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Potty Talk

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Let's face it.... You don't need the book to know that EVERYONE POOPS.... everyone farts, everyone burps....  and for young children, especially boys ... "poop" is one of the funniest, most giggle producing word you can share with your friends.

So, how do you handle potty talk? I've heard a lot of different perspectives. Some places require that potty talk remain in the room with the potty... other places try to discourage it completely.

Around here, we have another philosophy... WE EMBRACE it! Seriously folks... EVERYONE POOPS. It is a bodily function and when it is such a HUGE interest of the children why not embrace it and use it as a learning opportunity?


Right now, we are raising monarch caterpillars. 
Did you know that their poop is called FRASS??? 
Caterpillars poop A LOT, and they tend to poop on your hand when you hold them. 
Their poop is fairly dry and it will roll right off your hand if you tilt it.  
The children love to observe the caterpillars and have expanded their 
vocabulary to include new terminology when describing their observations.

Have you ever wondered what frass looked like up close? 
We did, so we whipped out the
Zoomy, handheld digital microscope and zoomed right in!



Earthworms, on the other hand are serious pooping machines. 
When you hold them, they tend to wiggle and often poop in your hand too. 
Their poop is not dry, in fact, it is quite wet and runny- almost like diarrhea.  
After all, the worms are working hard to help decompose and regenerate our soil!


Of course, as we were exploring our earthworms, 
one of them pooped in one of our friends hands.
 There were a lot of giggles, but what was simply priceless.... 
was the immediate inquiry...
 "Hmmmn.... Ms. Amy, What is worm poop called?"

Well.... I don't know, let's look that up!

In case you don't know.. worm poop is called vermicast.

Now, just think.... If we didn't allow the children to freely talk about poop, we would have never found out that there are so many different names for poop out there!

The children continue to talk about poop on a daily basis. It does not create as many whispers or as many giggles as it used to,
and we have so many more words to use now!

How do you handle potty talk with your children or in your program? 

Comments

Anonymous said…
when we studied dirt we learned about worms (they can poop 8 lbs a year, like a whole human baby per worm!), and that animal poop makes up a lot of the organic matter in soil. We used the word "scat" for that.
June 15, 2012 at 9:50 PM
nursery letters for boys said…
The benefits of earthworms are well-known. They are tireless tillers of our soils and their castings are the richest and best of all fertilizers. It is would be impossible to ever have too many in our gardens, unless you don't want lush, healthy plants!
June 28, 2012 at 12:41 PM
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