Ms. Amy's Blog @Child Central Station

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...

A couple of weeks ago, we had a spring thaw. Most of the snow in the yard melted and the children we excited to find the sand and the mud again!  Although, there was a bit of grieving happening for the snow as well. Change is always hard, and with the change of the seasons comes a change in play. When the snow is gone, we can no longer sled down the hill... We can no longer jump off the snowbanks........ We can no longer make snowmen, or push the snow around..... We can no longer paint the snow..... And, when we can no longer make snow angels, well.... sand or mud angels will just have to do! Along with the disappearance of the snow, comes the marvelous spring mud! So, our grief does not last long as we gear up for running, dashing, sliding, and jumping through the puddles! And... around here in Upper Michigan... the first "spring thaw" is usually just a tease anyway as we usually find ourselves with a few more winter storms before the snow is r...

The calendar may state that it is spring, but here in northern Upper Michigan, it is still snowing! We had a a few nice days with a "spring-like" feel, and a thaw, but then it started snowing again :). Our winters tend to be long, but we do what we can to get out and enjoy them! If you have been a long time follower of the blog, I'm sure you remember many of the previous posts sharing some of our outdoor fun! Here are a couple you might want to check out: Our Luge: 2014 Edition 2013 Luge GO OUTside and PLAY! Colorful Snow Volcanoes! Our Mud Pie/Snow Cake Kitchen Let Me Count the Ways.... You Can Paint the Snow! (a quick search of the blog will yield you even more results if you are interested) We love to play with and in the snow, and bringing it inside is just another way to play and investigate this wonderful white stuff! Sometimes we sculpt with the snow when we bring it inside, and we almost always find ways to paint it or add color whether we are...

I worry a lot about children today. I worry that they have become subjects in experiments they have never consented to. I worry that we are stealing their childhoods. As a society we are continually pushing down curriculum and expectations upon children that are not appropriate and when children do not perform at higher levels we punish them for being children. I have witnessed far too many young children be punished and publicly shamed for doing exactly what young children are supposed to do. The levels and amount of medication prescribed to young children is appalling, and how much do we really know about the side effects of these drugs on children? Why are we so quick to medicate?  And, why are we finding alarming rates of anxiety and depression in our young people? If you have not yet had a chance to listen to any of the podcasts I am co-hosting with Dan Hodgins, the first episode we recorded was on "hyperactivity" and ADHD in young children. I am weeks behind with ...

"It happens only once a year, twice if we are lucky.... With a quick thaw, the water runs nearly as fast as the adrenaline.....  When the conditions are just right, a winter waterslide runs right through the yard...... The sun shines down just enough to keep you from freezing as the water gently pushes you down. Child Central Station, March thaws, hilly yards, Pure Upper Michigan, Pure Play! " If you live in or around the State of Michigan, I am sure that you are familiar with the ad campaign "PURE MICHIGAN." If not, I'm sure a quick internet search, or search of YouTube will bring you to many of the featured ads. Here at Child Central Station.... We have our own version... after a wonderful sunny winter/spring day..... Our house is built into a hill, which provides us with many wonderful opportunities for play. With it comes a number of challenges as well. However, we do our best to turn things positively as much as possible. One of the things tha...

One of the busiest posts on this blog is from 2010. It is still by far my most popular post, where I first talked about re-using dried out markers . At that point, I really had no idea that this idea was not so well known! We have been up cycling our markers for.... well... over a decade now! The process for making your own liquid Watercolors has not changed. Basically, you collect the markers that have dried out (I like to have a container available for each color) and put them in water. In the beginning... I would just put the whole marker in the water, but after awhile I decide to take them apart. (It was easier for storage... and quite simple to do with needle nosed pliers).  Initially, I would also use jars... like this: Now, instead of glass jars, I use plastic condiment bottles.  Additionally, I don't tend to wait for a pile of markers to pull them apart. Whenever a marker no longer works, it is disassembled and the inserts are added to the appropriate bottle a...

There is always a lot to talk about and write in our journals on a Monday morning....[/caption] All of the children in our program are given a journal when they are about 18 months of age.  We store them on a shelf in bins where the children have access to them at anytime. (If you are a long time follower of the blog, you might remember that I have written about our journals previously when we first started using journals in the classroom .)  We have made a minor change since our first attempt. The difference in our journals now is that we do not attach a pencil directly to them. We found it is much easier to keep a pencil holder on the shelf next to the journals than it was to store the journals with the pencils attached)  Children always choose when they would like to journal. This means that sometimes there are many children, but often it is an individual exercise. Our journals are simple composition books that I tend to stock up on when there are back to s...