You Have To Watch If You Are Or Wish To Have A Play Based Program!

[melilley]

I remember that I responded to a thread a couple of days ago about someone being confused about play based programming and whether or not they were. There were a lot of responses, including from me. This video shows a true play based, child led program. It is awesome.
Now only if we all had the space to do something like this!

https://vimeo.com/28871572

[childcaremom]

Oh my. Love it!

My dd was watching with me and wants to go there

A lot of great ideas. Thanks for sharing!

[Josiegirl]

That left me speechless. *I* want to go there!! The gondola, the custom built table where the kids can get right inside.....just everything!!

Bev Bos, isn't she the Ooey Gooey lady?

[childcaremom]

That left me speechless. *I* want to go there!! The gondola, the custom built table where the kids can get right inside.....just everything!!

Bev Bos, isn't she the Ooey Gooey lady?

Right! The gondola is so amazing. I've started checking kijiji for stuff

[Unregistered]

Wow what a beautiful place. Makes me wish I had a center and not provide care in my rental home so I have more opportunities to build things like this and foster more exploration

[kendallina]

So great, thanks for posting. I was able to see her speak once at a conference and she's so inspiring, love it!

[mommiebookworm]

Love it!

[Unregistered]

That left me speechless. *I* want to go there!! The gondola, the custom built table where the kids can get right inside.....just everything!!

Bev Bos, isn't she the Ooey Gooey lady?

No, Lisa Murphy is the O G Lady! Both are great creative souls!

[Josiegirl]

Oh thank you!! I should've known that.
I'd love to see either one at a conference. Both are great!

[originalkat]

That was an awesome place! I get nervous around so much clutter (even if it is enriching) so I would love to expand on this but in a little more organized or simplistic way. But I do LOVE it. Thanks for sharing!

[LindseyA]

This is absolutely amazing! Makes me dream for sure!

[kendallina]

That was an awesome place! I get nervous around so much clutter (even if it is enriching) so I would love to expand on this but in a little more organized or simplistic way. But I do LOVE it. Thanks for sharing!

I do agree with you, my mind doesn't function well when there is so much clutter.

[kendallina]

I've been thinking about this video all night... I'm so torn between two things...

It's so inspiring to hear Bev speak and just to think of how simple it is to allow children to have independence and control over their day and what materials they use and how they use them. At one point, she was showing a cute little hidden space and said that a child could choose to have a little snack in that space by herself. This sounds so lovely and ideal and what I think it shoud be like, HOWEVER, I am tasked with preparing children for kindergarten. I run a preschool in a college town (lots of professors kids). Most of my children go on to public school.

So, I am responsible to make sure that children are able to follow directions, participate in a group, recognize and can write upper and lower case letters, know their letter sounds, etc etc etc. I help them learn table manners, passing items, pouring milk. I DO run a play-based program and make sure that we're learning all of these things through play, we don't do worksheets or anything, but it's still not as 'ideal' as what she does.

Everyday, I run a small group activity that is teacher led and yes, pretty much the kids have to join me. I make them come to morning meeting and circle time at the end of the program (they all want to come to these things anyways, but when they first start, I sometimes have one that is reluctant and I pretty much just tell them they have to...ha, so they do). I feel like if I didn't plan art activities I have some children that would NEVER do art. They wouldn't learn cutting or gluing skills.

There are all of these things that I feel like I'm responsible for 'teaching' them or at least giving them experiences with because I feel like they should be prepared and confident when going to kindergarten. I would LOVE to just let them make their own choices all the time and encourage such freedom, but I just don't see how it's realistic. I wouldn't have clients if they didn't leave here ready for kindy.

Sorry for my ramble, does anyone else feel this way??

[Josiegirl]

While I absolutely love what she offers, most of it isn't realistic in my setting because of mixed ages and a couple very sneaky kiddos. And let's face it, she doesn't live in her daycare when the kids aren't there. I cannot let the kids just go at it with paints whenever or wherever(I can see it now, Picasso prints all over my walls) or scissors( I do not want their child to cut their hair at dc, would rather they try that lil trick at home) Plus as much as I love the idea of kids having special lil hidey places, that's where I can see someone getting into trouble. Can anyone say playing doctor? It sounds like she has helpers that work with her and I'm by myself. I can't supervise everybody being all over the place at the same time.
But I'd love to make some changes based on some of her stuff. Like her lending library, love that idea! And I need to add more plant life(and hope I don't kill it). We're going to do veggie plants in pails this summer outside, a bean teepee, some smallish planter boxes with flowers in them. All those things the kids will expected to help care for, I'm going to plant grass in tires and place it near the outdoor road/town we're going to have. I've always been afraid everything will get uprooted and destroyed but the kids can touch, smell, feel, water, and if nothing grows, well it'll be no worse than last summer. No fencing them out of gardens this year.
Was it in this video where it was mentioned that swinging is good for brain development? Loved her swing by the way! I was thinking of doing away with our tire swing but the kids love it so I guess I'll keep it.

The parents' meetings that they were talking about...were they like a parent/teacher conference or was it all the parents getting together with Bev? That would be kinda cool, just to have meetings with everyone together, to discuss changes, ideas, etc.
So, those are some of my thoughts.

[Gemma]

While I absolutely love what she offers, most of it isn't realistic in my setting because of mixed ages and a couple very sneaky kiddos. And let's face it, she doesn't live in her daycare when the kids aren't there. I cannot let the kids just go at it with paints whenever or wherever(I can see it now, Picasso prints all over my walls)

I have to agree with josiegirl....lovely but would never work for me