are hung. I am curious to see what, if anything, they do with this. We also decided to move the food boxes to the block center since there is an interest in stacking them. Learning to follow the children's lead has not been easy. It feels a lot like giving up control and flying by the seat of my pants at times. But every item, activity and idea is carefully thought out. My co-teacher and I are always reflecting on what is working, what we are seeing and how we can extend their ideas. There have been successes and failures. Sometimes an idea just doesn't take hold the way I thought it would. But when they do take hold, the results are astounding.