Better Planning to Extend Children's Interests

Yesterday we had a planning meeting, in which the team as a whole agreed that we could have done better to extend children's interest. The major thing we picked up was the lack of opportunity to revisit learning experiences. We tend to follow the children current interest and accordingly provide resources and plan for the environment to support the dominating interest at the moment. When we noted that majority of the children are doing superhero play, we organize dress-up; make props; bring in comics books; provide blank ComicLife template for children to create their story; purchase Lego Knights, Mobilo for construction and so on. Initially, the children were kept busy, and we did witness the developing of construction and drawing skills.

Lately, however, the children seem to regress back to boisterous play.  Is that because we have not addressed the underlying ideas that they are exploring, such as the good vs the bad; the power/ control issue; the emotion of fear and so on. We recall that Ann Pelo talked about what's most worthwhile to work on is the ideas behind the play. Perhaps, we should slow down and encourage children to revisit their previous learning experiences, and then they will be able to consolidate their learning.

So, today I used iMovie to collate photos and short videos that I have taken, and I plan to show it to the children on the next kindy day. When reviewing the movie, I noted that a small core group of children are really driving the superhero play. The children shown are wearing their favorite hero's costume; sawing wood and hammering to make swords; climbing up high and then making a leap of faith; designing complicated Transformers; acting out battle scenes with Lego Knights and so on. The movie makes the learning involved visible, such as extending imagination; developing physical strengths, enhancing creativity; and promoting verbal communication skills.

I also add a few photos here and there of real heroes in the community, such as policeman and firemen; parent helpers; and a girl who helped watering the kindy garden. My intention is to prompt the children to think what are the significant qualities of a hero; and what heroes do.

Hope the children will enjoy the movie! I certainly do.

Superhero Play - More thoughts about the Transformers play

I've done more thinking about my theory of 'princesses and fairies to girls is like Transformers and robots to boys'.

Girls explore the concept of good vs evil through relationships. The princess   tries to find her prince charming; to get along to her evil stepmother and ugly step sisters. Boys explore the concept of good vs evil through battles and wars. While girls narrate their fantasy stories and draw pictures, they express their vision of beauty, kindness and love . Their languages for communication include drawing, writing stories, dancing, and dramatic play. Boys learn kinesthetically and involve themselves in bold actions, physically and actively. Their values are courage, bravery, taking risks, challenging themselves. Their languages include physical body contact, dramatic play.

Just share some observations at kindergarten.

A boy invited me to play, assigning me to be the baddie, I asked what I need to do. He explained that I needed to shoot him, wielding his finger gun. Could he be exploring the feeling of fear? It is sure that he felt safe in this baddie vs the good guy game, there was no real danger. Perhaps he was trying to overcome his fear, his sense of insecurity through 'beating' with the 'baddie', who was a teacher and is supposed to be kind and caring!  I think children don't always feel safe. They are aware of dangers in this world. The child's world is not totally innocent.

Conversely, another boy claimed that he was a baddie, and I'm supposed to chase him and catch him. I had the impression that he was testing the boundaries and limits of acceptable behaviors. He normally follows routines and rules, probably dare not to break the rules, knowing that there will be consequences. So, acting out the role of baddie in his dramatic play could his way of learning about the world?

Well, I will keep my eyes and ears open and to watch and listen for more .

more insights about boys...

Boys in early childhood - The everlasting love for Transformers

The boys at kindergarten have been making Transformers with the Mobilo blocks. They took the initiatives and asked the teachers to bring out Mobilo on the day when we put them away. The flexibilty and varied combination of the blocks enabled the Transformers they made are able to 'transform', such as twist and turn, bend and stretch. The boys also incorporated Transformers into their pretend play, as they chased each other, they claimed that they were Transformers, which they thought have given them the license to 'scare' their friends! It's amusing to see them wearing sandpit spades on their arms, pretending to be the armor of the Transformers autobots.

However, the boys sometimes crossed the boundaries and displayed aggression. a couple of 'victims' were not able to deal with the situation and cried in shock, while some children went to the teachers for help.  I have been thinking how to extend their interests in Transformers?

One teacher brought in Transformers figurines and hung them down the ceiling for children to observe and draw. It worked for a day or so, but the temptation to pull the figurines down was too great that we decided to pack the Transformers away. Anyway, the interest to draw was not big, probably these boys are active and kinesthetic learners, so they interacted with 'the Transformers' in a physical way.

I talked with my teenage son who still keeps his Transformers in a safe place. He simply said, 'who doesn't like robots? Everyone likes robots!' I suggested that  fairies to girls was just like robots to boys, and my son agreed. Well, then it's fantasy play in the domain of boys?

Back to extending the boys' play relating to Transformers, what should/can I do next? The teachers in my kindergarten think of buying more Mobilo blocks. I am thinking about recording their knowledge and ideas about Transformers and then documenting and displaying them on the wall. This is a way to show that teachers value the interests of children. Through the documentation process, children are learning to express themselves, extending their verbal language to describe and explain. Also, the teachers will be demonstrating how to make ideas visible in writing and pictures.

Maggie Haggerty shared her observations of how a young child "interweave, talking, writing and reading" during his drawing of superheroes. Really inspiring!

What else could you think of?