Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Fine Motor Development - The Butterfly Hill Way

Fine motor development in many early childhood programs is practiced through manipulating things such as play dough, sand, scissors, glue bottles, painting, writing, coloring with crayons.  Many parents and educators believe that fine motor skills should be "taught" through worksheets, teacher directed crafts that involve cutting and gluing, and handwriting workbooks.  The teachers at Butterfly Hill have researched the way children learn and know that children learn through self-directed play experiences.  In order to eventually write their names, children need to use those little hand muscles to squeeze things.








They need to pound things to gain stength in their core and in the hands.





Children need to have acess to a variety of materials to make marks, color, and paint with.












When given time, freedom to explore and materials to explore with, children are unstoppable. They will strengthen those little muscles so they can do things like this!



She used the muscles in her little hands to cut around all the bends these antlers have!  

Trust us. Trust your child.  Trust the process!  





Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Use Too Much!

The children in our preschool program are given free access to all materials that are in the classroom.  

There are typically no rules as to how much or how little of something they can use.  This is most evident in our art area of the classroom. 


Yep!  That is glue.  Many teachers would limit the glue use.  It is messy, it is sticky and it is not fun to clean up.  When I first started teaching I preferred glue sticks.  They are so much easier to clean up and control.  That is the key word, CONTROL.   I now trust children as learners.  I trust that they will make decisions about their day based on their needs and interests.  So, I have learned to trust them with a bottle of glue.  Typically, children need to experience too much of something before they know what just the right amount is.  By allowing children to experience the full effect of glue, they will learn on their own how much is too much and how much is too little.   

By allowing this freedom of glue exploration, the children are also learning many skills: eye-hand coordination, viscosity, gravity and they are having to use their little hand muscles to squeeze those bottles with all their might!  



We give children time and trust.  We give children control of their own learning.  



Trust us.  Trust your child.  Trust the process.  


Monday, October 5, 2015

PVC Pipes - A Math Manipulative?

Our classroom is filled with loose parts.  Loose parts are collections of items that serve more than one purpose.  They are open ended.  Loose parts are items such as rocks, sea shells, puzzle pieces, wood blocks, tree cookies, sponges, gems and sticks.  


We introduced different length PVC pipes and connectors into the classroom two weeks ago.  We placed the PVC pipe in the classroom environment and waited until the children discovered them.  At first, the pipes were swords and rifles.  Then, a group of children discovered that when a flashlight is put in the tube, a light saber is formed!  


Light sabers took over the classroom until a child found out you could connect the pipes to make really long/tall pipes that touch the ceiling.  



Math manipulatives are usually thought of as brightly colored bears or shapes that can be used for sorting, counting and patterning.  Our PVC pipes have turned into math manipulatives except the preschool children don't even know they are manipulating math!  They are exploring concepts such as bigger, smaller, shorter, longer, taller, tallest and more!  They are counting the pipes in their creations to see how many small pipes it took to build a long pipe and who has more pipes and who has less.  


And then this happened...


"Look!  I made a 4!"  

The children created this learning all on their own.  All we have to do as teachers is provide an environment where children have access to open ended materials and the TIME to spend creating, exploring and playing!  
 
Trust us.  Trust your child.  Trust the process.  Children will learn when they are ready to learn when given the time and materials to do so.