A Picture

Over the past couple months, the preschoolers and toddlers have been playing on the playground at the same time. Before, they went out separately. Anyway, since last Thursday, a few of the preschoolers have started to like me. It started when Crawling Baby’s sister wanted me to help her up on the swinging bar on the swing set. We talked about Crawling Baby, preschool and other things. Then a girl who I’ll call T came over. I saw her before during one of my observations. There are a few issues going on with her. Most of which surround her bullying other kids. She also wanted a turn on the swinging bar and while she was up there, she started to be mean to Crawling Baby’s sister and ended up kicking her in the face. Later that day, she came back over to me because she wanted me to push her on the regular swings. I notice that T gets mad when I need to play with the toddlers or if I’m busy with another preschooler especially Crawling Baby’s sister. Those two always seem to argue. There is also a boy who I’ll call G who likes to talk to me when I push him on the swing. The other day he told me how he got past being in the baby room, the toddler room and how now he’s a preschooler. He tells me about his favorite books and the favorite books of his classmates. He talks about watching Sponge Bob and how he can’t pump on the swing yet, but he’s trying. I tried to listen to his stories the other day, but I kept getting interrupted by the girls arguing or one of the toddlers who needed my help.

I’ve been going in every day since last Thursday, so the preschool girls have started finding me every day on the playground. Two of them asked me why I always have to work with those toddlers and why don’t I work in their classroom? Today, I finally did for a little while, but T wasn’t there. I say that because she was the main one who kept asking me that. Since my bad experience at the previous preschool, I was hesitant to work with these preschoolers which is why I’ve mostly insisted on working with only infants and toddlers. I did miss working with them though and the conversations we used to have. It’s been fun working with the three different groups because they’re all good for different reasons. Here’s a picture that Crawling Baby’s sister drew for me today. She filled in the whole paper and there are some little designs in there. The important part is that she made it for me and worked on it for a while. While everyone else was arguing or going a little crazy, she was focused on coloring her entire paper.

Weekly Favorites for August 21, 2011

I have a short break from school so I'll try to post some things in the next couple of weeks. Here are my favorites for the week. Enjoy...
1.
Water Fun Round-Up: Ocean and Sea Creature Activities and Crafts
A round up of ocean themed activities.

2.
Bubblewrap Print Sea Scape.
A sea themed craft.

3.
DIY Rainbow Crayons
How to make rainbow crayons at home.

4.
Flowers and Fairies Sensory Tub
A creative idea for a sensory tub.

5.
Surprising Things that Babies Might do if Given the Chance.
An informative post written by Janet Lansbury about how much babies can do on their own if they have the opportunity.

6.
Making Hard Sand Castles
Sand castles you can actually decorate and keep.

7.
Eric Carle Inspired Birthday Cake
An Eric Carle inspired craft.

8.
Science Experiments
A list of basic science experiments for young children.

Weekly Favorites for August 14, 2011

I am now able to do my weekly favorites posts again. Here are some of my favorite posts I’ve found over the last month and a half. There are a lot so I’ve divided them up into categories. I hope you enjoy them.




Arts and Crafts
Hot Rocks
Seashell Snails
Glitter Jars
Soap and Toothpick Sculptures
Shell Crafts
Glow Art
Healthy Food Placemat
Seashell Crabs
3D Ice Cream Art

DIY
Busy Baby Blocks
DIY Fun Learning Toys
How to Make Sand Beads
Make Your Own Flannel Board

Foods
If You Give a Cat a Cupcake
Beach Ball Sugar Cookie Recipe
Fun With M&M's
Ice Cream Cone Cupcake Recipe
Painting on Ice Cream
Felt Hamburger Building Station
Edible Crayons
Strawberry Fun Games

Play-dough
It's Play Time: Play-dough
Glow In The Dark Silly Putty
Natural Herbal Play-dough
Ice Cream Play-dough
Blueberry Sparkle Play-dough
Science
Glow Sticks Thinking Outside the Box
Water Beads and Light
More Air Bubbles in the Ice

Sensory
Pond Sensory Tub
Squishy Bag - A tactile/multisensory approach to pre-writing and writing skills
Homemade Moon Sand
Bug Sensory Bin
Clean Clouds
Ocean Sensory Bin Shaving Cream and Shells
Sensory Ocean Beach Pictures
Advanced Squishy Bag
Cloud Dough
Bright and Colorful Sensory Bags for Preschool

Water and Nature Play
Around the Web Water Play
Ice Treasures
Marble Water Launcher.
Tools for Water Play
Ice Melting Bags
Ice Cube Bead Necklaces
Mud Bakery
Icy I-Spy
Preschool Science and Sensory with Balloons and Water
10 Reasons Why We Should Let Children Play in the Mud

Water Play

Since this week’s theme is the ocean, we did some sensory play with the babies. We were supposed to let them play in the mud today, but we decided just to start off with sand. It was in a low sensory table, but the babies were having trouble standing, holding on and trying to play with the sand. So we decided to take the tub out of the table and put it on the ground. This way they could sit in it. While most of the babies were napping this morning, Baby L and Baby K were the first ones to try it. Baby K freaked out and didn’t want anything to do with the sand so we put her in the swing. She loves the outside swing. Baby L loves the sand and he kept putting it into his mouth. He kept playing with a shovel and a turtle scoop. Eventually, we had to take him out because he was eating way too much sand. The sand turned out a little like mud since the tub was still wet from the water that was in it yesterday.

Then this afternoon, the classroom supervisor brought in some seaweed. Since seaweed dries out quickly, we added water to the tub, but we dumped the sand back into the sand box. This was also nap time for most of the babies. Babies J, K and L were awake. Baby K freaked out even worse this time so she went back into the swing. Baby L loved the water. He kept splashing and splashing. The water would get all over him and the ground which made him laugh. He tasted the seaweed and I wondered what he thought of it. It couldn’t have been that good. Baby J also tasted the seaweed, but he wasn’t as excited about the water. He splashed around a little bit though. I was disappointed that Baby C and Crawling Baby didn’t get to play with the water and seaweed. I would’ve liked to have seen their reactions.

Then when I was about to leave, they were setting up a painting project and tomorrow, they will get to color and play with the mud. The babies are having a busy week.

Assignment: My Daily Supports

To me, someone who supports you is someone who is there for you when you need them. It’s someone you can share your problems with. It’s someone you can depend on to be there emotionally or if you need some other form of support. An important part is to make sure that you return that support in whatever way you can.

My two biggest supporters are my mom and boyfriend. My mom is there when I need something. I can talk to her about things. She supported my decision to go back to school and encourages me. She occasionally helps with the bills when we can’t cover it all. I don’t drive so she takes time out of her day to bring me where I need to go. She occasionally makes food for us for no reason. There are a lot of things she does. She gives me advice even when I don’t want or need it, but I suppose that’s what mothers do. Without her, things would be very different.

I can talk to my boyfriend about anything. He gives me advice or support when I’m going through a rough time. He helps around the house with the chores and cares for our pets. Of course, he helps me with the bills too since we couldn’t afford our place on our own. He supports my decision to continue my education and I can talk about my classes with him. He’s also in school and understands what the work is like.

I try to support them as well by being there if they need to talk or helping them with whatever they might need.

I started volunteering and substituting at a different center in February. This was quite a change from what I was used to. I was meeting a whole new group of people and by my request; I started working with a new age group. Over these past few months, some of my new coworkers have been supportive. I was able to talk to one of them about a problem I was having with another of the substitutes. A couple of them support me by teaching me the things I need to learn to do the job instead of just doing them for me. Sometimes when new people come in, the people who have been there for a while sometimes take over instead of teaching the new person. I appreciate my coworkers that take the time to show me something or let me try something new.

A huge challenge would be if I had to move away and start over completely. I’d be away from my supports. I’d have to start work in a new place and go through the process of getting to know new people and learning the procedures at a new center. I’d have to find a different apartment and find another way of traveling from place to place. I’d have to build up new supports over time. It wouldn’t be impossible, but it’d definitely be a challenge.

Learning Something New

I know I haven’t written about the babies in a couple of weeks. I’ve been busy with work and school. Lately, at the end of the day I don’t feel like writing. My weekly favorites have been missing as well because it was quicker and easier for me to get them using the twitter client I have to use. That hasn’t been working properly for a while so I haven’t had time to go through my tweets manually from the website. Anyway, I hope to get back to blogging regularly soon, but if I’m not writing much it’s because I’m busy.

The babies are doing well. Baby L is now crawling. His new favorite thing is to look out the window and bang on it. He’ll sit in front of the window and babble to himself. Today, we tried letting him walk with a push toy, but he’s not ready. He doesn’t understand that he has to put one foot in front of the other. He was fascinated with how the wheels turned on the toy. He kept spinning the wheels and rolling the toy back and forth. Most of the time, he was hitting me with it, but at least he was enjoying himself. He’s also been introduced to a lot of new foods in the past few weeks. He was extremely picky before, but now he’ll eat just about anything. Another game he likes now is when I role a ball away from him, he’ll crawl after it. He’ll bring the ball back to me so we can play again. He’s also replaced Crawling Baby at the gate as you come into the room. He likes to stand there and see what’s going on. We have to move him every time we want to get in or out.

Crawling Baby is now walking. I saw him take a few steps a few weeks ago. Now he’s almost running, but he usually falls because he’s going too fast. Yesterday, he grabbed my hand and we walked around the room a few times. He got new shoes this week which he loves. We know this because he doesn’t even try to take them off. He didn’t like the sandals he had before. I think the shoes give him better balance. Anyway, he likes to walk back and forth across the room from me to the couch. He’ll do that with anyone who will sit and wait for him. In September he will be transitioned to the toddler room. It’s crazy that he’s moving up already. Today he got to play with shaving cream and some paint. He liked the squishy feeling of it and got it all over the place.

Baby C is also crawling now. She also walks while holding on to things. She was having fun walking in front of a push toy today. She’s also learned to clap her hands which she does often. She’ll babble when I clap her hands for her, but when she does it herself, she’s very quiet like she’s concentrating. She’s teething right now so she wanted to snuggle for most of the day. I also played games with her and Baby L on the big ball where I’d lift them over the ball and back down to the floor. I’d sit them up on the ball and bounce the ball while holding on to them so they wouldn’t fall. They seem to like anything to do with the big ball.

Baby K has gotten better about being at the center, but I haven’t seen her much. She’s leaving later in August. Baby M and Baby J can sit up by themselves now, but I haven’t seen much of them either. Baby M naps a lot when he’s there. He’s also slower to warm up to unfamiliar people so he doesn’t interact as much with me except when it’s my time to feed him. He doesn’t mind that, but he squirms a lot and it takes a while for him to finish the bottle. They are all growing and learning so fast. By the next time I see them, I’m sure they will have learned something new.

Assignment: My Connections to Play

"Creative play is like a spring that bubbles up from deep within a child."" - Joan Almon
“Play is the highest form of research.” - Albert Einstein


When I was about four or five, my favorite toys were my dolls and kitchen set. I had a ton of accessories for the dolls. I enjoyed pretending to care for the babies. I named them all and there were a couple that I took everywhere with me. Before I could remember, my grandmother got me my first doll. My mom and grandmother told me that I couldn’t stand the feeling of her hair so they had to cut it off. After that, I’d actually play with the doll, but when I was about five, I got a new doll that I called Kelly who was my favorite for the next couple of years. The last thing I remember about playing with those two dolls is dressing them up in my old baby clothes. I also had a few sets of blocks that I played with often. I’d build houses, roads, castles and cages for my plastic animals. I’ve always enjoyed creating things and I’d usually start projects by myself. I’d use cardboard boxes, paint, paper scraps; anything really that I could make something out of.






For outdoor play, my favorite thing at home and preschool was the sand box. At preschool, there sand was full of clay. I remember finding as many pieces of clay as I could and putting them in a bucket. My grandfather built my sand box at home. There, I’d spend hours building sand castles, filling buckets of sand and making roads. Many of my memories of play took place outside. In elementary school, my favorite place to play was the beach with my best friend. We’d either go to a beach by her house or another beach in town. We swam, got knocked over by ocean waves and walked along the beach looking for shells and sea glass. I had quite a sea glass and shell collection back then. In the winter, I remember playing in the snow. I’d help my mom shovel, build snowmen, make snow angels, jump into snow banks and slide down big hills. I think I’d be a different person today without all those play experiences. I think children need a variety of play experiences to make them well-rounded.



Photo found from here.

Unfortunately, these days, children don’t get the same opportunities to play. Much of their time is taken up by technology, structured activities or sports and many children don’t even live near their friends. That makes it hard for them to play outside of school. Parents have more safety concerns than ever before. Whether they are valid or not, they are a big reason for keeping kids inside. At school, there is no time left for play because of the push for learning math and literacy at an earlier age. Children are less connected with nature now. I learned a lot from playing in nature when I was a kid because nature is hands on and can be experienced with all the senses. Today’s children don’t get enough time outside and most of the ones who do stay in playgrounds. I hope that children can start to connect with nature, explore natural settings like beaches or the woods and that they have a variety of play experiences instead of only with video games or the small amount of time they might get at school. My hope for the future is that play can be returned to children’s homes and classrooms.

Relationship Reflection

When thinking about this assignment, I realized there weren’t many people to talk about in my relationship reflection. I used to be close to my grandfather before he passed away and I had a few close friends during school, but we’ve grown apart over the years. They have their own lives now. It’s difficult to maintain relationships when the people are moving in totally different directions. There are a couple of people I’ll talk about here who are important to me. This is weird for me because it’s hard to put the way I feel about these relationships into words. It’s not something I’m used to talking about.


My boyfriend, Carlos:
I can talk to him about pretty much anything. If I have a problem, I can ask for advice. He supports me in the things I want to do, makes me laugh and helps me out with whatever comes up.

Then there is my mom. She’s a kind and hard working person. She was there for my brothers and I when we needed something. She’s always pushed me to do my best, has been my advocate throughout school and I can also ask her for help if I need anything.

Other important people in my life are the children I work with. At each place I’ve worked at, there are always one or two children who I really connect with. First, it was Maddie and Shy and now it’s Crawling Baby and Baby L. It’s not that I want to show favoritism or that I don’t like the other children because I do, but there are always a few who stand out. These children have all been different, but they are the reason I like my job. They have entertained me, taught me new things and I’m always happy to see them.

I’ve always had better relationships with animals than people because animals love unconditionally, they aren’t judgmental and they provide comfort. When you’ve had a bad day, they know it and can cheer you up. This has been the case since I’ve had my first dog, Sully. He was abused by previous owners, but we took him in and showed him a good home. He was sensitive, but protective.



When I lost Sully, my cat Doorknob became my best buddy. Seeing him could always put me in a better mood. I left home for my first semester of college. The night I came home for the holidays, he jumped up in my lap. That was the only time he ever sat in anyone’s lap. It was obvious he missed me. I have so many great memories of him.




My current pets are cats named Diamond and Mellow. I’ve had Diamond since she was a kitten and Mellow since he was one year old. Diamond especially has a strong bond with me. She gets mad if I leave for any longer than a few hours. They run to the door and are happy to see me when I come home. They provide me with entertainment, joy, comfort and friendship. In return, I give them a good home and make sure all their needs are being met.


I’m lucky to have these amazing people and animals in my life.

Make Him Laugh

Today, the babies were busy. I played with Baby L and Crawling Baby for most of the morning. Crawling Baby played in the tunnel, bounced on the big ball and walked around with a push toy. He’s getting even better at walking. He was able to walk while hanging on to the couch. When he got to the end, he grabbed the bouncer and finally was able to walk towards the window. He likes watching the kids and when I went over to him, he cried for me to open the door. He wanted to go outside, but it wasn’t very nice out this morning. We played peak-a-boo with the big ball which he thought was funny. A lot of stuff we do is repetition from day to day or week to week, but that’s what the babies need.

While I played with Baby L, Crawling Baby was busy reading. He likes to flip through books and babble to himself. It’s funny to watch because sometimes he’ll look at the same book and babble for at least ten minutes. Lately, he’s been showing more of an interest in books. For a few minutes, he was sharing his book with Baby L. It was sideways while they were looking at it, but they kept feeling the textures on the pages. Baby L would try to take it away, but I did my best to keep it between them so they could both look at it. They didn’t mind. I don’t expect them to share because they don’t understand how, but as long as it wasn’t frustrating them, I thought it was okay. For a long time, Baby L played with different rattles and spinning toys. I found a mini phone on the shelf which I was going to give to them, but when I tried to see if you could lift up the phone, the thing snapped in half. Luckily, no one noticed and I just shoed it to another teacher who threw it away. I figured it was poorly made since I didn’t pull the phone that hard.

During lunch, I fed Crawling Baby. He was so disappointed with the soft tacos that he barely ate and eventually, he put his head down and fell asleep. At snack time though, he wanted more and more yogurt. After two bowls, we decided that was enough because he wouldn’t drink his milk either. Since he still seemed sad and tired, I’d make funny faces right before each spoonful of yogurt to make him laugh. He usually tries to feed himself, but luckily, after a couple of spoonfuls, he realized that he couldn’t pick yogurt up from the table. He started to cry again later because another teacher had wiped his nose. He hates things like that. Anyway, he was standing holding on to the couch and my hand and I was sitting half way on the couch. I purposefully slid off the couch to make it look like I fell and he thought that was so funny. He pulled my hand to help me up and we started all over again, but this time, he’d pull my hand to make me fall off. Finally, he saw Baby L standing in front of the mirror so he went over there and almost knocked him over.

Baby L can use the shelf or the wooden bar in front of the mirror to pull himself up. He did that for the first time today. Baby C can also walk holding on to the couch, but instead of crawling, she roles everywhere. They brought out one new toy that I thought was cool. It’s an inflatable duck that you put water in and there are little things floating around inside. The babies liked watching the floating things and hitting the duck so the water made a little splashing noise. That’s the closest thing to water play we’ve done so far except Crawling Baby finding some puddles outside. Overall it was a pretty good day.

Music and Sand

Today I spent a few hours with the toddlers, but since there were a couple extra teachers, I spent most of the time in the classroom cleaning and taking care of other things while the kids were either napping or outside. Towards the end of the day when there were only two kids left, one of the girls decided she wanted to play the drum. It’s a medium sized drum with two sticks. We both took one. Her drumming was loud of course so I showed her that she could drum quietly as well which didn’t last long. She kept trying to put the sticks back into holders on the drum, but she couldn’t quite push them in. I’d get them started for her, but then she realized it worked better if she pushed them in with her foot. We also tested what the sticks sounded like when moved across the drum and on three different balls. After a while she pushed them away and went back to loud drumming with both sticks. One of the supervisors came in and told her that she loved her music. They had one of those stability balls in the room so she loved bouncing on that too. She thought it was fun to fall off. This girl usually gets into trouble almost every day, but today she was doing great. She didn’t get in trouble at all and on the playground, she skipped around telling everyone how happy she was.

I stopped by the infant room to see if the teacher in there needed help. Crawling Baby came over to the gate and started to whine at me so I picked him up and talked to him for a few minutes. When I went to put him down, he started to cry so I tried to get him to play with a couple toys, but then the teacher suggested I take him to the sand box. He was happy out there. He liked watching me shovel sand into a bucket. I’d do it in different ways. Sometimes, I’d slowly let the sand fall into the bucket or quickly dump it in which he thought was funny. I started to dump the bucket because I thought he’d enjoy seeing the big pile of sand, but he didn’t want me to. He wanted me to keep shoveling and patting. I started to tell him about the texture of the sand when he spotted his mom on the preschool playground. I held his hands and we walked over to her. She told me how much Crawling Baby loves the sand box, but I think he was glad to be going home.