I love it when kids merge the toys I have at different areas of my room. He merged the car table and my wooden “tools” and began pretending to use a screwdriver and a hammer on the cars. “The cars are broken,” he said. “Fix, fix.” I sat down beside him and handed him another … Read more
I think early childhood education has misunderstood what is behind the concept of “using the right pencil grasp”. For example, in my child’s reception class (the UK equivalent of preschool/kindergarten — it’s not exactly 1:1 with US standards), they had the four stages of pencil grasp posted on the wall, and they had little stickers … Read more
We went to a new playground recently. Monkey bars are rarer here in the UK (at least in my rural area) than they were at playgrounds in the states. As far as I can tell, this might’ve been the first time in awhile that my son has encountered them, maybe the very first time he’s … Read more
My 4yo daughter told me that she wanted to “draw” my name. She wanted this because she has seen me write things by hand. She finds it meaningful and personally interesting. She has also watched my son, who’s a year older than her and in compulsory school, be interested in writing — especially names — … Read more
Something that I desperately wish that we saw more of in the US is letting kids learn literacy on their own terms, without the intense pressure that it often carries. (I know that this is rampant outside the US, too. I just can speak the most authoritatively from within my own window of experience.) Children … Read more
The single play invitation that I was most excited for in all of Camp Creativity* was set for Thursday: the “make your own potion” station. This could totally have been anywhere from really simple to really complex. I probably fell on the side of the scale closer to really complex 😉 We have had several … Read more
I originally recorded this lecture for a group who work tutoring children with dyslexia and other learning difficulties. It’s based on a lot of experiences I’ve had with children getting referred to me in my occupational therapy role, with goals to improve their handwriting. But how can I, an occupational therapist, work within the bounds … Read more
Use ultra-washable paint (1 part washable kids’ paint, 1 part dish soap) — or, even easier, chalk — to decorate outdoor toys. A car like this one, a scooter/bike, a backyard slide…you name it, you can probably color on it. If you can’t get the chalk to stay, you can dip the chalk in water … Read more
A fine motor, pre-writing activity offer in my therapy gym today: dot-to-dots to make the “flight paths” of different airplanes, rocketships, and helicopters. You can customize this whichever way matches the child’s level of drawing/tracing right now…to work on horizontal lines, vertical lines, diagonals, curves, loops, etc. All of these things are skills that children … Read more
Child’s favorite activity: searching for something hidden somewhere in the room My goal for child: that they would not feel completely threatened by the concept of writing/drawing/touching a pencil, but begin to see ways in which it could be meaningful My plan: hide a lot of things around the room, make a checklist for those … Read more