I was reminded yesterday how important it is not to make gender assumptions, especially with children.  A sweet 8 year old girl came in for her first day at Summer Care at You're Invited and my immediate response to her was "oh we have several girls your age to play with."  As I listened to her talk and watched her body language I thought that perhaps she wouldn't want to play just with girls and I quickly added, "yes, lots of girls or boys your age to play with."  (trying to recover from my lack of sensitivity)  Later in the day I watched this girl compete in an intense, competitive tetherball match with a boy a few years older and saw other boys lined up to play the winner.  They were all having a great time.  I reminded myself not to make assumptions about people based on their gender, that we can easily make children feel bad, sorry, guilty, confused, etc about their natural predilections when we decide what they will like based on our assumptions and stereotypes.

Moments Under the Tree

I love trees and the gifts they provide... 
At You're Invited we are so fortunate to have several trees and I believe ours are being used to  to fullest of God's intentions for providing them to us.  Some of these trees are huge and provide the best natural shade and we are blessed to have a few that offer even more gifts.  Our trees that have low, strong branches provide endless opportunities for our children.  Low branches provide a feeling of being enclosed and give children a place that feels like their own little shelter.  Swings are possible when branches are low and of course the amazing, powerful feat of being able to climb something "hugemungus" like a tree.  As much as these trees offer, they can not be fully utilized without offering children the time to use them to their fullest potential.
     It is so important that children are given long amounts of time with the freedom to make their own choices in their play.    It easy to be convinced of the fallacy that children need to constantly be presented with curriculum and provided with information constantly.  The intention behind these overly structured environments is to "get them ready"  but what happens are children that can be stressed, overwhelmed and unable to think on their own.  They become dependent on outside resources to be stimulated and they don't develop the inner resources that can equip them for their future.
     Children need to be given time and spaces that are rich for building language and friendships, working out drama and creating pretend dramas, they need the time and space to be free, to think without interruption, to dream and to relax. 

Children’s play and play-based learning should be the fundamental philosophy behind early learning environments...

Whether by necessity or choice, the majority of parents work and many depend upon formal, organized out‐of‐home care.  Offering quality child care that supports the child’s natural desire to play and provide an environment that is intentional about creating opportunities for learning through play helps create a common good society.  Quality early care and education programs that follow a pedagogy of play support a child’s optimal development and readiness for success in school. Longitudinal research

(e.g. Chicago Child‐Parent Centers, High/Scope Perry Preschool and Abecedarian Projects) shows that children who attend high‐quality preschool programs are less likely to be placed in special education; less likely to be held back a grade; and more likely to graduate from high school and attend college.

A play-based child care program, like the one You’re Invited provides, is one that allows children to learn at their own individual pace through the natural process of play.  The profound benefits of this type of learning environment are losing ground to adult-directed, instruction based philosophies.  Important life-long skills such as problem solving, emotional development, divergent thinking, analytical skills, etc are being put to the side for worksheets, drills, table work and other developmentally inappropriate teaching styles.

Problem solving, for instance, involves an element of risk. If we want children to learn to solve problems we must create safe environments in which they feel confident taking risks, making mistakes, learning from them, and trying again (Fordham & Anderson, 1992). In a play-based curriculum, each day provides opportunities to learn about reading, writing, and math through real, meaningful situations. For instance, children set the table for snack so each child has one napkin, one straw, and one box of milk. Children string beads to match the pattern on a card or wait their turn because there is room for only four children at the art table. Through these meaningful experiences children begin to understand number, quantity, size, and other mathematical concepts.

       

It is clear the expectations of our society are changing and our culture is becoming increasing focused on specific functional skills such as arithmetic and pre-literacy as the objective of pre-kindergarten learning environments.  We feel children’s play and play-based learning should be the fundamental philosophy behind early learning environments and will continue to offer an environment that is proven to provide the most solid foundation for acquiring these functional skills when developmentally appropriate. 

Fordham, A.E. & Anderson, W.W. (1992). Play, risk-taking, and the emergence of literacy. In Play's place in public education for young children, edited by V.J. Dimidjian, 105-114. Washington, DC: National Education Association.

After School Care Makes Sense!!

Did you know that statistics show that most juvenile crime occurs in the hours immediately following school dismissal? (Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention 1999). The rate of juvenile violence in the afterschool period is four times the rate than any other period of time. Why, then, have county subsidy agencies decided to abruptly to discontinue paying for low income children to attend afterschool care when a child turns 11 years old? That is, for most children, 6th grade! Families, most often single mothers, will most likely be forced to have these very young children home alone, fending for themselves, or be cared for by an older sibling. This is not how I feel is the best possible way for our government agencies to take care of the children in our community. The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention study suggests that the potential for reducing a community’s juvenile violent crime rate is greatest in our efforts to reduce juvenile crime after school. Several studies have also shown that afterschool programs can decrease juvenile crime and youth participation in risky behaviors, the type which often leads to violence (Fox and Newman 1997). School Age Care by You’re Invited suggests as well, that afterschool programs, like ours, that offer students supervised and engaged structured activities during the high-risk period (e.g., 3:00-5:00pm), are necessary and it seems the cost of what quality afterschool care is, is substantially less than what it can cost our community in the long run. In our desire to promote the “it takes a village” philosophy at You’re Invited we are looking at starting reduced or free tuition scholarships for families with children ages 11-13 years. Our hope at School Age Care by You’re Invited is to continue providing a safe place for children in these very important years to be safe and develop social skills, character development. The greatest return on our investment in these children is to help them to grow the best they can and they return these skills as contributing members of our community.

If you are interested in more information about helping our low-income families keep their children in quality care or about any of our other programs please feel free to contact us.

*Fox, J.A., and S.A. Newman. 1997. After-School Crime or After-School Programs: Tuning in to the Prime Time for Violent Juvenile Crime and Implications for National Policy. A Report to the United States Attorney General. Washington, DC: Fight Crime: Invest in Kids.

Waking Up Full of Awesome!!

If you are a girl, a mommy or daddy, aunt, gramma to a little girl, please read this:

http://blog.pigtailpals.com/2011/08/waking-up-full-of-awesome/

Beach Day at School!

We ended two weeks of Ocean themed activities (which included a field trip to a local aquarium with a Beach Day! Here are a few of the activities we enjoyed -

Sorting Sea Shells (recycled plastic tray from a candy box)

Parachute play during together time( most schools call circle time)with blow up ocean animal balls and beach balls from $ store


Cant have a beach day without LIMBO!
Kids with hoses Woo hoo! We turned our sand box into a mini-beach

Ocean Art!
Shaving cream, blue paint & glue makes a great texture for the ocean "water"

Babies playing and learning - Outdoors!!!

At Infant Care by You're Invited our babies enjoy
our beautiful Southern California weather!

Babies painting on nature found around the school - rosemary, mint, lavendar and wood discs!

Our littlest ones participating in International

Mud Day too!!

A Day at You're Invited Children's Center

Splatter Painting at You're Invited Children's Center

Child-led, fun creative experiences with no predetermined outcomes for young children!
We used plastic drink bottles with a small hole in the lid (I used a nail and hammer to put the hole in the lid), spray bottles, rubber band brushes (instructions to follow soon), toothbrushes and other fun splatter tools.

Definitely an outside activity, unless your like Teacher Tom and have space inside thats suitable for paint to splatter on the walls :)

Spread the kids out on the grass and let them express themselves!

I had paint all over my legs, shoes and the friends had paint all over them! So much fun! To make the paint go farther I mixed it with some water and liquid starch.

Cornstarch and Watercolor!

I wanted to share these pictures of two year old friends from You're Invited Childrens Center. We put out some containers of cornstarch, cups of water colored water with eyedroppers, scrapers and scoops and a bunch of small bowls. This activity is best done outside so the friends (and teachers) dont have to be nervous about a mess. As the pictures show, we didnt worry about the mess :)

What learning is going on in this activity?

Science - mixing, solid vs liquid, color combinations

Cause and Effect

Textures

Fine motor skills

Math - estimating, quantities

Can you help name more learning that is happening during this activity?

Squeeze bottles and Wood for All Ages!!

Great three dimensional activity for all ages!!


The set up for this activity (and all activties we do) is super important. We use trays to help the friends know their boundaries and the table is inviting with baskets to keep the loose parts accessible and neat. Throughout the morning theteachers are constantly straightening, cleaning and refilling the baskets, facilitating the activity to be "inviting" when a child comes upon the table so then he or she will decide they want to engage in this activity. We have 2 year olds, three year olds and four year olds doing this activity, working hard, engaged in their creative process.

This friend tells me while he is working hard: "I made a bridge!" I asked him, "Whats the bridge for?" He says "For the people to walk across the lake and not fall in the water"










"Look, its a slide, for the bridge, WAIT I need green"
So much concentration and intentionality with squeeze bottles filled with white paint, a little glue and some water color.

Great Shape Math Activity!

$ bin at Target has some great treasures! I found these great little square, cylinder and triange foam blocks and created these boards with cereal box cardboard and construction paper. The friends at You're Invited worked with these materials for the whole morning :)


There are so many skills these friends are working on!



Patterns, eye-hand coordination, sequencing, estimating, color matching, counting, seriation, cooperation...

Can you list more skills this super low cost but great activity provides?

Ocean Snack!

We had fun with graham crackers, blue tinted frosting and colored goldfish! One of many activities we have been enjoying to go along with our field trip last week to Long Beach Aquarium of the Pacific!

A completely self-help activity as the friends smoothed on the frosting, we counted out the goldfish and create ocean snacks!

SUMMER BUBBLE FUN!!!!

SUMMER BUBBLE FUN!

Our little friends worked hard on this activity for the longest time (some stayed at this table for over an hour!)

Punch a hole in the top side of the cup to fit the "bendy" straw in, stretch cheesecloth over a plastic cup filled with Dawn (its the best soap to use) dish soap and water) then wrap a rubber band around it! Let the friends know not to suck in (although some will at first but it doesnt hurt them and they learn quick)! We talked about the size, texture, what happens if we blow softly, hard, slowly, quickly, we even tried to cover the whole tray, then the whole table!

I love how this friend is moving her body so the bubbles dont go in her face, thats problem solving!! This is also great for teachers because our floor and table get super clean :)

Stained glass fun!!!

Tissue Shapes and a Big Window = Stained Glass!!

Im always looking for ways do an old activity a new way! Thanks to Filth Wizardry I decided to turn our big window into a place of creativity for my friends. A great way to use arm muscles, divergent thinking, using tools in new ways, creative thinking and it makes a beautiful window that we got tons of compliments on.

I cut tissue paper into different shapes, clear glue in cups, paint brushes and our big window!

Spring Activities!!

I love Spring!! It's my favorite season because its not too hot yet here in SoCal but its definitely warm enough to spend all day outside if we want! Here are some of the fun we've been having the last few weeks!!

Using styrofoam shapes and baskets of pipe cleaners, feathers, straws and plastic flowers the friends made some beautiful creations!

We also used the plastic flowers for some counting fun!

We CAN'T do activities with plastic flowers unless we also provide real flowers too! Every year we do spring gardening!! This year we did lots of herbs, strawberries, a butterfly garden and some mystery seeds :)