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Lately the new obsession at my house is grinding the chalk on the sidewalk to turn them into dust. They aren't drawing, just using one piece of chalk over and over in a line until they have huge piles of dust. I'm not one to control play choices, but this so wasteful and dirty and it just bugs me. Is there any advantage to this developmentally that I should continue to let them do this or can I make them stop? Haha I know it's a silly question just can't make up my mind. If it makes any difference, it keeps them very busy!
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I got tired of micro-managing the chalk play here too...
Some of my pre-Kindy kids are obnoxious about it and doing similar things as yours...
I curbed it by allowing only X amount of chalk per week. You ruin it or crumble it up and that is all there is this week....you'll have to wait until next week when I dole out a couple pieces again.
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As long as it's not being eaten I am ok with it!! It's definitely annoying but it occupies them and is clearly common
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I had to do the same thing as BC with the chalk and the bubbles. You get so much per week and when it's gone, it's gone.
I hate having to manage play, but I had to put some limits on just being destructive to things. they were whining yesterday they don't have any more bubbles and Ihad to remind them that they dumped them all into the water tables and they are gone. had some upset kids, but hey live and learn. You want bubbles to blow, don't dump all of them in the water table.Comment
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This is the answer! With bubbles, I put a child's name on their container to prevent them from taking someone else's when they dump theirs out. It fixed the problem. With chalk, you can pick up pencil boxes for next to nothing-put each kid's name on one and they use their own chalk...they're much more likely to take care of it when they know that's all they get.I got tired of micro-managing the chalk play here too...
Some of my pre-Kindy kids are obnoxious about it and doing similar things as yours...
I curbed it by allowing only X amount of chalk per week. You ruin it or crumble it up and that is all there is this week....you'll have to wait until next week when I dole out a couple pieces again.Comment
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I do this with markers and crayons during the school year.
Some kids take care of their materials and others don't so... I just bought separate pencil boxes and each kid gets their own. If someone wants to break their crayons, take the wrappers off or smoosh their marker tips, that's on them but the other kids don't get stuck using stuff they didn't ruin.
Works great with many things.
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I like all the suggestions and will be using these in the future if I encounter these problems ☺️👍Comment
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Since I have a Montessori-inspired program, one of my constants is "We use our toys the way they are meant to be used." Any abuse of materials means the materials go away. Repeated or egregious abuse means the materials won't come back out again for a while.
But I lead by example--I make a show of getting the material out, frowning with deep focus at it
, and narrating aloud as I use it. Then I "notice" that the kids are watching and turn the material over to them.
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same here. I have limited children in the use of some equipment or supplies. I explain it to parents as a K readiness issue- appropriate use of classroom materials.Since I have a Montessori-inspired program, one of my constants is "We use our toys the way they are meant to be used." Any abuse of materials means the materials go away. Repeated or egregious abuse means the materials won't come back out again for a while.
But I lead by example--I make a show of getting the material out, frowning with deep focus at it, and narrating aloud as I use it. Then I "notice" that the kids are watching and turn the material over to them.
If they were just scribbling, I don't see that as waste. Maybe allow this activity with the 'chalk stumps' in ONE location and they aren't allowed to use the newer/full chalk pieces just grinding them down? I can see it being beneficial for fine motor skills, either way.Comment
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So this statement (bolded) got me thinking about what you said to Ariana yesterday about a child's unorthodox method of playing with something.... how do YOU handle a child then that plays in a manner that isn't how the toy was meant to be used?Since I have a Montessori-inspired program, one of my constants is "We use our toys the way they are meant to be used." Any abuse of materials means the materials go away. Repeated or egregious abuse means the materials won't come back out again for a while.
But I lead by example--I make a show of getting the material out, frowning with deep focus at it, and narrating aloud as I use it. Then I "notice" that the kids are watching and turn the material over to them.
I'm heavily influenced by many of the Montessori and Reggio approaches but the "proper" use of materials and toys isn't something I've been able to wrap my head around so I'm always curious how providers/programs handle that idea in the context of group care.Comment
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So I didn't read all the comments
I used to do this as a kid and mix the chalk dust with salt and make "sand art" and it was unbelievably fun for us =)Comment
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So there's using an object creatively (mixing two sets, engaging in narrative play with the objects, stacking the objects instead of sorting them, etc.) and there's using an object inappropriately (scraping cars along the wall, biting the nesting blocks, etc.). Hard-core Montessori discourages both, but I only discourage what I consider to be abusive play.
I've got a small program and I've only been doing this for a year, but so far I've seen a few kids who are consistently destructive, and all the others have enjoyed learning how to use the materials. That doesn't mean they all stop ever being destructive, but I think it does help reduce the mayhem. My philosophy is that it's worth the extra effort on the front end to avoid chaos on the back end.Comment
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I would let them do this to a point but yep if it got over the top and this all they do with the chalk and they were going through a box full a week even after we had talked about it I wouldn't let the chalk crunchers have chalk or I'd give them their own few pieces.
I think it would be a great, fun activity and mixed with water ups the FUN factor. So it really would depend upon how much they were going through. Chalk is cheap and I see lots of learning going on. Breathing in all that chalk dust is a bit worry some tho!!!
I can see kids being very engaged with this and it has value but I'd put some boundaries on itComment
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yeah, we do this and they make fabulous hand prints with it! If we have some water out there we dump it in. We love gooey sidewalk chalk! It really doesn't bother me.
To me that is an appropriate use of sidewalk chalk.
But, as others have said, I do not have an endless supply. I buy 2-3 boxes a year.Comment
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