They beauty of process art is that anything and everything can be used as a canvas. This invitation is stacked recycled cardboard boxes wrapped with recycled packing materials (bubble wrap+ butcher paper) and some materials around the house (aluminum foil). For paint we used Colorations Washable Finger Paints #gifted. Let the child use the greatest paintbrush, their fingers to explore and feel all the different textures, groves, height, surfaces, through painting with their hands. Finger painting is one of the first ways a child explores painting as it is much easier than to hold a brush. At any age, finger painting involves major senses – visual, auditory, kinesthetic – thereby improving the sensory abilities of the child. Since it is such an excellent physical exercise it involves the muscles of the finger and the hand as well as muscles of the shoulder, neck and the back. This makes it a good training exercise for the child to help build skills for painting with tools, cutting and writing. As the child paints it involves exploring colors through mixing and combing, thereby giving ample exposure to color recognition. Painting in any form provides children with an avenue to express their feelings in a visual way, which further helps their social emotional development. The more a child is exposed to different types of art it leads to seeing the world in different ways, becoming more observant, feeling creative and appreciating the different forms of art.

When a child shows extreme interest in a subject matter, creating invitations to build upon their curiosity honors their learning process by letting them be active collaborators. While it may steer away from your planned lessons, curriculum, concepts or theme, activities, invitations, and so on, it provides for a meaningful experience to guide a child's exploration in something they are genuinely curious and interested in. Recently Cy has been fascinated with Dinosaurs and Fossils after reading the the story Dinosaur Lady which explores the daring discoveries of Mary Anning, the first Paleontologist. To extend the literacy experience and honoring his current interest, setting up a sensory bin for a dinosaur dig sight alongside a dinosaur small world play habitat provided an opportunity to make the story come to life. To set up the Dinosaur Dig place Kidfetti #gifted from Children's Factory as the sensory base with a Target Dollar Section Wooden Puzzle Pieces, Fossil Molds, Digging Kit , Dino Skeletons , and a Magnifying Glass. The Dinosaur Small World Habitat consisted of rocks, wood rounds, and Dinosaur Figurines. Through this type of hands on play they can reenact what they see in stories, build comprehension skills, enhance their language, ignite their imaginary, expose their tactile play, and feel empowered to have the ability to discover just like Mary Anning did!

The beauty of pairing loose parts and block play is that it truly provides the opportunity for a child to have limitless opportunities to create a world through their imagination. We know that block play in early childhood is something that is constant and continuous throughout the many stages of their development. As they grow by adding loose parts to be on hand, it encourages to deepen and extend their play. This type of play with loose parts lets the child truly shape and create according to their own vision. Since loose parts are so versatile, they can become anything and everything. For this type of play you can really use any type of blocks and loose parts. What is pictured here are a wide range of materials that I have collected over the years, purchased on FB Marketplace, DIY, or have been gifted. Blocks: KaleidoColor Discovery Wood Blocks Excellerations® Window Blocks Hollow Blocks Rock Blocks Cylinder Blocks Loose Parts: Wood Bits ( DIY Dye ) Grappat Beechwood Community Figure Wooden Peg People Rainbow Wooden Rings Wooden Rings Would you like to see a future post about how to store loose parts?

Cardboard collages are quite possibly one of the most underrated process art invitations. The variations are truly limitless. From different shapes, sizes, textures, to the ability to make 3-D assemblages & sculptures, makes for endless open ended art opportunities. In the past some of my favorites have been a 3-D assemblage with recycled tubes , hearts , shapes , and a mobile . This time around I pre-cut the cardboard into squares and rectangles, glued them together. After I glued some designs on the cardboard to create a textured surface with clear glue .We used tempera paint sticks , water colors, tempera paint , and various brushes to create with. I decided to tape the cardboard collage on the easel in order to paint/color vertically. CY initiated brining out his Lily & River Little Surfer board again to reach up top. A stool would be another great option. Painting vertically encourages 1. Shoulder/Elbow Stability 2. Bilateral Coordination 3. Midline Crossing 4. Wrist Extension/Pencil Grasp 5. Visual Attention and Hand-Eye Coordination 6. Spatial Awareness 7. Sensory 8. Core Strength and Posture. Visual arts deeply affect children, for it is one of the most important forms of communication. Painting at the easel has a fluidity that is different from other art media that children use because when they paint this way, they express and honor their creative artistic style more freely. With open ended painting they are given a foundation to look at the world with the confidence they can accomplish a goal by honoring their creativity.

Finally got around to take Dr. Louisa Penfold’s Light, Shadow, & Reflection workshop . It was a much needed inspiration and I can’t recommend it enough. The beauty of exploring light, shadow, and reflection is that infants to school age children can engage in a myriad of creative ways. From infancy these three components always fascinate any child and it carries throughout their childhood. They are always enamored with the wondrous world of illumination as it is something that they are naturally drawn to, always provides limitless opportunities, and ignites their curiosity/creativity. Through playing with light, reflection, and shadow, children are exploring and engaging in a whole range of theories. As an adult, when setting up these types of exploration we are simply intentionally selecting a wide range of materials that set conditions for supporting the creativity of a child and facilitate opened play. Therefore you can use recycled materials, cookware, art supplies, fabric, mirrors, flashlights, and more to provide endless opportunities of wonder. With this light, shadow and reflection exploration I set our mirrored objects and rainbow colors. Stay tuned for more variations in the upcoming weeks! Here are the list of items: Rainbow Umbrella Acrylic Mirror Rainbow Scarves Rainbow Twirler Stick Reflective Pinwheels Wind Twisting Reflective Rods Large Reflective Discs Mirror Sensory Balls DIY Mobile Hoop

One of my favorite invitations is a simple set up of exploring ladybugs. In my hometown of Alameda we love going to Encinal Nursery and getting ladybugs this time of year. After walking around the nursery and talking about all the different plants we grabbed our ladybugs and set out to explore. To set this invitation we used our #gifted Excellerations magnifying Excellerations magnifying glasses from Discount School Supply , wood circles, leaves, flowers and sugar water spray bottle. At the nursery they told us the ladybugs have a better chance of staying in the area if you sprayed sugar water. Simply let the child observe and explore the ladybugs with their magnifying glass on the different natural materials. With children in the early years the idea of science is to explore, observe, investigate, test their own theories, learn about the world, and nurture wonder and curiosity in anything they do. Our job as adults is to scaffold, answer questions, and intentionally provide developmentally appropriate knowledge when needed in order to support their process. Children are born scientist, they have a powerful capability of figuring out the world, therefore to continue to support their love for learning providing experiences such as this continues to ignite a child's curiosity and wonder.

Did you know that riding a tricycle or bike is a rite of passage for most children in the early years? When young children ride a tricycle or bike they learn, develop, and benefit so many skills. When a child rides a tricycle or bike it improves their coordination and balance moving various muscle groups, promotes development of hand-eye coordination, and enhances their arm and leg coordination as they maneuver getting on and off the bike. All these gross motor movements are great for promoting continuous physical movement and development. As they learn to ride you will see a child beam with confidence as they master finding the way to tackle the challenges of obtaining the skills to ride. With that confidence comes independence to navigate from one area to another on their own, which also will make them more aware of different modes of transportation. While riding the bike, comes falls, bumps, bruises, and scraps. Believe it or not this will instill more safety and self awareness of themselves and those around them, as they will become more spatially aware while building their instincts. With more risk taking (riding faster, over bumps, downhill, uphill, etc.) provides for new skill sets that will lead them to be more open to try new adventures. The MyRider® Chari ot unique design features a cargo bed for hauling which leads to endless play possibilities. Whether it is their friend, stuffed animals, foraged sticks, watering can, loose parts, the cargo bed provides opportunities for a child to use their imagination and be creative to tow whatever they desire.

With so many amazing options out there now, you can either buy or DIY your own infant mobile. I saved Cy's wooden play gym mobile that is easy to alternate different materials such as plush items , hanging toys , scarves , or noise makers . I also made these these DIY mobiles out of embroidery hoops when Cy was first born with various ribbons . It has been so sweet to be able to see how E explores the same mobiles Cy did. Often we imagine a mobile as merely decor or safe place to your baby, while in reality they provide a number of different benefits to an infant. One of the first things mobiles ignite are visual stimulation. An infant’s vision is not yet fully developed when they are first born therefore initially they benefit the most from looking at hight contrast ones such as black and white. As the baby gets older they benefit more from bold shades of blue, red, yellow, and green. The more colorful the mobile is, the more visually stimulating it will be. You will also see as time progresses and continuous exposure, when they become excited enough by a mobile, they are likely to want to follow it with their eyes and engage even more. Mobiles can also help develop an infant’s motor skills. Eventually as they get a little bit older, they will probably want to swat, touch, or grab the mobile which is a great sensory experience, sharpen their spatial awareness, bilateral coordination, as well as hand eye coordination. Relaxation and sound timulation can be provided with a mobile. When they hear the different textures swift and move it helps stimulate and develop the baby’s hearing. The infant baby will learn to follow the motions and expect the toys to move when the music is played or sound is created when the objects move. Another way to engage is for the adult to intentionally talk about different shapes, colors, sounds, animals, textures, and more. Overall mobiles can ignite a myriad of curiosity, stimulation, and developmental benefits. So whether you let them explore on a play mat, changing table, crib, or a DIY one, you can't really go wrong! It can also be a great way to get an older sibling involved and feel validated/empowered to help their little brother or sister play.

This literacy invitation explores the book The Boy with Flowers in His Hair by Jarvis . In this tender moving tale of a friendship, kindness, and acceptance, about a boy who is subject of illness or hardship through the point of view of his best friend. It is told in such a way that children can understand and be inspired to care for others when they face trying times while also celebrating the sweetness and gentleness of a child's love and care. In the story David is a boy with beautiful flowers in his hair that everyone loves and adores. One day he comes to school with a hat because his flowers began to fall. He is left with twigs causing the other children to stay away. His best friend has an idea to create many new flowers to lift David's spirit up. After reading this story you can set invitations to extend the literacy experiences in three ways. First, you can forage flowers outside or use flowers that are almost on their way out. Take a piece of paper and draw an outline of a face. Next invite the child to cut the flowers and freely decorate the hair just like David in the story. Second, provide a large piece of paper where you invite the child to color ( tempera paint sticks ) or paint all over just like David's best friend. Next invite the child to cut out the flowers and freely decorate the hair just like his best friend did in the story. Third, to get the most use out of the flowers, you can repurpose them in a sensory bin with water, utensils, bowls, and cups. You can also add liquid water colors or food coloring for an added twist. Next invite the child to create flower soup! Anytime you extend literacy experiences with open ended invitations that connect the story to hands on play, it deepens a child's understanding and comprehension of a book!

There is no denying that reading and s torytime is a critical literacy and language intervention for early learners for a variety of reasons. In addition to introducing learn new words, sentence structures and modes of communication, read books helps children engage with new perspectives by expanding their imagination. Children’s Factory Mobile Teacher’s Stool with Storage gives teachers a place to sit during the magic of storytime and make these integrals moments with young children as intentional as possible. With the easy roll casters make moving this seat from space to space effortless and engaging. The lower shelves are customizable to help stay organized with felt stories, dry erase markers + board, books, puppets and more which are also essential tools in enhancing language and literacy development. Research has shown children who have lots of exposure with language and literacy experiences absorb the rhythms and patterns of language and, at surprisingly early ages, begin to imitate the language and gestures adults use while sharing stories through books, puppets, felt boards and discussions. At times you will can see a child turning pages and murmuring as they “read” the pictures, renact the stories through play, and continuing to talk about what happened in the book. These are all skills that develop through these experiences and provide a strong foundation for later literacy and language development. So the more we read with young children, the more we offer and give the gift of imagination, magic, curiosity, wonder and play.

Have you ever heard that the classroom environment is the third teacher? This concept is part of the world acclaimed Reggio Emilia Approach which was founded by Italian Early Childhood Educator Loris Malaguzzi. What does Environment as the Third Teacher Mean? “There are three teachers of children: adults, other children, and their physical environment.” Loris Malaguzzi. Malaguzzi emphasized that the environment plays a central role in the process of making learning meaningful. He defined the environment as the third teacher which is a flexible environment, responsive to the need for teachers and children to create learning together. In order to set up the third teacher you need to design your environment with purpose and intent. When you intentionally and purposefully design the learning environment, the third teacher becomes a flexible engaging environment, responsive to the need for teachers and children to create learning together. In order to promote the hunger for learning, we should create environments in that reflect the environment as the third teacher. Therefore something such as a rug has importance in a child‘s environment. Yes you read that right, a rug. While a rug is only a small part of the environment they provide a comfortable warm inviting space for children to play, learn, explore and they also bring organization by defining a space in the environment. Whether it’s defining a comfy corner, building area, story/circle time base, it is a great addtion to any classroom, playroom, or bedroom. Children’s Factory Circle Braid Brown Rug makes it easy to segment a room intentionally into different learning nooks designed to enhance a child’s environment to become a creative space that invites a child to thrive and learn. Here are three ways to use the rug intentionally: 1. Place the rug with a Whatsit™ to create a segment in the environment where a child can decompress to relax and read, encourage large gross motor movement (building obstacle courses) relax, and ignite their imagination of creating a fort, castle, boat and more . 2. Use the rug as a defined place that promotes open ended play such as building with blocks, figurines, loose parts play, and more! 3. The rug can be a great area to create an inviting reading center that promotes literacy by placing a basket of books and cozy Woodland Cube Chairs . In order to promote the hunger and love for learning, creating environments that reflect the environment as the third teacher provides that space for children to thrive in.

Every once in a while a special book comes around that directly connects a season in your life and that is a A Grandma's Magic written by Charlotte Offsay and illustrated by Asa Gilland. My mother and grandma are a huge reflection of who I am today and continue to strive to be. Since becoming a mother seeing my own mother become a grandma has been quite magical. The strong bond she has created with her grandchildren is extraordinary and incredible to see. I am also lucky enough to have my maternal grandma as a huge part of my life and now to see her with my sons is even more special. She truly embodies a real life Angel who is full of endless love. This book truly embodies remarkable relationship a grandma brings to a family and it is truly a perfect addition for grandmas, soon to be grandmas or as a gift for Mother’s Day, which is right around the corner.