Showing posts with label pretend play. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pretend play. Show all posts

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Tell Me a Story

From a child to a parent, there may not be another request that warms the heart more than this one. In that one sentence, there is such simplicity and trust. Take me on an adventure. Let's use our imaginations together. There are no rules. There are no expectations.

I have to remind myself often of the latter. Although I am a children's librarian, I am not a born storyteller. I can build interest and excitement in a great picture book or even a mediocre one, but inventing a story--and delivering it simultaneously--is not my forte. My husband, however, is great at it. Even I occasionally ask him to tell me a story. I love the way he weaves a few little details from our lives into an otherwise fictional tale.

Telling a story is really a gift to the listener, isn't it? A gift of time and thoughtfulness and sharing. There is something magical about sitting back and just listening. There is an openness. Knowing this is not pre-planned or written down in a book somewhere. It is new and personal and alive.

Telling stories or reciting stories is also a precursor to reading. So when J asks me to tell him a story, I am reminded of what a fantastic opportunity it is to continue fostering a love of reading.

Last week at the playground, C and J randomly brought the story of The Three Billy Goats Gruff to life in their play. All J needed was to see that the play structure at Sharon Woods had a bridge before he asked C to play the troll living beneath it. I watched, smiling, as J tried to tiptoe across the bridge without waking the troll. Suddenly C leaped out and boomed, who's that tripping across my bridge? J laughed and then listened intently as C instructed that in order to cross to safety, he had to correctly answer three questions.

Watching them, I was so proud. Unexpectedly proud.

I had expected to see them run around and chase each other. I expected them to play hide and seek. I expected them to have fun and run off some of that 4 year-old energy.

But I didn't expect them to share such a creative learning experience. Role-playing, vocabulary, storytelling. It was all there. Things that are usually tied to books, storytime, or rainy day pretend play.

The inner planner in me was surprised to watch this all come about so naturally and effortlessly. It didn't take any planning. It was simple, but it was fun!

And I'm going to remember that the next time J says, Mama, tell me a story.

~~~

Do you have a favorite moment witnessing your child telling stories, or incorporating books and literacy into her play? Please share!

Thursday, April 30, 2009

OMG & LOL!


These days everything is about social media. Twitter. Facebook. Flickr. YouTube. Online gaming. And, supposedly, it's especially true with teens and pre-teens.

In a recent presentation to our library staff, Beth Gallaway (aka the Information Goddess) cited a statistic that teens spend an average of 80 minutes per day chatting and texting.

Surprising? Maybe. It certainly surprised me when this sly, proud face greeted me the other morning.

I was eating breakfast and thought J was playing trains, per his usual morning routine. Not so. He apparently took a cue from my typical morning routine and powered up the computer. He knelt on our office swivel chair from IKEA, hands hovering above the keyboard, only looking up for a brief second when I entered the room.

"Hey", I said. "What are you doing, buddy?"

"E-mail."

"E-mail?"

"Yeah. I typin' to Lulu."

Lulu is a friend's two year-old daughter.

Wow. Just two years old and this little guy is already sneaking time on the computer with the intent to talk to a girl. Am I in for it or what?!!

I will say though, in his (and my!) defense, his #1 favorite thing to do on the computer when I let him sit on my lap is look through our virtual photo albums, calling out who and what he sees and basically reminiscing. His second favorite thing to do is pore over the keyboard identifying the letters and telling me what they're for.

"A "J" for my name! A "H" for hen! A "D" for Daddy! A "Z" for Zebra! A "P" for Papa!"

And, of course, "A "L" for Lulu!"

And that warms my heart. My love-of-reading, literacy-promoting heart. Even when he's reminding me to blog and tweet in moderation, he still makes me proud.

TTYL,
Katie

Sunday, November 30, 2008

Finished Flannel Board

Wow! I started this project over a month ago, and here it is, finally completed! We've been playing with our flannel board since day 1, but just today got around to mounting it to the wall. As soon as it was up, J dropped his tractors and trucks and came over to give it a try. He's multi-purposing those black blobs in the upper right corner; they were jack o'lantern eyes, but as of today they are balloons.
I have the day off tomorrow and I'm hoping to add a few more flannel creations to our bin. We need some more vibrant colors up there! Stay tuned...



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Sunday, November 23, 2008

little bunny foo foo

You know how it seems that not a day goes by that kids learn something new? Well, the new feat in our house is the bunny hop.
Jumping is not only J's favorite way to transport himself around the house and yard, but has also developed into the hilarious new game he constantly plays. Whether it's jumping around the living room, jumping as a dance form, jumping on the bed or sofa, or jumping off of various objects (laundry baskets, steps, chairs), it is the way to go. ;)
Innovation: make your own jungle gym.



The balancing act.





Ha! I'm so proud of myself!





Get ready, Mama, I'm going to jump!




I recently read an article in Wondertime's October 2008 issue about jumping. It had a couple of interesting points about jumping being a developmental milestone, something I hadn't ever thought much about. When J started this jumping craze, I pulled the issue back out to read it again. Here's a portion of the essay:
Jumping might not seems like a remarkable feat, but clearing a puddle requires balance, strength, and the precise coordination of arms, knees, and hips...
Kids learn to jump soon after they learn to run, usually starting at about 24 months. First a child tries taking a single step down a stair, says Dale Ulrich, professor of kinesiology at the University of Michigan. Next she'll explore other kinds of objects "that are jump-offable, then over-able and around-able."
At about 30 months, once kids have the leg strength to defy gravity and the balance they need for landing, jumps become more sophisticated--bunny hops, for instance, that move the jumper not just up but forward.
Happy hopping...

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Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Pumpkin Play

To get J interested/excited about Halloween and pumpkin picking/carving, I made a few Jack'o'lantern flannel pieces. It's kind of fun coming up with different combos!




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Flannel Board Fun

A month or so ago I made a flannel board for J and started making a collection of flannel pieces that he could manipulate and play creatively with. If my experiences presenting storytimes taught me anything, it's that kids FREAK about flannel stories. They are just drawn to them and you can see in their little faces how hard they are trying to stay seated and resist yanking all the pieces off the board. (But, of course, that inevitably happens sometimes, too.)
Well, true to my experiences, J is really taken by the flannel board. (And Daddy and I are too!) We had a few friends over last week for a playdate, and all the kids (from 1 1/2 to 5) were very interested in it. This winter I am hoping to make a lot more pieces. So far, we've basically just got a starter set of a few animals, a tree, a sun, and a moon.
The flannel board is a 20 x 24 artist's canvas that I covered in brown flannel with spray adhesive and some upholstery staples. Once we borrow my dad's masonry drill bits we'll mount it to the wall in the playroom. Easy peasy.
I chose the canvas as the backing because I found one really cheap. I also considered using heavy cardboard, foam-core board, or even a piece of mdf. (Although, for the latter, I probably would have covered it in some batting before stretching the flannel over it.)
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Monday, October 27, 2008

Big Boy

Mama Journal Entry

One day recently Tommy told Rebecca that J is "like him now". I guess meaning that J is not a baby anymore, but a big boy and a friend. J and Tommy (5) play so well together. They are like brothers except they never fight. J does whatever Tommy does--he copycats and likes to make Tommy laugh. It's cute and fun to watch, but it makes me wonder, will playing with someone so much older make J grow up faster? His play is already more imaginative than I expected or thought possible for a 20 month-old. Last week at Rebecca's he found a Rubbermaid stepstool in her kitchen. He carried it to the front room where he was playing trains and used it as a tunnel, chugging the trains along under it and saying "dark tunnel".

And ever since we went to the pumpkin patch and took a hayride with Tommy, J plays hayride at home. He pushes his highchair around the kitchen, or climbs on a chair, or stands on books or a pillow all the while announcing, "Hayride ready! Hayride comin'! C'mon Tommy!"

Like any parent, I hope to do as much as I can to foster his imagination. Yesterday I decided that the key to encouraging imaginative play is to provide J with new experiences. Toys are fun and can be imaginative, but experience gets in deeper and takes root in the mind and the imagination. Had he not felt the thrill of bouncing through the pumpkin patch on a bale of hay on the back of a tractor, he would not be tearing the house apart right now using his Lego table as a 'hayride'.

Watching such a little guy pretend in such a huge way really strengthens the value that my husband and I share of using our money and time on activities rather than things.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

A Whole New World

Well, at our house we have entered a whole new arena of play activities for J. He's been so happy with cars and trucks, books and blocks for some time now. However, it's like something kicked in around 20 months and he's become so interested and excited by little art projects: sculpting with playdough, drawing with crayons and stamping animals. In her blog, the artful parent, Jean posted about creating a portfolio/picture book of her daughter's art projects. I LOVE this idea and hope to do it once we have some more artwork from J.

I found a recipe for playdough online and have made several batches of it over the last month. It's very easy and I feel better knowing that if he gets any in his mouth, the ingredients are all edible. I thought perhaps the homemade type wouldn't last very long, but with storing it in a ziploc bag, it's kept its consistency for a few weeks now. The (super easy) recipe is :
1 c. flour
1/4 c. salt
1/3 c. water
1 t. oil
few drops food coloring

Aside from the art projects, the other new realm of play we are entering into is pretend play. It's just little things right now, like J will find an empty cup or a lid to something and he'll pretend to scoop something into it and then eat it. It's so cute and really makes us realize we've got a toddler on our hands now! I'm looking for ways to help foster and encourage it. I think we may get him a play kitchen for his birthday.