This post on what is a preschool curriculum is actually inspired by a  post I read about curriculum blog hopping and I realized how confused so many people are about preschool, kindergarten and any early childhood curriculum’s.

The biggest problem I have is with the traditional curriculum’s that seem to think that teaching the ABC’s and numbers and colors is what early childhood curriculum is all about. It’s so sad.

Early childhood curriculum should be about LIFE  and incorporating everything children need to know into these life experiences.

Learning needs to be relevant and learning ABC’s and colors and numbers can be made so much more relevant if they are done in the concept of life.

I did some posts awhile ago about curriculum that may shed some light on what curriculum is all about.

The first one talks about how to incorporate learning into life and curriculum by creating an integrated curriclum.

The second one gave some real live examples of how to set up and plan an integrated curriculum or as we call it planning for a progressive early childhood curriculum.

The truth is in my opinion if you can’t get your head around a progressive curriculum and don’t really know how to run one, the most important thing in any early childhood setting is getting the art right.

Getting away from that copycat arts and crafts and start bringing some real educational art into your early childhood environment.

Now I have a question for anyone reading this blog.

I have another blog that I spend alot more time on, the educational art thoughts one and I would put more effort into this one if I see there is more interest in it.

So if you are out there and want me to keep posting on a more regular basis, make a comment to let me know.

You know there’s nothing like some incentive of knowing people want to hear what you have to say to keep writing. And believe me there is lots to write about, I just want to know if its what people want to read.

So let your voice be heard. (If you’re interested)

Kindergarten and preschool and art are almost synonymous. Which kindergarten, preschool or any early childhood education classroom or home school program does not have some kind of art on a daily basis.

You may have seen my other blog called educational art thoughts where I present all kinds of educational art activities and thoughts about art for those interested in young children and their art. For the most part that would be early childhood teachers, school or home based and even art teachers.

My theories are called Educational Art and can be divided into three types of activities for  children. In this post I will discuss how you can bring educational art into a center based classroom using a Three Part Art approach.

In Educational Art, art can be divided into three parts.

1. Crafts (projects for holidays, special days, etc.)
2. Process only art activities (painting, clay, collage etc.)
3. The art center (daily challenges)

Many teachers who do use a center based curriculum where the children work independently at these centers during their work period use the art center mostly as a place to store their art supplies.

Many teachers feel they don’t really know HOW to use the art center as a truly thriving area that the kids can use independently without resorting to just using it as a place for structured activities.

The truth is you don’t need to do the crafts and process only activities in the art center. As long as you have table elsewhere in the classroom you can have all three of the three part art activities going on at the same time.

One table can host a crafts activity, another a process only art activity and third the table that is the real important one that is needed to run a good art center actually needs to be be either IN or NEAR the art center.

What should actually be going on in the art center?

Now I don’t know about you but when I was teaching I was always looking for more ideas for my centers to offer during the work period.

Adding a real art center certainly does add to their choices and benefits.

When you give the children the options available for that work period there can be

1-Collage with triangles on one table

2-Make a flag at the crafts table and

3- Go check out the art center.

So in the art center basic art supplies are stocked for the kids to use to make things that they may need for other centers like food for their dramatic play area or signs for their blocks

But the main thing that should be going in in the art center is daily challenges.

Every 2-3 days you should add something new in that area for the children to  be able to go over and experiment and create with the materials that are available that day without a specific creation in mind.

The children that love art will gravitate towards this center and the ones that are more scared of art may watch from a  distance and then join in at a later date.

Some ideas for challenges

• Add a hole puncher and string
• Put out different shapes papers
• Add some aluminum foil and  markers
• Wallpaper samples with pinked scissors
• Long rectangular papers and straws
• Remove scissors one day
• Folded papers
• Papers with some beginning lines on them and marks

These are just some basic ideas to start you off and help you come up with your own ideas to keep the art center fresh and exciting.

Once you get into the habit of including the different ideas and challenges that you are going to include in your art center, the children will be looking forward to seeing what is new in the art center and what can they create over there.

For homeschoolers

The same exact thing can be done in your home by utilizing a box that you can call a mystery box. The children can check  to see what is in their box that day they can create with. with kids at home they can even be part of adding things to the mystery box.

If you come up with some great innovations to add to your art center or mystery I’d love  to hear about ‘em.

Kindergarten curriculum’s are pretty varied and there are many wonderful activities that are done in really good kindergartens.

Using activity boxes in your kindergarten curriculum is something I came across in an article when going through old material I had. It was an article that originally came out of Young Children about using boxes or containers with everyday objects that have relationships to each other in various ways.

These activity boxes are given to children to learn to explore real objects that adults use. It can take a while to get together but can be done slowly over the year.

Activity boxes can serve many functions in a kindergarten or a preschool curriculum.

Types of boxes to use

• Inexpensive containers like shoe boxes
• Cardboard boxes with and without lids
• Plastic storage containers,
• Lunch boxes

Do not put small objects in the boxes if you have infants or toddlers as there is a danger of them swallowing small pieces.

It would be a good idea to label the boxes with pictures along with words for both adults and children.

Uses for activity boxes

• Perfect for transitional activities. When children are finished lunch early or any other activity early they can use activity boxes wile they wait.
• They can be used as portable learning centers. By including different objects of single properties in common like all soft things or all green or different textures or all cooking utensils.
• The boxes can spark language between the adult and child as they discuss likenesses and differences, color and shapes etc in the particular boxes they are using.
• Items in boxes can encourage dramatic play.
• Can promote multicultural and non sexist play (like gadgets and dolls for both genders).
• Encourages children to explore.
• Strengthens the home school relationships as parents can send in things to add to the boxes. (If you are in a school setting)

I am now going to give you a bunch of of sample activity boxes you can create with the possible goals for each box.

Of course the children may extend their learning and are not limited to those particular goals of the box.

These of course are only ideas and are not cut in stone. You can make up your own box ideas and you add or subtract to the boxes as you wish.

Clocks Box

• wind up alarm
• wrist watch
• radio with clock
• wall clock
• stop watch

Goals: Manipulative activities, dramatic play, problem solving

Green and Red Objects box

• green lids
• green berry baskets
• green cup or two
• green napkin
• red heart
• red ribbon
• red lids
• red cups or tow
• red napkin

Goals: Sorting by color, color recognition, matching

Cameras Box

• old film camera
• digital camera
• polaroid if you can find one
• photo albums
• old postcards or snapshots

Goals: Dramatic play and problem solving

Writing Box

• spiral notebook
• loose leaf paper
• notepad
• pencils, pens, markers
• rulers
• envelopes
• stamps
• eraser

Goals: Pre-writing skills, dramatic play

Things that measure box

• ruler
• tape measure
• measuring spoons
• measuring cups
• hour glass

Goals: Problem solving, measuring/math, language skills

Spools Box

As many spools as you can collect in different sizes

Goals: Stacking, rolling

Kitchen Box

• pitcher
• cups
• dishes
• spoons
• round coasters
• spatulas
• large bowls

Goals: Dramatic play, language skills, pouring, stirring

Rubber objects box

• erasers
• tires
• rubber toys
• rubber balls

Goals: Manipulation, tactile exploration

Zippers box

All sizes and colors zippers

Goals: Manipulation, fine motor skills, dramatization, problem solving

Containers with lids box

A variety of of  food boxes of different sizes and shapes and their lids.

Goals: Fine motor skills, manipulation, problem solving, rolling, stacking

Boxes of sizes

• little blocks
• big blocks
• small lids
• big lids
• small toys
• big toys

Goals: Visual discrimination, comparisons, sorting by size

Plumbers box

Different pieces of screwed together piping all sizes and shapes

Goals: Manipulation, problem solving.

Texture box

• fur
• velvet
• silk
• burlap
• cotton balls

Goals: Tactile awareness

Quilt box

An assortment of fabric squares that are same size that have snaps on each corner that they can snap together to make a quilt

Goals: Fine motor skills and problem solving

Sewing box

• fabric scraps with holes punched through
• large safe yarn needles threaded with yarn
• scraps with buttons sewed on and button holes
• scraps with zippers or snaps sewed on

Goals: Fine motor sills, problem solving, eye hand coordination

Explore box

• magnifying glasses
• seashells
• rocks
• laminated leaves
• laminated dried flowers
• pieces of bark

Goals: Manipulation, science, tactile awareness, visual discrimination

Plastic objects box

• soda bottle
• mikl bottle
• bubbles bottle
• small transparent square container
• condiment dishes
• lotion bottle
• various detergent bottles
• plates
• bowls with lids
• pitcher with lid
• cups
• cookie cutters
• measuring spoon
• ice container

Goals: Dramatic play, language skills, pouring, stirring

Bookmaking box

• paper
• crayons, markers, pens, pencils
• hole punchers
• yarn
• needles to sew book

Goals: Writing skills, problem solving, creativity

If anyone decides to use these activities with their children in a home school environment or in a nursery, preschool or kindergarten I would love to her how it goes.

Enjoy!

Blocks and block play as discussed in the previous posting, block building for early childhood education is very varied and can be enjoyed at home or in a school environment.

In the previous post we talked about stages of block play, presenting the blocks, rules of block play and clean up tips.

In this post I am going to discuss the learning that takes place during block play.

As I placed a picture at the top of this post depicting some standard block signs children  using when playing with blocks, I will discuss those first.

Reading and Blocks Play

If you are working with preschool and kindergarten age children you are probably trying to include as much pre reading exercises into their play during the day.

One of the ways to do this is by labeling.

Children learn to recognize whole words when items are labeled in the classroom or at home and this idea can be transferred to the block area.

There are two types of block signs you can make for the children.

A simple piece of tagboard attached to a  crafts stick, either thick or thin, and stuck into a  piece of plasticine does the trick.

Or else just take a larger piece of tagboard fold it in half and rest it on the floor or blocks that way

Either way if you will notice, the signs are written in clear, legible, manuscript writing. When the children have created a building or other structure you can step in and offer to make a sign for them. Once they get used to this idea, they will ask you for them. If you store the cards in a special box the children can go get the signs they need which is an excellent reading activity.

The more signs they have and need to search for, the better the reading experience.

Math and Blocks

Wooden unit blocks were actually created with mathematical concepts in mind.

Each block is some fraction of another.

It starts with the quad. The next one down is the double unit which is 1/2 of the quad. After that is the unit around which the whole block system is based. You need 4 units to make one quad.

If you are involved and aware f the children when they are playing it is great to be able to sit down with them and ask them questions about the various blocks and which make what.

It’s also a great idea to get the children used to using the names of the blocks.

Aside from these  simple concepts there are so many other mathematical activities that can be used with blocks and I will just list some of them without detailed explanations of how to use them.

• space
• shape
• size
• order
• number
• fractions
• weights
• length
• depth
• width
• height
• mapping
• symmetry
• quantity

Maybe in later post I will try to put together even more guided activities you can do with some of these concepts. But until then just keep these concepts in mind so that you can add activities that will include those concepts during their block play.

Science and Blocks

Adding certain items to the block area allows you to bring in science concepts as well.

If you add pulleys with ropes and containers these make wonderful elevator experiments.

Adding dry cell batteries with lights are enormously popular with young boys

Any old pieces of machinery especially with switches and knobs excites their curiosity and encourages exploration.

Special Accessories for the Blocks

In most well stocked block areas you will have the usual blocks, block people and some vehicles.

It is when you start adding some of your own extra accessories that encourages the children to start new types of building and makes it more exciting. Especially if the interest has tapered off.

Some things to add would be,

• simple small pieces of furniture variety of lumber scraps
• colored cubes
• small containers
• toy animals

This short list is just a few suggestions to show you how you can add familiar objects to enhance their block play.

Of course you would not add these all at one time but just as the need arises.

Tips to add interest

Sometimes kids lose interest the blocks and below are a few things that can help spark new interest and revitalize the area.

• If the children are used to lots of accessories, remove them all for the day and see what happens
• Girls building day: As boys tend to dominate this area, have the boys leave the blocks for the day and let only girls in.
• Tape off areas on the floor for different children to have as their space for block building
• Give problems to be solved like build a house with windows of with ramps that go up and down. (these assignments should only e given to experienced builders)
• Give a few children each the same amount and shape of blocks and let them each build something. It’s like giving children collage materials and allowing them each to create at their own level.

After the children have created their structure try to allow the structures to stay up for a few days as they can keep adding and playing with these structures. If you can’t do that of course take pictures and the children can refer back to them if they want to make it again.

Another thing they can do with these pictures is make their own books about them.

Be careful to choose a protected area for the block play as far removed from the main traffic as possible. You may want to put a piece of tape on the floor delineating where they can build unto.

Remember that all of this takes time and effort but it is well worth it.

Allow sufficient time for cleanup and just know that you can always order blocks out of sets. They are available open stock.

I hope to add more guided assignments for block building in a future post.

Happy building.

Block building is NOT just for early childhood, kindergartner and nursery classrooms.

As you can see above, here are some old unit blocks that I still have in my home from when my children were little.

As you can see they are quite old and well used.

I had been an early childhood teacher for many years and was on leave to stay home with my children.

I had very little money and my mother was aghast when I insisted on buying a full set of unit blocks for my kids.

It was  a great choice and while unit blocks and block play activities are indispensable for an early childhood classroom they are great for home schoolers or anyone with young children at home.

I think  you can tell from the image what type of blocks I’m talking about (even though they don’t look so nice and clean) but when I speak about block building it is for the specific type of blocks called unit blocks.

If you have never come across unit blocks and are confused as to what they are exactly compared to other standard blocks, than you can check out over here the different block types.

Unit blocks that are used for block play when block building yet have so much learning that can be taking place during the play,and I’d like to share some of it with you.

As there is so much to talk about with blocks I am going to divide this topic into 2 posts so its easier to read.

The first post will deal with some of the stages to expect in block building, storing and presenting the blocks,tips for getting kids to clean up the blocks and rules of block building

The second post will deal with specific activities to do in the block area and during block play, activities that tie into math and reading and accessories to add to block play.

Stages in Block Building

Believe it or not children do go through specific stages and Harriet Johnson from The Art of Block Building (I think the only copies left are collectors copies)
explains them simply

1. Blocks are carried around by children under 2 and not really used
2. At age 2-3 building begins. Mostly horizontal and vertical stacking
3. Bridging. They use 2 blocks with a space between with a 3rd connecting
4. Enclosures
5. Decorative patterns appear. Symmetry is concentrated on
6. Buildings get named
7. Dramatic play is tied into block play

I am just giving you these stages in order for you to realize that there actually ARE stages to this activity.

Now remember. These stages are not cut in stone, not every child goes through them at the same rate  as sometimes they go through the stages so quickly you don’t  even see them all.  (”Oh Hey was that a stage they just went through?”)

Presenting the Blocks

• Blocks should be stored lengthwise so children can see the sizes. A full range of sizes and shapes are available with unit blocks that you can buy individually through many preschool and kindergarten supply companies  and if you’d like you can see a unit block size and shape chart.
• The heaviest and longest blocks should go on the bottom. Try no to overcrowd.
• If you have the specific block shelves that are sold by school furniture companies then you can cut out the shape of the block by tracing around the block onto a piece of construction paper and paste it onto the space where those blocks should go.
• It is much better to have more of the basic unit shapes than many of the odd shapes that are available with these sets.
• Make sure to put your shelves with blocks in it near an open space that is not too crowded that the children can build comfortably in.You can find some more info here about  setting up the block area

Rules of Block play

The same way art needs rules like no eating glue or cutting peoples hair, block play has guidelines that need to be adhered to.

• No hitting ANYONE with a  block (pretty self understood would you think?)or writing on them
• Don’t build too close to shelves
• Don’t take blocks form other kids buildings
• Don’t build too close to another ones building
• No knocking down other buildings
• No walking on blocks
• Children need to know how high they can build, so set this one up according to your specifications
• No hoarding. Take blocks as needed (unless a particular child really needs to take some next to him/ her to build)

Clean up tips

Clean up can be fun with blocks and other times there are children who didn’t even play with the blocks who actually like to clean ‘em up (I know it’s hard to believe but it’s true)

1. Give timely warnings. Like  5-10-minutes left until cleanup
2. Acknowledge the building before cleaning up. For work and effort, design, patterns etc. If you can’t leave it up and the child is very sad about it, take a picture of it before they take it apart.
3. Help with clean up. Yup that always works. I’ve even seen with my kids at home that when I help, it gets done.
4. Have children do different jobs. Example: Shirley, you do the units, Matthew, you do the 1/2 units etc. OR everyone pick up  x amount of blocks or now everyone do units and now quads, or lets fill up this shelf first.
5. Let children make piles of 3-5 blocks on floor first of same shapes and then have kids each find piles of “5″ blocks to put away.
6. Let children move blocks on chairs (bulldozers) or trucks to the shelves

Remember block pickup can be fun.

Next post I will be talking about the learning that goes on during block building activities but if you want to check out some of these articles you will certainly learn from them.

Opportunities for learning by Harriet Cuffaro who was actually my teacher in Bank Street College way back in the 80’s and Blocks, math and literacy

If you want to check out longer pieces on block play as opposed to just some articles you can check out these 2 wonderful books Block Play and  Teaching Numeracy, Language, and Literacy with Blocks

Even though there are many places that sell unit blocks I see that Amazon sells a small starter set called Melissa & Doug 60-Piece Standard Unit Blocks

But if you want to go with a  more substantial set I would try one of the the other sets from Amazon Unit Blocks – 110 Piece Set

So that’s it for this first post on block building. It gives me great memories writing this as I remember the pleasure I got out of my own children and my students playing with these wonderful blocks.