Page 20 – Playful Learning

Meaningful Literacy: Vegetable Stones for the Kitchen Garden

By Mariah Bruehl, 25th March 2014

I think the dream to carve out a little spot in our yards to grow our own produce is a common one. Growing and nurturing something with our own hands has given our little family such a deep sense of joy and connectedness; to each other, to our food and to this space in our yard.

We started creating our first kitchen garden about three months ago. We still have a lot to learn about soil preparation, crop rotation and natural pest control but this space has provided such wonderful opportunities for learning for our children; we planted the seeds together, watched as they grew from seedlings into plants and eventually produced delicious vegetables…which almost always get picked by tiny helping hands and straight into little bellies. However my children are learning more than how to raise and nurture seeds, this kitchen garden is also providing opportunities for meaningful literacy.

These little vegetable stones were an opportunity for my son Jack (5yrs) to write in a purposeful and meaningful way. These vegetable stones were for our garden; their garden.

I collected small clippings from different plants for my son to identify and match to the word card which I had written in both lower-case and capital letters. He then used these word cards to create his vegetable markers using some beautifully smooth beach stones and a permanent marker.

My children really enjoyed creating these stones for their vegetable garden. Over the next few days they added more stones under more plants.

I think it is so important for children to have opportunities to read and write in meaningful ways; writing for a reason, reading to discover something, in this way we can help to nurture and preserve that innate drive to learn and help to keep learning connected to real life. Whether it’s by helping to write shopping lists, reading steps in a recipe, or creating vegetable markers from stones, we can gently encourage literacy by engaging our children in meaningful tasks which are relevant to our children’s lives.

More about our kitchen garden here, and our homeschool routine as well.

Traveling with the Kids: 4 Tips for Better Packing

By Mariah Bruehl, 20th March 2014

Adrienn is with us today with some great tips for packing and traveling with kids.

With spring break around the corner reevaluating our packing habits can be a rewarding process.

I love to travel and I especially adore staying in cozy hotels. To make myself at home I had this ritual of unpacking my suitcase and putting everything away in the available closets as soon as possible. Often ten minutes after I got my keys everything was neatly folded and out of sight.

So it took me by surprise that on our latest trip three days had passed and I still dressed the kids out of their big shared travel bag.

It really annoyed me that it took up loads of room, causing me to bump into it every night. Not to speak of the frustrating moments until I found the garments I was looking for. But I avoided the task. Persistently.

It got me thinking. Did I become lazy? Why did I procrastinate such an easy task that I loved doing before?

Here is what I came up with:

Systems or routines that worked before can become outdated, especially with toddlers in tow. When you realize that you avoid doing something, don’t blame yourself.

Take a step back and analyze the deeper reasons behind your lack of action.

1. Do the math: Block out enough time in advance so you don’t become discouraged.When I traveled on my own I had to unpack only my stuff. Now I need to unpack mine plus the bag of my kids as well. No wonder it takes triple the time. Seems obvious but my sweet ritual became a bigger deal, causing me to procrastinate it forever.

2. Divide and conquer: Store their belongings separate for easy access and quicker unpacking. One big bag for my two kids creates just chaos and doesn’t work anymore. Clothes get mixed up immediately making me resist to put them away. My munchkins will get a personalized travel bag to make things easier.

3. It’s not your fault: You are not lazy and you procrastinate for a reason. There are things you can’t change like available closet space in hotel rooms or guest bedrooms. On our recent trip we had one big closet but a lack of shelves made it nearly impossible to store our stuff let alone the various children clothes. Count on it and be prepared. If your kids have to live out of their bags make the best out of it. Try to put the outfits for each day in labeled zip lock bags. Same goes for pajamas. This works particularly well when they stay at Grandparents. Your Mum or Mother in law will be grateful!

4. Change your rituals: Find out the reason you liked them in the first place and come up with something that still works for you. I had to let go of my desire to unpack immediately as a way to make myself at home. Next time I will try to achieve this goal by giving me one more day and maybe even enlist the help of my little ones…

Now tell me, do you have a special way of packing for trips and is it still working?

Helpful Links:

Designing Spaces for Children: Transparency

By Mariah Bruehl, 18th March 2014

The word transparency holds multiple meanings. It refers to the transmission of light through an object, such as a window or piece of fabric, and can also serve as a metaphor for visibility – making visible what is valued, what has happened, and what is underway.

So, how might you consider transparency when designing spaces for children?

One way to begin is looking at the environment from the perspective of a child. What happens when you position yourself at the eye-level of a child? What do you see? Is the furniture setup to encourage exploration in an open and inviting way? Are materials easily accessible and organized in a way that makes sense? “Seeing” supports autonomy and independent thinking, as children learn how to access the materials needed to support and extend their learning.

Glass jars have a way of making small objects look like precious things, just waiting to be discovered. Using transparent containers to hold objects highlights their attributes and can reveal rich details that may otherwise go unnoticed. Additionally, including light tables, mirrors, and other objects that catch and reflect light can invoke a sense of wonder and inspire new ways of thinking.

Transparency connects you to the outside world. Do you have windows in your space? How might they be used to invite further exploration? In this photo, a plant clipping is placed in a glass jar and set on the windowsill where children can observe the regrowth of its roots.

The spaces we create for children ultimately communicate our values. When we display children’s artwork along with photographs and other forms of documentation, we give visibility to their unique process of learning.

Where does transparency exist in your spaces for children? How do you make your values visible?

Sign-Up Now!

For more inspiration on creating spaces for children, check out our Playful Learning Spaces Workshop.

Start: November 4, 2014

End: November 21, 2014

To register, click here.

Studying Phenology with Time-Lapse

By Mariah Bruehl, 13th March 2014

Last spring I wrote about introducing phenology to children and how to incorporate it into their nature journaling practice. It is such an effective way to for anyone to connect with and deepen understanding of the activities and cycles of nature. It engages children’s curiosity and promotes skills of observation and inquiry. Children are, in essence, conducting their own research: they study changes and consistencies over time, make predictions based on their collected observations, and communicate them in their journals.

A great way to make it a family activity is to become citizen scientists together. Here are some sites to explore:

Nature’s Notebook
Project BudBurst
Project FeederWatch
Find more citizen science projects listed here and here

Another fun way to incorporate phenology into nature study and journaling is to create a time-lapse project. It has certainly peaked my children’s interests and is adding an extra element of fun and anticipation to their nature study. These two short videos are quite inspiring:

Monarch butterfly emerging

Dandelion flower

To get started, decide as a family on a project that will take place over a relatively short time period such as capturing a seedling growing or a flower blooming. Take at least one photo per day as soon as there is a hint of plant growth or a flower bud. You may even want to take two per day as changes can happen quickly. You could also choose to do a long-term project such as capturing the changes of a particular tree throughout the seasons. For a project like this I would suggest taking one photo per week, at about the same time of day if possible, throughout the year. Mark your calendar with a note or camera symbol to help you remember. Enable your child to do the photographing. Don’t worry about things being perfect. It is more important that your child is engaged and feels a sense of ownership. If you must do the photographing just be sure that your child is with you. Look closely together and discuss your observations.

No matter how long of a project you and your child embark on there are some basic requirements:

Mark your subject with a ribbon or other removable marker if it is not easily locatable. You want to be sure to photograph the exact same plant, flower, branch, etc.
Use a tripod.
Frame up the photo as consistently as possible.
Edit your photos for even more consistency.

Now, you could stop here. Print out the photos, paste in sequence into a nature journal, and label each with the date and observations. It would be a meaningful addition to any nature study. You could also use the photos to create your own video. You will need an application like iMovie, QuickTime Pro, or PhotoLapse. There are also apps for your smartphone. Just remember that the video examples above are done by an expert in a controlled studio environment. The video you and your child create will probably have a choppy effect and a bit of a flicker due to lighting differences. That’s okay. Remember that the point of the project is to capture the changes of your subject over time and create a visual to accompany your child’s phenology study.

Nature in Your Craft Box

By Mariah Bruehl, 10th March 2014

Joey from Made by Joey is with us today to share some ideas and inspiration for encouraging the little makers in our lives.

Including natural objects in your craft box not only expands the creative experience but opens up so many learning opportunities with your little ones.

Humans have been creating and learning with natural objects for 1000’s of years. The planet is abundant with natural supplies – some commonly found throughout the world, others unique to one specific area.

When out collecting natural materials from your area, always remind your child how delicate the earth’s ecosystem is, and that you will only be collecting a limited amount, so that other creatures also have what they need.

What kind of supplies should you collect?

Here are a few suggestions:

different colors and shapes of leaves * pine cones * acorns * empty nut shells * fallen bark * moss * rose hips * skeleton leaves * seed heads * different types of rocks * abandoned shells * driftwood * nut shells * flowers for pressing * abandoned egg shells * feathers

Continue to explore nature throughout the seasons to observe the changes that have occurred and to discover new supplies that are found only during specific seasons. Collecting fallen acorn caps and ‘conkers‘ (horse chestnuts) is something that our family looks forward to every Autumn!

While out searching for your new supplies, ask your child simple questions to start a conversation. As you pick up each leaf, seedpod or shell remark on what the piece reminds you of. For example a piece of driftwood may resemble the body of a duck, or a pine cone the chubby body of a gnome. This invokes the creative mind to see objects beyond simply what they are.

Or you may comment on how a certain shell reminds you of a storybook that you have read with your child or an interesting fact that you learned on a field trip together. Having the child recall the information about the book or experience stimulates the analytical mind and sparks curiosity.

Now what to do with your new found treasures?

To stimulate the artistic mind, I have found the following craft books to be filled with great ideas, techniques and inspiration:

Seashell sorting using a Playful Learning

Mathematicians at Work #14 Printable!

To stimulate the analytical mind use the collected materials as learning aids:

pebbles or shells for counters in Math
create your own Nature Museum
test magnetic principles, buoyancy (does is sink or float?), or electricity (does it conduct electricity?)
botany (species of trees and plants)
life cycles (plant the seedpod to see what grows!)
early man (how they created tools from stones and branches or used berry juice and bark for writing)
birds (empty egg shells, bones, feathers)
paint letters or words on small stones for spelling and sentence structure
look at the items under a microscope

Continue to think about using natural supplies when shopping for additional supplies such as:

natural beeswax instead of paraffin wax
wool felt instead of synthetic fibers
cotton fabrics instead of polyester or rayon
wool or cotton yarn instead of acrylic blends
wool roving instead of polyester stuffing
natural watercolor paints instead of oil-based paints
glass or metal containers instead of plastic options

Dinosaur Books and Apps for Little Ones

By Mariah Bruehl, 5th March 2014

Rebecca from Thirteen Red Shoes is with us today to share some great app and book recommendations for the little dinosaur lovers in our lives…

Little ones usually go through phases of being mesmerized by a specific genre. In our household dinosaurs have come and gone numerous times. Over the last couple of years we have developed a lovely little dinosaur library, as well as a few dinosaur themed iPad apps.

Books:

1. How to be a Dinosaur | Lonely Planet This is filled with information worthy of an encyclopaedia. Lonely Plant do these books so very well. The comic book style illustrations are perfection.

2. Dinosaur A – Z | Sam Mugford This books is a all time favorite. Each page represents a different dinosaur and the pictures are bold and contain details, such as size comparisons to a human adult, as well as how to pronounce the tricky names! Once when we went on an extended holiday I photographed every page so we could still flick through the book on my phone. The Smart Kids books are all brilliant, as is the entire dinosaur range by Priddy Books

3. Yikes, Stinkysaurus! | Pamela Butchart and Sam Lloyd This is perfect for those littles that enjoy a little but of humor of the bathroom variety.

4. There’s a Dinosaur in my Bathtub | Catalina Echeverri A large dinosaur called Pierre found in your bathtub is ever so delightful, especially if he comes from France to visit for the summer.

5. Dinosaur Farm | Fran Preston Gannon Fran Preston Gannon is the recipient of the Sendak Fellowship and has created a delightful tale of being a very special kind of farmer.

6. Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs | Mo Willems I have a soft spot for Mo Willems in our house as my boys adore his quirky style. This books is a take on the traditional Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

Educational iPad applications also worth having a little look at if you have children who enjoy this format:

Ansel and Clair Cretaceous, Jurassic and Triassic

Britannica Kids Dinosaurs (These are three individual apps based on different dinosaur periods)

Enjoy!

Children & Nutrition: Understanding Energy Balance

By Mariah Bruehl, 3rd March 2014

We all want our children to make healthy choices when it comes to taking care of themselves. I have always found that when they understand the reasons behind the choices we want them to make, they are more enthusiastic and empowered to do the right thing.

It is for this reason that I am thrilled to team up with Together Counts, which is a nationwide program inspiring active and healthy living. They have incredible resources, activities, and printables for helping to teach children about developing healthy habits.

Sometimes we assume that children understand the basic concepts of nutrition. Although we talk about healthy eating all the time at home, I realized that the girls didn’t have a solid grasp of the concept that the food we eat gives us energy that we use to live active lives.

So when I found the lesson on Energy Balance over at Together Counts, we dove right in. They provide a great printable that lists different types of foods and how many calories they contain, as well as a list of activities and how many calories our bodies burn—energy in, energy out.

The girls created a table on our chalkboard and started matching foods to how many activities one would have to do to create an energy balance. Once we got past bananas and carrots, they were surprised to find our that in order to balance out the energy they take in from eating a hot dog, they would need to walk, ride a bike, and ice skate for thirty minutes each!

They were so excited about the concept of energy balance that they started to read the labels on the back of their favorite snacks to see how many calories they contained. They discovered that to balance out the dried mango they were munching on during the activity, they would need to swim for 30 minutes and play the piano for 30 more—sounds like a lovely way to spend the afternoon…

I love that we now have a common language to refer back to when discussing the food choices that we make on a daily basis.

You can stay up to date on the great work that Together Counts is doing on Facebook , Twitter, Pinterest and their blog.

Raising Helpers

By Mariah Bruehl, 27th February 2014

We’ve spent a great deal of time trying to decide how to create a system of chores that works for us and our young family. Like many other parents, we started out using a rewards based chore chart when our oldest was a toddler. Prizes were a great motivation at first, but over time we could recognize that she was largely missing the point and I eventually grew tired of handing out prizes for the simplest of tasks. Now we’ve fallen into the trap many parents are in: besides asking our children to be generally neat and pick up their toys, we tend to do most of the chores ourselves.

The conclusion we’ve reached is that everyone who lives in the house with the family should be expected to contribute in some way. Rewards and allowances shouldn’t be given as a response to this contribution. Young children love to help, all they need is encouragement, consistency, and a loving parent or teacher to teach them how to help. For those of us applying this way of thinking to an existing family-where do we start? And, what can really be expected of young children?

Every family has their own way of operating, but hopefully the progress we’ve made in our journey can help you define your own approach. Our children are 6, 4, and 18 months. We’ve been allowing our youngest to help and teaching him new things when he seems interested, such as sweeping, throwing things in the garbage, and helping move clothes from the washer to the dryer. It’s fun to see him excited about helping, but there are no expectations or set chores for him yet at this time.

Here are a few suggestions for children from 2-6:

1. Define your everyday expectations. These are simple tasks that are attached to daily family life. Our 4 and 6 year old are expected to bring their dishes to the kitchen after meals, clean up spills, put their laundry in the basket, help put away clean clothes, pick up toys and games, make their beds, and throw garbage away. Speak of and enforce these tasks often and they will become a way of life. This is an area we are hoping to grow in! I believe my children are capable of more and I would love to see them become more independent and confident as their skills grow.

2. Rotating and Sporadic Tasks. These are tasks that don’t come up everyday, but on a weekly or sporadic basis. Examples would be: taking the garbage out to the curb, mopping floors, yard work, and watering plants. Look at your tasks for the week and ask your children to help you. To make things fun, we’ve decided to add a “helping envelope” for both children to the wall. A slip of paper with a picture of their “job” for the week will be inside each envelope at the start of the week. You can get creative with these. Does your child really love to sort things? Does she love to help in the kitchen? Does he love to be outside? Put them to work doing something they love!

3. Have Patience. As much as children love to learn a new skill, it can be difficult to learn a new task. Look at it as an opportunity to spend some extra time with your child. No, they’re not going to clean things exactly as you do. And yes, it will take them much longer. But, by teaching them to contribute and care for the things they own you are giving them an invaluable gift. Turn up the music and make it fun!

Here’s a helpful chart that’s been making the rounds on the web lately (source) :

How does your family handle household chores? I would love to hear about your experiences!

Olympic Inpsired Activities

By Mariah Bruehl, 21st February 2014

Today Emma from 95 Acres of Sky is with us to share some great ideas for Olympic inspired activities to share with the children in our lives.

A year and a half ago, in the summer of 2012, I fell in love with the Olympics. I think it may the fact that it was being held in my home country that triggered in me the excitement and enthusiasm of my own childhood, but it took no time at all for my boys to become as enthralled as I had been at their age. For once I was able to share a screen experience with my boys rather than restricting it, they could watch any of the coverage, any of the events, without my worrying about what they were being exposed to. More than that, they were witnessing people who were in the spotlight for actually achieving something, rather than for behavior that is less than commendable.

At the core of it, this is what I adore about the Olympics. These athletes are people I can point to and say “See! Look at what is possible!”. My boys are witnessing what hard work and dedication can achieve and I am overjoyed to expose them to those values, values that are often overshadowed by superficial glitz and glamor that ignores the need for simple hard work.

When I saw my eldest son, pelting along our bottom field and launching himself over a hay bale, I knew the message had taken hold. He was inspired by what he’d seen and wanted to push himself to his own limit. It was a lovely thing to witness and we’ve shared other moments together, watching videos of ice skaters as the boys learned to skate this winter, videos of ballet dancers launching themselves into the air when they are unsure if ballet can be ‘for boys’. I’ve been able to show them wonderful examples of what endeavor can really look like.

Living as we do in the frozen north (that’s not a metaphor, it really is cold up here) the winter Olympics are even more relevant to us. The sports are all cold climate ones, many of which are in the mainstream here in Canada. We have easy access to skating rinks, ski hills and are literally surrounded by snow. The winter Olympics shows us what is possible in a climate like ours, inspiring us to get outside and make the most of it when possible.

As homeschoolers we have the luxury of spending our school time exploring our subjects of interest, but I’m sure that all of the following activities and ideas would work just as well on a weekend or after school. Even just a few books at bedtime can serve as a gentle and fun introduction to this great event.

This month we are using Amanda Bennet’s unit study on the Olympics as a spine for our work. She really has done all the hard work for you! The unit is broken up into days and weeks with lesson plans outlined and resources hyperlinked. This is a great opportunity to explore the Olympics in more depth, researching different events, learning about the history of the Olympics and of the great athletes who’ve participated through the years.
The Magic Treehouse book Hour of the Olympics and the companion fact tracker book Ancient Greece and the Olympics, is a great way to explore the world of Ancient Greece and learn about the origins of the Olympics. Brother and sister Jack and Annie magically travel through time to the ancient Greek Olympics and experience much magic and adventure. The companion book allows you to explore the background to the story revealing even more historical details.
We are exploring what our library has to offer around the subject of the Olympics, each branch will have different offerings but look out for the Usborne book The Story of the Olympics for a good overview of the games. We also enjoyed Look What Came From Russia, as an introduction to Russian culture, as well as Asterix at the Olympic Games, which was very popular with my 8 year old son!
If you are looking for some crafty fun I have a pinterest board where I’ve begun compiling crafts for different ages around the theme of the winter Olympics. So far we’ve made our own Olympic torches as well as a miniature ice rink and our own ancient Greek Lego stadium.
The online world has plenty to offer too, there is an official Olympics app as well as apps from specific news outlets, we have the one from CBC for Canada specific information.
If you’re exhausted after all that Olympic related fun, why not enjoy a movie as a family? One of my all time favorite films is Chariot’s of Fire, a truly inspiring story can be enjoyed by the whole family. This film really highlights the dedication and determination of athletes participating in the Olympic games 90 years ago. Or for the slightly older crowd Cool Runnings tells the true story of the first Jamaican bobsled team, a great movie to enjoy over a big bowl of popcorn while the snow falls outside.

For me the true message of the Olympics is to celebrate excellence and to enjoy watching what is possible when determination, devotion and passion meets hard work. I delight in sharing with my children the excitement of witnessing people who strive and strive again, to achieve something truly exceptional and worthy of our admiration. We can’t all be Olympic medalists but we can all encapsulate, even in the very smallest of ways, the Olympic spirit in our own lives.

Growing Your Child’s Vocabulary

By Mariah Bruehl, 18th February 2014

Children’s imagination is powerful and surprising. It is able to create fantastic worlds and develop their abstract minds for hours. However, Charles Chaplin was right when he said “imagination means nothing without doing”. Imagination, per se, produces only dreams. If we want our dreams to turn into reality the first thing we need to do is to express them in an idea. And for that, we need words.

We often hear kids complaining that they are not able to express something they’re thinking, some dream they had or something they’ve learned. It is most frustrating for them (think about how hopeless you feel when you can’t make yourself understood in a foreign country), so increasing their vocabulary is important to improve their communication capacities and boost their self-esteem.

Also, a kid that can properly express himself will find it easier to understand his feelings and emotions. Those “something’s going on but I don’t know how to explain it” moments that all parents hear at least once start to decrease when their little brains are able to find the right words.

To help you with this, here you have three useful ideas:

1. Try to not scale down your language too much when you are talking to your kids: we don’t go by “vroom vroom”, we go by car. We don’t have a “woof woof”, we have a Bulldog. That is not “boo boo”, it “hurts”. Even if they sound adorable when they make mistakes or when they misplace words try to always correct them nicely.

2. When playing with them, try to broaden the stimuli you use instead of using “children only” material all the time. A good example is this website, for instance.

3. If your child can read don’t rush to explain to him the meaning of new words. Buy him a good dictionary and make him search for the definition. Forget the Internet. The slower process that comes with the physical search is more effective for remembering new word meanings.

And finally, a tool for you to try, the word jar.

Find a jar; (you can also use a box) and label it “words”. Every time your child comes in contact with a new word, make him write it on a piece of paper and put it inside the jar. You could also do this with the second language they are learning at school. Carry the jar with you on those occasions where you have to sit for long hours (at the doctors, when traveling…), or save it for a rainy day.

Ask your child to take out one word and to try to form a sentence with it. With practice words become familiar, and we can throw the learned slips of papers away and substitute them with new ones. Easy, fun and really effective.

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