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May your new year bring new wonders, new joys, and new growth in caring for children!
Welcome to this month's issue of the Better Kid Care E-Newsletter - A newsletter for those caring for children.
Notable Quote:
"Child Honoring is a 'children first' approach to restoring communities and ecosystems; it views how we regard and treat our young as the key to building a humane and sustainable world." ~ Raffi Cavoukian
We provide a variety of trays for children to use for many different ideas. One is to hold their collections, especially outside collections. They love being scavengers outside and placing the found items on their own tray to bring back inside and show everyone (particularly Mom and Dad at pickup). The children also like to use trays to hold their play work, like sculptures, art projects, buildings, puzzles, etc. For this, we provide a variety of sizes they can choose from. We keep the trays in an area they can freely get to and often ask the children if they need a tray for their work. It’s fun to see what they decide to use the trays for. Ask parents to save their old cookie sheets, pizza pans, Styrofoam trays, sturdy cardboard boxes, etc. We were lucky to receive trays from a cafeteria that updated their kitchen and got rid of all their old cafeteria trays.
-- Contributed by Anonymous Early Educator
Where do you find the best ideas on caring for children? From early educators and practitioners, of course! Do you have a great tip or good thing? Send us your best tips in writing and your tip may end up in our newsletter! If your tip is chosen for the newsletter, you will receive a little something from the Better Kid Care Program. Mail tips with your return address, place of work, and the number and ages of those you care for to: Better Kid Care Program, c/o Christine Belinda, 253 Easterly Parkway, State College, PA 16801or E-mail crb16@psu.edu
by Christine Belinda
Last month's featured e-newsletter article highlighted the learning connections made through play. In researching play and learning, the term "loose parts" continued to come up. A first thought for "loose parts" might be small items, choking items, or items needing tightening; but this is not the concept play experts are getting at. Instead, "loose parts" is a wonderful term coined by architect Simon Nicholson, who carefully considered landscapes and environments that form connections.
Nicholson had a theory about loose parts: "In any environment, both the degree of inventiveness and creativity, and the possibility of discovery, are directly proportional to the number and kind of variable in it." Nicholson believed that we are all creative and that "loose parts" in an environment will empower our creativity. Many play experts and early childhood educators adapted the theory of loose parts. How does the term “loose parts” fit into caring for children?
Giving meaning to loose parts
Giving meaning to loose parts requires us to think about the possibilities of how a child learns and consider the materials and environments she uses. Loose parts create endless possibilities and invite creativity. For example, if a child picks up a rock and starts to play, most likely that rock can become anything the child wants it to be. Maybe the rock will become a fish, truck, person, or tool for digging. The freedom provided invites the child to think about and choose how he wishes to use it. This is one way of considering loose parts.
Open-ended
A term strongly connected to loose parts is "open-ended." Can the materials or environment we offer be used in many ways? Can it be used in combination with other materials to support imagination and use? Are the materials freely accessible? Think about what items you offer children and ask the above questions.
Consider how often children enjoy bringing materials from one area to another and making connections, such as the child who brings pretend food from the dramatic play area into the block area or the child who brings us a plate of rocks and grass and shares his recipe for spaghetti: How creative! It may take a very open mind on our part, but when children cross play materials and areas in creative ways, it is our responsibility to support and encourage their work and ideas.
Found objects
Another term associated with loose parts has been "found objects": items that can be found by children naturally and where experimentation occurs physically and mentally. Nature is an excellent source for found objects, such as water, dirt, leaves, and open spaces. Found objects stir children's imaginations to create, manipulate, and imagine. Adults can support the availability of found objects by making sure the environment is "ready to play" with open-ended materials that will inspire and provoke thought.
Loose parts can be natural or synthetic. It is helpful to think of loose parts as something that will help children inspire imagination and creativity on their own terms and in their own unique way. Children will freely choose what to use and how to use it, rather than being told what it is or how they should use it. We can provide a wide array of natural and manmade loose parts for children to use.
Here are some examples of loose parts:
In natural play area: |
In a playground: |
In room environments: |
Water |
Balls |
Blocks (and other building materials) |
At a recent holiday gathering, two young children were fortunate enough to receive many holiday gifts and toys. While observing the children at the family gathering, the parents noticed that the children spent the most time doing three things: eating, playing with their aunt’s long necklace of large beads, and pouring water from cup to cup and floating carrots in the water. Yes, the toys were played with, but the most time and joy came from the eating, playing with the beads, and experimenting with the water.
It is in this free exploration and creation from the child that we can see their concrete ways of thinking and doing, or as the famous psychologist Eric Erickson put it, we can see their “natural genius of childhood and their spirit of place.” The cleverness and connections to formal learning that unfold from loose parts is amazing and is a motivation to make sure we include loose parts in our early childhood environments, whether they are a home care, center care, or group home care.
Invitations
Loose parts allow for cross reference and interaction of not only materials, but ideas, spaces, environments, and each other. By providing children with loose parts, we are providing an invitation to the most wonderful types of play and learning; play that creates an intimacy and respect for the competency of children and learning that is pure self discovery.
Safety first
Always consider safety when offering materials to children. When offering water play of any kind, constant supervision at an arm’s length away or closer is needed. Be aware of choking hazards for children under the age of three; use a toilet paper roll or choke tube to test size of materials. If they fit into the tube, do not use them with children under the age of three.
Learn Lots on Your Time
Enjoy the following highlights from one of the many Better Kid Care Distance Education Lessons. Participate in Distance Education training in the convenience of your home.
Better Kid Care Distance Education Program awards:
PA Department of Public Welfare required hours
Click on links for more information
Great Learning Material is All Around YOU!
The things that really encourage children’s creativity are not fancy plastic toys with all the bells and whistles. The best toys are the simple ones. Watch children at play with an empty cardboard box. They use their imaginations to make it into anything they want. This type of toy is called an open-ended one, meaning children can use the toy in many ways. Architect Simon Nicholson believes that children need "loose parts," his name for many open-ended objects. When children have loose parts around they exercise their creativity.
Yard sales and thrift stores, as well as boxes in your attic, can be wonderful sources of great learning junk. Discover the many ways you can add loose parts to your child care program. Preview and register for the distance education lesson Junk Makes Great Learning Material.
To view a complete listing of all Distance Education Lessons and additional information and resources, visit the Better Kid Care Distance Education page.
New Distance Education Lessons!
Better Kid Care has developed more new distance education lessons to add to your professional development record. The five new one-hour lessons can only be completed online as web-based lessons.
Preview new lessons by selecting titles
Update Forms and Instructions -- If you have received educational materials prior to November 1, 2006, please download REQUIRED updated forms to use when submitting assignments and also check the list of discontinued lessons that are no longer accepted for professional development.One-Hour Lessons
Making a Great Day for Babies (K2C1) CDA 5
Making a Great Day for Toddlers (K2C1) CDA 5
Play Dough: The Best Recipe for Fun and Learning (K2C1) CDA 2
Math Can Be Fun (K2C1) CDA 2
Adventures in Multicultural Cooking: Taste Bud Travel (K3C1) CDA 5
Better Kid Care will continue to develop high quality resources to meet your professional development requirements. If you have any questions or experience problems accessing mail- or Web-based registration forms, please contact the Better Kid Care Office at 800-452-9108 or email: betterkidcare@psu.edu.
Mealtime Memo for Child Care includes activities that child care providers can share with children in their care, as well as cycle menus incorporating USDA recipes, and other resources. Published twelve times a year, Mealtime Memo offers useful information on topics related to feeding infants and young children, nutrition, and child development. Issues can be shared with providers or parents. Mealtime Memo for Child Care is published in PDF format and posted on the NFSMI (National Food Service Management Institute) Web site where it can be accessed and downloaded for printing.
Turn the Page Reading aloud with children is a wonderful activity. Children of all ages love to be read to. Support the love of reading for children in your care by trying the following books on best friends:
George and Martha: The Complete Stories of Two Best Friends, by James Marshall, published by Houghton Mifflin, ISBN-10:0395851580, ISBN-13: 978-0395851586. Learn the ups and downs about friendships with George and Martha.
Toot and Puddle: You Are My Sunshine, by Holly Hobby, published by Little, Brown Young Readers, ISBN-10 0316365629, ISBN-13: 978-0316365628. Toot and Puddle are two special pigs. Puddle is worried about Toot and his case of “doldrums.” Their friendship shows us we are truly never alone.
Ernest and Celestine, by Gabrielle Vincent, published by William Morrow & Co. Ernest the bear and Celestine, the little mouse, lose Celestine’s stuffed bird in the snow. This event leads to the actions that caring friends do for one another.
Ton and Pon: Two Good Friends, by Kazuo Iwamura, published by MacMillan Publishing Company, ISNB-10: 0027475107, IsBN-13: 978-0027475104. Two different size friends figure out how to do a job together.
Amos and Boris, by William Steig, published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, ISBN-10: 0374403600, ISBN-13: 978-0374403607. A fun story of friendship between a mouse and a whale.
Contact your local children's library or your local Penn State Cooperative Extension office to find out about more books on making friends and child care. Reading with children creates lifelong readers. Enjoy your time reading with children!
Interested in professional development opportunities? Take a look at the following professional development training available for early childhood practitioners:
Did you know? In order to receive Act 48 credits, you need to access the Pennsylvania Department of Education Web site at www.pde.state.pa.us to receive your PERSONAL IDENTIFICATION NUMBER. Bring this number to your professional development workshops and conferences.
For more professional development opportunities, visit the PA Keys online calendar.
Send Us Your Questions - Do you have a question on any of the satellite workshop topics listed below? Send them to us! If your question is chosen to be read and answered during a satellite broadcast, you will receive a gift certificate to Redleaf Press. Submit questions two weeks prior to the satellite broadcast date via e-mail (enter Subject Line: Satellite Question), fax 814-865-7893 or mail directly to Better Kid Care, 253 Easterly Parkway, State College, PA 16801.
March 29, 2007
Your #1 Priority: Keeping children healthy and safe
K7C1 - Topic Code 77 / CDA 1
April 26, 2007
How to Turn Good Play into GREAT Play
K2C2 - Topic Code 15 / CDA 2
Join with other early childhood practitioners in experiencing satellite workshops, offered in Pennsylvania and across the United States. To participate in these workshops, visit the Satellite Workshop link.
Are you looking for articles to share with your families? Do you need information for your parent/family bulletin board? Family Time / Work Time shares easy-to-read articles for busy parents and caretakers with a focus on Building Strong Families.
You are welcome to print and share these publications with your friends, family, and other child care providers.
Enjoy the following from Family Time / Work Time: December 2006
Building Strong Families
Celebrate Each Other
At the beginning of a new year, people often take time to stop and think about their lives. They make New Year's resolutions to set goals for themselves for the upcoming year. This is also a good time for families to celebrate each other. Think about every member of your family and what you mean to each other.
Click on graphic to read entire publication
Providers in the Child Development Associate (CDA) Program
Better Kid Care can help you obtain your CDA -- Although Better Kid Care does not offer a CDA program at this time, we offer professional development training accepted by the Council for Professional Recognition to meet the 120 hours of formal early childhood education required to obtain a CDA credential. These one- and two-hour distance education lessons are coded and categorized for CDA. To view a complete listing, please visit the Better Kid Care Distance Education page.
New TEACH CDA Information:
As of December 1, 2006, T.E.A.C.H. will offer Child Development Associate (CDA) Assessment Scholarships for individuals applying for the CDA Credential. This scholarship model provides financial support for the CDA Assessment fee and a bonus upon earning the Credential. Eligibility requirements include employment in a Department of Public Welfare (DPW) certified child care program and a commitment to remain in Early Childhood Education. T.E.A.C.H. CDA Assessment Scholarships will be available for any CDA candidate that has already applied and/or will be applying for the Credential between July 1, 2006 and June 30, 2007.
For more information e-mail Michelle@pacca.org or call 877-51-TEACH.
For information regarding Child Development Associate, visit our CDA page or contact Christine at 814-865-7894 or email crb16@psu.edu.
Do you have questions about caring for other people's children, such as:
Call the Better Kid Care Mentoring Line at 800-859-8340 or e-mail your questions to betterkidcare@psu.edu for information about child care and children's issues.
Better Kid Care Kit - Need ideas in your work caring for children? When you enroll in the Better Kid Care Program and sign up for the Better Kid Care Kit, family child care providers will receive several free publications in the mail. Family home child care providers will also receive The Basics of Caring for Children in your Home notebook to organize and store your Better Kid Care publications. Have you signed up to receive a Better Kid Care Kit yet? Complete our online registration form or call 800-452-9108 to order.
Notebook Contains: Tip Sheets, Activities Pages & Lunch and Snack Ideas
All publications are available online to print and share with your friends, family, and other childcare providers. Select issues are also available in Spanish.
New Staff Orientation curriculum is specifically designed for new staff members in child care centers. Meets the Keystone STARS Performance Standards. Order at no cost by calling 800-452-9108. Prepayment for review of each Orientation is $5.00. If you received materials before November 1, 2006, please download new Instructions and REQUIRED Forms.
Home-Based Caregiver Orientation - Meets the Keystone STARS Core Series Training Requirements. Order at no cost by calling 800-452-9108. Prepayment for review of each Orientation is $5.00. If you received materials before November 1, 2006, please download new Instructions & REQUIRED Forms.
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View archived Better Kid Care E-Newsletters
Upcoming February E-Newsletter:
Look for information on Partnering with each other; the map to collaboration
We would love to hear from you! We want the Better Kid Care E-Newsletter to be informative, useful, and inspiring to you! Please contact the Better Kid Care Program with your ideas. Is there something you want to see more or less of? What information is most important to you? What topics are you interested in? How is the newsletter helpful to you? E-mail your ideas to crb16@psu.edu or call 814-865-7894.
