I am trying to write down some of the games that the boys have played in these past years with other friends and teachers because this time is so fleeting and I don't want to forget the wonderful learnings both the boys and I have experienced. Also, as an educator I want to be able to remember them and adapt them. I have been very inspired by the teachers at the Arboretum. They do a wonderful job of creating simple games that connect to the themes the children are studying. The teachers are great mentors in less is more during early childhood. Many of there games are based on the "run and find" theme. For example, last week we were studying colors in nature. The teacher had the children each take a paint chip (color) square and find that color. Then, they came back to her and got a new color. All the children had a wonderful time playing this game & parents were involved by their child showing their glee. This game can have many versions: it can simply be run and find something with a specific attribute such as wet with dew, soft and fuzzy, rough.
Another delightfully simple game that the boys have played include make a bird nest out of grass and twigs, hide it, then come and get food from the teacher. If the kids want they can choose to be a specific type of bird. One of my boys was a chickadee and the other a crow when we last played this. They ran back and forth, back and forth to and from the teacher many times trying to get "food" for their baby birds. I am thinking we may play this game today at big kid Monday!
Showing posts with label games. Show all posts
Showing posts with label games. Show all posts
Monday, June 23, 2014
Tuesday, June 17, 2014
Versions of Games: Red Light/ Green Light
In my next few posts I am going to write about versions of summertime games that I have led or observed recently. Games are great in that they pique children's interest, get them playing together, and can lead to imaginative play as well as healthy movement. The challenge is always to make sure that kids get to do all the roles.
One of the things that I have noticed is that kids love the traditional games and with small variations you can adapt them to a subject you are focusing on or various age levels.
Recently, I have been experimenting with versions of red light/ green light and how to make it fun & not always just a race. Of course for some the competition is the fun. However, there can be a balance. Ultimately everyone loves to lead and the kids love the power. But, it depends on what purpose you are trying for- how to set it up. I have notice that some children truly enjoy getting "to become" and animal.
Here are a few ways I have played it:
High tide (green) low tide (freeze) All the children choose a sea creature to be as they run. The leader is a sea gull. If she catches them they go back to the staring line. Seagull makes gull cries and flaps her wings.
Owl and mouse. At the hoot of the owl the mice must freeze.
Stop and Go with leader using just sign language. In the version my son taught me yesterday, if one person continues after the go sign is put up everyone returns to the start. It makes it a bit more of a cooperative challenge.
This game can also be made into a game such as fire in the forest, where all children choose to be an animal. The it calls out "fire in the forest" and the animals must run from one side of the forest to the other- if you become tagged you are a tree ( you put out your arms out but cannot run).
Games can be simply transformed; like folk music they are meant to be owned by the people. The main goal is fun and connection.
One of the things that I have noticed is that kids love the traditional games and with small variations you can adapt them to a subject you are focusing on or various age levels.
Recently, I have been experimenting with versions of red light/ green light and how to make it fun & not always just a race. Of course for some the competition is the fun. However, there can be a balance. Ultimately everyone loves to lead and the kids love the power. But, it depends on what purpose you are trying for- how to set it up. I have notice that some children truly enjoy getting "to become" and animal.
Here are a few ways I have played it:
High tide (green) low tide (freeze) All the children choose a sea creature to be as they run. The leader is a sea gull. If she catches them they go back to the staring line. Seagull makes gull cries and flaps her wings.
Owl and mouse. At the hoot of the owl the mice must freeze.
Stop and Go with leader using just sign language. In the version my son taught me yesterday, if one person continues after the go sign is put up everyone returns to the start. It makes it a bit more of a cooperative challenge.
This game can also be made into a game such as fire in the forest, where all children choose to be an animal. The it calls out "fire in the forest" and the animals must run from one side of the forest to the other- if you become tagged you are a tree ( you put out your arms out but cannot run).
Games can be simply transformed; like folk music they are meant to be owned by the people. The main goal is fun and connection.
Sunday, January 26, 2014
Great Fun at the Arboretum
I have written before about the great Parent Child classes at the arboretum. This year is a new teacher, however the program has stayed strong and has been a wonderful experience. It is a lovely mixture of naturalist led activities around a different topic each week, student centered choices and exploration- all peppered with games that include the children and the parents.
This week we played a wonderful version of freeze tag. It involved one person being "it" who turned whoever they tagged into a snowflake. It involved another person being the sun and they ran around unfreezing the others. Since class I have found the boys playing freeze / unfreeze many times since our most recent class. It is through play that children develop deeper understanding and questioning.
I am so thankful for our preschool time when play is such a large part of life. I just hope that this type of teaching and learning can stay a part of life as kids embark on more formal education.
Here is an article on the importance of outdoor play to child development that I recently came across about play and how other countries are trying to work for more outdoor play and naturalized playgrounds in their students lives.
This week we played a wonderful version of freeze tag. It involved one person being "it" who turned whoever they tagged into a snowflake. It involved another person being the sun and they ran around unfreezing the others. Since class I have found the boys playing freeze / unfreeze many times since our most recent class. It is through play that children develop deeper understanding and questioning.
I am so thankful for our preschool time when play is such a large part of life. I just hope that this type of teaching and learning can stay a part of life as kids embark on more formal education.
Here is an article on the importance of outdoor play to child development that I recently came across about play and how other countries are trying to work for more outdoor play and naturalized playgrounds in their students lives.
Saturday, June 8, 2013
Kids Learning to Play
The twins are four years old and it seems like there is less time for writing and more time of doing. It also seems like of late we have been doing more urban outdoor adventures than "natural" settings. We live in a neighborhood with a great walk score. It means that within a mile the boys and I can do most everything we want and not even need to get in the car.
My contemplations these days are: how to make great unstructured play for kids work. Lately one place we have been going to for unstructured play is the neighborhood farmer's market. I have noticed that many young children are either in school group clusters already or they are kids who are hoping to connect with others, but may not have great social skills or know how to have appropriate play on their own.
For example, some children I have noticed will immediately use sword play and play fighting as their way to connect. Although, I applaud the outreach of those children I really think that it has often been influenced by too much tv/ possibly video game violence and it is not creative or even friendly. It is certainly not appropriate around young children which the market is full of or my children who have not yet had screen time.
So far my antidote to troublesome play has been to start some creative play. Last week I taught the kids a game of "everybody's it" and then a variation of "hospital" tag. It worked for a while and in fact there were probably fifteen children running around playing at once, but for the youngest children they didn't necessarily understand when to stop or when to go. "It" is still a new concept & more appropriate for slightly older children.
Play then gravitated to playing in our wagon, which was fine until the child pulling the others decided to "let go" while passengers were on a hill. We may be "helicopter" parents in that we are very attentive, but it was a good thing as my husband was able to run and "catch" the wagon. This is when I helped coordinate the play by being the train engineer. I would let two children on at a time and the rest would follow behind. When we would get to the next stop- which the kids named as California, and Chicago, Seattle and China, the two riders would get off and two more would board the train. Meanwhile all the rest of the line of kids was pushing the wagon or holding onto each others' waists as freight trains.
I realize that allowing children their own space and voice is very important. As a parent I want to give my children tools to find their independence successfully. I want them to know it is great to meet all sorts of friends, but that they make their own choices about what types of play they do and that they feel heard and valued when they have ideas. My boys' preschool practices this on a daily basis as the kids learn to play together. Larger public spheres are harder to maneuver, but my children are learning- and so am I about what role we each have in making unstructured play work.
As the boys fell asleep last night T was explaining a game he wished he could have played with the kids at the park the other day. It was a game involving a couple of wildflowers that he had gathered from the field. In the game he would give the flowers to someone and then they would hide holding the flowers. He would find them. They were not supposed to crush the flowers.
His game sounds simple and sweet. I hope that he can find friends with whom to play it!
My contemplations these days are: how to make great unstructured play for kids work. Lately one place we have been going to for unstructured play is the neighborhood farmer's market. I have noticed that many young children are either in school group clusters already or they are kids who are hoping to connect with others, but may not have great social skills or know how to have appropriate play on their own.
For example, some children I have noticed will immediately use sword play and play fighting as their way to connect. Although, I applaud the outreach of those children I really think that it has often been influenced by too much tv/ possibly video game violence and it is not creative or even friendly. It is certainly not appropriate around young children which the market is full of or my children who have not yet had screen time.
So far my antidote to troublesome play has been to start some creative play. Last week I taught the kids a game of "everybody's it" and then a variation of "hospital" tag. It worked for a while and in fact there were probably fifteen children running around playing at once, but for the youngest children they didn't necessarily understand when to stop or when to go. "It" is still a new concept & more appropriate for slightly older children.
Play then gravitated to playing in our wagon, which was fine until the child pulling the others decided to "let go" while passengers were on a hill. We may be "helicopter" parents in that we are very attentive, but it was a good thing as my husband was able to run and "catch" the wagon. This is when I helped coordinate the play by being the train engineer. I would let two children on at a time and the rest would follow behind. When we would get to the next stop- which the kids named as California, and Chicago, Seattle and China, the two riders would get off and two more would board the train. Meanwhile all the rest of the line of kids was pushing the wagon or holding onto each others' waists as freight trains.
I realize that allowing children their own space and voice is very important. As a parent I want to give my children tools to find their independence successfully. I want them to know it is great to meet all sorts of friends, but that they make their own choices about what types of play they do and that they feel heard and valued when they have ideas. My boys' preschool practices this on a daily basis as the kids learn to play together. Larger public spheres are harder to maneuver, but my children are learning- and so am I about what role we each have in making unstructured play work.
As the boys fell asleep last night T was explaining a game he wished he could have played with the kids at the park the other day. It was a game involving a couple of wildflowers that he had gathered from the field. In the game he would give the flowers to someone and then they would hide holding the flowers. He would find them. They were not supposed to crush the flowers.
His game sounds simple and sweet. I hope that he can find friends with whom to play it!
Friday, April 12, 2013
Investigating cones
Today the boys and I went to the Arboretum for the fiddleheads program. Teacher Sarah does a great job balancing play, games and explorations during the two hour sessions. The boys enjoyed looking at the cones and noticing their different colors and shapes. They also enjoyed playing the game where they had to "run and find"…."a stem"…"a flower"..."a leaf"….and "a root. " S was always particular proud of his discoveries and would run back to Teacher Sarah to tell what he had seen.
Later this afternoon we played this game in our own yard taking turns calling out what to find: "something red and wet," a yellow leaf, "something dry"...a tulip..a laurel tree leaf.. a hidden spot under the wheelbarrow. This game can be played with older kids and the added element of something chasing you and the only safe place is "a huckleberry bush" or "a rock" or anything that can be found in the environment.
Later this afternoon we played this game in our own yard taking turns calling out what to find: "something red and wet," a yellow leaf, "something dry"...a tulip..a laurel tree leaf.. a hidden spot under the wheelbarrow. This game can be played with older kids and the added element of something chasing you and the only safe place is "a huckleberry bush" or "a rock" or anything that can be found in the environment.
Sunday, November 4, 2012
Measuring Success by the Smile
On Friday our boys participated in a class at the local Arboretum. It was fabulous. Although it had a topic of the day- bats; the children and adults enjoyed it because of the delightful pacing. Planned activities were interspersed with the children's own discoveries. Mushrooms were bountiful today and the kids seemed to find them all. Compost piles were heaped in different areas & Teacher Sarah allowed the children to explore them by climbing up and over them. For one child every pile of dirt begged poking at- and he found plenty of time to poke & dig. Meanwhile, a story about bats was woven throughout the day with science, art, literacy and physical activities.
The day started with open ended activities until everyone had gathered
Then the kids were able to touch a real bat specimen.
Kids were handed out a "rubber" bat and they learned the parts of the bat as well as developed a connection to it by carrying it around all day.
The kids began the day by using "echolocation" and learning one another's names. The teacher said her name; the kids repeated it.
The kids were bats: looking for insects, looking for shelter.
Then they heard the story of Stella Luna.
The children also learned about how a mother bat finds her baby bat with her own particular sound:Old film canisters were filled with different objects and the kids had to find the child who had the other one that sounded like theirs.
Then the kids played a game where the children had to find a tree to "sleep in" and when the sun came up and then when it was night they ran around catching insects.
In closing there was a painting activity. A silhouette of a bat was taped onto a large piece of paper the kids were told to paint around the bat and then the bat was removed and they were supposed to see the "bat" on the paper.
As an observer/ participant mother along for the adventure I saw kids engaged all day, but also thriving with just some of the "free play" opportunities: stopping to throw leaves, lay in the leaves, and look at the leaves. Investigation of a nurse log that was filled with shelf mushrooms and had isopods crawling in and out of cracks. Discovering HUGE leaves that were big enough to be umbrellas.
The day was so lovely & it inspired my family to stay and experience the arboretum for another couple of hours....and bats became a topic of family discussions as well as other nocturnal animals.
The day started with open ended activities until everyone had gathered
Then the kids were able to touch a real bat specimen.
Kids were handed out a "rubber" bat and they learned the parts of the bat as well as developed a connection to it by carrying it around all day.
The kids began the day by using "echolocation" and learning one another's names. The teacher said her name; the kids repeated it.
The kids were bats: looking for insects, looking for shelter.
Then they heard the story of Stella Luna.
The children also learned about how a mother bat finds her baby bat with her own particular sound:Old film canisters were filled with different objects and the kids had to find the child who had the other one that sounded like theirs.
Then the kids played a game where the children had to find a tree to "sleep in" and when the sun came up and then when it was night they ran around catching insects.
In closing there was a painting activity. A silhouette of a bat was taped onto a large piece of paper the kids were told to paint around the bat and then the bat was removed and they were supposed to see the "bat" on the paper.
As an observer/ participant mother along for the adventure I saw kids engaged all day, but also thriving with just some of the "free play" opportunities: stopping to throw leaves, lay in the leaves, and look at the leaves. Investigation of a nurse log that was filled with shelf mushrooms and had isopods crawling in and out of cracks. Discovering HUGE leaves that were big enough to be umbrellas.
The day was so lovely & it inspired my family to stay and experience the arboretum for another couple of hours....and bats became a topic of family discussions as well as other nocturnal animals.
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