My Connections to Play

"It is paradoxical that many educators and parents still differentiate between a time for learning and a time for play without seeing the vital connection between them."  Leo F. Buscaglia

"Play is the only way the highest intelligence of humankind can unfold."  Joseph Chilton Pearce

"Play has been man's most useful preoccupation."  Frank Caplan

"You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation."  Plato

"Play is the beginning of knowledge."  Anonymous


The materials that children need to play...



a bucket to share treasures with friends





 

a bucket for all collected treasures....treasures can be sorted, classified, counted and explored



boxes are a great material for children to play with ...they can be used to hide in and can become anything from a house to a car to a robot to a slide
boxes are a great tool for children to use to expand their imaginations and to use for experimentation and exploration

Materials such as tinker toys and legos are great for children because they are open-ended and children can use them to create anything they want.  The containers are also great for play as well.

Train track pieces that can be manipulated and created to become any type of track a child wants it to be are an important tool for a child.  They learn how to put a track to together so it will work and how they can criss-cross the tracks and use bridges and tunnels to create their very own design.



Books are great for children.  Books can be used to learn about many different types of items from trucks and cars to animals and families to pretend adventures.  When children are exposed to books a whole world of adventure and fun is opened for them.  Children who are read to when they are young and are shown the wonderful experience of reading will be more motivated to learn to read as they get older.



Having the opportunities to play outside and explore nature is very important to young children.  Being able to run, climb, swing, jump, chase and have fun are vital to a child's physical development.

Blocks are an important manipulative for children to use when they are young.  Blocks are open-ended toys.  Children can be very creative and imaginative when using blocks to create anything they want.

I've used pictures of my own children to show the types of toys I purchased for them when they were young.  They still play with these types of toys but have also gotten to an age where they want more video games.  I have purchased video games for them but limit the amount of time they may play with them. I want them playing with more open-ended toys, reading books and exploring outside.  I purchased for my children and created the same types of experiences for them that my parents had created for me.  I strive to buy the types of toys my children can use in many different ways, open-ended toys that require them to think, create, imagine and design.  I want them to have many different types of experiences as children because I understand how important it is to develop the whole child.

 In some ways I feel society has made some decisions for parents in regard to physical activity.  For example, in our town children are encouraged to become involved in organized sports at very young ages.  My 7 year old wants to play soccer in the fall and actually has to "try out" to make the team.  I feel that children at that young of an age should be given as many opportunities as they want to try many different types of sports and physical activities.  I do not feel children should have to try out for a sport at such a young age because they will never be able to learn the sport if they are not given the experiences of trying each sport out.  I think that our society has become focused on the wrong things for children in that regard. 

I believe that no matter what your age, you must play to enjoy life.  The people who are out enjoying life, having fun with life, laughing, smiling, giggling and playing are the people who experience less stress, less physical ailments and less health problems.  We all need to play and for children it is a vital part of development.

Relationship Reflection

Family vacations keep us close and connected

This blog post is to celebrate the relationships that I have with the important people in my life... family and friends.  The most significant people are with me to share milestones, celebrate holidays and to just have fun.  I have a very close family.  We spend a lot of time keeping our relationships close and significant.  We share family meals every Sunday together, celebrate birthdays and holidays together, spend quality time on vacation together, and just in general have fun together. When Kevin and I got married we began inviting our parents over for Wednesday dinners.  This has helped us merge our families into one.  We also spend Sunday mornings at church with Kevin's parents and Sunday evening dinners at my parent's house.  Shared religious beliefs are a way of connecting with others.   One way we are able to stay so close is through communication.  Without our daily texts, emails, phone calls and sometimes unexpected drop in visits our relationships would not be as strong. When I lived in California and England I had to be very specific with communication.  I posted pictures quite frequently on Ofoto for my family and friends to see how the boys were growing and developing.  We skyped frequently so the boys had a chance to talk with their grandparents and relatives.  My parents would visit us and we would come home on holidays to visit with my parents.  My parents pride themselves that they were able to spend almost every birthday with my children even when we lived so far apart.  Our relationships would not have been as close had we not kept in contact  with each other.  




Sharing holiday celebrations with family is important





Enjoying a football game with my siblings...shared fun experiences keep us close and connected





Summer fun with the boys and Kevin...I'm the target of the water fight that is about to commence...fun shared experiences keep us connected





Merging two families into one...shared family meals and consistent times we know we will be together keep us connected. 



My friends are very important to me as well.  We make it a practice to get together once a month to talk about our lives and families with each other.  We share stories about our work, families and lives to keep our relationships strong and connected.  I have friends that I keep in contact with in Florida, California and England by emailing them, calling or texting them and keeping in contact on Facebook.  Social networking has become a way to reconnect with people that I haven't kept in close contact with and am now able to reconnect and establish new connections and relationships with.  Communication is vital to relationships. 

Keeping connected with my friends and knowing I can count on them when I need them the most is valuable to relationships.

Teachers must have a connection with the families they serve.  They must learn about each child and family so they can find the best ways to connect and teach each individual child.  When teachers have fun with the children and families in their class, learn about their customs and cultures and connect with the children on what interests them most, then each child will get more out of their experience in the classroom.  Whether talking about my own family, my friends or the families in my classroom, communication is vital to the success of each relationship.