More than Painting

Today we got out the finger paint for the first time this year. Which is surprising, since I typically use it more often than regular tempera paint and brushes with this age group. When toddlers paint, the hands almost always become a paint tool at some point in the process.  They are still in the sensori-motor stage of development according to Piaget, so they use all of their senses to learn about the world.  They tend to touch, taste, smell, listen every time they are introduced to something new.

Today was no exception. We did have at least one child taste the paint. Thankfully they decided they didn't like the taste and didn't continue eating it.  They used their sense of touch the most. Most of them started off just moving the paint around on their trays. After a few years of dealing with paper that tears because the toddlers don't like to stop painting once the paper is completely saturated, I have learned to just put the paint on the tray.  One of the younger toddlers pushed his paint around, then squished it around in his hands.  I commented on how it felt to him, and soon enough, other children were imitating. By the time they were finished, most of them had paint up to their elbows.

I let them choose their color from a selection of fall colors. Most started with one color but as soon as one of the boys asked for two colors, most of the other children followed suit. They talked about the colors mixing together as they moved the paint around. They saw that they could use a finger or two to draw and write in the paint. After I made an 'S' for one of the children, I had to make the first letter of the other children's names as well. They delighted in rubbing the paint around and covering their letters up again. When they were finished, we took a piece of paper and made a print of their painting. Upon seeing the first print, they were amazed at what they made and couldn't wait to see what their picture looked like.

I love watching the children explore with new art materials. They don't have an end product in mind, they just take the time to explore and see what they can create. They learn about the properties of paint, color names and other more academic skills when they paint sometimes. They talk to each other and often imitate what they see a peer doing, so they are practicing social skills, too. But, in the end, it's all about getting absorbed in the process and seeing what happens. And being delighted with the end product, no matter how it turns out.

The Wonder of Glue

Making rain drops.

I wrote a week or so ago about a magical day where everything went as planned and the children spent the day exploring, completely engrossed their activities. One of the activities that had them so engaged was making nature collages. When we make collages, I give the toddlers bottles of real Elmer'sTM glue. I've been doing this for years, to the surprise of most other toddler teachers I meet. There are several reasons for this. The basic reason is that not every project I have come up with can be completed effectively with glue. Some items just won't stick once the glue is dry.  The act of squeezing the glue out of the bottle helps develop fine motor and, sometimes, problem solving skills. By using real glue, the children learn so many things and can explore with it in ways they just can't so with a glue stick. So while glue sticks might be easier and more convenient for us teachers, the regular, old-fashioned glue is much better for the children.

Feeling the glue.

Last week was the first time this school year that I have pulled out the glue bottles. The older toddlers were familiar with them since we had used them often in the spring and summer. The only thing I had to do to get them interested was ask one older toddler if they wanted to use the glue and I had a table full before I knew it and children willing to wait for their turn as patiently as a two-year-old can. As they worked on the nature collages, the main focus simply shifted to the glue and what they could do with it. They made raindrops, roads, and imaginary places that included mountains cash registers, just to start with. Since their focus and interest was in the glue itself, I decided it was time to pull out the colored glue and glitter glue so they could continue exploring.

I've purchased different versions of glitter glue and colored glue over the years but the children have struggles with them. Either the glue comes out so fast that it's gone in an instant or the bottles are designed in a way that the toddlers cannot squeeze hard enough (and they will try!) to get the glue to come out. I've tried to make different kinds of glitter or colored glue over the years with varying levels of success. So this time, we made our own colored glue by mixing powder paint with white glue and then putting it in some squeeze bottles that we had been using for paint. I also found some airtight containers to save the extra glue in so we don't have to make it every day. We can go through a lot of glue in a day and running out was one of the issues we were having.

Getting started

A parent had recently gotten a huge pile of mat board donated from a framer that was closing up shop, which was perfect for the glue pictures.  Because we have so much, this project has been happening every day.  It wasn't until the middle of the week that I came up with the idea of using the old paint bottles for the glue and that is when the exploration really took off.  By Thursday, their interest was still strong in the glue so the the new glue bottles came out. There were only four bottles and it just happened that four children wanted to play. They each went to the stack of mat board, chose their board and brought it to the table. Each child was given a bottle of glue and they got to work. They were excited to be using the new bottles and seeing the vibrant colors of the glue.  

Some of them started out by continuing their exploration from earlier in the week. We had more children making raindrops by holding the bottles up high and squeezing slowly. They would watch the drops fall onto their board and try to make the drops change size or fall into a particular spot. There were some who squeezed glue into their hands and rubbed it in as if they were washing them. Toddlers are still very sensory oriented so I let them explore without interruption. If I stop them from trying things like this, they will still find a way and usually a less desirable way to explore. 

Then something really amazing happened. I had turned my back to write something down and when I was finished and turned back to the table, S. was telling me that he and D. had traded glue. Apparently they wanted to try another color so they figured out a way to make that happen. As I watched and they continued to explore, this spontaneous trading of glue bottles happened again and again. There were occasional disagreements about how long they should wait for their next turn or which color they wanted but, they worked it all out themselves. No temper tantrums, no crying and no need for adult intervention. These two-year-olds talked through each situation, listening to their peers and negotiating to the best of their abilities.

They started trading glue bottles so they could have more colors on their boards.

The irony is that my co-teacher and I had just recently been discussing how much they had been relying on us for help because the staff, the student staff and the two of us, had been stepping in too often and rescuing them when they probably could have solved their problems on their own or with less help. This is a pattern we have noticed over the last two years. Each semester, we get several new children so they need a little more support as they get used to the routines and tasks associated with full-day child care. The 'old' children that have been with us need help adjusting to the new children, sharing their primary caregiver's time with the new children and figuring out what their place or role is now. But there comes a time when we need to let them try more on their own. And we had passed that point a couple of several weeks ago.

Some glue spilled onto the table so he decided to clean it up, which lead to cleaning up his picture as well.

The finished, dry project.

So over that last few weeks we have been stepping in less often, usually only for repeated problems or when things looks like they may get physical. We are also watching more, and coaching the new staff to watch, for each child's non-verbal cues that they are reaching that peak of frustration and really do need some help.  Watching them work out the turn-taking and social problem-solving shows me that we have been doing the right thing. As an added benefit, we ended up with some amazing pictures. The pictures are another sensory activity as they love to run their hands over them to feel the glue patterns and textures. And they are learning about the properties of glue and what happens when it is left out to dry.

Toddlers are capable of doing much more on their own than we sometimes give them credit for. So when I look at wonderful pictures they created, I will be reminded of all the things these toddlers are capable of doing on their own and what great problem solving skills they have.

A Magical Day of Play

Today was one of those rare days with toddlers where there were no major melt-downs, tantrums or arguments. Aside from a two-and-half-year-old doing some minor limit testing and a 15-month-old who wanted to wash her hands every 30 seconds, it was a quiet day where the children led pretty much everything. The only question or idea I offered up today was asking one child (the limit tester, actually) if he wanted to do some more gluing like he did yesterday. He had really enjoyed exploring with the glue so he gladly shook his head and said yes. I told him to go get a board from the pile of mat board that a parent had gotten donated for us. He went straight to the board without needing any reminders of where to find one, picked one out saying, "this one," and brought it right to the table to get started. As I looked for a full glue bottle, he took the bag, pulled one out and said, "big one." Generally the children use the smaller glue bottles in my class but I had a feeling I was just going to be re-filling soon so I let him take the big one.

He spent the next 10 minutes with the glue. The idea was to make a nature collage, which he had done the previous day before abandoning it to explore with the glue. He had learned yesterday that if he put glue all over his hands, the paper or items could stick to his hands so I was curious to see what he would do with the glue today. He chose one stick from the sensory table full of nature materials and promptly glued that on his board. He added a few more items but, it was really about the glue today. He discovered that if he held the glue up high and squeezed just a little, it looked like raindrops. The excitement on his face as he made more raindrops was contagious.



One of the girls joined us at the table and followed his idea, for the most part. She glued one stick on, then made a picture with the glue. She eagerly told me about her picture. "You have to go around the bend. This is the mountain and you  have to go through it." Along the way, a pile of 'sneaky mud' showed up ("you don't want to go there, it's slippery") along with a cash register to mark the end point. She told the story several times as she added more glue, barely changing the details.


 


Another boy joined in and didn't even bother with the collage materials. He just wanted to 'queeze' the glue. You can see the focus as he works on squeezing the glue out. He was so engrossed that we brought out the colored and glitter glues we haven't used yet this school year. He spent a good five or so minutes at this activity, which isn't bad for a child who is choosy about art activities.

Even the 15-month-old joined in. While squeezing the glue was a bit tough for her, exploring with it and spreading it was not.

Once the glue exploration wrapped up, I noticed two children in the gross motor area pretending it was nap time. One would lie on a row of cardboard brick blocks while the other one rubbed their back, as the teachers do at nap time. They decided they needed a chair so they moved one of the blocks out to be the chair. Over the course of fifteen or more minutes, these children changed roles, taking turns being the napper and the teacher, at least six times. They listened to each other and responded in a genuine to-way conversation.

As this wrapped up, some of the children migrated to the dramatic play area. Someone brought me a bucket full of clothes and announced "make lunch" as he placed the bucket on the table in front of me. He 'cooked' more clothes for the children there, telling us it was how. A few minuted later, this play had evolved into dress up and the three two-year-olds experimented with putting the clothes on. They dressed themselves, trying until they got it. One child discovered that taking his shoes off made it easier to put the shorts on. The other two noticed and followed his example successfully. They cheered each other on and offered both encouragement and help. This took up the rest of the morning. They were so engaged and productive that all the teachers did was watch and offer just minimal support as needed.

Why is this important, you might ask? They weren't learning to name their colors, count, practice their alphabet or any of those other academic schools that come to mind when the word learning is thrown out there. But, research has shown that extended free play helps children develop the important skill of self-regulation. During all this play and exploration, these children had abundant opportunities to practice skills that help develop executive function. They practiced self-control as they squeezed just the right amount of glue and stayed in their roles during pretend play. They communicated with each other and took turns, both in conversation and in play. They solved problems and made new discoveries.  They managed their emotions and didn't give up when things weren't working.

There was so much learning happening that I will probably have to write about it in more detail later. It's days like this that make me remember why I love what I do and remind me just how important the early years are.

Play vs. Learning

In the early childhood field, the debate over play vs. learning is ever-present. There are those who feel strongly that children should be engaged in formal, teacher-led learning activities. Children need to learn their colors, shapes, numbers and abc's and the earlier we introduce them the better they will learn. Then there is the opposing view that the early childhood years should be all about play. Children need unstructured play to explore and teachers should give them ample space and time to do so.

But, why does it have to be either/or? Why can't that learning happen through play? As I was looking back at some photos from the last two weeks, I came across some pictures of a group of two-year-olds engaged in playing 'sleepy,' as they called it. We had spent the morning making applesauce and tasting different kinds of apples. The children were free to select yellow, red, or green apples at snack and the teachers talked with them about the ones they liked or didn't like. We talked about the colors of the apples and the tastes. Children who wanted to help make the applesauce were given plastic knives and a plate to practice cutting their apples. We talked about how hard the apples were to cut, different ways to use the knives and many other things. We talked about how to cook the apples to make applesauce and how to be safe in the kitchen around the stove. This was obviously a planned activity for the day with lots of learning potential.

But, I think they learned just as much, if not more, when this same group of children joined together in pretend play. One of the boys laid himself down on the floor and tried to cover himself with a blanket, saying he was going to sleep. Another child joined and another until there 4-5 of them playing this game together. They took turns covering each other up or being the ones to sleep. They rubbed each others backs, like we do for them at nap time. They told us (more than once, I might add!), "Shh! Be quiet. I'm going to sleep."  This activity went on for over a half hour, without very little support or intervention from the teachers. For the most part, we sat back and watched or listened when they included us in their conversations.

Many outsiders walking in on this activity would likely think the children were 'just playing.' But, the children were learning valuable skills as they sustained this activity. They had to negotiate with each other to decide which role they would play, what color scarf or blanket  they could have or who would rub their back. They practiced conversation skills and turn taking. They learned about spatial relationships, shape and size as they figured out which blankets covered them up. They solved problems when they ran out of blankets and found scarves to substitute. They practiced naming colors and using words for different sizes, increasing their vocabulary.  They practiced focusing on the same activity for an extended period of time.  Toddlers can sustain an activity for extended periods when they are interested and not interrupted.

They were so engaged in this activity that we didn't interrupt even though it was past their normal lunch time. We waited for them to us and let us know they were wither hungry or finished with the game. We could have interrupted them in order to stay on our regular schedule and manage all the routine care activities for the day. But if we had, they would have missed out on so much. None of this was planned, beyond providing the materials and setting the interest areas up in an inviting way, and look at all the learning that happened.