Power of Play – In A Child's Path

Journal 9-25-13

Cindy Wiederhold — Fri, 27 Sep 2013 18:42:17 +0000

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Anthony and Cameron built a tall, tall tower together. Rhys joined the two builders and had a wonderful time adding his own towers. Eventually, the tower was ready for demolition and Anthony took care of the job. The group learned right away that knocking down a tower is a very loud business! It’s also very fun! Rhys and Anthony were thrilled with their discovery. They practiced building up new towers and knocking them down. They continued their experiments between giggles and gleeful cries of, “Boom!”

Emma, Riley, and Camille all arrived at the same time this morning! The trio worked together to feed Rosie first thing. Then, the group made their way to the art room for some painting. Camille took a little break from painting to walk the baby to the park. She walked right past Ella O. who was busy at the writing center. Ella O. started with cutting papers, and then she found some new stickers and cut them out as well.

The bike path was the place to be for Maddy, Riley, Ella, and Collin. Rhys also joined the fun with the bikes by jumping on his own and making some laps. Anthony ran all over and entertained Ben who was taking it all in. Camille, Emma, and Ella O. also decided to contribute to the entertainment and get silly with a jumping game together. The next game was standing on one leg! Ben couldn’t resist joining in the fun.

Out in back the shaving cream was flying as Ben, Anthony, and Rhys took to their work. The chose to use the big easel and to cover it with the fluffy shaving cream. Water pouring came next to wash the cream away. Rinse and repeat was the order of the day.

Emma and Alex were using their artistic skills today to create something very special. They each decided to make pictures for their mommy and daddy. They took great care and poured all their love into the beautiful pictures. Emma moved to the hot glue station next to do some more creating. Right next to the hot glue station, Ella O. and Riley were sharing their love of painting. They took turns using the easel with lovely manners.

Some very serious work was happening in the sandbox. Maddy and Cameron were making a giant cake! They cracked the eggs and added chocolate. They knew exactly the right steps to create the perfect cake and carried out each part very carefully. Collin, Ella, and Riley were making a giant bowl of soup! Riley poured water into the mix as Collin and Ella stirred vigorously with the big tubes. It was goopy and delicious!

Enjoy your evening!

Bev Bos

Cindy Wiederhold — Tue, 09 Jul 2013 21:40:30 +0000

Bev Bos is Cindy’s greatest mentor, and her philosophy of educating children has been largely influential to how and what we teach your little ones at In a Child’s Path. Our staff attends Bev’s annual Good Stuff for Kids Conference every year. This conference has been an incredible resource and huge learning opportunity for all of us.

Overall Bev’s philosophy is simple and is characterized by these developmental education principles: children learn through play, interaction, problem solving, exploration and discovery. Cooperation is more conducive to learning than competition. Children learn best when they can make choices and set their own goals. Each child is unique. Education is an on-going process, which is enhanced when the child, teacher and family work together.

In addition to being amongst one of the more respected teachers in the childcare industry, Bev also plays the harp and sings beautifully. We sing her songs Down on the Farm, Let the Wild Wind Blow and Plant a Rose for Me at In a Child’s Path and the kids really love singing along. Here is a video of her song called The Swing. It’s a sweet, playful song that your kiddos will adore.

Bev Bos’s books and music are all available on the website Turn the Page. http://www.turnthepage.com/servlet/the-Books/Categories

Water Play

Cindy Wiederhold — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 23:02:02 +0000

It’s splash time! Indoor and outdoor water play is a unique and fun-filled activity for children. Thankfully water is free and always available and provides hours of learning opportunities. Here are some ideas for both toddlers and preschoolers for both indoor and outdoor waterplay games – via Early Childhood News:

Water play fosters learning in all developmental areas. It provides opportunities for children to experiment with math and science concepts, strengthen their physical skills, advance their social and emotional skills, and enhance language development (Crosser, 1994; Hendrick, 1996).

Problem-Solving Skills. As children manipulate water play materials, they begin to understand why and how things happen. For example, given sinking and floating objects, a child will soon discover that just because something is large in size does not mean it will sink.

Math. Children begin to understand and experiment with concepts such as more/less, same/different, many/few, empty/full, before/after, greater than/less than, and counting (Crosser, 1994). Science.Water gives children an avenue to contemplate issues such as: What makes rain? Where does water come from? What makes mud? (James & Granovetter, 1987). Children also learn physics principles such as the effects of force (increasing the water flow through increased force); effects of gravity (water runs downhill); and change in state (solid, liquid, gas).

Physical Development. Water play encourages the development of eye/hand coordination through pouring, squeezing, stirring, painting, scrubbing, and squirting. Children strengthen their gross motor skills by running, dodging water drops, and hopping through a sprinkler. They widen their sensory experiences as they put their hands in different textures (gritty, squishy, and slimy) and different temperatures (warm, cool, and cold) (Hendrick, 1998).

Social and Emotional Development. Water play is one of the most relaxing activities children can experience. After all, many adults relax in a warm bubble bath or hot shower! Water play relieves tension by encouraging children to release their emotions with pouring, pounding, and swooshing. In addition, social skills expand as children play cooperatively; negotiate; and share equipment, space, and materials.

Language Development. Children learn new vocabulary such as sieve, funnel, eggbeater, stream, bubbly, moisture, and evaporation. Water play is such a meaningful experience for young children that it can be extended to writing experiences as well. Children may draw pictures of sprinkler play, then dictate a description or story to the teacher. Another valuable writing experience involves the teacher writing down children’s predictions, such as how long it will take ice cubes to melt in the sand box or how many babies one batch of soapy water will wash.

Creative Development. Water encourages children to use their imagination. As the children play, they may pretend that they work at a car wash or live in a castle. Water also encourages children to try out new ideas and solutions to problems in a safe environment.

Tips for Successful Water Play:

Because of its perceived mess, water play is not always encouraged in the early childhood curriculum. However, just as with any other worthwhile activity, a little planning and foresight considerably reduces the mess. The following tips will make activities involving water fun, yet easy to manage and clean up at home or at school.

Provide special items. Provide extra items as needed, so every child can participate.

Every child and teacher or parent should have a complete change of clothes.

If the weather permits, wear swimsuits and allow hosing off for easy clean up. Otherwise, supply plastic smocks or aprons to protect clothing.

Apply sunscreen to everyone before going outside. Reapply often.

Offer indoor and outdoor water play often. Limiting water play to one “water day” a week doesn’t offer the children enough exploratory opportunities.

On very warm days, offer water play under shade as well as in the sun.

Provide a dry area where the children can lie in the sun or wrap up in towels to dry.

Stop outdoor water play in time for children to dry off before going outside.

Even with all the water around, don’t forget to offer plenty of drinking water to the children. For a nice change, have the children squeeze lemon juice into candy or ice cube molds. Freeze the juice. After it’s frozen, have the children place one or two cubes in cups (write their names on the cups), and fill with water. Add one or two sugar cubes. As the juice cubes melt, the children will have homemade lemonade!

Use large plastic containers or buckets to store water play accessories.

Always dump the water out of any containers before coming inside.

Outdoor Water Play Ideas

Listed below are some outdoor dramatic play themes as well as a list of suggested play materials.

Fun in the Sun– Add water to the sandbox, towels, beach bags, containers for sand molding, child-size beach chairs, and sunglasses.

Bath Time– Warm, sudsy water, clear water, dish tubs or water table, washable baby dolls, washcloths, bath toys, and towels.

Bakery– Sand or mud, dirt, water, pie tins, plastic spoons, plastic knives, craft sticks, grass, small sticks, leaves, and cottonwood.

Firefighter– Water, hats, boots, gloves, windbreakers, garden hoses or plastic tubing, and buckets.

Paint Shop– Buckets of water, different sizes of brushes used to paint houses, rollers, sidewalk, walls, fence, etc.

Water Table Add-Ins

The water table is not just for indoor play. Bring it outdoors or use any large plastic container the children can reach into or a small plastic wading pool placed on a low table. Try adding some of these materials to water to expand children’s learning.

Sand or aquarium rocks, scoops, water play animals

Squirts of detergent, kitchen utensils such as wooden spoons, eggbeaters, slotted spoons, plastic ladles, sieves

Dirt or sand for islands, some water, plastic trees, waterproof manipulatives

Add scent to the water with extracts and small amounts of food coloring that corresponds with the scent. For example, red food coloring with peppermint scent and yellow food coloring with pineapple extract. Add appropriate props: On pineapple day, add real and pretend fruit; on red day add only red items.

Happy Splashing!

Spring Fling – A Day at the Farm

Cindy Wiederhold — Tue, 21 May 2013 23:24:52 +0000

On Saturday, In a Child’s Path kids and their families joined In a Child’s Path staff at Cindy’s family farm in Boring, Oregon. We started off the afternoon with a fun game of “walking farm bingo” where children actively searched for items around the farm and marked off what they discovered on a bingo card. During the game, children also had an opportunity to feed the chickens, goats and Indy (the cutest miniature horse in the world). After that, we all gathered in the barn and sang songs including “I am singing in the rain,” and “Baby shark”. Song time was followed by some delicious snacks that everyone brought. Once our tummies were full, we formed two groups and went on a Woodland Pond Walk where there were 6 stations set up for an incredible learning adventure.

Each station began with an introduction, something to see or do and then the children got to take away an object. There was a wildflower station where kids got to see and hear about many kinds of flowers including foxgloves, tiger lilies and trilliums. They got touch foxglove petals and leave with a packet of seeds to plant at home. There was also a tree ring station where we talked about the colors and spacing of the rings on the inside of trees. We then counted rings to see how old the trees were and wrote our own names on wood cookie necklaces. There was a pond station where we talked about ferns and newts. There were real live newts to measure and the take away was a miniature sticky newt. There was a bird nest station where we stood inside a preschooler-made nest and closely examined 3 birds’ nests. The children got to take away shells. At the log station, we learned that fallen, decomposing trees provide animals with homes, with water to drink and also a place for plants to grow. Each kiddo got a sticker of an animal- such as a deer or squirrel. The last station was about trees and oxygen. We talked about what living trees do for us and for the animals and specifically about Sitka Spruce trees. The children got to take away a Sitka Spruce seedling to plant somewhere special.

It was a fun-filled nature day. We all had a blast. Pictures from the event above.

Why Wooden Toys are Better

Cindy Wiederhold — Thu, 09 May 2013 00:56:50 +0000

Parents may wonder what the benefits of choosing wood over plastic toys are. Plastic toys have loads of bells and whistles. They are shiny, make noise and seem like they provide hours of playtime for your wee ones. Despite all of the bling that comes with plastic toys, there are many reasons to choose wood toys instead.

They involve your child. Your child can physically interact with the toy by manually pushing, pulling, turning, or connecting its pieces and parts. This leads to a more active mind. There is much less chemical toxicity. Wooden toys do not contain plastics or other toxins usually found in toys. They are made of natural materials and are consequently safer for your child. Wood has a fun and interesting texture. Your wee one will be able to explore the lovely bumps and grains of wooden toys. Though most wooden toys are sanded down and some may even be slightly painted, the texture is still different than a completely smooth piece of plastic. There is less impactful on the environment. Wooden toys require wood, possibly glue or screws and occasionally some paint. This is less impactful on the environment than plastics and batteries containing chemicals like zinc chloride, alkaline, lithium, NiMH and lead acid. Plastics take hundreds of years to degrade. The manufacture of plastic also requires vast amounts of resources. Wood has less resource cost especially if it comes from sustainable plantations. Wood isn’t as dangerous. Swallowing a battery can be harmful or fatal. Swallowing small pieces of plastic is also a health hazard. Though caution should be used with smaller wooden toys that can be swallowed, wooden toys do not contain toxic materials can can harm your child. Wooden toys can be used for generations. Let’s face it wooden toys have been around for a thousand years. They last a long time. Plastic toys, even with their long and unsustainable lifespan, tend to break too easily. Children use their imagination more. When your child presses a button and a toy sings them a song or says “I love you”, it leaves little room for imagination. Learning to control and move things manually will teach them that they can create a world of their own. A song is much more fun for a child when sung by a parent or friend and the words “I love you” are more meaningful when coming from a real person.

Above are some of our favorite wooden toys. Below are the links to where you can find each of them:

Fun Portland Activities for Babies and Toddlers

Cindy Wiederhold — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 00:01:13 +0000

We love your wee ones and we work hard to make sure they are getting all the right stimulation they need to grow and learn each day they are with us at In a Child’s Path. We sing songs, read books, dance, play games, paint, play outside, and much, much more. So when the weekend rolls around you may wonder as parents what it is you can do to make the most of your free time with the family and also keep your baby/toddler stimulated and happy.

Not to worry. There are so many kid-friendly places in Portland and the city itself is one of the best cities in America to raise children. Hands down. There are loads of parks, easy access to nature and events and businesses galore that can be fun for the whole family. Here are a few of our favorite places to bring babes in P-town:

MUSIC

Portland’s “kindie” music scene is one of the best in the country. Most performers have weekly or bi-weekly shows. Catch one of the regular performances by The Alpabeticians, Mo Phillips, Mr. Ben, Tyleena Fairy Funkmother, and Johnny Keener. Most of the shows have a suggested donation of 3-5 dollars. Lots of these musical events are on the PDX Kid’s Calendar HERE.

ART

Baby Hour at the Portland Art Museum. The first Tuesday of every month at 10 AM, the Portland Art Museum welcomes caregivers with children under the age of 1 to take a slow guided walk around the museum. Registration is required for this, and the cost is $5 for members, $15 for non-members. Details here.

Messy Fun Art – For slightly older babies – usually starting at around age 1 – there are plenty of options to get creative. Many of Portland’s community centers have weekly “Messy Arts” or “Art Parks,” encouraging little ones to put pen to paper (or hands to playdough, or glue to feathers…). There’s one at theMontavilla Community Center on Thursdays at 10 for ages 5 and under ($2), and at the Peninsula Park Community Center on Mondays and Thursdays at 10:30 for ages 1-5 ($1.50). The 100th Monkey Studio also hosts a weekly Messy Art on Fridays from 10-12 for ages 1-5 for $8.

Physical Activities

Most of the community centers also host regular indoor gym times. The center usually brings out balls, push cars, hula hoops, and other fun and active toys they have on hand. These are generally for ages 5 and under, although some community centers have special Baby Gyms (Montavilla Community CenterandPeninsula Park Community Center are two) that are geared towards babies under 18 months. (Check out our full indoor pool and gym guide here.)

STORY TIME

Book Babies at your local library. Little babies and toddlers can chime in on sing alongs, rhymes, books and play at libraries throughout Portland. Schedule to these happenings are available HERE.

Green Bean Books and A Children’s Place bookstores also have storytime events. These are usually for kiddos that are a bit older (3-7), but everyone is welcome. Green Bean Books has storytime on Tuesdays at 11am and A Children’s Place storytime takes place on Thursdays at 10:30am.

Here are some other resources for Portland activities you may want to check out:

50 things to do with kids before they grow up

So whether you choose to stay home and cuddle, play in the garden, or head to one of the many fine places mentioned above, have fun, it’s the most important stimulus in the world.

April Fun

Cindy Wiederhold — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 18:27:55 +0000

We’ve been having a ton of fun!

Teaching your little one a foreign language

Cindy Wiederhold — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 23:22:25 +0000

Babies are never too young to learn a foreign language. At the Little House, we like to incorporate the Spanish language into our daily activities. We offer your little ones an environment where they are listening to music, naming body parts and engaging in play -all in Spanish. This way toddlers are learning a second language by “living it,” rather than using flash cards and memorization techniques which are not as fun or stimulating for them.

It’s easy to integrate language play into your home routine as well. Just as you might point to your nose and say “nose” in English, you can also point and say “nariz,” which is nose in Spanish. You can do the same with food and general activities. If you already speak a second (or third!) language, share that language with your child from the beginning – don’t wait! If you are not well-versed in a second language, it’s never too late for you to learn alongside your little one.

There are loads resources for the Spanish/English learning experience. Here are some we highly recommend:

Spanglishbaby.com is a phenomenal website dedicated to helping parents raise bilingual kids.

And some of our favorite books include:

Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes/Cabeza, Hombros, Piernas, Pies

Bilingual Bright BabyColors

The Moon is La Luna

Bilingual Bright Baby Animals

How do I feel/ Como me siento

1. La Oruga Muy Hambrienta, 2. Huevos Verdes Con Jamon and 3. Buenos Noches Luna are three classic kid’s books that are available via amazon, but if you want to support a Portland local business (we do!) Green Bean Books on Alberta St. in Portland also carries a good selection of foreign language books.

Feliz hablando everyone!

Baby’s Incredible Brain

Cindy Wiederhold — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 03:57:27 +0000

When newborns come into the world their brains are impressively hardwired to take in abundant information. They miraculously take in their first breath, eat and digest milk or formula and just a few months later, move onto solid foods that they learn to chew with newly sprouted teeth. They begin to hold objects both large and small. They learn to roll over, then crawl, then stand and finally walk. It’s amazing how much a little person can accomplish in such a short period of time. During the first year of life, babies develop and absorb more than at any other time in life.

Research shows that a baby’s brain is designed to be extremely receptive to experience. With each experience, babies gain a broader understanding of their world. A newborn’s brain is about 25 percent of its approximate adult weight. But by age 3, it has grown dramatically by producing billions of cells and hundreds of trillions of connections, or synapses, between these cells.

While we know that the development of a young child’s brain takes years to complete, we also know there are many things parents and caregivers can do to help children get off to a good start and establish healthy patterns for life-long learning.

Here are some resourceful links on the amazing baby brain and what you can do as a parent to stimulate and nurture your wee one’s development:

Nutrition and Brain Development in Infants, Toddlers and Pre-schoolers

Infant Brain Development – Activities to Stimulate and Nurture

20 Ways to Boost Your Baby’s Brain Power

Baby Brain Food

Getting Sharp. Want a Brainer Baby?

Baby Development

Your Baby’s Brain Development

The Power of Play

How Play Can Enhance Social and Cognitive Development

Nina Laden’s Books for Babies and Toddlers

Cindy Wiederhold — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 03:28:43 +0000

Babies LOVE interactive books, especially books with cut outs and mirrors to see themselves in. Nina Laden’s books Peek-a-Who, Grow Up and Who Loves You Baby are all instant hits with both babies and toddlers.

If you have a little one, definitely check them out. They are the perfect books for long car trips, restaurant outings and cozy afternoon snuggle time.

Nina Laden’s Books for Babies and Toddlers