Ms. Amy's Blog @Child Central Station

  Yep, we're at it again-- another winter, another luge! This winter has been a challenge. It has been long, and super cold! (Even for "Yooper" Standards). In some areas of the world they call this time of year "spring." Around here, well... It is still snowing! (And I'm not pulling an April Fool's!) We do what we can to make the best of it, and Mr. Allan never ceases to amaze us with his backyard luge building skills! (You can read about and see video footage from previous winters here: 2013 , 2012 ).   This year's track has especially high walls- and due to the extreme temperature differences it is also quite fast! The children don't seem to mind the cooler temperatures when they are flying down the hill!   It has been quite a winter! We have paths or a "snow maze" to make getting around a little bit easier.... .....And we have MOUNTAINS of snow piled up in the yard! (If you look closely, you will see the shelving unit from our Mud P...

Yes, we do climb up the slide. We climb up the slide here at Child Central Station in the backyard... We climb up the slides when we are at the park..... and here are a few reasons why we think you could reconsider climbing up and allowing the children in your care to climb up the slide too! 1. Climbing up the Slide uses MUSCLE!  Young children need to be active and climbing up the slide requires a lot of muscle and coordination. It is not an easy feat- and requires strength, concentration, determination, and will power. 2. Climbing up the Slide is RISKY! Yes- climbing up the slide is potentially risky, but so is sliding down! Your job as a caregiver is to carefully observe and monitor the situation, to be close by- but not to interfere unless necessary. Part of a child's learning process must include managing risks- climbing up the slide is a perfect way to practice this skill. 3. Climbing up the Slide involves potential CONFLICT! It ...

I have been having a wonderful time travelling and sharing with many of you our journey of change as we continue to develop our outdoor classroom.  As promised, I have uploaded the revised presentation as a pdf and it is available in the Training and Resources section of my training website.  Don't forget to check out all of the amazing websites I have included, in addition to the Outdoor Inspiration tab on this site.  Feel free to hop on over to my Pinterest Boards as well !!! You'll find oodles of boards with outdoor inspiration, outdoor classrooms, gardening, bird watching and so much more! I'd love to hear about the exciting things you are doing to change your outdoor space!  Pictures and links are welcome. You can send them to me via email or leave a comment below. Thanks again for continuing the energy, enthusiasm and encouraging more Outdoor Play!

We are starting to get a hint of spring around here. The sun has been shining for the past couple of days. It is clear that even though we woke up to a couple of inches of fresh snow this morning- spring could really be on the way! Rediscovering the Mud Pie Kitchen In addition to discovering all of our spaces that have been hidden under the snow for months- we have started to assess what needs to be repaired, reworked, and make plans for new components in our outdoor classroom. One of the things we started (and I what I mean by started is- we bought the trees) last fall is our movable forest.  A movable forest? Yes- a movable forest. Last year at the U.P. Early Childhood Conference I had the opportunity to meet and hear Rusty Keeler speak. (If you are not familiar with Rusty's work, I encourage you to hop on over to his website and check it out!) Rusty does a lot of work with natural playspaces and he reminded - me that young children have a very differe...