Watching 2 Natural Playgrounds Develop

Right now, two of the local preschools I work with are in the process of installing natural playgrounds and they are taking two very different approaches. One school hired a well-known company to plan and build the playground. The other is taking more of a grass roots approach. Teachers are planing the landscape and parents [...]

Cooking with Toddlers Encourages Sensory Learning

Our senses are the root of all discovering and learning. Toddlers love to actively explore through their senses. It is how they test their learning tools. There is no better way to put the senses to work than through cooking!
When you cook with toddlers, not only to they get to try out ALL of their [...]

A Garden Project Grows Young Minds

Large projects are a great way to make learning a fun, real and unforgetable experience for young children. Planning, preparing, planting, tending and harvesting a vegetable garden is a great way to tie in all sorts of important concepts including:

plant life cycles
living and non living
seasonal cycles
weather
insects
food/food groups/nutrition
healthy habits

Gardens also tap into children’s energy and natural [...]

Winter Time Color Mixing for Toddlers and Preschool

Here in the east coast we are still in the grip of winter. If you’re looking for some new ideas for outdoor winter play with toddlers and preschoolers, try this color mixing activity:
Materials:

3 water bottles with water
3 small,  shallow plastic containers
Red, yellow and blue food coloring
Eye droppers (enough for each child, if possible)
Brownie pan or [...]

Learning Through “The Arts”

Learning standards can be a helpful tool when it comes to ensuring that our young children are given opportunities to learn in preschool, but we can’t forget to think about how young children learn when we go about applying these standards.
Young children learn by doing, by experimenting, by exploring. Facts mean nothing. Learning happens when [...]