Ms. Amy's Blog @Child Central Station

  Swinging on your belly! Flying like superman! Everyone wants to be a superhero! Here, at Child Central Station we embrace super hero play, and we define it broadly: Any powerful play where children pretend to be someone or something else. Heroes are everywhere, not just on the big screen or from television shows. Moms and dads are prime examples of powerful heroes and many of the children engage in playing house and taking care of the babies. Additionally, children often dress up and pretend to be doctors or fire fighters. These heroes are prevalent in our program as well, as children are often doing their best to "save the day!" Some of the powerful make believe play also revolves around "bad guys" and "super villians" and most often "monsters" and "witches." Children work through their world via play, so it only makes sense that they also bring the "bad guys" into the picture. It gives them an opportunity t...

We have been on a journey to provide more real experiences for children. More opportunities to do real work.  More access and use of real tools.  Lately, one of the tools of choice have been loppers! The children have spent hours chopping up the various Christmas trees we "planted" in the play area this winter. The trees have been used as loose parts and made a small forest for the children to play in. Now that the snow has melted and the trees have begun to brown, some of the children have decided that it is time to chop them up. I love to watch their facial expressions while they work.  The looks of determination as they struggle to push the handles together and the triumph of a successful chop. For some children, a turn with the loppers takes a very long time and for others, the activity is short lived. We don't force "sharing" here, so a child can take as long as a turn as they would like before allowing the next child who waits to ha...

Why are we spending so much time focusing on Kindergarten Readiness? Why are we rushing childhood and trying to get children ready for the "next" instead of being present and accepting children where they are? Why are we not trusting play when the research clearly states young children learn and thrive through play? I guess I can understand to a point, parents want the best for their children and they want them to be successful. However, I am really concerned in regard to the focus on "readiness" and the push down of academics that keeps happening for young children. The research keeps reiterating that children learn through play, and that earlier pushes for academics have long term negative consequences, yet we continue to have unrealistic academic expectations for young children. ( There is an article in Psychology Today that discusses the harmful effects of early academics you can access by clicking here).  The system is broken, but you have a choice. ...

The snow appears to have vacated the yard. (At least for the time being!) The children were quite excited to find the pile of Sticks that was covered by the snow and have been spending time making a house of sticks!  The story of the 3 little pigs has been popular for quite some time. It has been a daily request, often multiple times a day, so upon discovering our giant pile of sticks it made perfect sense that the children "piggies" decided to build their house of sticks. The children found it easy to push some of the sticks into the dirt. At other times they dug holes and then buried the bottom of the sticks. It has been an ongoing project for a couple of days. I am not sure what the next step will be, or if the house is now complete. We will have to wait and see! Oh, and I almost forgot!! All of that digging in the dirt lead to some worm discoveries too!!!

"Five little monkeys jumping on the bed. One fell off and bumped his head. Momma called the doctor, and the doctor said.... Ma'am your monkey's dead!" The children were singing five little monkeys a few weeks back and one of them decided to create their own version. The new lyrics were finished with some giggles, and sparked a matter of fact conversation.  Many of the children in our program have experienced a death in their family (grandparent or great grandparent) or a death of a pet in the last year.  Death is one of those topics that can be hard to talk about, but like all things, children tend to work through those tough topics with play! During this particular conversation, the children stopped playing and had a serious talk. One child said... "Well, maybe the monkey broke his hip like my Nana." Another child chimed in with "maybe the monkey was just really, really sick." Children are very observant, they know more than we often give th...

You're probably confused as to how I have a post with all kinds of snow and then days later have a post with mud... and grass... and then have a post with more snow... Well, welcome to Upper Michigan! This time of year can be super unpredictable with the weather. This year in particular we had an early thaw.. and much of the sandbox and grass has been showing! However.. that doesn't stop the snowflakes from falling! Each morning/day is a new surprise as we are uncertain what mother nature has in store! The other day, it was "warm" (in the mid to upper 40s Farenheit), with a chilly breeze, but we had a lovely patch of mud on the hill! As you can see, there are various patches of mud among the various patches of  snow :). This was a lovely patch of mud for oozing between your fingers, but it was still a little chilly on your fingers... So most of the children decided to explore it with their mittens. It wasn't long before some of the children decided that our...

It is no secret that we like to spend a lot of time outside. This winter the children have really enjoyed painting the snow. I know I have shared numerous posts in the past in regard to the various ways that we like to paint this snow . This year paint seemed to be requested far more frequently and the paint of choice has been watered down tempera. The beauty of this paint versus some of the other choices we have used in the past is how vivid it is, and how long the snow holds the color, even when it is covered up by inches of fresh snow! The children found the "gems" by accident after a fresh snowfall..... We have lots of shovels in various sizes and a small "yooper scoop." After one child stumbled across a colored chunk of hardened snow, the "gem rush" was on. Where could we find more gems? How did they get there? Why were some big, and some small? and How did we get so many different colored gems in the yard? Without any prompting... th...

Real play is messy. Children NEED to find all of the "stuff" they want/need for their play. They need to move(transport) stuff and the only timeline they follow is their own. The photos posted of immaculate, clean classrooms are not "real"... they don't capture the true essence of what childhood play is. Because let's face it. .. real play is messy. When children are truly engaged and have delved deep into play, the very last thing on their minds is how tidy the room looks. Our perspective of beauty and mess can be very different from that of a child. Our space often looks like a tornado came through with clear evidence and remnants of play. Random piles of favorite things stashed and mountains of "play piles" or residue abounds. The truly important work of children is play and discovery, not tidy and clean up. Clean Up time is not the most important time of day. It can often be the most challenging time of day for teachers. It becomes a p...