Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Wordless Wednesday: Up Close
We visited the zoo in Omaha this past weekend and Tray got so excited to see all of the animals, especially the big cats!
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Wishing you a pot o' gold, and all the joy your heart can hold. Thanks for reading!
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
365 Letters Week 3
Photos 15-21 are up for week 3! I mentioned my old computer biting the dust right? Ha, yeah, grr!
Wishing you a pot o' gold, and all the joy your heart can hold. Thanks for reading!
Wishing you a pot o' gold, and all the joy your heart can hold. Thanks for reading!
Oh, the Places You'll Go
A short while ago I wrote a post about unstructured creative play and all of the places I wanted to take Tray and let him explore. Here is my list I would like to complete before classes resume in the fall, some of which might have some structure and educational aspects to them but for the most part are a place where he can decide how to define his activities!
Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo - visited 7/10/11 and he loved it especially the big cats, pics coming soon!
Reiman Gardens - in town of our alma mater ISU!
Iowa Arboretum and Children's Garden
Jester Park Natural Playscape
Science Center of Iowa - ok, this may be more for mom than Tray!
Iowa Statr Fair - as long as we're showing cattle and horses, we'll be there every year; Tray loves the animals!
National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium
Crystal Lake Cave
Minnesota Zoo - hopefully on a trip to visit uncle Matt
Minnesota Children's Museum
Where have you/are you planning on visiting this summer? Any other ideas for places to explore?
Wishing you a pot o' gold, and all the joy your heart can hold. Thanks for reading!
Reiman Gardens - in town of our alma mater ISU!
Science Center of Iowa - ok, this may be more for mom than Tray!
National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium
Crystal Lake Cave
Minnesota Zoo - hopefully on a trip to visit uncle Matt
Minnesota Children's Museum
Where have you/are you planning on visiting this summer? Any other ideas for places to explore?
Wishing you a pot o' gold, and all the joy your heart can hold. Thanks for reading!
Parten's Categories of Play
I have taken Tray to a playground in the town where my college is located a few times and after he has exhausted himself out on the slide and starts playing in the sand, I find myself people watching. It's interesting to me to watch different children (almost all older and more mobile than Tray) play and interact and it turned the magic light bulb on for this post. In my developmental psychology class we discussed Mildred Parten's research regarding the correlation between children's play patterns and their social development. The research grouped play into six categories which illustrated the degree of children's social development. it fascinates me to be able to see concepts and research come to life (call me a geek, it's ok!)
1. Unoccupied behavior describes the child who doesn't really seem to be playing but watches anything of momentary interest. This is my son when we first arrive on the playground; he likes to sit back and take it all in before he makes a decision about what he wants me to help him play on. He watches the other children, the trees, the cars entering and leaving the parking lot and after a while points, grunts and attempts to tell me what's interesting in his little one and two words sentences.
2. Onlooker behavior describes the child who spends most of the time watching other children play, may talk to them, but does not enter into the play. I've seen several little ones engage in this type of behavior, so intent and curious but not ready to make the move.
3. Solitary independent play describes the behavior of children who play alone with toys or objects that are different from those used by children near them but they make no effort to join in the other children's play.
4. Parallel play describes the behavior of children who play independently among other children and who play with similar toys as used by the other children (although not necessarily in the same way). They tend to play beside others without influencing the other children's play. This is the play my son assumes after his unoccupied behavior. I've seen so many children around his age do the same thing, all relatively close to each other but playing away in their own little world rather uninterested or shy.
5. Associative play describes behavior of children who play with others, taking, borrowing and lending toys, following others, and deciding who is playing in the group. Children engaged in this category play similarly is not identically, there is no division of labor or organization surrounding any goal in the activity. The children appear to be more interested in being in the company of the other children than in the actual activity that is going on.
6. Cooperative or organized supplementary play describes the behavior of children who play in groups organized around a goal, rather it be to make something, play a formal game, or dramatize a situation. One or two children control who belongs in the group and also direct the activities, the others in the group take on different roles, supplementing each other's efforts. The last time Tray and I were at the playground a group of little girls were cooperatively playing together and just listening to the level of organization of the game astounded me; they couldn't have been older than 8 but the amount of rules to remember had me guessing!
Socially, Tray is cautious but he is also 15 months and after a given amount of time spent observing he generally decides to explore what interests him. I've also found that on different days he plays differently which is perhaps dictated by his perception of the uncertainty of a situation. How do your little ones play?
1. Unoccupied behavior describes the child who doesn't really seem to be playing but watches anything of momentary interest. This is my son when we first arrive on the playground; he likes to sit back and take it all in before he makes a decision about what he wants me to help him play on. He watches the other children, the trees, the cars entering and leaving the parking lot and after a while points, grunts and attempts to tell me what's interesting in his little one and two words sentences.
2. Onlooker behavior describes the child who spends most of the time watching other children play, may talk to them, but does not enter into the play. I've seen several little ones engage in this type of behavior, so intent and curious but not ready to make the move.
3. Solitary independent play describes the behavior of children who play alone with toys or objects that are different from those used by children near them but they make no effort to join in the other children's play.
4. Parallel play describes the behavior of children who play independently among other children and who play with similar toys as used by the other children (although not necessarily in the same way). They tend to play beside others without influencing the other children's play. This is the play my son assumes after his unoccupied behavior. I've seen so many children around his age do the same thing, all relatively close to each other but playing away in their own little world rather uninterested or shy.
5. Associative play describes behavior of children who play with others, taking, borrowing and lending toys, following others, and deciding who is playing in the group. Children engaged in this category play similarly is not identically, there is no division of labor or organization surrounding any goal in the activity. The children appear to be more interested in being in the company of the other children than in the actual activity that is going on.
6. Cooperative or organized supplementary play describes the behavior of children who play in groups organized around a goal, rather it be to make something, play a formal game, or dramatize a situation. One or two children control who belongs in the group and also direct the activities, the others in the group take on different roles, supplementing each other's efforts. The last time Tray and I were at the playground a group of little girls were cooperatively playing together and just listening to the level of organization of the game astounded me; they couldn't have been older than 8 but the amount of rules to remember had me guessing!
Socially, Tray is cautious but he is also 15 months and after a given amount of time spent observing he generally decides to explore what interests him. I've also found that on different days he plays differently which is perhaps dictated by his perception of the uncertainty of a situation. How do your little ones play?
Wishing you a pot o' gold, and all the joy your heart can hold. Thanks for reading!
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Another one bites the dust...
A few days after I wrote my last post, my Dell decided to keel over and die. It started with my power adapter shorting out toward the end that connects into my computer and then the power button itself decided to retreat inside the screen slot, like a scared turtle. So I packed it up and visited my nearest Geek Squad location (which is approximately 55 miles away) thinking I would just buy a new power adapter and have the computer sent in to get the button fixed. Hahaha, right. My Geek Squad guy, who was very helpful, informed me that it would be nearly as much as I paid for the computer to fix the button and buy a new cord. Seriously? I can't believe it is that labor intensive to replace the button! I realize there is rewiring to do once you get the computer apart but is it really that difficult? Apparently. I am thankful my squad member was able to work his magic and retrieve things I needed off of the computer because it wouldn't even turn on (I wonder what really goes on behind those black curtains at Best Buy?) I had a TON of edited pictures saved from Photoshop but they were only able to recover the original pictures before being edited...sigh. Next time I will remember to change the format so they can be rescued should anything happen!
Long story short, I ended up having to purchase a new computer and picked out a Toshiba! I'm really excited to get things loaded onto it and start working with it; school has kept me busy with a presentation and the holiday weekend was spent with family, good food and of course fireworks! This has not been as productive of a summer as I would have hoped, but I'm crossing my fingers that this changes in a couple weeks! Hope everyone had a wonderful July 4th!
Wishing you a pot o' gold, and all the joy your heart can hold. Thanks for reading!
Long story short, I ended up having to purchase a new computer and picked out a Toshiba! I'm really excited to get things loaded onto it and start working with it; school has kept me busy with a presentation and the holiday weekend was spent with family, good food and of course fireworks! This has not been as productive of a summer as I would have hoped, but I'm crossing my fingers that this changes in a couple weeks! Hope everyone had a wonderful July 4th!
Wishing you a pot o' gold, and all the joy your heart can hold. Thanks for reading!
Saturday, June 18, 2011
New 365 Pictures
I've been hoarding these photos and finally have a chance to put them up; more coming soon! On a constructive note, does anyone know of a widget or something else I can use to better organize the photos on the page without having to arrange them in a single line? Thanks in advance!
Wishing you a pot o' gold, and all the joy your heart can hold. Thanks for reading!
Wishing you a pot o' gold, and all the joy your heart can hold. Thanks for reading!
Unstructured Creative Play
Play is an important aspect of development for humans just as it is for animals. Our society today focuses on structured activities and planned time for children such as sports music lessons, extracurriculars and school. Less emphasis is placed on unstructured, creative and natural play in which children have the freedom and time to use their imagination, senses and truly be children. The American Academy of Pediatrics acknowledged the need for unstructured creative play with a report promoting a balanced lifestyle in terms of the type of activities child partake in and how children are affected later in life. Those with time balanced between structured activities and unstructured activities developed character traits for success. Our society is one in which life is hurried, technology reigns and toys instruct us how to play. The amount of time children spend engaging in unstructured play and natural play outdoors has decreased significantly since our parents were children.
Unstructured creative play has many benefits including helping children to manage stress, and reach important social, emotional and cognitive milestones. It allows children to create their own rules and games, not follow a preset. What children learn for themselves through unstructured, creative play is important and cannot always be provided by parents, teachers, coaches etc. According to Tom O'Leary, author of RetroActive: Skip, Hop and You Don't Stop (Games We Played), a book compiling over one hundred old school games from the seventies and eighties, unstructured, creative and natural play teaches children:
Wishing you a pot o' gold, and all the joy your heart can hold. Thanks for reading!
Unstructured creative play has many benefits including helping children to manage stress, and reach important social, emotional and cognitive milestones. It allows children to create their own rules and games, not follow a preset. What children learn for themselves through unstructured, creative play is important and cannot always be provided by parents, teachers, coaches etc. According to Tom O'Leary, author of RetroActive: Skip, Hop and You Don't Stop (Games We Played), a book compiling over one hundred old school games from the seventies and eighties, unstructured, creative and natural play teaches children:
- How to resolve conflict through compromise
- How to be fair
- How to be tolerant
- How to adapt
- Teamwork
- To trust
- To learn to take chances
- To learn to laugh and not take themselves too seriously
- That they are children and play is fun, as it should be
Wishing you a pot o' gold, and all the joy your heart can hold. Thanks for reading!
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