I’ve just found a great article about storytelling for young children.

Here’s the abstract:

“This article examines the approaches to storytelling used by Greek parents with their preschool children. The first part of the article discusses the types of stories chosen and the reading approaches employed by the parents. The second part examines the extratextual interactions between parents and children related to content during storytelling. One hundred twelve stories were chosen by parents and told to their preschool children in one-to-one settings in their homes. These sessions were recorded by students and later analyzed. The families chose the stories, and no recommendation was made to parents about the type of story or approach they would use to tell the story. The stories were classified as narration, which involved telling stories to children without using books, or story reading, which involved reading books. Results indicate that the way in which a story was told and the characteristics of the extratextual interactions between parents and children depended on a parent’s educational status. Almost all parents with a higher educational background employed story reading, whereas parents with a lower educational background mostly preferred narration. The quantity and quality of verbal exchanges between adults and children during storytelling were also affected by the approach used and the educational status of the parents. Reading stories motivated more verbal exchanges than narrating stories. Extratextual interactions during storytelling were more common among parents with a higher educational background than among parents with a lower educational background; however, of the total number of extratextual interactions, only a small percentage were categorized as high-level abstraction (bridging, elaboration, and predicting). Most extratextual interactions were described as low-level abstraction (children’s feedback, asking for label, intervention for drawing attention, and clarifying), regardless of the approach employed by the parents or their educational status. Results suggest that for the Greek families involved in this research, storytelling is a child-centered activity that meets the entertainment needs of the child.”

You can read the article itself here: Narrating and Reading Folktales and Picture Books: Storytelling Techniques and Approaches with Preschool Children

Talk soon,
Mary Nightingale

P.S. Thousands of future or current home daycare providers just like you have already signed up to my ‘how to start a home daycare’ newsletter. It’s getting a bit overwhelming and I may cap signups soon, but for the time being you can still join. Don’t worry, it’s free. All you have to do is enter your name and e-mail below:

It can often be fun and educational for your daycare children, not to mention yourself to create some art, but you need to be careful that the materials you buy are safe to use.

I’ve just been reading a report about this which you may want to read.

Here’s and excerpt:

“On November 18, 1988, the President signed into law the Labeling of Hazardous Art Materials Act (Public Law 100-695).This law requires that all art materials be reviewed to determine the potential for causing a chronic hazard and that appropriate warning labels be put on those art materials found to pose a chronic hazard. The term “art material” includes “any substance marketed or represented by the producer or repackager as suitable for use in any phase of the creation of any work of visual or graphic art of any medium.” (15 U.S.C. 1277(b)(1). The law applies to many children’s toy products such as crayons, chalk, paint sets, modeling clay, coloring books, pencils, and any other products used by children to produce a work of visual or graphic art.”

You can read the whole thing here: Law Requires Review and Labeling of Art Materials Including Children’s Art and Drawing Products

Talk soon,
Mary Nightingale

P.S. Thousands of future or current home daycare providers just like you have already signed up to my ‘how to start a home daycare’ newsletter. It’s getting a bit overwhelming and I may cap signups soon, but for the time being you can still join. Don’t worry, it’s free. All you have to do is enter your name and e-mail below:

I’ve just found an interesting article about using worksheets with young children which I thought you might find interessting.

Here it is:

WORKSHEETS: GOOD OR BAD?

National Network for Child Care’s Connections Newsletter

Peggy Patten, M.Ed.
Staff Development Coordinator
School of Human Resources and Family Studies
University of Illinois

Copyright/Access Information

Parents and child care professionals serve as children’s first teachers. Children become ready for school through the environments we set up and the activities we offer. Therefore, it is important to understand what does and does not lead to “academic readiness.”

Studies of children have shown repeatedly that young children learn best through active involvement with real objects in child-directed play. Children learn to read by being exposed to stories, books, and language from very early in life, rather than phonics drills or worksheets. They learn math by sorting, counting, and dividing real objects, not through completing problems on paper.

Does that mean then that there is no place for worksheets in a high-quality child care setting? No - for two reasons.

First, worksheets can provide opportunities to reinforce skills children are already working on - writing letters and words, identifying numbers in a sequence, identifying shapes and colors, etc. Worksheets should not provide the primary way children learn letters, words, colors, and numbers. Paper and pencil practice with these concepts can, however, reinforce awareness of concepts they are gaining through exploration and play.

Second, not all worksheets are created equal. Well-designed worksheets can encourage children’s creative thinking and problem-solving skills. Useful worksheets encourage children to expand their creativity or sharpen their thinking skills. These worksheets usually allow children to complete a task in many different ways. Here are some worksheet ideas that can foster children’s development in positive ways

* How many different ways can you complete this picture? (graphic of two cloud-shaped designs in opposite corners)
* You have just returned from a trip in outer space. You discovered a new planet. What does it look like? (graphic of spaceship, stars, and a planet)
* This is a magic wand. What did it make? (graphic of magic wand)

The above examples encourage creativity in children. They will also help children develop flexible thinking skills. These skills are sometimes called divergent thinking skills and are important to children’s intellectual development.

Worksheets can also help children develop problem-solving skills. Familiar examples are worksheets with dot-to-dot activities, pictures out of sequence, word scrambles, and riddles to be answered. These tasks can range in complexity from easy to difficult. Unlike the divergent thinking process described above, these kinds of activities call for organizing information to arrive at one answer. This process is called convergent thinking and is also important to children’s development.

There are several sources for worksheets that provide these creative thinking and problem-solving opportunities. Two that come to mind are the series of coloring books by Susan Striker and Edward Kimmel called the *Anti-Coloring Books*. They are available in many children’s book catalogues and in many local bookstores. Highlights for Children, Inc., publishes a series of books for children called *Highlights’ Puzzlemania*.

The goal, then, is to use worksheets as you would any other learning tool - as a resource that supplements a rich and varied program where children are actively exploring and interacting with adults, other children, and materials.

No article on worksheets would be complete without discussing how to respond to parents’ requests for worksheets. Many caregivers say that they would prefer not using rote worksheets but feel that parents expect them to. There are probably two major reasons why this occurs. First, parents often do not understand how children learn to read, write, or do math. Many mistakenly feel that children who do many worksheets will learn earlier or faster. An important role we serve as child care professionals is to help parents better understand what is and is not good for children at different ages. Here are some quotes from a pamphlet published by the United States Department of Education that may be helpful to share with parents:

“The best way for parents to help their children become better readers is to read to them - even when they are very young. Children benefit most from reading aloud when they discuss stories, learn to identify letters and words, and talk about the meaning of words… children whose parents simply read to them perform as well as those whose parents use workbooks…” (*What Works*, p.9).

“Children who are encouraged to draw and scribble ’stories’ at an early age will later learn to compose [write] more easily, more effectively, and with greater confidence than children who do not have this encouragement” (p. 14).

“A good way to teach children simple arithmetic is to build on their informal knowledge. This is why learning to count everyday objects is an effective basis for early arithmetic lessons” (p. 13).

As you can see, each of these statements suggests that creative, child-initiated exploration, rather than worksheets, contributes most to the early development of reading, writing, and math skills.

The second reason that parents often prefer worksheets is because worksheets are a source of information about their child. Remember, parents are not sitting in a corner observing all the wonderful things their children are learning. The feedback they receive about their child is limited to brief conversations at the end of the day and the “products” their child brings home. Parents’ insistence on worksheets may be due, in part, to their desperate need to know what is happening to their child during the day. Find ways to let parents know what their child did during the day, and what the child learned from those activities.

* Save the child’s artwork or products to send home.
* Use a tape recorder to capture children’s conversations while they play. Or tape the questions they ask while you read a story. Send the tape home with parents along with a note about what skills the child is gaining (e.g., vocabulary, social problem-solving skills, memory skills, etc.).
* Put up a bulletin board where parents can see it when they walk in. List each child’s name and one activity they really enjoyed that day. Next to the activity write the skills the child gained from it. Add pictures taken of the children engaged in the activities.
* Videotape children engaged in play. Send the video home with parents or schedule a time for parents to view it in your home.

You can help children grow and develop by providing developmentally appropriate worksheets, educating parents about how children really learn the three Rs, and providing feedback to parents about their children.
REFERENCES

U.S. Department of Education (1986). *What Works: Research About Teaching and Learning*. Washington, DC: Author.

DOCUMENT USE/COPYRIGHT
National Network for Child Care - NNCC. Part of CYFERNET, the National Extension Service
Children Youth and Family Educational Research Network. Permission is granted to reproduce
these materials in whole or in part for educational purposes only (not for profit beyond the cost of
reproduction) provided that the author and Network receive acknowledgment and this notice is
included:

Reprinted with permission from the National Network for Child Care - NNCC. Patten, P. (1993). Worksheets: Good or bad?. In Todd, C.M. (Ed.), *Day care center connections*, 2(6), pp. 1-3. Urbana-Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Cooperative Extension Service.

Talk soon,
Mary Nightingale

P.S. Thousands of future or current home daycare providers just like you have already signed up to my ‘how to start a home daycare’ newsletter. It’s getting a bit overwhelming and I may cap signups soon, but for the time being you can still join. Don’t worry, it’s free. All you have to do is enter your name and e-mail below:

I just found a website with some great Christmas craft ideas.

Here’s some text from the site:

“Christmas Handprint Craft Ideas:

Handprint and footprint crafts make great Christmas craft projects. Rather than simply doing the projects on paper, you can stamp them with fabric paint onto t-shirts or napkins. You can arrange them on paper and cover with clear contact paper to make placemats. Or you can trace onto craft foam, cut out and glue to make wall hangings and Christmas tree ornaments. Here’s a list of hand and footprint Christmas projects on the site: ”

You can see the whole thing here: Christmas Gifts for Children to Make

Talk soon,
Mary Nightingale

P.S. Thousands of future or current home daycare providers just like you have already signed up to my ‘how to start a home daycare’ newsletter. It’s getting a bit overwhelming and I may cap signups soon, but for the time being you can still join. Don’t worry, it’s free. All you have to do is enter your name and e-mail below:

I’ve just been reading a forum post about ideas for a home daycare barbecue for your daycare families.

Here’s an excerpt:

“I am holding a 1st Annual Growing with Giggles Daycare Family BBQ in a few weeks. I rented a park shelter which is a really nice new facility that has two playgrounds (one for 2-5yo and the other for older kids), basketball, sand volleyball, a large sand play area etc.

Anway, on the agenda I have to grill out with picnic style food, maybe a couple simple games, a craft and then plenty of time to enjoy the park facilities and let the kids run around and play.”

You can read the whole thing here: Family Games/Craft Idea

Talk soon,
Mary Nightingale

P.S. Thousands of future or current home daycare providers just like you have already signed up to my ‘how to start a home daycare’ newsletter. It’s getting a bit overwhelming and I may cap signups soon, but for the time being you can still join. Don’t worry, it’s free. All you have to do is enter your name and e-mail below:

I’ve just found a great free lesson plan for 3-4 year old involving food which you might like to use inyour home daycare.

Here are some details:

Target Audience
Children, ages 3 to 4

Behavior Objectives
Children who participate in this activity will:
• Touch fruits and vegetables, describing their colors, shapes, sizes, and smell.
• Try a bite of an unfamiliar fruit or vegetable.

Lesson Overview
20-minute activity!
• As an activity opener, use colorful fruits and vegetables and Power Panther
finger puppets to tell children that “tasting the colors” is good for you!
• Children use words to describe colorful fruits and vegetables: how food looks,
feels, smells, and sounds.
• For the tasting activity, the children taste and describe how the fruit or
vegetable tastes. Recognize and reinforce participants by giving an
Eat Smart. Play Hard.â„¢ fruit or vegetable sticker. Repeat activity.
• Each child receives the family handouts, Together at Home … Let’s Try New
Foods! to share with his or her family at home.

You can get the complete lesson plan for free here: Taste The Colors

Talk soon,
Mary Nightingale

P.S. Thousands of future or current home daycare providers just like you have already signed up to my ‘how to start a home daycare’ newsletter. It’s getting a bit overwhelming and I may cap signups soon, but for the time being you can still join. Don’t worry, it’s free. All you have to do is enter your name and e-mail below:

Here’s an article I just found about activities for infants which I thought you may find useful:

National Network for Child Care’s Connections Newsletter

Donna Wilber
Former Supervising Teacher
Child Development Laboratory
Northern Illinois University

Copyright/Access Information

Learning takes place from the very beginning of an infant’s life. Having a plan to help babies learn is an important part of caring for them. Infants, however, learn very differently from older children. Therefore, you should offer activities that are carefully tailored to their methods of learning.

TEACHING THROUGH CAREGIVING
Much of an infant’s day involves caregiving activities such as feeding, diapering, and holding. Infants learn a great deal during these routines. You can foster language development by talking to infants as you change or feed them. You help them learn that they can affect others through your reactions to their facial expressions. When you smile and touch them softly, you are helping them learn to trust others and to feel good about themselves.

LEARNING THROUGH EXPLORATION
Playing with objects and people around them is another significant way that infants learn. When the baby is awake and alert, provide equipment, materials, and activities that encourage the baby to explore. Wait a minute, you say! How do you plan activities for babies? What materials and toys do you use?

To answer these questions, you will need to carefully watch the infants in your care. Observe them as you care for them and while they are playing. Watch what they are doing with their mouths, their fingers, their bodies, and the things around them. Then plan activities that will help them practice these skills. Keep in mind that each baby is different from the other. Two infants the same age may be at different stages of development. Therefore, it is important to watch each child carefully.

To decide what materials to provide for each infant, ask yourself these questions:

What objects interest the baby most?

Are there things the infant tried to do but couldn’t because they were too difficult?

Will the materials be challenging enough to attract the baby’s attention?

Are the materials, equipment, and toys safe?

Suppose you observe these children in the following situations:

Laura loves tapping a spoon at lunch time. She taps the high-chair tray, her bowl, and her cup.

Laura is learning about the world through her sense of hearing. Help extend Laura’s learning during playtime by fastening wooden, metal, and plastic bowls to a board with tape. Give Laura a big spoon so she can bang on the objects. Enhance language development by saying the words that go along with the sounds she makes, “tap tap,” or “bong, bong, bong!”

Charlie also plays with bowls, but in a different way. He likes to pick them up and handle them. He touches the cool metal bowl to his leg. His fingertips stroke the grooves along the rim of the plastic bowl. He suddenly spies a place on the back of the plastic bowl where a piece of tape containing your name had been. It is still a little sticky. Charlie touches the sticky surface again and again.

Charlie is learning about the world around him through his sense of touch. He will especially enjoy a texture walk. Arrange fabrics with different textures - soft, furry, and slightly rough - on the floor. Glue a strip of contact paper to a heavy piece of cardboard so the sticky side is up. Place it on the floor. Add an old cookie sheet with smooth edges. Watch as Charlie crawls and walks over the items, experiencing the different feelings. Talk to Charlie about what he is feeling. Say, “Yes, it’s sticky,” or “That’s cold,” or “The fur is soft.” This will promote cognitive and language development.

Manuel is an older infant. He is developing the ability to coordinate the muscles in his arms and legs by trying to climb up your stepstool!

Respond by creating a safe, low climber. Make a ramp from sturdy cardboard or boards. Pad the edges with foam or a folded blanket. When Manuel has mastered climbing up and down the slightly inclined board, challenge him by increasing the slope (angle) of the board. Enhance his problem-solving skills by asking, “How can you get up that ramp? How can you get down?” Allow Manuel to solve the problem of getting up and down the ramp on his own through trial and error. But supervise him closely. Be ready to quickly lend a hand if he gets into trouble!

Chris is older still. She is trying to fit some shapes in a sorting ball, but is frustrated by the small openings.

Chris needs a less challenging task to help her develop the small muscles in her hands and her eye-hand coordination. Make her a shoe-box sorter. Find some large peg-like objects, such as the bottoms of plastic film containers. Make sure the edges are smooth. Cut some holes in the top of a shoe box large enough for the pegs to fit through easily. When Chris succeeds in getting the pegs in, enhance her self-esteem by saying, “Very good. You did it - you got all the pegs inside.” When dropping the pegs into the sorter is no longer a challenge, line the openings with some foam rubber. The foam will provide resistance when she is pushing the peg through. This task enhances muscle development and further develops eye-hand coordination. Because the task is now more challenging, Chris will continue to be attracted to the sorting box.

SAFETY FIRST
Safety should be the main concern when determining what toys, material, and equipment to provide. Look the materials over carefully. Toys given to infants should be at least 1 5/8″ in diameter. Provide toys and materials that are easily sanitized. Make sure they have no small pieces or sharp edges. Never use balloons as toys. Many children have died from suffocation after inhaling a piece of a popped balloon.

Wooden toys should be checked continually for any splintered corners or surfaces. Items that are made of small, easily-swallowed pieces, such as a string of beads, should be tested often to make sure they will not come apart. Also, be aware of materials, such as paint or styrofoam, which could flake off or crumble when they are mouthed or chewed.

The key to providing quality activities for infants is close observation as they interact naturally with their environment. By responding to their interests and abilities, and by monitoring the safety of the materials you have provided, you are creating a healthy and challenging environment that will promote physical, mental, social, and emotional growth.

——————————————————————————–
DOCUMENT USE/COPYRIGHT
National Network for Child Care - NNCC. Part of CYFERNET, the National Extension Service
Children Youth and Family Educational Research Network. Permission is granted to reproduce
these materials in whole or in part for educational purposes only (not for profit beyond the cost of
reproduction) provided that the author and Network receive acknowledgment and this notice is
included:

Reprinted with permission from the National Network for Child Care - NNCC. Wilber, D. (1993). Activities for infants. In Todd, C.M. (Ed.), *Day care center connections*, 2(4), pp. 4-6. Urbana-Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Cooperative Extension Service.

Talk soon,
Mary Nightingale

P.S. Thousands of future or current home daycare providers just like you have already signed up to my ‘how to start a home daycare’ newsletter. It’s getting a bit overwhelming and I may cap signups soon, but for the time being you can still join. Don’t worry, it’s free. All you have to do is enter your name and e-mail below:

I’ve just been reading a great article about encouraging constructive play.

Here’s an excerpt:

“Children are instinctively creative builders. They enjoy using all sorts of manipulatives — toilet paper rolls, building blocks or pieces of cardboard — to construct towers, homes or even fiery dragons! Providing children with the opportunity to play with manipulatives in a safe, stimulating environment is crucial to their healthy development. Manipulatives enhance fine motor development by requiring the controlled use of hand and finger muscles; they also help develop important eye-hand coordination. As children experiment with building, they learn about important concepts such as gravity, stability and patterning. The following suggestions will help enhance the constructive play of the children in your care.

Free Play and Directed Play

Opportunities for free play should be encouraged at any level of development. Children must be allowed to daydream, walk around, observe others and ask questions. Directed play involves providing opportunities for children to engage in creative activities. Stories and picture books can be used as “building starters” to help inspire the children. Mud Puddle, a Robert Munsch classic, is a favourite. What child cannot relate to mud puddles? After reading the story aloud, ask the children to build things that will keep them dry, such as raincoats out of colourful crepe paper; umbrellas out of popsicle sticks and cardboard; and protective shields of aluminum pie plates and string. For more directed activities, use these building starters and establish additional criteria that the children must meet.”

You can read the whole thing here: Constructive Play

Talk soon,
Mary Nightingale

P.S. Thousands of future or current home daycare providers just like you have already signed up to my ‘how to start a home daycare’ newsletter. It’s getting a bit overwhelming and I may cap signups soon, but for the time being you can still join. Don’t worry, it’s free. All you have to do is enter your name and e-mail below:

It can be a bit of a quandry what to do for your daycare children’s birthdays. Should you get a present? If so, what should it be? Should you throw a party.

I’ve just been reading a forum thread on this topic which might be helpful.

Here’s the original post:

“I was just curious how you celebrate dc children’s birthdays. Do you give a present, and if so, what?
Also, does anyone have a cute poem or idea for a parent’s birthday?”

You can read the replies here: “Birthdays”

Talk soon,
Mary

P.S. Thousands of future or current home daycare providers just like you have already signed up to my ‘how to start a home daycare’ newsletter. It’s getting a bit overwhelming and I may cap signups soon, but for the time being you can still join. Don’t worry, it’s free. All you have to do is enter your name and e-mail below:

I’ve just found a lovely article by Lindsay Small. It’s aimed at parents of toddlers, but it can also apply to home day care providers.

Here it is:

Play Chase With Your Kids - While You Can!

Earlier this week I went to collect my kids from the park and, being a little early, sat on a bench to watch as they finished a game. On a nearby bench sat another mother with her son, who looked to be about 3. They had obviously been waiting for a while, and the little chap looked bored.

While his mother, who was smartly dressed as if she had just come from work, read a newspaper, the boy swung his legs up and down, fidgeted, and looked for something to do. Eventually he saw his mother’s handbag (purse) and decided to play a game. I watched him carefully climb down from the bench, and then - with a daring look at his mother - grab the bag and run away, giggling enormously. Unfortunately, the bag tumbled to the ground and coins, pieces of paper, lipsticks and a hundred other bits and pieces ran everywhere. He stopped, horrified, and his bottom lip trembled as he waited to see how his mother would react. I anticipated an explosion.

What happened next took me completely by surprise. The mother looked at the contents of the bag on the ground. She looked at her son. She thought about it. And then she leapt up, threw her newspaper down on the ground with the rest of her things, and with giant exaggerated movements and cries of “I’m coming to get you!!” she starting chasing the little boy, this way and that, ducking and dodging and chasing some more. They were having a wonderful time, laughing breathlessly together, so that everyone around them had to stop to see what was going on, and laugh too. Before long they collapsed in a dusty heap on the ground by the bench and picked everything up together.

I laughed along with the mother and her son, but at the same time I felt a pang of sadness. My children are toddlers no longer, and we no longer play games of chase in the park. As I watched that mother I remembered the times when my kids wanted to play and I was too busy, or too interested in my newspaper, or involved in some other “adult” thing. And I wish I had thrown my adult world down on the ground and played chase with my kids just a little bit more.

“Wheresoever you go, go with all your heart.” Confucius

Lindsay Small is the creator and editor of Activity Village - providing the ultimate one-stop resource for parents and teachers looking to educate and entertain their kids. Visit the website at http://www.ActivityVillage.co.uk and subscribe to the free newsletter at http://www.ActivityVillage.co.uk/free_newsletter.co.uk.

Talk soon,
Mary

P.S. Thousands of future or current home daycare providers just like you have already signed up to my ‘how to start a home daycare’ newsletter. It’s getting a bit overwhelming and I may cap signups soon, but for the time being you can still join. Don’t worry, it’s free. All you have to do is enter your name and e-mail below: