Toddler Risk Taking

Things are settling down here with S in the house so I think I may be able to get back to some writing finally.  A little disclaimer here...He is the inspiration for this particular post, even though it happens to be classroom related.

There has been a lot of debate in the past few years about whether playgrounds can be too safe, as this article from the New York Times explains and appropriate risk taking by young children. Deborah at Teach Preschool, Teacher Tom and many others have written some excellent posts on the subject. For many years, I have pretty much let my toddlers take risks and do things that many toddler teachers would stop. You typically won't hear me tell a child not to stand on the couch or crawl under the table. It is not uncommon to find a toddler in my class standing on a chair to put more blocks on a tower taller than they are, carry objects around that appear too heavy, let them go for a walk on campus and not have to hold a teacher's hand or just simply get dirty.

At the same time, there are specific things I won't allow. Children are not allowed to sit on tables or run through the quieter areas of the classroom, such as the book or art areas. With each new group of children, the rules are tweaked.  In the name of safety, one rule that never changes is that teachers are not to put children onto a structure that they cannot climb onto on their own. If a child cannot climb into or onto something, then they likely cannot get down from it safely. Or, they develop a false sense of confidence and end up attempting something they are not physically ready for, resulting in a preventable injury.

With each new group of children, the rules change slightly and seem to become a little more relaxed. We had a rule last fall that children could not use chairs to climb on top of the tunnels on the playground. I had let a couple try it and quickly ended it when two children launched themselves from their chairs completely over the tunnels, landing face first in the mud on the other side with decent cuts and bruises. By the spring, they had developed more physical coordination and we ended that rule. You can only hear yourself or your co-teacher tell a child so many times that chairs do not belong at the tunnels to finally realize it might be time to let them try again. This time, they slowed down, paid closer attention and no one ended up getting hurt.

I'm not saying we change the rules on a whim or just let the toddlers do what they want. We evaluate the situation, the children's current development in all areas and, the group dynamic before changing a rule. With the younger toddlers in the classroom, we had decided it would be safer if we didn't allow the walkers to take wheeled toys, like the strollers and cars, up and down the ramps in the movement area. It wasn't that we thought the children using the toys would get hurt but, concern that they might not notice a younger, less stable toddler in the area and that child might just get run over. But, having the rule in place did not stop the children from taking these wheeled toys on the ramps frequently. We tried several strategies to stop it until one day, I saw my little guy and another boy carefully walking up the ramp with the cars under them. One of the teachers started to remind them of the rule when I said to her, "Let's just see where this goes." We remained close (and quiet) in case one of us needed to intervene as we continued to observe. Remarkably, they managed to repeat this several times without anyone getting hurt or even falling down really.

  

We picked up some great information about these boys as we watched them maneuver around each other. Often, one was heading down as the other was going up and they adjusted their positions so that they didn't crash into each other or cause one another to fall off. There were times they ended up in the same spot and had to carefully maneuver their cars into position without knocking the other child off. They learned to be aware of where the other one was on the ramp, how much space each car needed and were more aware of their bodies in the space.  They learned how to solve some new problems, both physical and social.  So, we decided to eliminate that rule for the time being. With subsequent groups, we may have to revisit. Only time will tell.

The ramps in question.

Which isn't to say we haven't had accidents. One child tried to go down backward and ended up on his back in the process. He has since re-thought the wisdom in that and now goes down facing forward or goes slower to avoid rolling over again. We also don't just leave them to their own devices or let them get crazy. Someone is usually in that area or very close and we have no problem stepping in and helping a child re-think an idea that we are pretty sure will result in injury or something being damaged.  As a result of this indoor rule change, we finally decided to relax the outdoor rules and let them ride wheeled toys down the hill (again my little guy was the leader of the pack- I still haven't decided if that is a good or bad thing!), as you will see in the video below. You will actually hear me mention appropriate risk taking. One of the other teachers asked if she stop the boy at the bottom of the hill and I decided not to. You will notice that not only does he stop when he sees my little guy coming down but, my little guy also changed his path when he noticed the boy at the bottom.

Overcoming Boredom and Cabin Fever

With the new semester well underway, the new children are pretty settled in for the most part. But, we were noticing over the last two weeks that the children were being more physical with each other and just seemed to be getting on each others nerves a little. So it seemed like a good time to make some changes to the environment.  We had put up the tent before the break in the dramatic play are, which is usually a popular item.

But, after about a week, this group seemed to be bored so we changed it back to the kitchen to give us some time to see what they might be interested in. With the tent there, they were hardly using the area, which was leading to crowding in some other areas.  At the same time, we have been dealing with lots of rainy weather. And while I don't mind being outside in a little rain, it has been pouring so we have had lots of inside days. Add to that the fact that our playground is all grass (with a fair share of mud) with poor drainage. Since we don't have good rain gear, that means when the playground is soggy and full of pretty deep puddles, we end up being stuck inside. Which just leads to more boredom and cabin fever.

We added some more challenging puzzles after finding out that many of our older two's are doing 24-48 piece puzzles at home. They even get to work on it in the teacher space so the little ones don't walk all over their work, which makes it a pretty attractive activity.

We made the sensory table a car wash, which has interested children who have been bored with that space.

The biggest change so far is probably the addition of a hoop to the gross motor area. We have had a variety of balls for a while but lately the balls have been finding their way all around the room. Which leads to whole new set of problems. So this morning I hung a big hoop over the ramps for the children to throw their balls through. So far, it is holding their interests and they are back to using the balls in a more appropriate way that doesn't bother other children trying to do quiet activities elsewhere.

I'm sure there will be more changes as winter goes on. We can keep hoping for snow, can't we?

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.

Following the Children's Lead- Literally

The holidays are just around the corner and this is the one time of year that I do a product-oriented, rather than process-oriented, art activity with the children. I do like to have them make a gift to give their parents so we started working on our hand print mittens today. Granted, we are not getting as fancy as some I have found on-line but, I do feel that is cruel to just paint a toddler's hand white, make the print and then have them go wash their hand without a chance to actually explore the paint. So we are making white paintings this week and at some point in the process, we are helping the children make their hand print.

J was one of the first children to have a turn so he and D got to choose their paint tools. They each chose a texture brush, roller and a regular roller.  I gave them their paint and they set to work. As D finished, I painted his hand and he made his print, then went to wash. J saw and wanted to make his so I painted his hand. He squealed in delight when he saw the print left behind and exclaimed, "Do it again!" 

We made three prints then ran out of room so I offered him another paper. He decided I needed a turn so I let him paint my hand and made my hand print. He did this several times, squealing in delight with each new print. Eventually the hand prints became a basketball, soccer ball, hot dog and a few other things. I have a feeling he will be trying this again!

We love to get outside with the children but since it has rained for two straight days, our play ground looks more like a river. The water is way too deep for us to go out without rain gear, which we don't have at this point. But, the advantage to being on a college campus is that we can always get out and explore campus. We gathered up coats for the two's, took them in the hallway to put them on then headed out to explore.  The one's got to go in the stroller for a walk on their own later so we all got out today for a bit. Once we got out the door of our building, we asked them which direction then followed them. I love that this group is so easy-going that we can let them go for walks without holding hands. They stayed close to us and if we needed to stop, they did and waited for the rest to catch up. We walked up all the steps to main plaza.

We walked, or rather ran, all the way to the other side of campus. 

We stopped along the way to check out a sewer.

We ducked into the library during class change time (the plaza gets super-crowded so we wanted to be out of the fray) to visit the dinosaur car. N says someone needs to drive it (probably him!).

On the way to see the ducks, we stopped in the Fine Arts Center to see if we could hear any music. A student was gracious enough to open up a practice room and let the children bang, boom, boom, boom, on the tympani drums, steel drums and the big bass drum.

This was probably the highlight of the trip. We have a group of music lovers who would start their own band if they could. Drums happen to be their favorite.

Then it was over to the lake, across the bridge to visit the ducks and back up the steps on the other side.

On the way back from visiting the ducks, we stopped to investigate a worm on the sidewalk.

I love watching them on campus. They run around there like they own the place and they love to explore it. I truly believe hope that their comfort on campus instills a love of learning and desire to explore for years to come!

Really Seeing Children

No matter what age they work with or what grade they teach, teachers all bring unique strengths, beliefs, approaches and methods of teaching and interacting with those children. Some teachers prefer to lead the instruction, planning well ahead of time, sometimes following themes they have chosen at the beginning of the year. Other teachers prefer to follow the child's lead, choosing materials and potential activities based on what they observe the children doing, incorporating the children's interests and allowing the children time and space to use the materials in their own way as they generate their own ideas and learning.

Most early childhood teachers fall somewhere in the middle, using a blend of teacher-initiated and child-initiated activities. The longer I teach, the more I move toward child-initiated activities.  While I don't see as much value in direct instruction or having children learn based themes chosen by the teacher, if it works for that teacher and group of children, then who am I to tell them what to do?  There is such a continuum of what teachers are comfortable with, what they know about learning and children and the ways different children learn that it helps to have a full repertoire of ideas, approaches and methods.

But, there is one aspect of teaching that I will never understand. That is the teacher who talks in absolutes and tends to only see the negative. I imagine everyone has a story they can share about the teacher who seems to  hate children, is suffering from burn out or just doesn't understand children. This teacher may say things like, "Mark is always breaking the toys," or "Jenny never cleans up when she leaves a center."  He or she might not go so far as to say a certain child is bad although I have heard that more times than I care to remember. These teachers have a tendency to focus on the negative and what the child can't do. I've heard teachers of three-year-olds panic that a child or groups of children can't identify all of the letters of the alphabet our count to 10 or beyond without missing a number. They criticize two, three and four-year-olds for not sitting still, on their bottoms, with their legs crossed for fifteen minutes or more during circle time or not being able to stand perfectly still in a line while they wait for the whole class to get their coats on in order to go outside.

Negativism in the the classroom

When I hear teachers focus almost exclusively on the negative, it really makes me wonder why they are working with children. Every teacher or caregiver has had at least one child in their group that they really struggled with. Usually this struggle revolves around behavior. Even the best of us have reached a point where we have exhausted all of our tricks, ideas, and skills to try to help that child. A teacher who understands young children will not place blame on the child for their behaviors. After all, aren't we here to help them learn what behaviors are socially acceptable?  If we aren't going to support them through conflict, emotional outburst and all these other social-emotional things that are part of normal child development, then who will? Yet I still hear teachers place the blame squarely on the shoulders of the child and often the family as well.

And no matter how much they talk about these challenges and issues, they come back year after year after year.  The reasons for these attitudes toward children are as varied as the teachers themselves. Sometimes it is a simple case of burn-out. The push-down of curriculum that has escalated since the passage of No Child Left behind likely plays a role. The fact that many early childhood professionals have no training in child development before entering the field probably doesn't help, either.  But, I see trained professionals struggling with this almost as much as the untrained teachers. There comes a time, though, when the teacher becomes part of the problem rather than the solution.

I feel the main issue here is that these teachers never take the time to really see the children they are spending countless hours with.  They get so focused on a set of skills or behaviors that they think children should have that they fail to see what these same children can really do. Because, let's face it, infants, toddlers and preschoolers can't do a lot more than they can. It's a simple fact. They are here to learn, explore, experiment, test, form ideas, and ask questions. Quite simply, they are here to just do. When teachers are able to see children in light of their abilities, accomplishments and interests, a more positive and deeper relationship generally develops between them. This relationship is the foundation for all children to feel secure enough to explore and engage in their environment.

Understanding each child

In order to change the focus from what the child can't do and to start seeing children as having “preparedness, potential, curiosity and interest in constructing their own
learning…and in negotiating with everything the environment brings to them,” (Lella Gandini), there needs to be a shift in focus and what the teacher's role is.

1. Slow down to the children's pace.  Let them choose their activity and how to play with it. Don't offer suggestions or show them the proper way to use it.  This is not an easy thing to in education today. With all the pressure to have children ready for school, the fact that they are learning very important skills during play is often overlooked.
2. Take some time each day to observe. Focus on one or two children or a small group.  Write down what you see and hear, what they are playing with, how they are playing with the materials and interacting with each other.  Give them this time to explore and let them show you what they know and can do.  The more you observe, the better able you can determine the child's strengths and interests.
3. Talk with the children, not at them. Take some time each day to have conversations with the children. For the youngest children, these conversations and exchanges typically happen during routing care activities, such as diapering or feeding. Taking the time to sit down with a group of toddlers or preschoolers at lunch and talking about their day,  what they like/dislike, what they had for dinner the night before and so on, will provide invaluable information about the children. Taking the time to really listen and focus shows them the teacher respects their thoughts and ideas and values them as people. Waiting patiently for a response after a question gives the children time to process the question and recall the pertinent information without feeling rushed.
4. Use the information. Take the information you are learning and use it when selecting new materials, activities and even themes. If there is intense interest in an activity, give them more time to explore. Having the ability to repeat activities and projects again and again builds mastery over time.  Talk with them about the materials and why you chose them or, when you see an interest developing, talk with them about ways you can expand on it or materials you could add to help them take their play to the next level.

When teachers and caregivers view children as capable, competent learners, their confidence and security grows. When they feel secure, they are more likely to explore. When we show them we value their ideas, they are more likely to share new ideas and to want to test them out. Every opportunity to  explore, test materials and social skills helps children learn how to learn.  And isn't that the point?

Technology in the Classroom

The debate regarding what types of technology are appropriate fro young children is one that will likely never end. Sometimes I think we spend so much time thinking about what children should or shouldn't be doing that we overlook the fact the technology has a variety of uses for teachers. I'm not going to get into the debate here. Instead, I am going to focus on ways teachers can use technology to help them document and enhance children's learning and development.

Using Technology for Observations
I am lucky to work in a program that has access to a variety of technology, including digital cameras and digital video recorders for each classroom. I take thousands of pictures each year to document the children's work. In the past, I have used them to put together a small digital portfolio using the criteria from our assessment to present to the parents at conference time. Being able to see the picture or a video of the child in action often helps the parents see what I am talking about. And what parent doesn't like to see a picture of their child?

For the most part, I have taken pictures of things that I find interesting or that the children are really engaged in. There is nothing better than capturing a video of two children reading a book to each from memory or snapping a photo of a detailed block structure. I often use the camera to snap a picture that I can use to jog my memory to write an anecdotal note for our on-going assessment. I have used the video camera to help when a child is struggling with behavior or social-emotional issues. When a child is having a full-fledged kicking and screaming tantrum, it can be hard to think, much less see what else is going on or recall what happened to start it. Being able to watch the video after the fact lets me see things that I missed in the heat of the moment. The video camera has been extremely helpful in this area. But, this year, I decided to try using it in a different way.

In my center, we use the Devereux Early Childhood Assessment, which focuses on social and emotional development. Part of that process is to spend several weeks doing running record observations in the classroom, which are then used when completing the child's assessment.  These running records are helpful because it forces us to use the actual documentation on a child rather than relying on memory or general impressions. But, they can be hard to keep up with, especially when you try to include every possible detail like me. After doing a couple of running records, I decided to us the class video camera to document what was happening. That way I can see more of what is happening without having to stop in the moment to write it down. I can even see what I am doing, which is never part of the running record since all I am doing is writing and not spending as much time interacting with the children.

I set the camera up in one area of the room, press record and then go about the normal routine. I have recorded at different parts of the say and move the camera around so we see all the children and all areas of the room several times. We now have a few hours of video from the past couple of weeks and I spent the weekend watching and analyzing them. Watching the videos has forced me to re-frame my impressions of a few children and shown me things that I had overlooked.

A Quiet, Peaceful Classroom
The biggest thing that stood out to me while watching the videos was how quiet and calm the classroom seemed. My classroom is always busy and we try to keep the materials fresh and interesting to the children. We don't have toys that make noise or light up or do things for the children. They have to act on the materials and be creative with them. But, because they stay so busy, it can seem quite loud at times just from children talking to us, each other or in pretend play.  Besides conversation, the children are often making noises as they play, which can get quite loud at times. But, those sounds don't carry across the whole classroom so the overall tone is much quieter than I would have thought.

I think the main reason the atmosphere stays so peaceful is that the children have lots of choices. They choose what they want to play with, where they want to play and who they might want to play with. If we are doing an art activity, they often choose the color or type of paper, paint or stamper they will use.  They can explore to their hearts content, as long as they are safe. They can choose to come to snack anytime it is available, which is most of the morning. We let them know when it is getting close to diaper changing time or clean up time so they aren't surprised when it's their turn. They can bring their work with them and save it outside the bathroom even, so it will still be theirs when they finish.  All of these things add up and contribute to the overall atmosphere of the room. And you can see these things happening in the videos.

What I Missed
Every class has the child (or children) that seems to lack focus and doesn't stay with an activity for more than a few seconds at a time. I have a couple in my class. While watching the videos, though, I saw that they can focus for extended periods of time when they are interested and challenged at an appropriate level. The two that come to mind spent at least 10-15 minutes engaged in an activity or taking that same activity to another area to build on it. Had I not seen it on the video, with the timer, I may not have realized that they were simply expanding an on activity and assumed they had abandoned that one to start a new one.

I would have missed a young two-year-old, who had been in the habit of pushing the one-year-olds to get what she wanted, play a game of peek-a-boo with that same one-year-old and trade toys with him more than once. I would have missed another older toddler reading a story to a younger toddler, even going so far as to ask him if he saw something in the picture. Seeing her make eye contact with him when she talked to him shows she me just how much she understands the concept of conversation. She waited for a response or acknowledgement from him before continuing and read his body language. There are so may things I missed that I am going to use the video camera more often just to see what is going on in the classroom. The possibilities really are endless!

Whose Rules are They?

As adults and teachers or caregivers, we tend to prefer a sense of order. Which means we like rules and have them to apply to all sorts of situations. One rule that is used often in child care and preschool is that tables and chairs stay together. To go a step further, generally children are expected to sit in a chair while they are working at a table. To be honest, I used to have these rules in my class.

You might wonder what led me to eliminate that rule several years ago. I attended a conference several years ago sponsored by the Ohio Association for the Education of Young Children. While I can no longer remember the presenters' names, I do remember what I learned from a session on toddler activities.  These two ladies shared some wonderful ideas which led to a discussion of rules for toddlers. When setting rules, they considered two things: Is it a safety issue and if not, is it something they could live with. They shared that their toddlers had started taking the play dough to the dramatic play center. They had previously banned this practice but as the children continued, they decided to re-evaluate.  They decided they could live with a little play dough in the carpet so the rule was eliminated and everyone was happier.

A few years later, I started learning about the teachings of Magda Gerber, who advocates for unstructured, uninterrupted play time for infants and toddlers. Gerber advises parents and care givers to "allow and trust babies to be initiators, explorers, and self learners." Instructing a fully engaged child to sit in their chair can inadvertently interrupt their thoughts and explorations, sometimes causing them to lose interest altogether. This simply reinforced the idea that toddlers should have simple rules and be able to freely explore.  

I am constantly re-evaluating and adjusting the rules based on what I know about toddlers in general and the group currently in my care. There are now six basic rules, mainly reminders to the staff. The only rule regarding chairs is that children must be sitting when eating, in order to lessen the likelihood of choking. Every now and then, though, I hear a teacher tell a child that the chair needs to stay at the table or they need to sit down while they paint. After a while, these teachers generally become comfortable with children choosing to do otherwise. It helps when they get to see what those same children can do with a chair.

If chairs always had to stay at the table, we wouldn't have children coming together on their own to have circle time and sing songs.

There would be no trains, buses, helicopters or airplanes for the whole class to ride in. 

There would be no child-led story time.

Likewise, if they always have to sit when doing art or play dough, there would be no discovery that glue can form 'rain drops.'

We wouldn't be able to spread our creation out when we run out of space or get the right leverage to make it do what we want.

With the youngest toddlers, I have watched them play with chairs simply as chairs. I have been watching the youngest two in the group come to the table and sit down when they notice other children at the table. Usually this would happen at meal times and I would have them leave the table because they had already eaten. After a couple weeks of this, it dawned on me that they were coming to the table simply because they could. It hadn't dawned on me that, at home, they were being put into their high chairs, cribs, etc, since the average household isn't filled with child-sized furniture. Just being able to get in and out of the chairs on their own, safely, was a learning experience. So now when they come to the table, I welcome them to sit down and chat with their peers.


The older toddlers are quite fond of tools. They go around the classroom 'fixing' things all day long. Now it is quite common to find one of them lying on their back, under the table, 'fixing' it. I could stop it because they might get stepped on or someone might trip over them. But, if that does happen, I will deal with it as a teachable moment. And I will continue to re-evaluate the rules, making changes when necessary. Until then, let the exploration continue.

Less is more!

Play dough is a staple in my toddler class. Even with the younger toddlers now part of the group, we still use play dough almost every day.  Usually we make it ourselves, which lets us customize the color and/or smell. We have always offered a basket of play dough tools along side the play dough. I have always thought that by offering these tools, the learning and creativity would be enhanced. It stands to reason that having abundant materials or tools will encourage them to use the play dough in a variety of ways, or so we thought!

As the children work with  the play dough and tools, we make a point to talk with them about what they are doing or what we are observing. We point out how the dough looks like a circle when they smash it or how they now have two pieces after cutting their dough with a pizza cutter. We ask them what they are making and follow along as they make up stories about their product. We let them use the play dough in other areas of the room as well. It is not unusual to see them cooking with the play dough or loading their dump trucks or diggers with play dough rocks. One of the best experiences came when we had plain dough, no color or scent, that they were using in the dramatic play area to cook. One child, who happened to be Chinese, looked at the rectangular prism a teacher had been forming and promptly labeled it tofu. For the next couple weeks, the children spent much of their time cooking tofu or frying fish as they used the play dough. That evolved into a whole new level of creative representation as they realized the dough could be anything they chose.

Until last week, I thought we were maximizing the learning potential of the play dough. Until I started reading some blogs and collecting new ideas for its use.  Jamie at hands on: as we grow had so many great ideas that I pinned most of them to my art board on Pinterest.  Not to mention Jenny at let the children play and several others. So with new inspiration, I cooked up red apple dough and cinnamon dough and placed them on the table with some sticks we had collected on our nature walk. No tools, knives, rollers, or cookie cutters. I thought the children would love having something new for the dough. Instead, I got lots of calls for, "tools, tools." They asked repeatedly for scissors, rollers and the familiar tools, even after I showed them how the sticks can be used to cut the dough, poke it or just stand up in the dough. Two of the children who had come to the table tried it for a minute or two before moving on. They simply didn't know what to do with the play dough in the absence of tools.

I opened up the sensory table full of the nature materials we had collected the week before and told the  remaining child she could use those with the play dough, too.  I then stepped back and left her to her own devices.   I checked in with her occasionally but mostly just sat back and observed.  By the time she had finished, it looked something like the picture below. She had a whole story to go with her creation. Some of it was for mom, some for dad and some for her pet dog.  She explained each part of her creation to me as she worked. By giving her an idea and stepping back, she had the freedom to create something new, in her own way.

 Why is this important? She got to practice some new problem solving skills, learn more about the physical properties of the dough, leaves, pine cones, sticks and other materials. She practiced her observations skills and integrated all of this into what she already knew about play dough. She made a snake and wanted to save it, which gave me the opportunity to refresh her memory about the piece of dried up, hardened play dough we had found a few days before.  We discussed what might happen to her snake if we left on a piece of paper to dry and she predicted it would be hard like the piece we had found earlier. She was excited to discover just a few short days later that her prediction had, in fact, come true and couldn't wait to show her mom the snake and acorns in the dry play dough, one for each family member, which illustrates her developing one-to-one correspondence.

Over the next week, the other children started to adjust to the idea of not having tools and began exploring with the nature materials.  I, along with the other teachers, learned a very valuable lesson: When working with toddlers, more often than not, less really can be more, both in materials and interactions.