After breakfast and a bit o' morning circle time our sleepy crew needed some fresh air and fun!

We decided to get a new perspective on our sprinkler play and hang it from the tree upside down, after all, our theme this week is WATER! 

We are singing about water, reading about water, playing in the water, washing with water, sorting measuring and counting...all with WATER!!!  Our heat index is about 105 for the week, so water play is THE choice around here for summertime fun!  I L.O.V.E. that my Mother Goose Time curriculum works math, science, literature, music, and dramatic play into our days.  YAY!!!  Look at those little faces...make me melt (no hot weather pun intended...o.k....maybe a little intended ;)).

We built a car wash, and a shower station, we danced and sang in the rain, we measured, filled, poured, and refilled.  Our baby shampoo came in handy to make certain it wouldn't hurt little eyes as they practiced and roll played "shower time" and "Workin' At The Carwash, YA'!" (your singing now too :))

When I showed the children this image during circle time they got giddy!  They KNEW we were going to be washing, scrubbing, and soaping down EVERYTHING.  We also LOVED our sweet little Emergent Reader book, "I Wash," by I Can Read  - Mother Goose Time.

My 4's and 5's are ALL about learning to read and they LOVE it when they get new Emergent Reader books to take home and share with their families! 

 I LOVE being able to provide them with full color literature to take HOME!!!  I am a firm believer in developing a little one's love for reading from the day they are born.  When a child can be "hands on" in every aspect of their daily "play" it becomes real and personal.  They are submerged in the story when they get to touch it, turn pages, feel the paper in their little hands.  They take ownership of the learning when they are empowered with the control to be able to follow along as they decide.  This is HOW important being able to give them each a book is to me.  

Here is what the  ITLC has to say about what little one's learn prior to being able to read themselves from programs with LOTS of literacy.  

"Starting from birth children learn about books by listening to stories being read to them. As they grow and are able to handle books, they learn that there is a front and back cover and pages. Children as young as 24 months develop a sense about literacy as they explore books and engage in storybook reading activities. Children learn many skills as they are given opportunities to participate in literacy activities during their preschool years.

Emergent Literacy ConceptsChildren develop concepts about print as they explore books by themselves or with others. These concepts include the understanding that:

• Pictures and words are used to communicate.
• Pictures have meaning.
• Pictures tell stories.
• Words have meaning.
• Words are used to tell stories."

(Insert happy dance here! HA!! - yes...I know...I am teacher "nerding" out....way out!!!)

We took our sweet little "Close To Nature" journals by Mother Goose Time outside and first read, "Get Close To Nature - A Guessing Book" by Experience Early Learning.  

We looked closely at the grass, the Morning Glories, Dandelions, leaves, worms, beetles, anything we could find really.  We observed and then drew pictures to record what we saw outside before coming in.  After all this "quiet play" we did sneak in some "bug" races!  We ran like a butterfly, a beetle, a caterpillar, and a fly!

I hope all my littles enjoy reading this with me at home as they discuss their "Get Close To Nature" journals with family!  Summer is the PERFECT time to "get close to nature," explore, discover, and observe!

I wish you well and I hope you get to play today!

-L

What can you do with a paper bag in pre-k?  

EVERYTHING!!!

My favorite thing to do with a paper bag is unconventional stress relief!  What?  They are kids!  They don't have a reason to be stressed!  Right?  Well.....maybe not!

In pre-k world the reasons may not always make sense to those of us "adulting." But they are real nonetheless.   

Here in the Midwest we have had lots and lots of rain.  We play regardless,  but when the storms are in full swing it's just not an option.  So when the littles get the wiggles and nap is upon us, I can quickly grab a paper bag and make up a new game. 

You see I have a large group of boys.  

They NEVER stop!!!  They crave heavy resistance play.  They crash!  They bang!  They tear it up!!!  This is not the "coloring" crowd.  This boy band never rests.  So.....the challenge for a teacher is to find activities that promote a safe way to release all this before it erupts into all out WWF (World Wrestling Federation for those who don't know!)!

Today, I gave them each a brown crinkly paper shopping bag (I had visited Aldi's the night before) and gave everyone one simple instruction. 

"Make this bag as small as you can!"

The fun ensued!

We had stomping, smashing, giggles and grins.

Boys especially need this type of play in a preschool setting.  Look at the determination!  They were squeezing with all their might.  They are wired to NEED large muscle work.  This type of exercise is vital to developing their healthy bodies, muscles, and minds.  It actually helps them to be able to calm their little bodies.  After this type of release, a little fella' is far more able to be still for stories and circle times.  Have boys that can NEVER seem to settle down?  Try heavy resistance play! 

Now don't get nervous if this describes your child!  I'm not indicating that every kiddo that seems to play crash derby has SPD; I TRULY believe that most boys in the pre-k years are wired to need this type of active energy releasing play as a part of their DAILY lives.  They are not made for quiet table activities that will actually promote MORE anxiety and classroom disruptions.  

The following is an extensive list from  http://www.sensory-processing-disorder.com/heavy-work-activities.html article of types of play that helps children direct this energy safely while still meeting their real needs of "heavy" sensory engaging play.

Gross Motor ActivitiesCarrying objects, such as...

• groceries
• animal backpacks
• kids fanny pack
• stacking or moving chairs/books
• watering can/hose
• baby's diaper bag
• ANYTHING with weight to it

Wearing a weighted vest, weighted hat, or weighted shorts.  

Wearing wrist or ankle weights 

Using a weighted lap pad or weighted blanket

Swimming with or without swim weights

Pushing or pulling objects and activities, such as...

• toy shopping cart
• laundry basket
• kids wagon
• raise/lower flag at school
• tug of war rope
• rainbow putty press (flatten putty on wall or desk/table)
• toy vacuum
• mop/sweep floor with a mop, broom and dustpan for kids
• wrestling
• shoveling snow with a kids snow shovel
• raking leaves, dirt etc. using a kids wheelbarrel and Brio Garden Tools: rake, spade, shovel and broom
• pushing/pulling self or others on a jumbo scooter board  
• Thera-Band
• "push of war" between partners (with ball, have to cross over line)
• riding bicycles / scooters
• kids roller blades

Jumping and bouncing on/with items, such as...

• on a trampoline
  
  
• on an old mattress or soft area
• into bean bag chairs
• on a therapy ball (with adult assistance of course)
• on a pogo stick 
• moon shoes
• on a hopping ball
• horseback riding
• with a jump rope
• foam hopscotch pads  
• ankle twister jump ropes
• floor gymnastics
• happy hop ball
• on jumpolenes or backyard bouncers

Wheelbarrow walk relays

Potato sac/ jumping bag races

Lizard crawl (belly on floor, push self with elbows)

Climbing/hanging on things, such as...

• on jungle gyms/Geo-Dome
• monkey bars
• jungle climber with swings
• hanging rings and trapeze
• "Twizzler"
• zipline/fun ride trolley
• rock walls
• outside on rocks or trees
• up ladder and/or slide
• climbing rope 
• climbing/cargo nets

Body Sox (TM) or a Super Shape Changer

Walking/running/playing in the sand

"Sandwich"/ Squishing activities... 

• make a child "sandwich" between floor pillowsor cushions
• roll child up in mat or heavy blanket as a "hot dog"
• give child heavy blankets, weighted blankets, or sleeping bags (for children) at bedtime
• bear hugs
• firm towel dry after baths, wrap up tightly
• roll an giant gym/exercise ball on top of them while they lay on the floor

• dont forget Twister!
  
  

Crabwalk (hands and feet on floor, belly up) games, such as...

• relays
• soccer
• volleyball (in crabwalk position kicking balloon with feet in air)(Click Here For Specific Gross Motor Activity Ideas For Toddlers) 
  
  Fine Motor/Upper Extremity Activities

Working at vertical surfaces (at/above eye level), such as...

• with tabletop easels
• erasing, coloring on chalkboard
• painting/drawing on adjustable floor easel 
• washing windows
• wipe down shower or tub
• paint with water on side of house

Resistive tools or toys, such as...

• clothespins
• spray bottles
• use curvy cut scissors to cut putty, play-doh, thick paper or cardboard
• Play Doh Factory presses and molds
• use rolling pins to flatten cookie dough/play-doh
• color/draw with crayon on textured surface or rubbing plates 
• bingo/dot markers  
• paper punches
• spray nozzle on garden hose

(Click Here For Tons Of Fine Motor Skills Activity Ideas And Products!)

Fidget or play with stretchy/squishy items, such as...

• Theraputty (hide and seek with coins, tug of war, cut and flatten to make cookies, roll out to make letters, etc.)
• play-doh (Check Out Recipes For Play Doh, Silly Putty, Paints And More)
• rubber bands
• Morf stress relief balls
• relaxable squeeze balls
• "squishies" (fill two balloons, inside each other, with flour or sand)

Resistive surfaces, such as...

• sidewalk chalk on driveway/sidewalk/playground
• color pictures taped over sandpaper
• use sanding blockto sand wood project
• brush the family dog

Use weighted pens, pencils or utensils

Multi-person parachute games and activities

Cooking activities, such as...

• stirring
• pressing
• kneading

Etch-a-Sketch with resistive knobs (shaking with both arms to clear screen)

Dig and play in the sand toy backhoe, or with some cool beach and sandbox toys usingsand and water tables or, wooden covered sandboxes 
 
Oral Motor Activities:
Chewy foods such as...

• dried fruit
• gummi bears/worms etc.
• licorice
• beef jerky
• bagels
• cheese
• granola bars
• gum
• raisins
• taffy
• soft pretzels
• popcorn

Resistive sucking using items such as...

• through thin curly straws/krazy straws
• sports bottle with long straw
• lollipops
• popsicles
• drink milkshake with a straw
• hard candies
• peanut butter

Blowing activities, such as...

• wind instruments
• bubbles
• balloons
• whistles/slide whistles
• "snake"/blower party favors
• make splatter paintings (use thin paint on paper... blow air through a straw and watch the paint move! can also use chocolate pudding thinned with milk on freezer paper)
• Blopens
• blow tropical fish bubbles in the bath
• kazoos, whizzers, and other noise makers
  
  

​Now...add numbers, letters, and site words as targets to many of these activities and have ourselves a game plan!!!

There are so many ideas and resources in this list that we could keep those busy bodies happy and learning for weeks.  

I hope this gives you some fresh new ideas for helping your little ones grow and understanding how really "normal" it is for little ones to engage in "heavy" sensory and active play.  It isn't something we need to worry about or discipline our children out of.  


It is truly all in a day of play at Woolsey Academy.  

I wish you well and I hope you get to play today!   - L



Related Resources from the article  http://www.sensory-processing-disorder.com/heavy-work-activities.html

The Out-of-Sync Child Has Fun, Revised Edition: Activities for Kids with Sensory Processing Disorder

Growing an In-Sync Child: Simple, Fun Activities to Help Every Child Develop, Learn, and Grow

Check out more great products, heavy work activities, and ideas within these two articles... Sensory Integration Activities and Sensory Integration Products

Childrens Playground Equipment - A comprehensive article on the benefits, and a great selection of, children's playground equipment. This includes; outdoor, indoor, wooden or plastic playground equipment, AND climbers or swing sets.

Oral Sensitivities - A great resource for the signs of oral sensitivities (hypersensitive or hyposensitive) as it relates to Sensory Processing Disorders, as well as great treatment ideas!

 Proprioception And Proprioceptive Dysfunction - An in-depth article defining proprioceptive dysfunction; signs and symptoms to help you understand the REAL reason your child may not be able to learn new motor tasks or has a high energy level.

Sensory Room - extremely therapeutic for both children and adults with, or without, sensory processing/sensory integration disorders.



http://www.sensory-processing-disorder.com/heavy-work-activities.html - an extensive article about ideas and tips to help those in need of "heavy" play.  By www.sensory-processing-disorder.com

Singing is proven to release endorphins in the brain that say, "I'm happy!" 

Follow this link for more on that!  http://science.howstuffworks.com/life/singing-happy1.htm

 It makes us feel good to sing.  The slow, rhythmic breaths required in singing naturally relax our body and mind.  The amazing thing about tots is that they don't care if you can carry a tune in bucket...so SING!!!!

I know it can be crazy hard to whip up a jazzy rendition of "Twinkle, Twinkle" when your staring down a double barrel of meltdown.  So, do it for you.  Micheal Jackson's "Beat It!" complete with spin and grab will absolutely lift your spirits and just might distract your little one too!  Besides...the lyrics are quite fitting!  

"Showin' how funky and strong is your fight.  It doesn't matter whose wrong or whose right!" (Singing it right now aren't' ya'?   Me too!)

Which brings us to Tip #2!

Don't show up to every fight you are invited to.  

I don't  know who is credited with that quote, but man it's gotten me out of a lot of emotion!  When tempted to respond to a toddler (or teen ((or adult!)) for that matter) that is letting the wrenches fly, I recall this quote.  

Another one..."This too shall pass."  Let the wrench pass.  Don't catch it between the eyes, in your fist, or anywhere else or your likely to be a puddle on the floor with your over-tired/ over-stimulated/ over-it toddler.  

When the tots of Todderville are hammering you with tantrums and 'tudes: duck the urge to respond, dodge actions and attitudes that would provoke a response from you, dive away from being drug into drama, and again...when in doubt...dodge!

This is the same thing as "pick your battles" and "this is not the hill you wish to die upon."  

One of the easiest ways to avoid a power struggle with your tot is to never show up to battle!  Set you limits, state the consequence, hold to it.  No emotions required.  They may have some, but the more peace you bring to their battle, the less it will last.

All these are potential "fights" you have been invited to join in on.  They are fashioned to test your boundaries, engage you emotionally, string out your very last nerve.  

Too much of the time we place unrealistic expectations on toddler and preschool age children to behave like little adults.  We ask itty bitty tummy's to wait for hours between meals when children this age are barely capable of keeping peas on a fork, much less sit still long enough to eat enough in a setting to remain full on an adults time table.  This makes for grumpy kiddos that are prone to eruptions. 

Feed the angry bear!  Make a game of mealtime.  Now I am not suggesting that you play, "Mommies little piggy!" like the scene from A Christmas Story, but have fun, carry snacks, feed them often, and watch your little one be able to keep his/her composure far longer!

I hope I made you laugh a little with this tongue in cheek, but very effective post on 3 Tips For Communicating With Your Toddler, because keeping a sense of humor will help you and your toddler navigate the journey of childhood far past these challenging early years.  The tantrums and whining will give way to cars and dating and you will look back fondly and longing on these years.  You will remember the fun times, the silly times, and maybe an occasional tantrum...but mostly all the sweet snuggles, bedtime songs and tight squeezes after a long day away.  

Enjoy these days...these too shall pass.

I wish you well and I hope you get to play today.

-L

This is my absolute favorite type of post to write. 

Pure P.L.A.Y.!!  

Pure J.O.Y.!!!

Crazy, messy, all out F.U.N.!!!

It's been raining, A LOT in the Midwest in recent weeks.  We have had flood after flood, and more rainy days stuck inside than I care to recall.  Today is wasn't raining!  It was still a muddy, wet mess, but we EMBRACED it, literally...we hugged the mud.  I usually post fun pictures while the play is happening on my various social media for all the mommas and daddies to enjoy, but this one was...well...a bit intimidating even for me!  

In all my years of experience and training, you wouldn't think images of muddy kids would scare me, but that's the one thing that still makes me cringe just a little.  Not for me, well...let's be really honest here.  I will absolutely allow messy play even while knowing it will take me TONS of time and effort to clean all the spots and smears from dirty bods and clothing.  I think we used an entire bottle of non-chlorine bleach and thank heaven for Oxi-Clean!  HA!!  

But, rather, it's knowing that there is always a parent out there that really isn't into all the over-the-top messy type play that science and research indicates is so good for kiddos.  

SO, in an effort to save that parent from a stroke while at work, I waited to post these until I sent all the cuties pies home cleaned up (mostly) and stains removed!! (again...mostly!!!)

Here it is.....  Mudstock 2015, Pre-K Style!!!

Notice the absence of girls here???  I did too.  I invited them and encouraged to play.  They weren't interested.  They were happy enough to play in the clean water at the water table, but not the mud.  

Chalk it up to the differences between boys and girls?  Maybe.  Maybe another day it will be the other way around?  Today it was all boy, all in, all HAPPY!  

There are some fantastic articles about the power of mud play and allowing children to engage. 

This one at Let The Children Play.com is specific to mud play and the scientific research behind why it's beneficial.

This one at Parenting Science.com has a TON of great curriculum ideas for mud and science! Heheheheh!!!!!

 I agree 1000%!  Nature play makes children happy.  It lifts moods while creating strong childhood memories.  I love that those memories are happening here, at Woolsey Academy!

I wish you well and I hope you get to play today.

-L

During our study of the different types of people and animal homes we discovered that we can live in houses, apartments, houseboats, and tents; but one thing they all have in common is they are all "home" when we have our family to share it with us.

One of our favorite parts of this themed unit has been the Map of the World (thank you Mother Goose Time!).  It has allowed for MANY conversations about locations, continents, countries, animals, climates, homes of the world, methods of traveling from place to place!  

A day doesn't go by that one of my littles isn't asking me another question.

"Where is this, Ms. Donna?"  "Why does the whale live here?"  "Can we fly in a plane to here?"  "Will you take me?"

I L.O.V.E. these little moments of conversation that equal big learning for little minds.  They are prompting the inquiry of information.  They are engaged and interested.  They are coming up with genuine questions about the world around them and it allows for lots of chatter about who we are, where we live, what we like, and where we want to go!

In the above image on of my little four's comes up to the map multiple times each day and states, "Ms. Donna, I want to go see the leopards...those right there in Africa!"  He didn't know it was a leopard prior to displaying this map.  He didn't know that leopards live in Africa, or where Africa was on a map....He does now!  

Big learning, little minds, big conversations...

All in a day of play at Woolsey Academy!

I wish you well and I hope you get to play today!

-L