Teaching Tools: Child Development Resources for Families

- by Wheeler DeAngelis, Constanza Henderson, Myra O'Neal, and Mahoussie Pierre, Toddler 1 South Teachers

Dear Families,

With several more weeks at home stretching before us, we are choosing to see this time as an opportunity - an opportunity to offer you a peek behind the curtain of our work that most years we don’t have the time or venue to share. As child development experts, we have a wide range of knowledge that we draw upon in our work with and understanding of your children. We would like to share some of these with you. In this post, you will find information on the following topics:

• Roles
• Sensitive Observation
• Scaffolding and the Zone of Proximal Development
• Being an "Oppositional Partner"
• Infant Directed Speech
• Bloom's Taxonomy

We hope that these concepts, theories, and tips will help you to feel like you have more tools in the toolbox for optimizing this time together with your children. And as always questions and further discussion are highly encouraged.

Roles

Roles are really important to children. They help children to understand what they can expect of specific people. For your children, who have been attending childcare since before they can remember, there has always been a difference between parents and teachers. From the child's perspective, teachers spend the day with them and offer tests and provocations. When children are at school, it is their version of going to “work.” When children are at home, you engage in a less structured way  with  your child while still providing boundaries and limits.  

We want to acknowledge that the condensation of these two roles is really hard on everybody. And some of us may find it impossible. That is OK! Children are built to learn, regardless of circumstance. Whatever you are doing to be present for your child is enough for them. Don’t bend over backwards to try to fill a role you’re not comfortable being in. 

For those who feel like you can be more intentional in the materials and activities you provide in this new combined “parent-teacher” role, we encourage you to lean into it a little. Simply acknowledging to yourself what role your child is asking you to play can be a big stress reliever and can guide you and your child toward better outcomes.

Taking on the "parent-teacher" role can be scary and since it is a new role for some of you we wanted to put together a quick little guide to some "teacher skills" that might help you in your interactions. 

First and foremost always remember that teaching is as much art as it is science. A well laid plan can mitigate a lot of the natural chaos that comes with toddlerhood but never all of it. That is when intention, flexibility, and engagement come into play. Just because something isn’t going as planned doesn’t mean that the learning has stopped. It is great to have expectations for how activities will play out, but if your child has other safe and reasonable ideas for how they want to play, go with it! This is sometimes how provocations unfold even in the classroom. Sure a cooking project teaches a lot about math and chemistry, but hitting the side of the mixing bowl with a spoon teaches about acoustics and physics. And if that’s what your toddler wants to learn today, then steer into it! And always involve them in cleaning up their own messes afterwards!

Sensitive Observation

What is it?

Sensitive observation is the process of stepping back and observing, not engaging with a child who is focused on some activity. Taking careful note of the contexts in which your observation is taking place, and how those contexts are affecting the child.

Why does it matter at home?

If you can find the time, even just a few minutes of sensitive observation can make a huge difference in how you understand your child's world. The goal of any good observation is to synthesize what we see and create more clear questions for ourselves to answer. 

Is your child getting cranky around the same time everyday even though they’re fed and rested and clean? Well that’s where sensitive observation comes in. Is there something happening that your child can hear but not see? Are they anticipating something frightening that will happen soon or reacting late to something that happened earlier in the day?

Through observing a child in their environment we can begin discern the reasoning behind a child’s behavior rather than reacting to the behaviors themselves.

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"Do less; observe more; enjoy most." - Magda Gerber

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Scaffolding and Zone of Proximal Development 

What is it?

These two concepts are at the core of most of our work with your children. Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), is a part of a theoretical framework that separates all potential activities into three categories:

1. Things a child can do on their own.
2. Things a child can't do. 
3. Things that they can do with help. 

In this image the staircase and the adult illustrate the concept of scaffolding.

This third category is the child's ZPD. Scaffolding is simply a term for all the help offered by an adult to move an activity out of their "can't do" and into their Zone of Proximal Development.

Why does it matter at home?

An understanding of which category your child keeps each activity in, will help greatly with your activity selection. 

- Activities from their "things I can't do" category will lead to the shortest and most frustrated play sessions. 

- Offering your child an activity in their “things I can do” category, like a familiar book or puzzle, will lead to longer more focused play times. 

- Activities from their ZPD will lead to the longest play and highly meaningful interactions  but will  some require adult facilitation.

Being an “oppositional partner” 

What is it?

Occasionally when you play with your child, create your own play plan and stick to it. If your child asks you for the materials you are using, tell them that you are using them and make a plan for when they can have a turn.

Why does it matter at home?

Children learn a lot from playing with a partner. The give and take of these interactions are crucial for positive socio-emotional development but they are hard to replicate at home without another toddler. It is more than the practice of turn-taking, it also teaches patience and respect for the play needs of others. Creating a play plan of your own and sticking to it can help to replicate some of these interactions.

Infant Directed Speech

What is it?

Infant Directed Speech (IDS), is the way that adults alter their voice to speak to children. Basically it is a system of slowing and simplifying your speech patterns in order to give children more time to process what they are hearing. IDS is characterized by higher pitched voices and increased repetition. It's a reflexive process and you all do it everyday. It should not be confused with "Baby talk" which is the removal of informative words from a sentence and replacing them with gibberish. Baby talk does not provide the same developmental benefits of IDS.

Why does it matter at home?

Toddlerhood is a critical period for language development. In normal times, children develop their understanding of prosody, grammar and vocabulary by hearing how people around them speak and using what they hear to create a linguistic baseline. 

In quarantine times, children are exposed to fewer of these "in the wild" language encounters, so the linguistic model that you are providing for them takes on added weight. A good rule of thumb is that you should talk to children in the way that you hope they will, one day, be able to talk to you.

Bloom’s Taxonomy  

What is it?

Bloom's Taxonomy is a hierarchical model that classified learning objectives/outcomes from least complicated to most complicated.

Why does it matter at home?

Bloom's Taxonomy is a great way to evaluate communication between yourself and a child. When adults play with children they tend to ask a lot of questions. This tendency is a common, and developmentally critical, piece of  IDS. 

Asking questions helps children reflect on their own actions but it also increases how much of their brain they are using during that interaction. And for this reason, the type of question we ask matters tremendously. 

For instance, answering the question "Is that a tiger?" requires less thought processing than answering the question "What is that?" Asking "where is it going?" or "how does it move?" require even further engagement. By steadily increasing the complexity of the types of questions you are asking (moving from the base of the pyramid up) you will increase the depth of your child’s engagement with the subject material. 

Don’t be afraid to ask questions that are “too complicated.” Toddler’s have a built-in failsafe for this scenario. If you ask them a question that they don’t have the underlying knowledge to answer, they will either not answer you at all or answer a completely different question instead. 

Pathway Play: Creating a Marble Run

by Amanda Caulfield, Preschool 2 Teacher at PTCC

The Inspiration:  

Children in Preschool Two have been interested in creating and exploring pathways during their play.  This has ranged from building paths in the sand to constructing ramps and roads as a part of our work with mapping.  One of the ways that we have been observing children’s thinking related to pathways was through their construction and use of marble runs.  I have always been interested in observing the problem solving strategies that emerge when children work with marble runs.  

I chose to create this provocation offering because I felt it was something that could be easily executed and extended at home using everyday materials.  I also felt excited about the prospect of parents being able to get a window into their child’s thinking and problem-solving skills by watching them interact with this provocation.  And of course, I felt it would be fun to make and test my own marble run in order to connect with the children!  

The children create a pathway for rainwater to flow through mud and sand on the playground.

Nate lifts the marble run up at an angle to catalyze the marble and water to pass through in the classroom sensory table.

The Provocation:  

Create your own marble run using the materials you have at home! This is a great opportunity to explore concepts related to pathways, trajectory, and motion.  

The materials that I found at home to use for this provocation were: 

Cardboard pieces

Clothespins

Plastic cups

Plastic lids to paint containers 

Paper towel roll

Index cards

Marbles 

My husband, Kevin, and I worked together to create a marble run that would knock down clothespins at the end.

At first, a part of our marble run looked like this, but the marble kept bouncing off of the plastic funnel-shaped piece. 

We decided to use a clothespin as a wall to block the marble from bouncing out. 

Here is what we came up with!

Materials, Questions, Extensions 

Other material suggestions:

-Popsicle sticks 

-Scrap wood or metal

-Cans

-Wine corks

-Blocks

-PVC pipe

-Envelopes

-Wooden train tracks 

-Tape rolls

-Balls
-Water beads

Questions to ask while children are playing: 

-How will you get the marble to move?

-What do you notice about how the marble rolls through the marble run?  

-How can we change what happens?

-How could you make the marble move slower?  Faster?

Ways to extend this provocation: 

-Try to get the marble to hit a certain target (for example, land into a cup or knock something over).

-Create pathways for use with sensory materials such as sand or water. 

- Create several marble runs to race against each other.

The Possibilities of Paint - Ideas for At Home

Let's talk about paint!


For some people, the idea of painting at home with their young child is exciting. For other people, it is intimidating. For almost everyone, the word "messy" probably comes to mind.

At the same time, part of what is wonderful about paint is its possibility for expression. The exploration of gesture, color, and (especially with thicker paints) texture is a beautiful outlet for anyone (not just children), and can be an excellent way to center ourselves in the moment. This can lead to messiness, but, to me, the value of what is at work behind the messiness far outweighs the momentary stress of having to clean up a painty child.

So how do you set up paint at home in a way that feels manageable while still allowing your child freedom to actually explore the material? What if you don't have a ton of art supplies lying around? How can I be a part of my child's paint experience without taking it over?

Let's talk about these things!


Minimizing Mess

What can I handle?
Before setting up, think a bit about how much "mess" you feel comfortable with. Are you willing to risk some paint getting on the floor or a cabinet? What about paint getting on your child/their clothes/your clothes? Answering these questions honestly can help you decide what sort of experience you want to curate.

Choosing a setting:
A few options for setting up include...
- seated at a table
- in a dedicated space on the floor 
- outside (if it is warm enough and an outdoor space is available)
- in the tub (for super easy clean-up)
- at an easel or upright space (if you don't have an easel, you can take paper onto the refrigerator, kitchen cabinet, or wall)

Selecting your wardrobe:
No matter what the set-up, I would suggest that you (the adult) wear clothes that you don't mind getting painty!
For your child, you can choose between stripping to a diaper or undies OR putting on some paint-friendly clothes (either their own clothes that you don't mind getting messy or - my personal fave - an oversized t-shirt).

Protecting surfaces: 
Whether you are using a table or the floor, it is helpful to have something underneath your painting area to both protect whatever surface your painting on AND to define the space visually. Some possible materials to use for covering your floor or table include:
- a canvas dropcloth
- a table cloth
- a tarp
- a sheet
- large sheets of newspaper or other paper
- a towel (less ideal for table due to the thickness)
- parchment paper or plastic wrap (for table)

Prepare for clean-up:
It is helpful to set up near a bathroom or kitchen in order to be close to the sink, but whether or not this is possible, you can still be ready for clean-up by keeping these things close by!
- damp washcloths (some children might want one nearby to use as they go)
- a bowl or bin to put paint supplies in when finished (add water and soap and you now have a water activity!)
- a towel (to wrap up a messy kiddo)


Collecting Supplies: Recipes, Inspiration, and More


Paints
If you have washable tempera paint or watercolor paints (either liquid watercolor or a palette of dry color), these are excellent options to use at home. If you don't have either of these, never fear - you can make your own paint! Both of these paints are thick and fun to use for textural explorations. They will last for a few weeks if refrigerated. Offer them in small cups or bowls, in an ice cube tray, or straight onto the paper!

No-cook Flour + Salt Paint
-Mix together 1/2 cup of flour and 1/2 cup of salt.
- Slowly mix in 1/2 cup of water.
- Once smooth, divide into containers and add food coloring or liquid watercolor for color.

Cooked Finger Paint
-Stir 1/2 cup of flour with 1 cup of water in a pot over medium heat until it becomes a paste-like consistency and begins to pull away from the pot.
- Add a pinch of salt.
- Add 1/4 cup (or more as needed) of cold water to get your desired consistency.
- Divide into containers and add food coloring or liquid watercolor.

Painting Tools
Although brushes are the traditional tool for painting, they are by no means the only thing you can use! Here are a few other ideas for things to set out with your paint:
- cups or jars, spoons, and popsicle sticks for mixing colors
- leaves, flowers, pinecones, rocks (to use as paint tools or be painted on!)
- chopsticks, q-tips, sticks, combs, and forks for making lines through thick paint
- lids, spools, and other loose parts to use as stamps
- toy vehicles to make tracks through paint
- cotton-balls
- coffee filters
- sponges (as is or cut into shapes)
- droppers
- squeeze bottles
- and fingers of course!

Parent as Partner

So your paint experience is all set... but what should YOU do as your child paints? Here are a few suggestions:
- Paint on your own paper or collaboratively (if your child is so inclined) while echoing your child's movements - let them be the teacher! 
- Paint nearby to offer simple suggestions for how to use the materials (such as how to drag a comb to make lines, press a painted flower onto paper to make a print, or create a pattern using different colors or shapes). 
- Assume the role of documentarian and prop master - focus on taking pictures (and even taking notes if you want to try it!) and having extra paint, tools, and paper at the ready.
- Start in the abstract rather than jumping in to representational paintings (this can easily distract children from their work as they become more invested in what you are doing).

A few tips if children want you to paint for them or get discouraged because "yours is better":
- Gently say that you are not going to paint for them, but would be happy to show them how you did a certain technique for them to try. Walk them through it, with lots of encouragement. Then find something that you would like them to teach you how to do.
- Remind them that you have lived a lot longer than them and have had a lot more opportunities to practice! This is a great opportunity for them to start practicing, too.

**Also, check out these posts for preschool, toddler, and infant parents!**

Be well and enjoy!
Katie & Nova

What to do with Water? - Ideas for At Home

Have you ever wished that you had a sensory table at home? Well here are a few ideas for how to set up a water exploration space! You can go as simple or as elaborate as you would like, and there are several ways you can tailor what you offer to fit your space and the interests and age of your child! Of course, you could always explore other sensory materials in similar set-ups, but since water is something we all have access to, that is what I will focus on here.

Style #1: Simple and Spontaneous

   

The basic idea: find a wide, open bin or container with a flat bottom, fill it with water, and put it on the floor on top of a towel. This is something that I've pulled out multiple times when Nova has decided that all she wants to do is play with the cat's water dish. When she was still a baby, I used a ceramic baking dish (see above), because it had lower sides that she could reach over easily, and it was a little heavier and harder for her to slide around or accidentally tip over (kudos to former teacher Seana Williamson for the original inspiration). Now that she is a toddler, I have been using a plastic bin that is deeper and less breakable. 

 Style #2: Water Exploration Station

The basic idea: take the container described in the section above, elevate it, and add more surface space for transferring water. Maybe you have a child-level table that will hold your water bin, or maybe (like me) you have a ton of cardboard boxes still hanging around from when you moved. Place your container on top of whatever surface you choose in order to bring it to a good height for your child to be able to scoop and dump. It is nice to have extra space along the side for other containers to be added or for setting down utensils that aren't in use. I put together the above set-up in a matter of minutes yesterday by taping the water bin to a cardboard box with packing tape (I probably didn't really need to do this, but I figured better safe than sorry), lining the leftover box surface with a kitchen towel, and adding another plastic bin with the lid still on as additional "counter space."

What goes with water? - Material Suggestions

Now that you have your "water table," here are a few ideas for different types of set-ups you can create.

- Cooking and Mixing: bowls, whisks, measuring spoons, measuring cups, ladles, muffin tins... basically whatever you want to grab out of the kitchen

- Fluid Dynamics: funnels, containers of different heights and sizes (preferably clear or translucent), scoops, droppers, basters

- Paper Pulp: sheets of paper (ripped up or not) to submerge in the water; you can also offer surfaces to place the pulp to dry, such as plastic-wrap lined cooling racks or bowls to create dome sculptures. Just playing with the strange squishiness of wet paper can be pretty fun on its own, too.

- Color Experiments: small containers of different colors with spoons or droppers (or squeeze bottles if you have them!) full of colored water (I like to use liquid watercolor paint, since it is washable); or freeze ice cubes with different colored water, then add them into the clear water to watch it change.

- Bubbles: there are lots of tips for making bubble solution if you want to actually blow bubbles, but if you just want sudsy water, any dish soap will do. Combine with materials for stirring up more foam (whisks are great for this) and scooping and transferring it. If you are trying to blow actual bubbles, you can make some bubble blowing tools at home, too.

- Nature's Gifts: Combining natural materials with water is always great fun. Rocks, shells, leaves, pinecones (watch what happens if you submerge dry pinecones in water for awhile - it's fascinating!), flowers, etc. can all lead to interesting games in the water table. If you have any large rocks, it can be interesting to try brushing water onto their surfaces and seeing how the color changes.

- Mix and Match: And of course, any of the above ideas can be combined!

A few general tips:

- Put at least one towel on the floor AND have an extra on hand to wipe up additional spills. 

- Set up in the kitchen if possible - if not, try to be near the kitchen or bathroom so you have easy access to a sink for either getting more water or pouring water out, as well as materials for clean up.

- It's okay to set limits, AND it's fun to look for possibilities! For instance, one day Nova started to transport water across the kitchen to her pretend cooking area, leaving a trail of drips across the floor. I ushered her back over to the water-play zone, while also bringing some of her play pots and pans back with us so she could include them in her water experience.

- You can decide how "permanent" you would like it to be. Maybe you create a set-up that you leave out for a few days or more. Maybe you keep your materials tucked in a corner to pull out as needed. Maybe you set something out, then put it all away when you are done because the last thing you need is more piles cluttering up the house. Do what works for you!

- Start out simple - you can always add more later! Both at home and at work, I often have an extra element set aside to bring out when interest starts to wane (such as the colored ice cubes seen above). This helps to extend the experience!

I hope this offers you some ideas for your days at home!

Be well,

Katie (and Nova)

#Beautyinthischaos

Dear PTCC community (and beyond),

Just as so many things have shifted as a result of the current international health crisis, so too are we going to shift to using this blog in a different way. We will be posting some of the beautiful things that staff have been creating as a result of their time working from home - read-aloud videos, tutorials and ideas for projects at home, reflections on readings, and more. We hope this will help us stay connected, make the work of teachers visible to others in our community, and also make it easier to access the content being created. The hashtag in the title comes from a former PTCC teacher, Seana Williamson, who is encouraging people to share exactly that - the beauty they are finding in this chaotic time. We would like to think that these offerings from teachers are one instance of such beauty.

Cheers,
Katie, Kendra, and the PTCC staff