A Little Autonomy

from If I Understood You, Would I Have This Look on My Face?

I've been reading the book If I Understood You, Would I Have This Look on My Face? by Alan Alda (yes that one). It's a book about communication, mainly his exploration of how to help scientists communicate their ideas more clearly with non-scientists. It's a great book about communication in general and I found many things that triggered my thinking as I thought about communicating with young children.

But the above quote definitely caught me. Play is all about giving the children some autonomy...and allowing them the joy of discovery. How can you give kids some autonomy, some say in what they are doing and learning? How can you give some independence? How can you recapture your own joy of discover?

The Moment You've Been Given

I read this quote regarding our day to day lives and our work. But I think it really applies to teaching preschoolers. Too often we get caught up in what we are trying to teach or communicate or do. Or we get focused on what we want to help children build or discover for their future lives. We forget to focus no the now, to be present in the moment and truly experience that moment with children.

Who they are and who you are will not be the same later in the day or tomorrow. The moment will be different - not necessarily better or worse but different. Experience each moment fully without getting hung up on what's next.

What's the Focus

from Purposeful Play

I watched a child carefully select the bricks she needed to complete her house. Then I watched her create landscape for the yard. She's executing a plan, expressing ideas, engineering her vision, developing spatial skills. This is what she needs now.

What kids at this age need most is time and space to explore their world.


*reflections on Purposeful Play

Play = Writing

Making meaningful marks on paper

Communicating your own ideas

Making plans, organizing thoughts, telling what you know

Check out these posts:

It's Our Plan

Writing Center

Writing to Communicate

Dry Erase Boards

White Boards Again

I'm Making My Own Map

Purposeful Writing

Writing with Bamboo Pens

Painting with Oil

Drawing Together

Clipboards in the Blocks Center

I Like Wot evr this is

Deepest Thinking

I love talking with preschoolers. They make me think. They make me see things in different ways. They make me laugh. They encourage me to look at the world and enjoy it.

Play Is the Way They Work

from Purposeful Play by Kristine Mraz, Alison Porcelli, and Cheryl Tyler

The job of children is play. They do not need to be taught to play...or to learn for that matter. They are born doing it and it is their natural way to gain knowledge about the world around them.

Play is not the opposite of work. It is (and should be) intwined with work, the work of true education and learning.

Play = Math

Sorting, matching, grouping, classifying

Counting, moving spaces, patterning

Exploring symmetry, exploring volume, exploring shape

Check out these posts:
Hands-on Graphing
Math Play
How Many Blocks Long?
Rocks and Scale
Add a Little Math
Lids as Counters
Life Sized Board Game
I Detect a Pattern

Curse of Knowledge

For more about the Curse of Knowledge, see Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath

Once you know, you cannot unknow. You cannot put yourself in the place of someone who doesn't have the knowledge that you have gained.

We build our knowledge and understanding upon what we've experienced plus insights (from those experiences). If kids haven't had experiences or built previous knowledge, they cannot understand. And they don't grasp understanding just because we've "explained" it.

Play = Engineering

Creating a plan and executing that plan

Experimenting and exploring to solve problems

Building, creating, failing, trying again


Check out these posts:
It's Our Plan
Cube Blocks and Free Play
I Watched a Builder
Expand the Possibilities
A Cube Out of Cubes
Legos on the Table
Lids Usage 2
Heavy Duty Problem Solving
Competence and Confidence
Anything Is a Possibility

Play = Self Expression

The freedom to explore and express their own ideas

The freedom to use materials in their own ways

Drawing, writing, building, moving as they choose

Check out these posts for more ideas about self-expression:

Walk Upside Down

Cube Blocks and Free Play

Practicing Punching Holes

Wasting Paper

Anything Is a Possibility

Individualized Learning

What's In a Name?

Knowing names and using names are key to developing a strong classroom community. Also, since a child's name is the most important word to him, names are key teaching tools for literacy, math, and more.

(See my related post on EdWords blog: Foundation for Social-Emotional Learning)

Designing Space

I love this quote from Frank Lloyd Wright. And it makes me think about my kindergartners and my space. Each year my classroom changes somewhat to meet the people (kids) using it. Our learning environments must match our kids and incorporate their personalities to make it most effective.

The Exile of Play

from Creative Schools

Play is the way that preschoolers learn about their world. Don't exile it from your classroom.

Shaped by Experiences

from Bridging the Relationship Gap

What atmosphere are we creating for children? What are we doing to create an engaging and interesting world in the classroom? What are we saying and doing that creates a positive learning environment?



(Check out Enhancing Young Minds' online book study on Bridging the Relationship Gap.)

Ignored Is Still a Success

If children made choices, explored, decided what to do and not do, learned something new - then the day was successful. Even if they totally ignored something I put out.

(And they were all over the tape when I put it out the next week.)

Play Is Choice

from Free to Learn

True play is directed by the child (or the player, regardless of age). They choose what to play, how to play, when to change the play, and when to stop the play. If it is not self-directed, then it's not truly playing.


(More quotes and reflections on Free to Learn by Peter Gray.)

Subordinate Agenda

Read more about this in my post on EdWords

While I may think about activities and choose resources...while I may think about what will happen in the classroom...while I may see lots of possibilities for learning, my thinking and planning should take a backseat to the thinking and exploration of my kids. They will explore and experiment to make sense of the world and of their own ideas/thinking. I must be willing to relinquish control of the learning.


*(My friend used the cube blocks to spell PIXAR.)

Becoming Effective Human Beings

from Free to Learn

Through play kids practice and master life skills and other skills. Through play kids learn to work together with others and to work independently. Through play kids develop knowledge of the world. Through play kids learn to think, question, test, and conclude. 

I'm reading and reflecting on Free to Learn this fall.

Don't Get in the Way

I have lots of good ideas about what kids can do with materials. I have some fun plans for how things could be used. But I should never let my good ideas interfere with their great ones. Their curiosity and exploration lead to more learning that my ideas could.

LIttle Learning Machines

from Free to Learn by Peter Gray

Children are ready to learn. We may get in the way by what we do.


(I'm reading and reflecting on Free to Learn this fall.)