Behind the Scenes: Developing a Reggio Preschool

The week before last, while K was away with her friends, I got to start designing in earnest the curriculum for the farm preschool cooperative. Heather, K’s mom, came up with 3 core areas of focus for the curriculum outlining what she wanted the kids in her program to learn and emailed it to me. I had previously been working on a document spelling out the features of the Reggio Approach and how to set up a program that embodied this philosophy. While this is bound to be a helpful in training teachers and parents, I needed to understand what Heather wanted out of this program before I could really get down into the details of curriculum design. Her outline gave me exactly what I needed and the past two weeks have left me exploding with inspiration and excitement. So this week I’ve decided to let you in on what’s been keeping me busy here on the farm when I am not with K. Aside from all the crafting that is. 

Painting alphabet stones, capital letters on one side and lower-case on the other, K loves picking a stone and listing off words that start with the sound her chosen letter makes. Knowing I made them invites her to think about what she could make too.

Curriculum design is my favorite part of working in education. I love it. Researching and developing interesting and engaging learning materials, contemplating the various facets of child development and figuring out how to best support student growth is what puts me in my element, as Ken Robinson would say. I could (and often do) spend hours and hours on Pinterest and Google stocking up on ideas for designing quality classrooms that promote powerful and enjoyable learning experiences for both students and teachers. I love reading articles and books on the subject and talking about it with anyone who will listen. This week, while Heather and K have family in town, I get the chance to pull my knowledge and experience together and build a program from the ground up. Now that the foundation work is done, fleshing out the philosophy, mission statement, and approach, and identifying the core focus areas upon which the curriculum will build, I get dive into the nuts and bolts of how to actually support each child’s development in the areas Heather identified.

Now, when I say that I am designing a curriculum, I mean not that I am mapping out every learning experience, experiment, and lesson that these kids will take part in throughout their many days at school. Rather, I mean that I am researching and pulling together resources to design a well-rounded classroom environment that offers students opportunities to develop their skills in the areas that interest them most. In a Reggio-Inspired program, the classrooms themselves are a crucial teaching tool, filled with engaging materials and tools to explore them with so that no matter where each student's curiosity takes him/her a valuable learning experience is bound to take place. So what I am doing is taking the concepts within each of the three core focus areas Heather outlined and finding as many materials and resources as possible that will help support learning and growth in these ares. Then once the classroom is complete, students will have the chance to explore their environment and engage with the materials and activities that speak them as they are inspired to do so. While this is happening, the Reggio teacher observes and collaborates with students and continues to develop new ways to compliment each student's learning by bringing in new resources and activities to build on their existing knowledge and skills. 

Notice all the different learning stations, the purposeful design and careful organization, and the supportive and welcoming atmosphere of this space that just begs to be explored at Bear Park preschool in New Zealand

Each program is unique because the core areas of focus depend on the values of the community and each classroom is designed with it's particular inhabitants in mind. Here I will share the backbone of the curriculum I am designing here on the farm with Heather. She chose three areas of focus that she thought were most important and together we identified the core concepts within these three. The core focus areas are not the lessons the kids will learn, but more like the context or frame in which learning opportunities are presented. Always, however, it is the children who create their own educational experiences, we teachers and administrators simply cultivate a community and classroom through which to support each students' individual learning style and educational pursuits. For the farm preschool cooperative, this is how the curriculum is beginning to take shape:

The first core curriculum focus is on Social & Personal Responsibility. This covers interpersonal skills, mindfulness, self-awareness, empathy and altruism, civic engagement, community service, self-care and caring for others, and other social and emotional skills. Many schools pay very little attention to development in these areas, either valuing it less than the more “academic” skills or assuming that it is the parents’ job to instill values in their children. First of all, there are tons of academic fields devoted to studying these topics and tons of studies demonstrating the importance of developing social and emotional skills from the very beginning of childhood. Second, kids spend almost as much time (sometimes more) with teachers and peers than they do with their parents, especially with so many single parents working extra just to get the bills paid. It is more important than ever for schools to teach these things. To help organize ideas on how to address this core focus of the curriculum and teach the concepts listed above, I have created a new board on Pinterest called, CoreCurriculum: Social & Personal Responsibility. Check it out for inspiration and resources on incorporating social and emotional development in the classroom.

To satisfy her desire to make the world a better place, Miss Rumphius planted flowers all over her neighborhood, this story leads to beautiful and inspiring conversations of how each one of us can help make the world a better place.

 The second core focus is on Agriculture & Sustainability. Being situated on a farm in an agricultural community, it made sense to use agriculture as a means of gathering knowledge about the world and how it works. As far as sustainability goes, Heather and I both recognize that the children of the next generations are not going to be able to rely on the fossil fuels that supported our generation. By helping these kids see our growing world through a lens of sustainability, we aim to prepare them for the future they are likely to inherit. To protect our earth and it’s resources, it is never too early for kids to begin seeking out more creative and sustainable sources of energy and development, not to mention the many intangible rewards of leading a more sustainable lifestyle. Topics making up the bulk of this core focus include the food cycle, the healing power and nutritional benefits of food, ecology, biomimicry, building and design, recycling, self-sufficiency skills, problem-solving, natural and environmental sciences, cooking, harnessing the earth’s natural resources, living in harmony with rather than in opposition to the plant and animal species, and many more. Resources and inspiration for integrating these concepts into the curriculum can be found on my new Pinterest board called Core Curriculum: Agriculture& Sustainability. It is our hope that looking at the world from this perspective will help these kids be prepared to successfully tackle the challenges that lie in wait.

I showed her the new eggplant and now every day K wants to go out to the garden and check its growth. I shared my interest with her, knowing her love of food, her interest is piqued. Now we have countless opportunities to learn about how plants grow, why we cultivate our garden, all the while deepening her respect for the earth that feeds us, and the cycle of life.

The third and final core focus for the farm preschool cooperative is Creativity & the Arts. Problem-solving, innovation, and critical thinking are all highly related to creativity and unfortunately in most public schools, the arts are the first programs to be cut. Art, be it painting, sculpting, dance, interior design, architecture, cake decorating, flower arranging, scrap booking, landscaping, poetry and song writing, acting, and everything else, is a way for people to creatively express their ideas, experiences, and emotions. Art is an engaging and enjoyable way for students to explore every academic inquiry and topic out there. How better to learn the human skeletal structure than to accurately draw or sculpt it, or understand the concepts of geometry by drawing and designing a tree-house and then actually building it? The arts invite students to engage in the creative process, teaching them new ways of thinking and to see the world from multiple perspectives. Art allows students to develop a number of skills and is often the saving grace for many students who struggle to learn via lecture and instruction and would otherwise flounder in traditional programs. For ideas on how to facilitate creativity and the arts in the classroom, check out my new Pinterest board, Core Curriculum: Creativity & the Arts.

Blocks of all shapes and sizes are an excellent way for kids to develop creativity and put their imaginations to work. Not only are the planning and design beneficial and stretch their artistic muscles, but the play that resulting from their creations allows children to try on different roles and work through problems as they speak and act for the characters in their games.

You probably noticed that there are a lot of traditional academic subjects missing from this curriculum. They are there, just not in the way most of us are used to. Rather than separating subjects like history, literacy, math, and others, our curriculum addresses these subjects through the lens of the three core focus areas. For example, exploration of the food we eat lends itself perfectly to talking about the social and cultural aspects of culinary traditions. As students learn to prepare different foods together, they will find out where different kinds of foods grow, how other cultures cook, why they eat the food they do, what the terrain is like, why communities settled where they did, etc. The subjects not listed directly in the core areas are addressed within the context of projects that are born from the core concepts. This is how learning happens in emergent and project-based classrooms, through interdisciplinary projects collaboratively designed between students and teachers that emerge organically from the interests and questions of the students themselves.

This is how learning happens outside of school, and in Reggio-Inspired programs, this is also how it happens within schools. This is why I love the Reggio Approach; learning is synonymous with play, excitement, and adventure, not tests, lectures and boredom. Students follow their innate intellectual curiosities while teachers ask them about their ideas, theories, and hypotheses. Teachers listen to their students and support their interests and pull other students in who have complimentary interests and skills to collaborate as a group to deepen and broaden everyone’s understanding of the concepts being explored. All topics become mysteries that need solving and each child gets the chance to investigate those they are most drawn to alongside peers who are all doing the same. Teachers, in these self-directed classrooms, weave their way between individuals and groups observing, listening, posing new questions and offering different perspectives, joining in their efforts, and continually seek out new ideas to share with their kids. Not only this, but teachers are allowed to be students themselves, not the sole proprietors of information. Alongside their students these teachers pursue the topics that most interest them, modeling how to learn and sharing their enthusiasm with curious students. Together, in a community of equals joined by their desire to learn, knowledge is constructed and celebrated.

A Few Projects

Last week, K spent most of her time with her friends. She is an only child and the farm is in a pretty rural area. There aren't any neighbors nearby that have kids, so it's awesome that she has such a close group of friends to regularly hang out with. Just like I did, K gets to develop a small group of really close friends--perfect kind of social interaction for those of us who are more introverted. These few families with kids so close in age are who will make up the preschool cooperative I am collaborating on. I am so excited to be involved with the design of and preparation for this farm-based school community.

My Inspiration from Pinterest

So while K was out being social, I tried out a few new craft projects. Most of my work on the farm is spent with K, but the rest of it I get to spend working on projects for the upcoming preschool cooperative, hoping to start up this fall. So Monday K and I did our usual adventure to the play-set, tour of the main garden, mini-session of yoga, and drew some mountains and letters on the chalkboard table. We also read a few stories and stewed up a delicious dinner of purple potato and apple soup on K's play-stove. It was a pretty typical Monday, ending a but early so K and her mom, H, could go to the meet-up at the beach they do every week. I made pretty good use of my extra project this time and decided to finally try out some felt food projects I had been storing up on Pinterest for a while now.

There are so many wonderful project ideas and inspiration on Pinterest, perfect for a DIY junkie like me. I am so excited to have project time now to devote to creating resources and researching ideas for the school. Not only did I get to make felt food all week, but I also got to start working on the real nuts and bolts of the co-op curriculum! I might be letting my ultra-nerdy side show here but I love designing curricula. I love it. Writing the Parent Handbook for Bella Mente, and really fleshing out our school's philosophy and approach was one of my favorite experiences there and to be able to take what I learned and apply it to a program at the ground level is the coolest thing I have ever done for "work." All of my research, my Pinteresting, and writing now get to be put to use. This is the highlight of my teaching career right here.

More on the curriculum design project later, right now let me show you some of my craft projects:

This was my first attempt at hand-stitching, not too shabby...

K loves purple sweet potatoes, she requests them almost every day and I can hardly blame her, they are delicious. Seriously, they are like natures candy, sweet and smooth and starchy and wonderful. Anyway, K not only loves to eat these delicious veggies, she also loves to cook them for me and her parents and everyone on the farm on her play stove. So the first piece of felt food I thought to make was a purple potato slice. This was the easiest one so I ended up making a few, plus you never eat only one slice of purple sweet potato. K also loves eggs, we feed the chickens together and collect their eggs often, so this is another food regularly featured in her life. It made sense to me to make K play versions of all her favorites so she could practice "cooking" with them on her own. The other one up there is a tangerine, which I made because I happened to have a few of them in my fruit basket and they caught my eye. I think K thinks this one is a tomato though. Oh well, the more uses the better!

K loved the first batch when I brought them over so feeling a bit more confident in my stitching skills I set out to make a few more. Last week K was introduced to asparagus for the first time and it was a hit. She carried around a spear of it all afternoon after she picked some in the garden with her dad. So I figured a felt asparagus spear with be the perfect addition to her collection. This way, she could start learning to cook as she learns different ways to eat it. I also threw in another egg because, well, in my opinion you can never have too many eggs, especially over easy, the way K and I both prefer to eat it.

The asparagus was a huge hit and K immediately added it to the stir-fry she had going on her play stove. I should take a picture of her working at her stove, mental note for tomorrow. Anyway, I really liked how the asparagus turned out too, and I wanted to do more in a similar style so I decided on a carrot, since we just planted a whole bed of them a few weeks ago and they are growing pretty fast now. I made another asparagus and another purple potato to add to K's collection. The carrot and the asparagus were pretty time consuming, but I made them while watching a few TEDTalks and some episodes of Bones on Netflix, so I hardly noticed the time. The Cauliflower was hard. I tried it a few ways before settling on this look, but I still don't love it. This design is going to need some more work but I think I have an idea, I'll add a picture once I get if figured out, so check back again soon!

K thought the cauliflower was a mushroom :)

The extra embroidery makes such a difference in these, i love it!

Free to Learn and Play

Last week I discovered “The Independent Project,” and it has been consuming my thoughts ever since. I’ll let you watch the video for yourself, but in case you choose not to, I’ll summarize. Students at a high school in Massachusetts wanted to play a larger role in their education and so they created a semester-long self-directed study program. Each week began with a topical question and the students spent the week delving into the issues that interested them presenting what they learned to the group each Friday. They also tackled a larger independent pursuit as well as a group service project based on the needs and problems within their community. Since my time in the Interdisciplinary Master’s of Education program at the University of Vermont, formatted as self-directed study, I have been an advocate for this kind of education. I have practically been jumping out of my skin with excitement since I came across this video last week. The potential this project has to transform education is so enormous that I couldn’t not share it with you.

My work here with K is fully emergent, and though my work at Bella Mente was supposed to be, I was still learning how to employ the idea and struggled to fully understand it while at the same time negotiating the needs of the 18 children in our classroom. My curriculum with K emerges based on her developmental needs and personal interests and I’m finding that with only one child to focus on, I am gaining the mastery over this method that I previously lacked. I hardly do any advanced planning these days, except when it comes to the resource development projects I do during my independent work time here on the farm. While my project time has greatly increased from my days at the preschool, I use it in a very different way. I used to think of planning time by looking ahead, trying to guess at what the kids might take an interest in to keep us moving forward. Now, I use this time to reflect on what K is already working on and how I can add more depth to her play in the areas she shows me she is interested in developing.

Instead of trying to get her interested in the activities I came up with, as I used to, I now let her take the lead completely and play right along with her, taking mental notes on what materials and activities she likes best and how she prefers to develop her skills. During my planning time, I reflect on how we spent our time together and develop new resources and ideas for her to further develop the skills she had been working on. The chalkboard table I painted for K a few weeks ago was a project born out of her desire to draw directly on her nicely finished wood art table. She showed me her need, to stretch and develop her fine motor skills and artistry without the limits of just crayon and paper. I found a way to meet the needs she was communicating through her action without forbidding her from engaging in a behavior that has both developmental benefits and brings her great pleasure. She now uses the chalk table every single day and has since stopped coloring on her other art table, the one she knows she’s not supposed to draw on. It's a win-win. 

When K was struggling with her desire to pull the tomatillos prematurely from the plant, I brought her over to the pigeon pea bush where it didn’t matter how many peas she plucked, allowing her to productively exercise her fine motor skills and her desire to pinch, pluck, peel, squeeze, manipulate, and eventually eat a green vegetable all on her own. A week later we revisited the tomatillos and successfully filled a bucket with only the ripe and ready-to-be-picked fruit. She just wanted practice manipulating smaller objects and to her it didn’t matter that they were not ripe, she saw me preventing her from practicing a skill she felt was important. In this way, K shows me her needs and I make it my job to figure out the most fun and productive way for her to work on her preferred skills safely and within our set boundaries.

This is how our curriculum emerges; we are partners in its creation. K leads the way and I follow with observations, options and challenges to help her develop the skills that she has determined, consciously or not, that she is interested in working on. K is a very sensory-driven learner. The activities that appeal most to her are the ones that involve manipulating objects with her hands, putting things in her mouth, testing smells, listening to the sounds around her, and repeating what she hears. I know this about K because in order to develop our emergent curriculum, I have to constantly observe and reflect. I watch to see what she is drawn to, what catches and holds her attention, how she goes about gathering information, and what methods she most easily uses to successfully solve problems. I notice this about K not just because of my background in personality studies, but because following an emergent curriculum requires me to do so, though understanding the functions of personality according Myers-Briggs makes my job markedly easier. 

Click here for the source of this chart and check out The Myers Brigg Foundation to learn more

If I was pre-planning activities and materials for K, deciding without her what she should learn, then teaching it to her, I would spend so much time talking that I would likely never pick up on all of the nuances of her personality and learning style. We would both likely end up significantly more frustrated and with a far more strained relationship, devoid of much of the fun we have together. Clearly lecture style education is not appropriate for a nearly two year old, but K is a hands-on experience driven learner, lecture is never going to be the most successful way to hold her attention or interest, regardless of age. Through our play together, K expertly guides me toward a curriculum that meets her needs, and keeps her both happy and engaged. She is constantly learning and developing her skills at an optimal pace, making sure she gets the very most out of every experience. If she is capable of doing this before she is even two years old, why would this capacity diminish as she hits elementary school, middle school, high school and beyond?

Kohn's a critical voice in education reform

America’s public education system does not view children as capable or responsible enough to play an active role in what and how they learn. Rather, they are viewed as empty vessels waiting for adults to pour in whatever information they see fit. This model has little regard for students’ interests, personalities, and learning styles, let alone the problems that are most relevant in their communities. We know that all children are unique, we tell them all the time in an attempt to raise self-esteem, yet we contradict ourselves by forcing them to conform to a model of learning that was designed to produce obedient, faceless factory workers who all think and act alike. Sure, this form of standardized education makes it easier to test and rate our children but that doesn’t mean it measures the most important things. I was a terrible test taker; judged by my scores alone you would never know the extent of my skills, knowledge, motivation and love of learning. All standardization has done for our students (and thus our society as a whole) is to teach kids that school is boring and irrelevant, while at the same time making skilled teachers hate their jobs and burn out at alarming rates. How is this helpful?

I have often heard worried and skeptical parents wonder “given the choice, wouldn’t most students pick nothing but recess and snack?” I’ve worked with plenty of “difficult” kids who spend their free time reading books, tending a garden, or memorizing the names and favorite foods of every dinosaur that ever existed. These kids do this because all human beings have an innate desire to learn. So what quashes this quality that helped human beings evolve from apes into who we are today? There are likely many reasons for this but I’m willing to bet that students’ lack of a voice in the process of learning is at or near the top of the list. Students often stop or ignore the pursuit of their natural interests because our current model of education forces them to. Some students give up and suffer through school only to get out and have no idea what they are good at or even interested in. Other times students give up on school entirely, believing it irrelevant and pursue their interests anyway, but without the diplomas they usually end up just as disadvantaged.

I love the Reggio Approach because rather than a “teaching to” style of education, it embraces the ideas of “learning with,” which to me makes so much more sense. An emergent curriculum, which is essentially the precursor of the self-directed study detailed in The Independent Project, invites students to play and active rather than passive role in their education so they develop an inborn love of learning. If students are able to continue in this way, they will never reach the point of mental exhaustion and boredom that leads to recess being the only time they get to have fun at school. Following most current public school curricula, recess is one of the few times during the day when students have complete control over how they spend their time. Instead of seeing their learning as fun, it becomes something they need to escape from. In this approach, recess is the reward for suffering through something that is not enjoyable, perpetuating the myth that learning is in opposition to fun.

K worked at it all week and can now lift herself up on the swing!

In an emergent curriculum, play is acknowledged not only as a necessary component of learning, but the primary means for understanding the world. Interest is what motivates human beings to keep learning and honing our skills. Whether it’s Einstein playing with the ideas of physics to postulate the Theory of Relativity, or Gillian Lynne playing with the movements of her body that led to the choreography of the Broadway classic Cats, play is a crucial part of the process. When I am with K, I let her show me how she likes to play and from there we build our curriculum together. Right now she is most interested in learning to master her physical skills so we spend our time together climbing, swinging, jumping, stretching, and manipulating all kinds of materials in all kinds of new ways. After she has worked her body as much as it can handle, she tells me so and we shift gears. K is also interested in expanding her vocabulary and learning the power of her own voice so we read, sing, talk, rhyme, count, shout and write together. At some point each day K gets hungry and asks me for some blueberries, her current favorite, so we stop for a snack before heading back out for more play. Through our emergent curriculum, K is challenging herself every day and surprising both of us with her rapidly increasing capability.

If a student as young and fiercely independent as K is already capable self-directed study, it seems crazy to me that post-preschool students not be afforded the same right to have a say in what and how they learn. After all, aren’t we each an expert when it comes to ourselves? No one knows better than I do that I learn best when information comes in the form of a story. Though I struggled through and never enjoyed math and science in school, I have picked up countless biology and agriculture lessons from the farm narratives I love to read, and I got my only A in a math class when my high school geometry teacher started each lesson with the story of the philosopher who postulated the theory in question. When framed in a compelling narrative, I could learn almost anything and do so willingly all the time. But K prefers to experience things first-hand, trusting her own senses to teach her about how the world works, her imagination is not the effective learning tool that it always has been for me. We see and interact with the world differently.

An emergent curriculum leaves room for both K and I to learn in the way that is most effective for each of us, while at the same time allowing us to see the world through one another’s eyes. This approach to teaching and learning does not require a separate curriculum for each student, rather it invites all kinds of learners to come together, share ideas, experiences, questions, and perspectives to create a more complete understanding of each topic. In the Independent Project, students pursued the aspects of a problem or topic that most interested them and studied it for the week with the goal of sharing what they learned in a way that would engage and interest their fellow students. Each student walked away from the week with a general knowledge of whatever subject was being explored as well as a deeper understanding of one piece of the puzzle. Isn’t this the very same outcome most teachers hope for when they design their curriculum? The only difference is that in a self-directed study, the students do the design work. This frees teachers to engage and connect with their students, listen to their ideas and ask thought provoking questions, and offer the individual support that every teacher wants to provide but simply doesn’t have the time or energy to give.

More resources like this on my Pinterest page

I can’t speak for all teachers, but for me, and many teachers I have worked with, the passion to teach comes from a love of learning and sharing information with others so that we all can realize our true potential. An emergent curriculum is equally more enjoyable for me as it has been for those I have had the privilege of teaching. I have learned more about math and science and art and literacy from engaging in study alongside my students than I could have imagined and I loved the learning process more than I ever did when I was the student being taught at in grade school. My enthusiasm for learning does not go unnoticed by my students, either. When they see me so genuinely engaged in how the diet of a chicken effects the hue and nutritional content of its eggs yolks, that information gets planted deeper in their memories and leaves them wondering what else might be effected in a similar way, or even just about cause and effect in general. The intense passion I model in the process of engaging with them on a subject that deeply interests me shows them the joy in learning new things and seeking out knowledge. This desire to learn and the know-how to make it happen are the most important things I, or any teacher, could possibly hope to pass on to the next generation and this is the foundation of what I hope to teach K in the short time I am here with her.

The All-Important Playground

A few weeks ago, when we first arrived in Hawaii, Dylan and I drove passed this amazing playground a few miles north of the “downtown” area of Captain Cook. I could not take my eyes from the spectacular and elaborate play structure as we drove by. The kid in me wanted to jump out of the car and play and play and play. The adult in me decided that we would definitely be making a trip back there to check it out soon. So about a week later, Dylan agreed to take me to the playground. This place is epic and I took a ton of pictures. I could imagine hours of playtime here as a kid; there was so much to explore. This got me thinking about the importance of a good outdoor play area.

Harold H. Higashihara Park in Honalo, Hawaii

In the classroom, there is hardly ever the space to run around and build those large motor skills, which is what outside time is typically used for. In an indoor/outdoor classroom, where children have free range to go in and out as they please, kids get the chance to move and run according to the needs of their own bodies. Luckily, here at the farm my outside time with K can happen just about whenever she wants. K is able to tune into her body’s natural cravings and run around when she’s in the mood to and relax with a book or puzzle or do some drawing when she is feeling like laying low. It helps too, that it is just she and I most of the time and so she doesn’t have to factor in the interests of a whole classroom of kids when deciding where and what to play.

Castle structure at the park, there is another 2 story tube slide in the back of this, it is so fun!

Anyway, once I began to feel settled in and K and I were fairly comfortable with one another, I started thinking more deeply about her developmental needs and the areas I used to build in previous classrooms to accommodate and facilitate well-rounded skill development. Although we have the opportunity to be outside and run around whenever we want to, there was not a lot by way of structure to our outside time. In other words, K didn’t have a lot of resources to work her larger motor skills, just a small jungle gym. Her parents were well aware of this and had been planning to put in some kind of play structure soon. Then last weekend, after a trip to town they came home with a pile of huge boxes that contained the parts to K’s new wooden playhouse, fully equipped with a slide, swing-set, and picnic table. That weekend, all the men of the farm gathered together and put it together.

 K’s mom, H, had really wanted to design her own play house and had been researching ideas for months, but K was quickly growing and there were still so many other projects waiting to be tackled on the farm. In the end, H accepted that she couldn’t possibly do everything and so she let go of her desire to create this thing from scratch and go with a pretty amazing pre-designed play-set. K seems to be thrilled about this decision because after her Papa and Uncles worked all weekend long, she has spent at least half of our time together exploring her new space. K’s larger motor skills, I have noticed, have taken a huge leap this week as well, thanks to so many new opportunities to develop them on the play-set, not to mention what it has added to the depth of her creative play.

Check out my Pinterest Board, Active Play For Inside and Out, for fun ways to work on large motor development

Since we have started playing on her new structure, I have noticed K’s arms have gotten significantly stronger. She has challenged herself and tested her bravery on the rock-wall and slide, and she has felt the thrill of the wind in her hair as she swings higher and higher, slowly learning to pump her legs so she doesn’t require a push to get moving. These are all huge strides for K, particularly since she has such a slight frame to begin with. The chance to develop her strength has opened up all kinds of new possibilities for K and she already seems like a bigger, more mature little girl in just a single week of play.

Check out this book to learn more on MBTI

The strongest evidence that this play-set is helping her develop in so many ways, is K’s conquering of the rock-wall. This presented the greatest challenge at the beginning of the week. K was almost immediately able to climb up the ladder to reach the upper level of the playhouse and access the slide, but the rock-wall was a bit more complicated. She tried it a little bit each day and either got scared asking, “help down,” or frustrated when she got stuck. You see, K is a very methodical little girl; she plans everything down to the smallest detail, like what spoon she would like to use and which pants she feels like wearing. When things do not follow her plan, she can get pretty upset. My Myers-Briggs background tells me that this is a pretty strong indicator of a preference for Judgment (not to be mistaken with judgmental) verses Perceiving as a way to organize her outer world.

Knowing this about K, I allow her to make her own decisions whenever possible and appropriate so that she can maintain some internal homeostasis and control over her environment and her participation in it. This helps us to avoid unnecessary conflict and build a stronger, more trusting relationship.  When the times arise that I do insisting on things like putting on sunscreen, shoes, or a hat when spending time in the sun and walking on rougher turf, she is more willing to work with me rather than breaking down. Anyway, when it came to the rock-wall, K got frustrated when she would start climbing up and get stuck, unable to proceed because she started too far to one side and had no place to put her other foot. She wanted to do it herself and was not always interested in my advice while she was mid-climb. Then yesterday, her dad was able to explain to her how to plan your steps ahead of time and it was as if something clicked within her.

Today, at the play set, K started up the ladder, made it up about half-way, changed her mind, climbed back down and positioned herself in front of the rock-wall. I remarked, “you want to try the rock-wall again, ok.” K looked up at me, and then back at the rock-wall and I watched as she started out. She grabbed her first hold and then her second, looking down at the ones below and pulling herself up so that her feet were off the ground. I was immediately impressed as previously she put her feet up first struggling to pull her weight with just her arms. She ran into her usual problem of getting to far to one side but instead of asking for help, she climbed back down and stared at the wall for a moment before selecting a different hold and heading back up the wall again. I was in awe of her determination and concentration, not to mention her clearly noticeable technique.

It was as if K now saw the wall as a puzzle, something she needed to figure out before jumping in. This girl is a puzzle master so it is no surprise that this shift in her approach suddenly gave her the confidence and determination to make it to the top. Once K started up the wall for the second time, she did so with an intensity and level of concentration that I had yet to see from her. She took her time and selected each hold with purpose. I said very little as she climbed, standing close in case she lost her grip. I did not want to disrupt the careful calculations that were clearly taking place in K’s mind as she proceeded in her ascent to the top. In almost no time at all, she had reached the yellow bar at the side of the playhouse second floor and pulled herself up, standing triumphantly at the top. She turned to me beaming with pride as I began cheering and jumping up and down with genuine excitement.

“Hooray, you made it up the rock-wall! You did it all by yourself! I am so amazed and proud of you! Hooray!” I shouted. I have never seen a bigger smile on K’s face and she too threw her arms up in the air and shouted an enthusiastic “hooray!” along with me. It was a beautiful moment for both of us and K continued to climb the rock-wall another 4 times after that, making it hard to believe that she ever struggled to figure it out. Today, thanks to the rock-wall, K experienced a level of physical mastery that will likely leave a lasting impact on her and I know I will remember that moment for a long time to come.

Each time K climbs up, she is reminded of her own strength, capability, and determination. She learned how to analyze the situation before proceeding and take advantage of her natural strength in this area. Not only is this play-set providing K the opportunity to develop her physical strength, but a valuable lesson in problem solving. She has a highly analytical and methodical mind and the rock-wall allowed her to tap into this inner strength and make it work for her, experiencing the joy of succeeding in something she worked so hard at. Perhaps next time she is faced by another major challenge, she will recall her experience on the rock-wall and learn how to tap into her natural strengths to help her through it with greater ease. As for me, I will surely be reminding her of her accomplishment, helping her recognize and utilize her strength within.