Of course, these ideas can be applied to any play space or game you can think up! Try see how many literacy components you can add while playing vet, doctor, restaurant, "house", or even library.
How can you tell if your child is gaining literacy skills through play?
Easy.
Watch for behaviors such as "playing" with books, pretending to read, flipping through pictures of a book, reading aloud, drawing, scribbling, writing, or "playing" with writing utensils - behaviors which are all sure to put a smile on your face!
I recently read an article on the play versus learning dichotomy in early childhood education (and shared it with my facebook friends). If you are not familiar with this topic, give it a read, but I'll try to describe it briefly.
Should early childhood education programs focus their attention on play or direct instruction in "academic" areas like math and reading? With the increased pressure for students in elementary schools to meet mandated standards, many educators worry that early childhood programs will place less value on play and focus their attention on skills needed to succeed on statewide tests and assessments.
The author of the article I linked to above argues that it shouldn't be an either/or dichotomy; that both play and direct instruction serve an important purpose in early childhood classrooms.
And, I tend to agree. Baby bookworm is not in a formal classroom, and will probably not be in one until she reaches preschool. While we do many activities and lessons that have a clear learning agenda, I always try to give her time in the day to play. I try to find a balance between "learning" and play. And as I write this last sentence I see how strange this topic is....because play involves learning, too!!
What skills do children gain through play? Here are just a FEW things. This is not an all-inclusive list, but hopefully gives you an idea of the importance of play in the development of babies and toddlers.
1) Language Skills.
When you and your child play "kitchen" together (or engage in any other type of pretend play) - think of all of the varied language that you use. "Now, take the spatula and flip the pancake (child does the action). OK, great. Now pick up the chopping board over there behind the microwave. We're going to chop up some fruit to have with breakfast." Pretend play (as opposed to playing with manipulatives such as puzzles) provides a fabulous way to expand your child's language skills because more varied language is often used.
2) Pre-Reading Skills.
Try reenacting your favorite story. Not only will it be fun, but you will be teaching your child the important connection between written and spoken language - which will help in learning to read.
3) Gross Motor Skills.
Playing at your child's favorite playground is a great way to get him to release all that energy and take a nice long nap. True. But, it's also a fabulous way to build gross motor skills. All that running, jumping, and climbing (or crawling) is well-needed practice. Throwing a ball or kicking one is also great for coordination and balance, too.
4) Listening Skills.
Do you often sing playful songs together? Babies and toddlers love to do fingerplays, or read books that have songs that go with them (see my recent post for an example). The bonus is that this type of play builds listening skills.
5) Social Skills.
While true joint play may not develop until preschool years, babies and toddlers are learning important prosocial behaviors early on. For instance, young children learn to imitate their peers, recognize other children's expressions and feelings and imitate or identify them, and learn about turn taking and sharing. Finally, play is a great way for a child to learn about conflict and how to resolve it.
Given the importance of play in development of skills, how do you incorporate play into your child's routine?
Well, one way we have been trying to incorporate play in our lives, given the colder weather in our neck of the woods, is by visiting local indoor gyms or museums.
Recently, we discovered The Little Treehouse play cafe in Chestnut Hill, and have been spending our rainy and cold afternoons doing some play-based learning in the comfort of their modern-style play room. The nice thing about this place is that it's incredibly baby and toddler friendly, but preschool-aged children would enjoy it as well. There's a small slide, lots of pretend and manipulative toys, an adorable playhouse with lots of comfy pillows inside, and even some books. Since it's a cafe, you can grab something to eat and let your child explore. A nice concept, if you ask me. It's even BYOB. If you live in the greater Philly area, you should check it out, especially if you are looking to do some play-based learning in the company of others.
So my post cannot be complete, of course, without mentioning at least one book. This week we came across a new book at the library called A Few Blocks by Cybele Young. It's a tale of two kids and how they use their wild imaginations while they journey a few blocks to school. I thought it was appropriate for this post - imagination makes even the simple things more enjoyable!
Fall is by far my favorite time of year. Not because of Sunday football, picking pumpkins, bonfires, spiked cider, or scary movies. No, Fall is my favorite time of year because I associate it with learning. There is something about "back to school" that has always excited me. It could be the fresh start, new textbooks, or the thought of writing papers, but whatever it is, I fell in LOVE with being "back to school" (and school in general) at a very young age.
I've been "back to school" in some way every Fall for as long as I can remember. There was grade school, then high school, followed by college, masters program, then doctoral program. Once I was done being a student, I worked in a school, and also taught as an adjunct professor.
This year is different, though. For the first time I'm not "back to school" in ANY way, shape, or form. So to give me that back to school feeling, baby bookworm and I played school this week. I guess you can say we play "school" all the time, but we tend to do many activities on the fly, and not necessarily organized around a theme.
In honor of back to school, baby bookworm and I worked our way through eight "subjects" with a bunch of Fall inspired learning activities.
Here's a recap of our "school" schedule:
Subject 1: READING
For reading "class" we are read books about Fall (shocker, right?) such as....
Fall
Bright baby touch and feel
This is a touch and feel, first-word "baby" book that is full of Fall words and objects. Even though I imagine this book is meant for a much younger audience than my baby bookworm, since she LOVED this book last Fall I thought we would take a look at it again. Repetition enhances learning, as you probably know. Plus, it's kind of amazing to me that in one year's time she can now say all of the words in the book, and "read" it on her own.
The bottom line: If you have a newborn or baby under the age of one, I highly recommend this book as a good way to introduce the season and work on receptive vocabulary. If you have a toddler, I think it's still a good book for expressive vocabulary and even to do a little sight reading.
This is a book about a bunch of mice who are preparing for a Fall harvest party and trying to keep a cat from ruining their fun. In order to do so, they decide to scare that "scary cat". Boo to You! has great illustrations that are incredibly crafty. Ehlert mixes different textured papers, string, and photographs to make beautifully artistic characters in this book. Baby bookworm loves the part of the book where they scare the cat, and also loves the last two pages that list a bunch fall items (many of which were new to her such as a gourd, pecan, and sycamore fruit). You and your baby bookworm might want to read this book cuddled up under a blanket with a warm cup of hot chocolate - it just gives you that kind of a feeling.
Baby bookworm has been on an Arthur kick lately. Some of the other Arthur books in the series can be quite lengthy, but I found this one to be the perfect compromise between too easy and completely overwhelming.
In this story, Arthur is given the task of raking leaves from their yard - which he doesn't find very fun! But with the help of a few of his best friends, he finds the job done in no time, and they all end up enjoying themselves along the way.
This is a great book to help get you in an Autumn mood because it reminds you of all of the fun things you can do, only during this time of the year. The story repeats the line, "I know it's autumn when...." which is a fabulous way to begin a discussion with your baby bookworm about how the two of you know when it's autumn.
*************************************************
While reading these books to your baby bookworm don't forget to work on concepts of print, and explicitly point out and talk about any new vocabulary you may encounter (for strategies on how to do this, visit here).
Also have a discussion about Fall, and remember to refer back to these books if you do any other Fall inspired activities. Making connections between old and new knowledge is one easy way to help aid learning. Read on to see how I've used these books to make connections among different aspects of baby bookworm's knowledge.
*************************************************
Here's a list of some of the Fall vocabulary we learned with the help of these books: Gourd, Autumn, Jack-o-lantern, Harvest, Squirrel, Bonfire, Rake, Mum, Acorn, Hayride, Apple, Indian corn, Pile of leaves
Subject 2: MATH
For our math lesson we played a sorting counting game. What I did was assemble little acorns out of construction paper ahead of time, and marked each one with either an uppercase A or a lowercase a. Then I had baby bookworm place each into one of two baskets that were labeled with an uppercase A or lowercase a. We counted the acorns as she went along. We talked about "more" and "less" as well (our uppercase A basket had more than our lowercase a basket).
In addition to this being a math lesson, it snuck in a little phonemic awareness too, which is an important pre-reading skill!
Making Connections: Baby bookworm learned the concept of an acorn one day while we were at a garden that we frequent. When we read Boo To You! I pointed out the acorns to baby bookworm in the pictures and said "remember when we picked up acorns at the garden". She said "yes, like a hat" - referring to a conversion we had had previously about how the top part of the acorn seemed like a hat.
Now when we did this math activity I referred back to both of her previous experiences with acorns. We got out Boo To You! again and I said, "Look, mommy made pretend acorns that we can play a game with".
This activity was a great way to use a word that we had learned before but in a new context.
Subject 3: SCIENCE
Our science "class" consisted of a taste testing and apple "dissection" (by the way, baby bookworm knew the word apple before this lesson, but not in the context of Fall). I bought one granny smith apple and one red apple and cut them up into small bites. We then tasted each one and talked about how they tasted different. I introduced the words "sour" and "sweet" to baby bookworm. We also talked about the different parts of the apple like the skin, stem, and seeds and discussed how apples grow. Then we "dissected" the apple by peeling off the skin and cutting it open to reveal the "star" and seeds (which baby bookworm found fascinating).
Baby bookworm and I also compared apples and arranged them from biggest to smallest, talked about how the biggest apple felt heavier than the smallest apple, and discussed the shape of the apples (which she exclaimed were "round").
This activity is a great ACTIVE way to learn new vocabulary, and has lots of hidden math lessons too. If you want to branch this out as a math activity, you could pair this lesson with the book Apple Countdown (for a summary of it, visit here).
Making Connections: An apple was not a new object to baby bookworm; but here I expanded her understanding of this object. We talked about how apples come from trees and that apple picking is a Fall activity. We got out I Know It's Autumn and discussed the front cover making the connection back to a familiar learning context.
Subject 4: SOCIAL STUDIES
Our social studies lesson wasn't too involved, but a good time nevertheless! All we did was use baby bookworm's map of the US to talk about the different regions of the country and what Fall might feel and look like in that region. In this particular puzzle that we have, the pieces are actually divided up by region (not state), so it paired very nicely with my lesson. We got it pretty cheap too from a Borders bookstore that was going out of business.
Subject 5: RECESS
For "recess" I wanted to get baby bookworm running around to work out some of that energy even on a rainy day (seriously, what is WITH this rain - it's been non stop for days on end). So I made up a leaf pick-up game. What I did was I used some fake leaves that I had gotten at the craft store (for another project, but why not use them twice?) and we pretended to rake them into a pile (just like Arthur does in Arthur Jumps Into Fall). She loved the raking part and even correctly used her newly learned vocabulary while doing this activity.
Then baby bookworm and I had a race to see who could run over to the pile and pick up a leaf first. Recess would have been better outside, but we had a blast anyway. I actually worked up a sweat, and baby bookworm got in some exercise while working on her gross motor skills.
Raking leaves like in Arthur's book
Making connections: We made the obvious connection with this activity back to the book we had read, and it made her want to go read the book again! We also talked about the color of the leaves; we took a peek outside on this dreary day and I pointed out that our leaves were still on the tree and green. I asked her what color Arthur and her leaves were and she told me "oranges" (yes, like the fruit). Then I explained more about the season of Fall and that soon enough our leaves outside would turn colors. I think she's looking forward now to jumping into a real pile of leaves! And when she finally gets her chance, trust me, I will remind her of this very activity.
Subject 6: ART
Art class consisted of a few projects.
Free style painting with apple "stampers" --
making the connection back to our apple tasting
Fall collage made from a Family Circle magazine --
making the connection back to the collage in Boo to You!
Apple mosaic made with contact and tissue paper --
not sure if there was a connection here other than back to
apples being a Fall object
Art is a great way to enhance fine motor skills. For a few other ideas and more information, read this old post.
Subject 7: MUSIC
We learned this song for music. Baby bookworm LOVED it. WARNING: your child will want to watch this no less than 20 times in a row and you will hate me for it.
Making Connections: I connected this song back to Boo to You! where there is a page of jack-o-lanterns (pumpkins). I actually think I may also do an art project with baby bookworm based on this song.
Subject 8: THEATER
For our "theater" class we played house. I had baby bookworm put on her apron and we pretended to cook a Fall harvest meal (like in Boo to You!) on her play kitchen. We pretended to make corn on the cob, a turkey, and apple pie!
Cooking
Carving the turkey
Enjoying the feast!
AFTER SCHOOL ACTIVITY
For our after school activity we played dress up, which baby bookworm LOVES to do. She was SO proud of herself in her cheerleading outfit! We tossed around a stuffed football for added fun!
Supporting both Mommy and Daddy's favorite teams
Pretend play is a fantastic way to build language skills, so you might want to get those Halloween costumes out a little early. To learn more about the benefits of pretend play, click here. Playing ball is a great way to foster the development of gross motor skills.
*********************************************
So what is the Ed Psych 101 "back to school" lesson for YOU?
Happy back to school everyone! And happy learning!
Sleep. Children try to avoid it, and parents can't get enough of it. And I feel like it's constantly on my mind. Especially lately. Especially since baby bookworm decided for one week straight that she would boycott all naps and declare an 11:00 bedtime. I guess this is what is considered "overtime" for the stay-at-home mom job. Except I don't get to reap the benefits of time-and-a-half pay. Luckily, once baby bookworm is asleep, she's out for the night, but the getting to sleep part has been challenging to say the least. It could be teething (which I feel like is a mother's excuse for most crazy-child moments that can't be otherwise explained), or it could be that she's just not tired (conveniently using the "growth spurt" excuse), or it could be that baby bookworm has gotten smart enough to realize: hey, if I cry and scream, mommy eventually gives in. I'm surprised she hasn't shouted "sucker" yet.
So, we've been having fun (if you want to call it that) lately establishing a (better) bed time routine. And I think it's working (and as I write this I just knocked on wood, crossed my fingers, and said a little prayer).
Baby Stella
The two major things that I have done to help our bedtime process have been to introduce Baby Stella (who may secretly be renamed by mommy bookworm to Baby Jesus), and to read "sleepy-time" stories. "Sleepy-time" stories are not to be confused with bedtime stories (or ANY stories you read right before bed). "Sleepy-time" stories are stories that have to do with sleep, bedtime, or naptime in some way, shape, or form. And in case you were wondering - yes, I did just make up these two definitions. But, I do think there is a difference, and I do think that reading stories specifically about sleep, bedtime, or naptime has helped baby bookworm to realize that this is not just another story hour, but time to shut those little peepers and go to s-l-e-e-p.
Now, back to Baby Jesus - eeerr, I mean Baby Stella. I bought Baby Stella so that baby bookworm could role play her own bed time routine. So, we gave Baby Stella a pretend bath in baby bookworm's old bathtub, we changed her diaper, put her jammies on, fed her some milk, gave her a binky, and sang hush-a-bye baby to her. Then, we all curled up under the covers in a dimly lit room to read our favorite "sleepy-time" stories. When I shut the lights out I told baby bookworm...."ssh" Baby Stella needs her rest (and so does mommy).
Pretend Play with Baby Stella - she's getting a bottle
I am a big fan of the Wood family, for they have some wonderful books for toddlers. The Napping House is a book about a house "where everyone is sleeping" (namely, a granny, child, dog, cat, and mouse), until a wakeful flee comes along. It's a cumulative story (much like There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly), and baby bookworm loves to see which character is about to wake up and sleepily stumble onto the pile of sleepers on the cozy bed. We actually read this book before nap time today and it worked like a charm.
Piggies is also another great sleepy-time story by these authors that we have read in the past. The illustrations are delightfully intricate, and the story line ends with good night kisses. You can't beat that.
Midnight Babies
by Margaret Wild and Illustrated by Ann James
This book is about a baby named Brenda who sneaks out of bed to meet up with her friends at the midnight cafe, a place where they feast and dance themselves silly until morning. I think this book is cute because it conveniently and cleverly explains why babies just won't eat their breakfast sometimes. I'd like to believe that baby bookworm is a "midnight baby" and that her resistance to bed time is sparked by her excitement for meeting up with her playmates. Baby bookworm LOVES this book, and I've caught her repeating many of the baby-talk words from it (such as wibble wobble - who knows, maybe there is a secret baby language after all). She also learned the word "dashing" from this book too.
We can't seem to get away from Mo Willems books (luckily). But Time to Sleep (my famous last words) is a very simply worded book about going to sleep. Sometimes simple IS better. The main character is Cat the Cat who tells each of her friends that it's time to sleep. They so nicely concur with phrases like "sure thing" or "no problem" (can you say positive role modeling!); except for Owl the Owl....for obvious reasons. Cute and clever, and a fun sleepy-time story that we will be reading for awhile. If you like this book, check out the other books in the Cat the Cat series.
Ok, so we really like Mr. Willems. And we really like that sly pigeon. Especially his bed time excuses. I'm sure if baby bookworm was a little bit older she'd be using the same ones. In the end, pigeon does fall asleep. Can you say more positive role modeling?! Another thumbs up for Mo.
Goodnight Moon
by Margaret Wise Brown and pictures by Clement Hurd
An oldie, but a goodie, and I'm fairly certain one of the most classic sleepy-time stories around. This is a soothing tale about saying goodnight to all of the things in a room. I'll admit the first time I reread this book as an adult, I was kinda thinking, "Huh? A bowl full of mush? We're really saying goodnight to that?" But, the book has grown on me and baby bookworm loves it. Plus, we've also started saying goodnight to everything under the sun before going to bed ourselves (goodnight Elmo, goodnight daddy, goodnight puppets, goodnight books.....).
This book has a very good message which is why I like it. It is also full of fun rhymes which is why baby bookworm likes it. In Llama Llama Red Pajama, llama's mama tucks him into bed for the night and goes downstairs. But, he begins to feel afraid in the dark of his room without his mama llama. As he calls for his mama llama, she is downstairs attending to other things. When she doesn't respond after a few of his calls, baby llama has a very big tizzy fit! At the conclusion of the story, baby llama learns that he needs to be patient (a word baby bookworm now uses, thank you Ms. Dewdney) for his mama llama, and she tucks him back into bed with a kiss goodnight. I really hope baby bookworm was listening well to this one.
And just for good measure, I'm going to throw in a few of our favorite sleepy-time board books. All of these would be perfect for bedtime, especially if your child is under one.
