Why should early childhood educators be passionate about block play?


We live in a fast-paced society fueled by technology. Young children now have access to computers and other “screens” early in their lives.  As preschoolers, many are adept at entertaining themselves with engaging, virtual characters who teach them letters, numbers, and even feelings.   Children appear to be happy and having fun. But, as a teacher, wouldn’t you like to look deeper and gain a greater understanding into the budding character of the child? Would you like to help children develop the strength of personality needed to sustain them throughout their lives? The block corner is one place where this growth can unfold--and with a lot of fun in the process.How Block Play Can Develop Character

Block play provides experiences that foster emotional and social development as children work together in a respectful and cooperative way. They share a sense of joy in their communal accomplishments. While solving structural challenges, they learn to concentrate while gaining mastery in the arts of persistence, patience, and overcoming frustration. Children also have many opportunities to be rewarded with the sense of pride and satisfaction that come as they develop confidence and competency. They come to understand that their friends may have different perspectives on “construction” and they learn cooperation and tolerance along the way.

In his book, How Children Succeed, Paul Tough offers a helpful perspective on the qualities that lead to success both in learning and in life.  Tough recognizes that character--expressed through “grit,” curiosity, self-control, conscientiousness, optimism, and persistence--is even more important than cognitive skills in fostering success and satisfaction in life.  Block play provides a structure and foundation for children to learn to persevere, develop self-control and delay gratification, expand curiosity, gain self-confidence, and learn to overcome failure. Through exploration with unit blocks children become competent learners in all areas of development: cognitive, physical, social and emotional.  A teacher who is well versed in the use of unit blocks understands that block play can help strengthen a child’s developing character.  She then finds opportunities to use the block corner to challenge and foster social and emotional growth.

Opportunities for Learning
Block play is fun and engaging. Unlike screen time, unit blocks offer children experiential learning in the real, physical world.  The smooth, sensual feel of the wood is satisfying to the touch; the sturdiness of the blocks allows the child to use them freely without breakage; and the open-ended quality of block play provides an opportunity for creativity and cognitive development to soar.  Children are drawn to unit blocks knowing that they are using real materials with weight, form and function.

Block play can also be challenging and frustrating--from the youngest child struggling to balance a tower, to the more experienced builder creating a complex structure.  As children move through the various stages of building (stacking towers, spanning bridges, enclosing areas, creating designs, and re-enacting their world) they have many opportunities to experiment, make mistakes, problem solve, and find solutions.  An intentional teacher will provide students with the support to persevere with a structural or social challenge.  The teacher helps children have the “grit” to set goals, carry out plans, be resilient in the face of failure, and maintain a positive attitude.

Opportunities for Observation
Block corners also provide wonderful and varied opportunities for teachers to help the child to become a better learner.  Teachers who are skilled and astute observers of children in the block corner can use this knowledge to develop character building skills. How does the child approach the block corner?  Does he work consistently, need time to warm up, or lose interest?  How does the child deal with challenges?  Does she try different approaches, repeat ineffectual solutions, take risks, give up and/or show frustration, ask for help?  How does the child verbalize while building? Can she articulate what she has created, describe without pointing or saying, “over there”?  What stage of building is the child engaged in? Has it progressed during the year?  Is imaginative play taking place, and is it a story line created by the child or mimicked from the media?  Does the child work alone, with peers, or in small groups? Does the child tend to be a leader, follower, or a collaborator?  The lens through which we observe children in the block corner will be a window into other learning areas--whether it be getting stuck on word attack skills or solving social issues.


Please click on the link to continue reading: http://www.communityplaythings.com/resources/articles/2013/building-character-through-block-play

Encourage your child to use her imagination — it’s not just fun, but builds learning skills too!

Young children learn by imagining and doing. Have you ever watched your child pick up a stone and pretend it is a zooming car, or hop a Lego across the table as if it were a person or a bunny? Your child is using an object to represent something else while giving it action and motion. But this pretend play is not as simple as it may seem. The process of pretending builds skills in many essential developmental areas.

• Social and Emotional Skills
  When your child engages in pretend (or dramatic) play, he is actively experimenting with the social and emotional roles of life. Through cooperative play, he learns how to take turns, share responsibility, and creatively problem-solve. When your child pretends to be different characters, he has the experience of "walking in someone else's shoes," which helps teach the important moral development skill of empathy. It is normal for young children to see the world from their own egocentric point of view, but through maturation and cooperative play, your child will begin to understand the feelings of others. Your child also builds self-esteem when he discovers he can be anything just by pretending!

• Language Skills
  Have you ever listened in as your child engages in imaginary play with his toys or friends? You will probably hear some words and phrases you never thought he knew! In fact, we often hear our own words reflected in the play of children. Kids can do a perfect imitation of mom, dad, and the teacher! Pretend play helps your child understand the power of language. In addition, by pretend playing with others, he learns that words give him the means to reenact a story or organize play. This process helps your child to make the connection between spoken and written language — a skill that will later help him learn to read.

• Thinking Skills
  Pretend play provides your child with a variety of problems to solve. Whether it's two children wanting to play the same role or searching for the just right material to make a roof for the playhouse, your child calls upon important cognitive thinking skills that he will use in every aspect of his life, now and forever.
   
  Does your child enjoy a bit of roughhousing? Great! Some researchers in early brain development believe that this sort of play helps develop the part of the brain (the frontal lobe) that regulates behavior. So instead of worrying that this type of activity will encourage your child to act out or become too aggressive, be assured that within a monitored situation, roughhouse play can actually help your child learn the self-regulation skills needed to know how and when this type of play is appropriate.

To continue reading please click on the link: http://www.scholastic.com/parents/resources/article/creativity-play/importance-pretend-play

Children all over the country are heading back for another school year. For girls heading into middle school, the plunge into the deep waters of adolescent culture is just beginning. Since Rosalind Wiseman's Queen Bees and Wannabes, first published in 2002, which skillfully described how girl on girl meanness plays out, there has been much thought about the issue and programs developed for middle and high school girls -- but there has been little attention paid to younger years, where personalities are being formed. It's now believed some of this relational aggression may originate in something as primal as jealousy -- an emotion that we all feel at one time or another. So what if girls were taught to deal appropriately with jealousy long before they ever get to middle school? As a scholar in child development (and thus, a lifelong student of human behavior), I believe they should be. It could have great payoffs later in life for girls and women.

In the preschool years, people learn what their feelings are and how to regulate them as they interact with others. We give children labels for happy, sad, scared and angry. Developmental theory tells us that children are born with these basic emotional structures in place (e.g., happy, sad, scared, angry), but do not develop self-conscious emotions (e.g., pride, embarrassment, shame, envy, guilt) until after they have an understanding of their own sense of self (around 18 months to 2 years of age) -- pretty complex emotions for a toddler.

With these self-conscious emotions come a whole slew of new feelings that children don't always know what to do with and lack the verbal skills to talk about. Envy, or jealousy, is easily confused with anger in young children. They don't know that they feel bad because they covet what someone else has -- they just know they feel bad and this is sometimes confused with anger in their minds (as is disappointment). These confused feelings may manifest themselves in acts of anger.

We need to do a better job preparing children for these other, more complex, feelings that they will face in their lives and the way these feelings mix together when our friend wins the award that we wanted for ourselves. The Pyramid Model for Supporting Social Emotional Competence in Infants and Young Children is one method advocated for use in early childhood programs and has been translated for use by parents and families, as well. This model emphasizes the importance of providing a foundation of nurturing and responsive interactions and relationships with children, high quality environments for young children (including their child care center), and specific emotional support to help them to label, understand and deal effectively with their emotions, including jealousy.

In our house, we talk about this in a way that is concrete. We talk about how jealousy turns to anger if not checked, more simply how green turns to red. I explained to my daughters that green is the color frequently associated with jealousy, and red is the color frequently associated with anger. We talk about things going on in their peer relationships in that way. Green turned to red. "I wish I had what she had and then I got mad about it." We talk about how it's OK to feel a little jealous about someone else having something that you would like for yourself, but that it is not OK to get mad at her for having it -- emotional coaching that they can use internally as they grow up. Anger will lead to behaviors that will hurt the relationship and/or the other person. When green turns to red, we focus our attention in the wrong direction -- outward instead of inward. Instead of focusing on what we could do to improve our perception of what we have or have earned, we blame someone else for having what we wish we had. 

So let's start teaching our kids about jealousy and disappointment in the same way we teach about happiness and sadness. 

To read more please click on the link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/katherine-rose/mean-toddlers-preventing-_b_5807252.html

What are some of the developmental milestones my child should reach by four to five years of age?

Before you know it, the somewhat calm child of three becomes a dynamo of energy, drive, bossiness, belligerence, and generally out-of-bounds behavior. You may be reminded of the earlier trials and tribulations you went through when he was two. Also obvious during this time is the tremendous spurt of imaginative ideas that spring from children’s minds and mouths. All of this behavior and thinking will help your youngster build a secure foundation as he emerges into the world of kindergarten.

Here are some other milestones to look for.

Movement milestones

• Stands on one foot for ten seconds or longer
  
• Hops, somersaults
  
• Swings, climbs
  
• May be able to skip
  

Milestones in hand and finger skills

• Copies triangle and other geometric patterns
  
• Draws person with body
  
• Prints some letters
  
• Dresses and undresses without assistance
  
• Uses fork, spoon, and (sometimes) a table knife
  
• Usually cares for own toilet needs
  

Language milestones

• Recalls part of a story
  
• Speaks sentences of more than five words
  
• Uses future tense
  
• Tells longer stories
  
• Says name and address
  

Cognitive milestones

• Can count ten or more objects
  
• Correctly names at least four colors
  
• Better understands the concept of time
  
• Knows about things used every day in the home (money, food, appliances)
  

Social and emotional milestones

• Wants to please friends
  
• Wants to be like her friends
  
• More likely to agree to rules
  
• Likes to sing, dance, and act
  
• Shows more independence and may even visit a next-door neighbor by herself
  
• Aware of sexuality
  
• Able to distinguish fantasy from reality
  
• Sometimes demanding, sometimes eagerly cooperative
  

Developmental health watch
Because each child develops in her own particular manner, it’s impossible to predict exactly when or how your own preschooler will perfect a given skill. The developmental milestones listed here will give you a general idea of the changes you can expect as your child gets older, but don’t be alarmed if her development takes a slightly different course. Alert your pediatrician, however, if your child displays any of the following signs of possible developmental delay for this age range.

To continue reading please click on the link: http://www.healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/preschool/Pages/Developmental-Milestones-4-to-5-Year-Olds.aspx

By HOPE REEVES 

Like so many parents, I fretted about my preschoolers’ first days of class. Will he think I’m abandoning him? Will he be scarred for life? (“That’s right, Dr. Therapist, she left me there with strangers for three hours every single morning!”)

I’ve made this transition with three children, and, amazingly, it hasn’t gotten any easier. I felt just as guilty leaving Kip, who entered preschool this week, as I did leaving Otto, now in kindergarten, and Zane, a big-time fourth-grader. Yet, until this year, it never occurred to me to stop by the annual separation workshop offered by their school, the Brooklyn Heights Montessori School. I could just hear my mother’s exasperated voice: “Oh, come on, Hope, you parents today can’t do anything by yourselves. What ever happened to ‘just shut up and do it’? You think parents 40 years ago had workshops on stuff like this?”

Maybe my generation of parents does get a little more hand-holding. Until six years ago, preschool teachers here discussed separation issues and offered tips at Back to School Night. But when the school psychologist, Kathy Reiss, began working more with the preschool, she decided to offer a dedicated workshop on the issue. Anybody at the school was invited to attend.

“The main reasons were to help parents help their children with separation, to realize they are not the only ones experiencing this, and to give parents a chance to meet me,” Dr. Reiss told me.

Martha Haakmat, the head of school, agreed that the meetings were an opportunity for parents to get good advice while hearing other parents’ problems — problems sometimes bigger than their own.

“Parents rarely walk away with a foolproof plan of action to perfectly handle every difficult separation moment, but they do offer thanks and a smile for validation of their feelings and worries,” Ms. Haakmat said. “They may also secretly be feeling like, ‘Jeesh, I thought I was having a hard time!’ after hearing a story about another parent’s woes, and while this may not seem particularly generous to that other parent, it does help keep things in perspective.”

I asked Dr. Reiss and Ms. Haakmat if they thought we parents were in as much need of separation advice for ourselves as for our children, and their answer was a resounding “yes.”

“A very common place where parents can go off line in their thinking about separation is when we conflate our fears and feelings with our children’s,” Ms. Haakmat said. “We can forget that our deep sadness about separation (‘My child is growing up so quickly’) is also tinged with guilt (‘What kind of parent am I to be leaving my children?’ and maybe fear about trusting them to the care of others, while our children’s feelings are a lot less complicated and thus more easily assuaged.”

Dr. Reiss echoed the “don’t confuse your child with yourself” message.

“As parents, we have to be watchful of bringing our own stuff to the table,” she said. “If school beginnings were wonderful for you, you’ll see your child’s upcoming experience as an exciting opportunity. If you dreaded school every year, you’ll assume your child does, too.” As for my mother, the card-carrying member of the “why do parents these days need all this touchy-feely hand-holding when we got by just fine on our own?” club — of course parents can handle the school transition alone, Dr. Reiss said. But why not get help?

So I did. Here’s what I learned:

Never sneak out of the room. Your child won’t be happy when he figures out you’re gone. (I learned that teachers hate this tactic.)

Never make promises or bargains you can’t keep. Don’t say you’ll be sitting on the bench outside if you won’t.

Keep things stable. Don’t introduce any other new thing into the routine.

Expect regression. Your child might be great the first week and drag her heels the second, or she might be completely potty trained but start having accidents.

Don’t put words in her mouth. Don’t say, “I know you hate school.” Reflect instead: “I hear you saying you feel sad.”

Connect with old friends. Make a play date with a friend from last year.

To continue reading please click on the link:
http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/09/11/10-ways-to-ease-your-childs-preschool-separation-anxiety-and-yours/?_php=true&_&_r=0