For Your Binder

An excerpt from Peaceful Babies - Contented Mothers (1940) taken from the Sensory Awareness Foundation Winter Bulletin, Number 14, 1994. This link will bring you to the article, where you can also access the rest of the content on the Pikler (USA) website. #movement #learning #teaching #parenting #theorists #DAP

This is a link to an essay which was published in a few books, including All Work and No Play... How Educational Reforms Are Harming Our Preschoolers, edited by Sharna Olfman. After reading this stand alone essay you might decide that you need the whole book.  You might also start to wonder how many more essays and articles and books we need to write before folks believe us and the power of play!  #play #DAP #pushdown #teaching #learning #theorists

Autonomy is defined as a form of voluntary action (read: choice), stemming from a person’s interest and with no external pressure. When teachers support autonomy, students improve their academic performance, are more creative, better adjusted & feel less stress. But what about at home? Does parental support of autonomy influence the development of executive function and self-regulation skills?  #DAP #parenting #learning #teaching

This is one of the many articles that came out in 2022 in response to what has simply become known as "The #Vanderbilt study.  A quote from the article, "We might actually get better results, she says, from simply letting little children play." #play #DAP #teaching #learning #Tennessee

In this brief update from Boston College, guest editor Peter Gray gives an overview of the articles appearing in the August 2011 issue of The American Journal of Play in which he had a few pieces. #play #teaching #learning #parenting

This article initially caught my eye because it contains one of my favorite words, but used it in a sentence with a phrase that gave me pause; self control? I used up two pens and a few highlighters keeping track of my reactions and comments to this one. Spoiler alert: verbiage verbiage verbiage! definitions definitions definitions!  It's rather dated, so take some of it with a few extra grains of salt. Also, is Eleanor Duckworth on your radar???   #play #DAP #teaching #learning

This article was written by the lead researcher in what is simply referred to now as "The #Vanderbilt Study" - in it she reminds us that greater focus on academics for three and four year olds is not the solution. Her metaphor of an iceberg is a powerful visual; the tip of the iceberg are things we can see (read: measure) like ABCs and 123s, but what is below the surface?  What has actually made these other things visible? Curiosity, persistence, self-control... and when are those skills developed? When children #play !!!!!  #Tennessee #DAP #teaching #learning #environment #pushdown

The school we are talking about is not the school you are familiar with in the past, but it is something that you can hope for.  #teaching #learning #theorists 

An oldie but a goodie about messy play and art! #art #play #DAP #creativity #teaching #learning #parenting

An unfortunate side effect of the growing recognition of the early years as learning years is that some people get hyperactive about it.  #parenting #learning #teaching #DAP #care #relationships

At the heart of this zero-sum game are assumptions that rigorous content requires work, while play is frivolous. #teaching #learning #DAP #play

I've included this resource mainly for the image you'll see when you click the link (although it's not an off-base blog post by any means!) I wanted you to see Mitch Resnick's Creative Learning Spiral without (full disclosure: forgive me) all of the MIT tech speak, including descriptions of the technologies he's created, that usually fill the articles that contain the image.  I love this image.  I also believe when children are playing they tap into this cycle of creativity without needing to scratch any crickets.  #play #DAP #creativity