What is Developmentally/Age Appropriate?

Learning through Play

Our "big friends" learned about the benefits of "play" and are able to apply this knowledge to working with our "little friends".
Our HPC 3O0 class said the following about their participation through the "Learning through Play" workshop:


"I liked that we were able to make connections between the topics discussed in class and this session to the behaviour that we see in playschool."

"I learned different ways of interacting with children through play. Also that play doesn't only mean games and that it's interacting, imagination and learning skills."


"I really enjoyed this workshop because it was very interactive. I also enjoyed exploring the toys and talking about them."

University of Toronto Mississauga - Junior Scientists

Researchers from University of Toronto Mississauga's Infant and Child Studies Centre are looking for participants for their research about children's language, music, and social-emotional development.


If you are interested in having your child be a part of one of these studies please call 905-828-5446 or email juniorscientist@utoronto.ca or fill out one of the forms at Playful Pals Playschool.

Drawing Development

Early Years Stages of Drawing Development

 

            Each child is able to grow as an artist. Children go through visible stages of artistic growth, reflecting the increase muscular control and rapid cognitive development. Drawing of course, is only one of many art forms that can be used to analyze and define a child’s linguistic ability. It reflects the cognitive growth that is necessary for them to become writers. Drawing is an important form of thinking and communication for children in the early years. At first children may be aimlessly marking up paper with a variety of lines and colours. Overtime they begin to repeat and vary the marks that they have made previously. During this period, it shows the child becoming comfortable with the drawing tools, refining their control over the direction and types of lines they can produce.

 

 

Presented below are the developmental stages of child art;

 

Age	Stage	Characteristic
2-4 years	Scribbling
A.      1- 2 ½ years	Random Scribbling	-Random lines are made using the whole arm, while tool is held with the whole hand   -Lines may extend beyond the paper
B.      2 ½ -3 years	Controlled Scribbing	-Begins to use wrist motions   -Stays on paper, makes smaller marks   -Controls where lines are placed
C.      3- 4 ½ years	Named Scribbles	-Holds tool with fingers   -Can make many different lines and shapes   -Name scribbles, but often changes name
4 ½ - 7 years	Pre-Schematic	-Develops a set of symbols to represent concepts   -May not resemble or be in proportion to real objects   -Learns pictures communicate to others
7 - 9 years	Schematic	-Drawing shows concept, not real images   -Baseline and skyline appear   -X-ray drawings appear

 

What Do They Learn in Each Stage?

Scribbling

            Physical Development

• Hand-eye coordination
• Fine and gross muscle development
• Hand manipulation
  Language

• Naming or labelling
• Conversation (with peers, parents, and educators)
  Guidance

• Self-confidence
• Independence
• Initiative
• Enjoyment
  Pre-Schematic
              With the skills above they are additionally developing

• Observation
• Thinking
• Problem solving
• Feelings of competence
   
   
   
   
  Schematic

            Children will be developing skills that are important for art, science and mathematics

• Trial and error
• Patterns
• Shapes
• Numbers
• Interpretation

 

 

What Are the Parent’s and Educator’s Role?

Parents and educators are encouraged  to allow children to scribble. Children need proper materials that will provide them with easy control. Crayons, non-toxic markers, and pencils, are a few examples of mediums that can be used. Communication is a strong factor when it comes to children who are beginning to scribble. For example, a child who has only begin to scribbling, parents and educators can make comments on the child’s movement rather than the artwork itself. Comment on how fast the child’s arms are moving or how big the child’s movements are. As the child gains more control of their scribbling, talk about the variety of moments and different marks that the child has made. When the child starts to name their scribbles, it is encouraged to ask open ended questions that will help them to verbalize their thoughts, feelings and experiences.

 

 

For more information please visit:

http://www.artjunction.org/young_in_art.pdf

http://www.earlychildhoodnews.com/earlychildhood/article_view.aspx?ArticleID=546

 

Bunnies and Chicks

In small group today, children were learning all about bunnies and chicks.  We have noticed that the children have been taking a keen interest in dramatic play and puzzles – our small group activity this week took these interests into consideration.  The small group activity allowed children to use their thinking skills, and vocabulary while connecting to the bunnies and chicks theme – what do we find inside the egg? 

While the activity is in progress, there may be interactions occurring between the children, their peers and the educator. Each child was given a carton of about 4 eggs, which has different objects inside. The children will be shaking and listening to the sounds that the objects make, by doing so they can make predictions as to what is inside. The objective of the activity is for the children to explore their imaginations and use their 5 senses.

As the children were shaking the eggs the educator would ask them questions such as; “What kind of sound do you hear?” or “What do you think is inside?” By asking these questions the educator is able to stimulate the children’s cognitive skills. They are able to make connections to everyday events or come up with their own conclusions. For example; during the activity a child was cracking the egg rather than squeezing the egg open. This shows that the child was able to bring his real life experiences into his play.   The children are able to practice using descriptive language, as they explain, explore and extend their thoughts.

For some of the children, the task of opening the eggs were fairly hard. However, they progress with the challenge, using trial and error they were then able to figure out how to open the egg. The children had a positive attitude towards their learning. Showing persistence, engagement and curiosity they engage the educator and peers in the activity in a positive way.

Michelle Le - Sheridan College ECE student

 

Patterning

This week our "Little Friends" will be learning about patterns.  On Monday, our small group activity was creating a macaroni necklace and creating a blue and yellow pattern.  We have been focused on simple A, B, A, B patterns.

This small group activity also helped develop a number of other important skills including counting,  fine motor skills and hand eye coordination.  According to ELECT, children should be encouraged to count in meaningful ways in play and daily life.  At home, try counting things at the kitchen table or the number of steps you take on your way up to bed.  This helps make numbers more meaningful for children.  Stringing of the macaroni pieces onto a string, in our small group activity also helped the children with their fine motor skills and hand eye coordination.  The more practice they are given the better they will become.  Fine motor skills/control is important for primary printing, a skill they will be required to use on a daily basis when they enter school.    

Little Readers

Our Little Readers

Today we found these two “little friends” reading in our library center.  We LOVE to see children “read” independently!  Early Learning for Every Child Today suggests that an indicator for enjoying literacy is “choosing and spend[ing] time with books.”  When children are engaged in literacy activities they will often “discuss and make connections between books and stories…..request specific stories, poems, songs [and] show pleasure and enjoyment during activities with language, music, and print materials.”  When children are exposed to a variety of print materials children will be motivated to learn more about reading. 

While reading children also work on their letter recognition skills and learn about the conventions of print.  Children will often “pretend to write….hold books the right way, turn pages from the front to the back, [and] use left to right directionality”.  These are important skills to learn before children enter the kindergarten classroom. 

Children can practice and learn these skills at home too.  Providing children with books of their own, visiting the library, demonstrating how to read a menu at a restaurant are all good ways children can practice their literacy skills with parents.  They begin to learn that reading is an important skill they will use in everyday activities. 

Happy reading everyone! J  

Social & Emotional Development

As children begin to interact with the world around them, it is important that they learn to get along with others and seek out assistance when needed. 

The “little friends” in the playschool program have the unique opportunity to interact with their peers (other "little friends") as well as our “big friends” – high school students in the John Fraser Secondary School family studies program.  They are provided with numerous opportunities to build relationships with an older individual and have begun to see them as a “source of security and support” (Early Learning for Every Child Today – ELECT).  The “little friends” are “engaging adults in activities in positive ways and see adults as resources in exploration and problem solving” (ELECT), a skill that they will use often throughout their life when dealing with teachers, parents and adults in the community.

Our “big friends” really are a great group of students.  They care about the overall growth and development of their “little friend”.  J

Letter Recognition & Name Identification

In addition to our weekly "Jolly Phonics" (phonics/sounds of the letters), we have also been working with the “little friends” on recognizing letters of the alphabet.  We are also working on spelling our names - an important skill for children moving onto the JK classroom next school year.  This is part of the communication, language and literacy curriculum published by ELECT.  Through our “cookie sheet” activity shown in the photo, children are learning to recognize letters and were required to spell their first names.  We are encouraging the children to look around the room and in books to see if they can find word that begin with the same letter as their first name.  At home, you can play letter and sound games.  An example is the adult says “Pat plays with purple paint.  Pat, how many p’s did I use?” (ELECT).   This kind of game gives children an opportunity to identify initial consonants in context.

If you are interested in learning more about the "Jolly Phonics" songs, please check out the link below:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCjJYB07aSU

We have also been encouraging reading and literacy awareness.  Children learn so much through a simple reading activity.  Did you know that children should spend at least 20 min a day reading?  Children learn how to hold books, turn pages and basic literacy principles when parents and caregivers read to them on a regular basis.  When children read a familiar story over and over again they will begin to “read” the story themselves by memory.  We have also been encouraging our “big friends” to point out individual words on the pages of a story book to teach the children that the scribbles on the page have meaning and that we read from left to right.  All of these are important literacy tools that children should be exposed to before they enter school.

If you have any questions about the above information please as one of the playschool teachers.  We would be happy to explain in more detail. 

Shape Identification & Fine Motor Development

Our "little friends" have been focusing on shape identification in small group the last 2 weeks. We had the children "build" shapes and draw a picture of their creation. This activity, although simple, engages children in ALL areas of development – physical, intellectual, emotional and social development.

Physically the child is working on fine motor control while building their creation.  They are learning how to increase control over their hands and wrists to construct a structure of their liking.  When they are asked to draw a picture of the structure they are enhancing their fine motor control as they are required to hold a writing utensil.  According to Early Learning for Every Child Today (ELECT) scribbling and drawing will expand to include lines and shapes when children are given opportunities to practice and play with writing instruments.  At home children should be encouraged to use crayons, markers, paint brushes etc. to help children develop the strength required for primary printing and other fine motor skills in the future.

Intellectually the children learn about self-regulation, problem solving, representation, cause and effect, spatial sense and shape identification.  When constructing with blocks the children are working on their self-regulation skills through maintaining their attention for an increased amount of time and avoiding distractions.  ELECT also states that children learn problem solving by using trial and error – (which blocks will fit, how tall can I build my tower etc).  They are also learning how to plan ahead and brainstorm solutions and outcomes.  Children were asked to draw a representation of their structure – they are constructing 2D and 3D models.  Spatially the children are learning how to put and take things apart and using tools to overcome barriers.  Lastly, the children are learning about two dimensional and three dimensional shapes.  They are recognizing and naming the shapes they have created.  They were also asked to count the sides and corners, and recognize and name the shapes.

Socially they are communicating their ideas with others and expressing their own thoughts and ideas through verbal and non-verbal communication.  They are also increasing their vocabulary, using descriptive language to explain their thoughts and listening to others.  They learn how to interact positively and respectfully in a small group through sharing the blocks and allowing others to take turns.  When the child is asked to describe their structure this allows the child the opportunity to begin to express what they want and what they are thinking.  They also are learning how to be good listeners and identify solutions to conflicts that arise (two children want the same block – what do they do?).  Socially the children also worked on their co-operation skills by exchanging materials during play and taking part in the activity by following the rules set out by the Early Childhood Educator.  The small group also allows the children to interact with other adults and allows them to see adults as a resource in exploration and problem solving (ELECT).

Lastly, emotionally the children are learning how to express their feelings, self-regulation, autonomy and developing a positive attitude toward learning.  After the children built their structures they showed great pride.  They feel good about themselves and their accomplishment.  They are also learning how to regulate their emotions – maybe they are overwhelmed or frustrated that they cannot get a block to fit in a particular spot and they learn to look for adult as a secure base – asking a big friend or ECE for help with the structure.  The children are also developing autonomy while building with the blocks.  They are learning how to set goals and making choices.  Lastly, the children are developing a positive attitude toward learning, they are coping with defeat and errors, taking risks when learning and persevering when they are faced with challenges.