When I Play I'm Learning

I saw this on Welcome to Explore Education. It reminded me of the infants I work with and what they are learning through all the little things they do. It all has a purpose and I wanted to share it on my blog as well.


Caring for the Little Ones - When I Play, I Am Learning
by Karen Miller
Child Care Exchange
When I smile and coo back and forth with a special adult, I am learning I can make
people respond and that I am lovable.
When I play with my hands and feet, I am learning that those things are part of me
and I make them move.
When I turn an object over and over, I am learning that objects look different on
the other side.
When I make my mobile move by kicking the crib, I am learning I can make things happen
by moving my body.
When I crawl into small nooks and crannies, I am learning where I fit and about shapes
and sizes.
When I push objects off the high chair tray, I am learning that things fall downward
and are still there, even when I cannot see them.
When I fill and dump containers, I am learning that I can make exciting things happen.
When I crawl up and down steps, I am learning to coordinate my arms and legs and
balance.
When I push, pull, and haul objects, I am learning how heavy objects are and how
they move.
When I play peek-a-boo, I am learning that things and people exist even when I cannot
see them
When I lift flaps, I am learning to hide things and make them reappear.
When I look at books, I am learning to use symbols and to know that pictures represent
real things and have names.
When I stack objects, I am learning about shapes, sizes, balance, and gravity.
When I fit things inside each other, I am learning the relationship of negative and
positive spaces.
When I play pat-a-cake, I am learning to have fun with someone else.
When I play “Ring Around the Rosie,” I am learning a game with a rule — don’t fall
till the end!
When I imitate the actions of other children, I am learning that I am one of them
and can do things other people do.
When I chant sounds, I am learning the melodies, sounds, and rhythms of my language.
When I stick things in holes, I am learning to line things up properly
to fit.
When I bang objects on the floor, I am learning that things make all different kinds
of noises.
When I push a ball back and forth, I am learning it’s more fun to be with others
than by myself, and it’s fun to take turns.
When I pretend to feed my doll, I am learning what it feels like to nurture someone.
When I say “Hi” and “Bye-bye,” I am learning social interaction and what it feels
like to be a valued member of the group.
When I climb on a climber, I am learning balance and coordination and developing
strength.
When I scribble with crayons,
I am learning that I can make marks by moving my hands, and I can affect the shape
and quality of the mark.
When I line up blocks to make a road, I am learning the relationship of shapes and
to use symbols.
When I play with little people and cars, I am learning what it feels like to be a
giant.
When I dance to music, I am learning to enjoy music and to have fun with others.
When I splash water, I am learning to control this variable substance and create
my own fun.

Assignment Early Childhood Quotations

One test of the correctness of educational procedure is the happiness of the child." Maria Montessori

“Education is a natural process carried out by the child and is not acquired by listening
to words but by experiences in the environment." Maria Montessori

"To Assist a child, "we must provide him with an environment, which will enable him
to develop freely." Maria Montessori

"The moment I decided to follow instead of lead, I discovered the joys of becoming
part of a small child's world." Janet Gonzalez-Mena

“We must be the compassion we wish to see in others!" Janet Gonzalez-Mena

the following quote was from a video called," "The Passion for Early Childhood".
"It made me feel whole. It made me feel creative and so it became my life long work; early childhood education and the passion to make sure that all children were taught in environments and in ways that truly nurtured their ability to grow and to develop to their fullest ability." Louise Derman-Sparks


Other quotes I've found:


"Play for young children is not recreation activity,... It is not leisure-time activity nor escape activity. Play is thinking time for young children. It is language time. Problem-
solving time. It is memory time, planning time, investigating time. It is organization-of ideas time, when the young child uses his mind and body and his social skills and
all his powers in response to the stimuli he has met."
--James L. Hymes, Jr., child development specialist, author

"You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation." Plato

"As astronauts and space travelers children puzzle over the future; as dinosaurs and princesses they unearth the past. As weather reporters and restaurant workers they make sense of reality; as monsters and gremlins they make sense of the unreal.
Gretchen Owocki Contemporary American early childhood educator

"Hands constitute the infant’s first connection to the world. Hands pick the infant up, lay him down, wash, dress, and feed him. What a different picture of the outside world an infant has when quiet, patient, careful, yet secure hands take care of him. How different the world must seem when these hands are impatient, rough, hasty, unquiet and nervous."
—- Emmi Pikler

"School success begins not with learning ABC’s as a preschooler, but with
learning as an infant how to trust and feel secure, explore one’s environment, and form close attachments." ZERO TO THREE: National Center for Infants, Toddlers and Families. Infant Toddler Policy Agenda
"Experts generally agree that taking all opportunities to read
books and other materials
aloud to children is the best preparation for their learning to read. The pleasures
of being read to are far more likely to strengthen a child's desire to learn to read
than are repetitions of sounds, alphabet drills, and deciphering uninteresting words."
-Lilian Katz

Quotes from Preschoolers

Me: “What do you want to be when you grow up?”
Boy: “First you have to go to college.”
Me: “Okay, what about after college?”
Boy: “I want to get a motorcycle and ride around on it all day.”

While reading a story:
Teacher: “Why do you think the mom is in a wheelchair?”
Boy: Because she’s painful.”
Later in the conversation,
Teacher: “How do you think she goes down stairs?”
Boy: “When wheelchairs go down stairs, they go bump bump bump bump!”

Before an art project where kids are supposed to draw their families.
Teacher: “What else do we need to draw to make this a person?”
Boy: “A belly.”
Another boy: “A head.”
A third boy: “Arm pits.”
A fourth boy: “Stinky armpits!”
A fifth boy: “Yeah. Stinky armpits!”

Here are some of my older favorites from past children.
Me: “Can you tell me about this picture?”
Boy: “It’s a pile of dung.”
Then he turns to another boy and says, “Look at my pile of dung!”

Teacher: “Does anyone in your family play any musical instruments?”
Boy: “My dad plays Guitar Hero.”

After giving a girl a plush unicorn before she moved away.
Girl: “Thank you for my friend.”

Me: “What are you doing?”
Girl: “We’re making tomato heads.”

Girl: “Do you know what a fart is?”
Boy: “Whaaaat?”
Girl: “It’s something that smells stinky like poop, but it is
You don’t see it. It just. It does this.” She makes a farting sound.


Me: “Read this book to me.”
Girl: “I can’t read. I can’t read a word!”

Another girl climbs to the top of one of the slides on the playground.
Me: “Can you see the man cutting the tree up there?”
“Girl: I can see him now.”
Me: “why do you think the man is cutting the tree down?”
Girl: “Cause some trees get sick.”
Me: “How do trees get sick?”
“Girl: They’re playing and then they get really tired and then they get sick.”