|
Children communicate needs through behaviours such as hitting, biting, throwing, spinning, jumping, crying, shouting… and the meanings behind them are as individual as the children. The possible reasons are limitless. You know what else has limitless possibilities? Loose parts. What if we could use these two polar ideas of “limitless possibilities” and find connections that would benefit the children and make our days just a little easier. Here’s a crazy thought… what if you were able to plan learning experiences for children with loose parts that were engaging but also helped reduce behaviours... Yes, this is possible! Let me share a story with you. I had set up an invitation to play based on children’s requests to create forts with...
You know what happened first? Lots of punching and kicking the boxes. Did I stop this? No. Why? Because kicking and punching the boxes created sensory stimulation into their muscles and joints (the proprioceptive sense) which was actually helping calm their bodies. The impact into their bodies engaged this sensory system and helped them regulate. They kicked and punched the boxes for maybe 5-10 min. Once they were done they began to explore the loose parts and create forts;
All of this for the next 60 minutes! (You know what I did? Observed, documented and enjoyed what was happening before my eyes!) The children self-regulated with play using loose parts and then engaged in deep engaging play. Loose parts provide possibilities for self-regulation AND the creative play, the kind we see all the time while scrolling on IG 👀📱. Now that you're seeing behaviours differently, share a story below from your practice so we can learn together! more resources
0 Comments
|
Veronica GreenI am an Early Childhood Consultant and very passionate about supporting and inspiring my fellow Educators. I will share my reflections and experiences about implementing my philosophy, views, and ideas into my practice. 
Categories
All
|
RSS Feed