Eight educational Arctic animal activities for preschoolers, kindergarten and lower elementary. These are hands-on activities for an Arctic Animals theme.
Piaget’s theories of cognitive development have influenced our modern play pedagogies. See how Piaget and play based learning go hand-in-hand and how his theories reinforce the idea that children learn through play. Discover some practical play-based learning ideas for your classroom.
A clever classroom trick to help children learning to write inside lines
The transforming schema is all about change and how things transform in substance or appearance. If you have children children in your classroom mixing sand and water or drawing and painting on their bodies, you have children developing their transformation schema. This blog post will explain exactl
Take a look at these inspirational play based learning experiences for your classroom - and they're curriculum aligned to boot!
There are numerous benefits of loose parts play in the early childhood classroom. In this blog post you will discover what loose parts are and the curriculum learning intentions you can teach through loose parts play.
Outdoor education activities to teach about symmetry. Outdoor math activities for upper elementary and middle school.
Discover effective invitations to play for each of the learning domains and ignite imagination and creativity in early childhood.
tubs de cartró per jugar Manualitats i reciclatge tubs paper de vàter per fer jocs de construcció, titelles, castells, circuits, garatge... amb nens
Jean Piaget was a Swiss psychologist in the early 1900s. Read about how his theories of cognitive development reinforce the idea that children can learn through play in your educational setting.
Children's Play SchemasIn case you need a recap on Play Schemas then I highly suggest you head to our blog 'What are Play Schemas?' before reading ahead.
100 kids' literacy and language activities by topic, theme and season. An excellent resource for hands-on, multi-sensory creative learning.
This photo came from the New York Times article, " The Art of Distraction ", illustrated by Rutu Modan. In the United States, th...
Children's Play SchemasIn case you need a recap on Play Schemas then I highly suggest you head to our blog 'What are Play Schemas?' before reading ahead.
In simple form, inquiry-based learning is more of a student-directed way of learning rather than teacher-directed. In some cases, teachers may set the general framework for learning, but for the most part, the learning is based on the students questions, ideas and passions. But how do you provoke those questions in the first place? Inquiry-based
The 12 Types of Play Infographic depicts how play evolves as children grow, how social development is linked with play, and the important role parents have in supporting children’s learning through play.
Most of the time I LOVE my job, and one of my all-time favorites is when I am able to help kids overcome oral defensiveness. It is so extremely satisfying when kids are able to eat and enjoy healthy foods that were previously off the table, so to speak. Who are these kids and why is eating difficult for them? There are so many answers to this question. I have worked with children with sensory processing disorder, autism, ADHD, oppositional defiant disorder, anxiety disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder. These kids might show only mild symptoms of the conditions above, but end up having difficulty eating ordinary healthy foods with their families and friends. Cautionary Note: before starting food therapy it is important to get a good food history and baseline data, rule out oral-motor and swallowing dysfunction, and join forces with the child’s family to prioritize food goals. Also note that there are two main approaches to sensory-based eating difficulties. Here is a great article on play versus behavioral approaches to overcome food aversions: http://www.otplan.com/articles/strategies-to-improve-feeding-at-home.aspx This year I have had the good fortune to work with a batch of kids that have needed to expand their food intake. I thought I would briefly describe three children and the types of play activities that have been helpful for them to gain confidence and pleasure with eating a greater variety of foods. Please meet David, Emily, and Alex: David is a three-year-old student in an early childhood classroom. He has always had difficulty with weight gain and all his developmental milestones have been delayed. David eats only crackers and chips at school. He has a strong tactile and oral aversion to anything that is wet or slippery. He has a difficult time with getting paint or glue on his hands. My approach with David is pure sensory exploration. I took several photographs of one of our sessions, and his parents have graciously allowed me to share them with you. I remove everything from the environment except for the one food we are playing with. In this session we have a container of diced peaches and a small plastic plate from the kitchen area of his classroom. He is familiar with the containers, and likes to play kitchen. I model picking up a piece of peach and pretend I am feeding a dinosaur, because David loves dinosaurs. 1. At first he is reluctant to touch the peaches you can see how he extends his fingers to make as little contact as possible. But there’s not much else to do, it’s just us and peaches. 2. He has quickly gotten used to picking them up with his right hand, and is starting to use his left hand to hold the container. 3. When first using his left hand to touch the fruit, it is like starting over from the beginning. Note his extended fingers again! 4. Then he becomes able to pick up the peaches with his left hand too. Now playing with peaches has become a crossing the midline and a bilateral task. When he has filled up the little toy plate with a pile of peaches, I discreetly toss the peaches in the garbage, and we start again, “feeding the dinosaurs”. 5. David starts to be interested in looking at the peaches. I start talking about kissing the peaches, and VICTORY, soon David starts to explore them with his lips and tongue. He is in control, I do nothing more than give a verbal suggestions, and model for him what touching the peaches to my lips and tongue look like. 6. He was so happy and content playing the peaches, that I pulled out a container of pineapple and we started playing with that too. 7. He had gotten so comfortable with the wet, cold textures that he started rolling the pieces of fruit between his hands. 8. More quickly this time, David becomes interested in tasting pineapple too! GO David! 9. He left happy and content, and felt successful. I consider this a highly successful therapy session, even though all we did was to play with fruit for 30 minutes! Emily: Next I would like to introduce a four-year-old girl, who developed typically for the first years of her life, and then at two years, was diagnosed with cancer. She had numerous hospitalizations and medical interventions and while she was being treated she lost her appetite. She was given a G-tube [Gastro-intestinal feeding tube] to maintain her nutrition and strength. Now she is at home, and is medically stable. Not surprisingly, probably in response to her difficult medical interventions, Emily now has significant tactile and oral aversions. On good days she’ll eat a few crackers and a few bites of rice. I used the Food Survey for Oral Dysfunction, Sensitivity, Food Aversions, and Nutrition to interview mom and get detailed information on the foods Emily is willing to try, and which ones she seems to like. When asked about food priorities, mom indicated that she would love for Emily to be able to eat fruit. Mom said she remembered Emily loving fruit, and wanted her daughter to be able to have that pleasure again. Truthfully, if I had been working with Emily in the school setting, I would have approached building her sensory tolerance to a fruit through touch and play much like I did with David above. But I was not seeing Emily at school, I was going into her home, working side-by-side with her mom. As Emily’s mom also showed evidence of tactile defensiveness, and had a strong desire not to give Emily any difficult task, I had to come up with a different approach. It turns out that Emily loves small manipulative toys. I have found that I can give her one gem which she pushes through a slot before it drops into a container. Coaching mom to place the smallest sliver of fruit on the spoon, Emily will take a taste in order to get the next gem. During our first ‘food’ session, Emily ate a quarter of one banana, one teeny piece at the time. Her mom was elated, saying that it was the first time she ate bananas in over two years. Now Emily is happily eating bananas and apples on a regular basis. She has a good start on potty training, and now we are also exploring some strategies to help make tooth brushing be more pleasant! Alex is a five-year-old kindergarten student with autism. He is new to OT and when I evaluated him I saw that he was eating only fish crackers at school. His parents were interested in expanding his food repertoire and have been very helpful in sending a variety of table foods from their home, as well as new kid-friendly foods to school. I scheduled Alex for OT two times a week during his lunch period, as he was refusing to eat anything while in the school lunchroom. I decided that we would start with foods he did eat at home, but was not eating at school. Alex is a boy who has a STRONG will. When he says no, he means it. My hunch with him was that we needed to have a structured session and that the authority needed not to be me but “the schedule.” This visual schedule reflects our routine. He comes to OT with his lunch, and before doing what he wants to do [write letters starting on the iPad] we start with his main dish. My first session with him, I strongly insisted that he touch the spoon that had been in his noodle dish to his lips and the moment he did that, I proclaimed success and we went on to our first task. We went back to the spoon after every preferred task, but he knew he only needed to put the spoon to his lips so he did it quickly and we got on famously. In every subsequent therapy session I have upped the ante a little bit. Next, I had him touch his tonge to his spoon, then clean the spoon between his lips, then clean the spoon with one noodle, the next time he was eating a few noodles at the time, and then a few bites. Most recently he took it upon himself to finish his main dish before we started our first preferred task! What I have not said is that I modeled every step. I had my lunch at hand, we talked about it, smelled it, and I showed him what I needed him to do with my own spoon. When he started cleaning his spoon, it was after he watched me clean my spoon with my lips. When I wanted him to take several bites, I would have a turn, and then he would have a turn. The spoon in this picture has been the symbol to represent eating on the therapy schedule. The symbol has remained the same, despite the increased expectations. I was able to give an identical spoon picture to his paraprofessional, and now Alex is now beginning to eat his lunches in the lunch room too! If you would like to read more about using visuals for occupational therapy this link will take you to my blog post on making and using visual supports. You can find the two products that were used in therapy for these three kiddos here: Food Survey Visual Supports for Occupational Therapy
What is a play 'schema' and why is it useful for new parents to understand these? Simple play ideas to support baby and toddler development. #babydevelopment #playschema #play #earlychildhood #toddlerdevelopment #birthtothree #babyplayideas #toddlerdevelopmentactivities #learnwithless
Learn with Play at Home. Play based learning ideas and activities for kids.
Teach kids to tackle challenges and build vital thinking skills with these fun problem-solving activities and games for preschoolers.
"No one will play with me" he said with tears rolling down his cheeks. He seems so confused by this strange occurrence, he thought going to preschool would mean lots of friends to play with.
Check out these 50 (!!) project based learning activities to engage and excite students and get you started with PBL.
Children's Play SchemasIn case you need a recap on Play Schemas then I highly suggest you head to our blog 'What are Play Schemas?' before reading ahead.
In my play based classroom there are 10 essential learning areas. I cannot do without them. The provocations and resources offered in these areas change throughout the year dependent on children's interests and the curriculum intent. The placement of these 10 areas within the classroom is thoughtf
What is being learned during sensory play? Why is it so important in childhood? Find out the answer, plus simple sensory play ideas!
Children's Play SchemasIn case you need a recap on Play Schemas then I highly suggest you head to our blog 'What are Play Schemas?' before reading ahead.
Play has always seemed synonymous with children because it’s what they do. When students come to school now, it seems as if the decision-makers want to limit
Writing is so very important - at any age - yes, even the little ones in Kindergarten are encouraged to write everyday! Our classroom is a full day, play-based kindergarten class in Ontario, designed to meet all learners needs. We know that students come to us as young as 3 and might not even recognize their name, others begin school knowing all their letters and sounds and might even be reading! That's why it's important to guide and encourage all children to write daily - and knowing that we have set up a fun and interactive Writing Centre means students will actually want to write! As a side note, our Writing Centre changes all the time! We start small at the beginning of the year, usually just putting out a few magnetic words (which we use as our word wall), blank paper, a flip book of students in our class, an alphabet flip book, stencils, vocabulary flip books and picture dictionaries. The picture below shows what our Writing Centre (shelf) looks like by the end of the second month of school or so. As we teach lessons on writing, we include new things to the Writing Centre. At the beginning of the year, we tend to focus on name printing with those students that need the extra support. We do this in a variety of ways - using Playdough to form and roll out letters, identifying our name around the room, searching for and building our name using magnetic letters, writing our name using a variety of tools (chalkboard, whiteboard) and finally using a pencil to practice. We take pictures of the children during the first week of school (sometimes the first day can be a little hectic!). We use these pictures in a variety of places around the room so that the students not only begin to identify their own name but names of peers. We also print them on cue cards and attach them on a ring. We leave this at our Writing Centre to encourage students to write peers names on a list, in a letter, etc. We also print these Alphabet cards and attach them onto a ring. Students can use these to search for beginning sounds or review letter/sound identification. The topic of word walls always comes up in conversation with our kindergarten teachers. Over the years, we have tried creating a word wall in many ways and places around the room. We have had students write the words and place them on a bulletin board but the problem we found was the bulletin board was too high for students to read the words. We found this option the best - this is a magnetic board (I used my Scholastic bonus coupons to buy it but you can find it on Amazon also - see picture below). Students are able to remove the word that they want to use and take it to their seat. When they are done they simply put it back! *You can find the Magnetic Tabletop Learning Easel by clicking on the picture below* If you don't want to buy the big pack of magnetic words I included ready-to-print words (which are editable so you can add your own if they are not already included). Just add a magnet to the back (you can buy these at Dollarama). This is about how many sight words I would start with for the first few weeks of school. We also like giving students to option of using the same sight word cards as above but displaying them on Popsicle sticks. I love playing games in small groups with students who need extra practice with sight words. I have also included larger sight word cards that you can use to play "Roll-Say-Keep". Here is what our baskets look like in the centre of the table. We keep pencils and erasers inside and leave a ring with sentence starters there to prompt students to add writing to their pictures. As the year goes on, we change the paper offered - it's important to introduce ways for students to use some of the paper (i.e. letter writing) before leaving it out. You can do this either whole group or in small group mini lessons. At the beginning of the year, I like to start with showing students how to draw. I find that many of the young students come to school and scribble - so we want to take time to simplify drawing. We use these shape stencils to show students how drawing people or objects can be done by using shapes (i.e. face is a circle, house is a square, etc.) *You can also find many free printable "how-to-draw" instructions for children on the internet. We print these and insert them into a binder kept on the Writing Centre shelf.* Click here for an example. Students are also shown how to label their picture (we start by asking them to write the beginning sound they hear). We also set up a provocation inviting students to choose stickers (who doesn't love stickers?!?!) and write the sounds they hear beside to practice labelling. As the year progresses, so do our students! By the end of Year 2 many of them are able to use the tools we set out (magnetic sight words, stencils, etc.) to draw and form a simple sentence. Another lesson I like to teach early on in the school year is about making lists. We brainstorm the many lists our parents and teachers write (i.e. grocery lists, birthday lists, our favourite toys, etc.). An easy and fun activity is to leave out grocery flyers and have student cut their favourite things. They can try and sound out how to spell the words. Students can also copy thematic words (i.e. animals) from our Vocabulary Flip Books. Here is an example of the Community Helpers Flip Book. These are 2 of my favourite books when discussing making lists (the Max and Ruby book is perfect for Kindergarten as many students can identify with the characters). As part of the Full Day Kindergarten program in Ontario, we are encouraged to have our students think and wonder about the world around us. We use "I see...I think...I wonder..." often. I am always taking pictures (when we go on Nature Walks, driving to school, animals and creatures I find in my backyard, etc.) and I like to share these pictures with my students. I project them onto the Bright Links board and together we complete the phrases "I see...I think...I wonder..." We do this so often that students are used to what is expected. So when we leave out provocations, such as the one below with the flowers, students understand what to do. Now not all of my students are writing so then what happens? Well, they know they can draw a picture of what they see, think and wonder or ask a friend for help. I like to challenge those students who are strong writers and ready for it. My students love playing with different materials in the class (like the BeeBot) and I have them tell the class, step-by-step, how to use it (create instructions or procedural writing). They get so excited to do this!!! If your students bring in toys from home (we went through a Pokemon card phase a couple of years ago), you can have them write about how to play step-by-step. Another lesson we teach as the year progresses is how to write letters to our peers (this is a great lesson to do around Valentine's Day!). We introduce the words "To" and "From" and explain how a letter can be words or pictures and it communicates a message. Since we read many stories (at least one a day!), it's no surprise that students are naturally drawn to writing their own story. Again, not all students are able to write sentences or even words, but the children know they can draw a picture and we can transcribe it on the bottom. Have students create their own story using loose parts! I like to leave out a felt board with the story we read and have students retell the book. They can also draw it on their My Story paper. You can read all about how to make your own felt board pieces here. We have even used the app My Story and created digital stories! You can read all about that here and here. We use this template with the students first so that they could plan their story. I kept my very favourite piece of writing last - postcards!!! We did a whole bunch of post card writing before school let out a few weeks ago. We discussed how you often send postcards when you travel to places around the world. We also talked about how it feels good to receive mail from our family and friends and if any children were travelling this summer, they could purchase a post card and mail it to Mrs. Albanese (or just write one like the example below!) You can find all this (and SO MUCH MORE!) in my new Get Your Students to Write! pack on TpT.
Learn with Play at Home. Play based learning ideas and activities for kids.
Children's Play SchemasIn case you need a recap on Play Schemas then I highly suggest you head to our blog 'What are Play Schemas?' before reading ahead.
In this post, we explore the creative world of children's clay exploration. Building on that exploration, we invite you to learn more about the benefits of clay play in our latest article: ‘The Benefits of Clay Play: Understanding the Exploration Stage of Children.” The following photos are from two classrooms at Rosa Parks Preschool, Mrs. Winters […]
Children's Play SchemasIn case you need a recap on Play Schemas then I highly suggest you head to our blog 'What are Play Schemas?' before reading ahead.
So many ways to explore some extra creativity! These fun art challenges are perfect for kids and adults to stretch their imaginations!
Dramatic play can take place anywhere children are – it really doesn’t take a special area or equipment. Dramatic play involves children who take on a role and relate to other people a…
Learn with Play at Home. Play based learning ideas and activities for kids.
