Ms. Amy's Blog @Child Central Station

 I learned a hell of a lot from Dan Hodgins.  He was mentor, a friend, and a "bone shaker" for many of us in the field of Early Childhood Education. He was and will always be a champion for children, and protector of childhood.   I have so many great memories of time spent with him, it just doesn't seem like we had enough time. Dan died this past Saturday.  Interestingly enough, Dan and I talked about death quite a bit. It is one of those topics that isn't talked about all that much in our field, but is super important. All living things eat, all living things poop, and all living things die.  Dan and I recorded a podcast for awhile called "Shaking Bones." Dan was always shaking bones, even before I met him. To say I was honored to be asked to be his co-host would be putting it lightly. I loved recording with him. He was never afraid to touch on topics that were a bit edgy, or issues that sometimes weren't talked about much at all.  We even...

  I get a lot of comments and questions in regard to our program. Often people have a hard time understanding how to work with so many different ages and levels of development.   How do you manage your time with the daily needs of the younger children and the learning needs of the older children? What do you do to keep older children from being "bored"?   How do you make sure that you are meeting the needs of each child?   How do you structure the day?       First, age is a number. Children, especially young children develop at different paces. The range of ages at which children accomplish certain developmental milestones can be HUGE! So, just because you work with a specific age group does not mean that you don't have to deal with some of these same issues.  If we can let go of the age expectations and respect children for who they are and where they are developmentally, it will make juggling those differences much easier. ...

As you know, we are a home based childcare program. Allan and I have been working together from home for the last almost 16 years. We are a licensed group home caring for up to 12 children at any given time. We consider ourselves a play based, child centered program and we are always learning, always questioning, always growing. We have built up a pretty solid reputation. We have clients who have been with us for over a decade, and we take great pride in our business and the long term relationships we hold with our families.  We are not a center, we are not a school, and we do not strive to be. We provide care in our home, but we are child care professionals. We do our best to make our space a space for the children, a place where they know they belong, a place they know that they can come to and drive their own learning, curiosity, and whims. A place where it is okay to just be whatever, whoever... A place that supports children's development and recognizes the needs of the whole ...

Last week, a colleague of mine asked, "What does a child-led, play based program look like for infants and toddlers?" For many, it is really easy to see how to follow a child's lead with older children. It is easy when children can communicate with you, when they can tell you what they are doing or want to do, but how to do you embrace a child-led, play philosophy with our youngest learners? As a home based childcare program with mixed ages, I have the wonderful opportunity of learning, growing, and playing with children of all ages. In our program we support  a play based program for infants, toddlers, preschoolers, school aged children, pre-teens, teenagers, and sometimes even adults! Regardless of age, supporting play boils down to relationships and trusting the player. For infants, this means providing a lot of materials that support child development and what we know about children at this age and stage of development. For infants it means getting ri...

Dan Hodgins, a good friend and colleague posted a great question over on his Invitations to Learning Facebook page today. The question simply stated was, If we plan for it, is it Play??? I invite you to visit the page and get in on that discussion. Dan is one of my favorite ECE people, not because we agree on everything, but because we don't always. We also tend to make each other think.   After answering his question today and some dialogue with a few other ECE professionals, I have decided to share a few thoughts that were originally published in the Child Central Station Provider's Play Day Book. (This isn't a book you can order, it is just a collection of handouts that changes every year and is given to each attendee of the Play Day). So here is section 1. During Play Day, we took a lot of time to discuss this in small groups. Why Choose Play? A Journey to Play We are living in a time where “play” is almost a 4-letter word. Some advocates have indicated th...

A few years back, I attended an amazing professional development conference. Like all opportunities to learn and grow, I found myself among many like minded people. One of the beautiful things about diversifying the training I attend is that I am exposed to a variety of programs and points of view.  During this particular session, I found myself questioning my practice and wondering if what the presenters were sharing really fit with my point of view and practice. Are you familiar with the idea of loose parts? If not, there are plenty of resources out there for you to explore. The basic premise is that children don't need to have toys that have a single purpose. The idea is that you can provide them with a variety of odds and ends where they can be creative and use them for a multitude of different uses. You'll find some practitioners who promote the loose parts theory who can give you a recipe... or a plan for exactly what to use and add. They may tell you to make...

"LOOK! It's Santa!" I exclaimed in my best impression of elf as I noticed a child putting on a Santa suit. "I'm not SANTA! I'm -------" "Oh, I thought you were Santa." "No, Santa's dead. I guess I have to deliver the presents now" (with a deep sigh) "Santa's dead?? What happened?" "Yeah, Santa's dead. It's a long story" and.. just like that he skipped off to play.  Clearly the story was too long to tell, and he had other things that were more important to do than to share it with me.  Many programs are looking at the calendar and providing materials and lesson plans revolving around spring and Easter. We tend not to look too closely at the calendar and instead follow the lead of the children. We have many holiday related materials available to the children, but they are available year round. On any given day of the year you will most likely find a child dressed up as Santa (in fact...

PLEASE STOP. Stop disrespecting a child's cry for help by making them talk to a wall, a phone where no one is there, a stuffed animal... or a crazy made up tattle monster.  When your spouse or your best friend comes to you to talk with you about a problem, do you send them to the wall or ask them to talk to a phone where no one is there? Of course not! When we value a relationship we seek connection, we listen, we respond, we help. So, why in the world are we hanging children who come to us for help out to dry?  Why do some adults think that it is okay to do to children? Young children tattle.  Children who feel powerless or lack the social/emotional skills to navigate a situation tattle. Children who are used to the adults in their lives solving all of their problems tattle.  What message are we sending young people when we ask them to tell their problems to the wall? To me it certain looks like "I don't care what you have to say" and it sends...

The blog has moved back to blogger... and under construction. In the mean time, if you need to reach us, please email amyahola@hotmail.com Thanks!

We try very hard to pay attention to the interests of the children in our care. One of the children has been very interested in dinosaurs. He loves to read dinosaur books and to play with the toy dinosaurs that we have. I am not, nor do I claim to be a dinosaur expert. Although, with all of the hype about dinos at various points in my early childhood career, I know a bit about some of them. I do know, that many companies who make the dinosaurs often label them with the name on their stomachs or undersides. Today, one of the children ran up to me.... "What kind of dinosaur is this?" "I don't know, let me look to see. Hmmmn... It doesn't say" and I handed the toy back to the child. His prompt response was, "It is right here!" pointing to the letters on the dinosaur. I looked again and smiled. "That's not the dinosaur's name. It says MADE IN CHINA." With quick wit, and a smile..... He replied: "It's a Made ...

The research is out there.... If learning is not real and relevant to the child, it is pruned... almost immediately.    This means that efforts to drive children's learning with predetermined themes and teacher/societal driven ideas is futile. Our brains don't keep that information... so keeping weekly lesson plans or hooking onto monthly themes and teacher driven lessons is pointless and in most cases not developmentally appropriate. You can hear more about this from Dan Hodgins and I in the 7th episode of the Shakin' Bones podcast. Dan and I are not saying that planning goes completely out the window. What we are saying is that planning needs to happen daily, and careful observation of the learning that is taking place and conversations with the children will yield more developmentally appropriate planning and encourage classrooms to thrive based upon the needs of the children right now.

Every spring, out outdoor space needs to be evaluated. After the winter, many of our learning spaces need a bit of maintenance. Sometimes this is in the form of sanding or repairing... and sometimes they just need a little sprucing up with a fresh coat of paint! Some of the spaces in our outdoor classroom need regular upkeep do to the effects of the weather. The children are happy to jump in and assist with giving everything a fresh look with a coat of paint! If you are looking for the instructions or more information about our outdoor space and the various elements there, you may be interested in these posts: A Sand and Water Wall Making Music in the Yard (This is one of many posts on our outdoor music area) Our outdoor music area has evolved a bit from the beginning . The posts from our banging post station started to rot, so the post was removed and we attached some of the items to our fence instead. As nice as the post was, the fence works just as well an...