I was working a floor puzzle with one of the kids. It's a popular puzzle, one with fairies, unicorns, and a castle, but everyone else was busy elsewhere so we were one-on-one. Soon, however, we were joined by another girl, and together, the three of us fit the final piece into pl … | Continue reading
"Octograbbers" was a game that the children played for months on end. It involved possessing two shovels, one for each hand, then using them like pincers to dig, pick things up, and occasionally, in the spirit of fun, menace one another. We'll never know who invented the game of … | Continue reading
I know the secret to making your dreams come true. In an essay written for New Philosopher magazine (content not available online), Oliver Burkman discusses what's called Littlewood's Law, named for a British mathematician by the name of John Edensor Littlewood: Let's suppose . . … | Continue reading
"The Thinker," Auguste Rodin (The worst possible way to think?) "(S)it as little as possible," writes German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, "do not believe any idea that was not born in the open air and of free movement." Nietzsche was notorious walker and hiker, a man seemingl … | Continue reading
When I talk to adults about their years of schooling, they rarely talk about what they learned in math class. They talk about teachers. They talk about their social life. And at some point almost all of them talk about the boredom. Boredom researcher John Eastwood from York Unive … | Continue reading
Most of us want to raise children who are ethical and caring. Indeed, when surveyed 96 percent of us say that this is a "very important, if not essential" parenting goal. I've not seen the numbers for teachers, but I would assume that a super majority of us feel likewise. If noth … | Continue reading
The three girls were in a sort of irritable stew. They were bickering with one another like it was a stereotypical family holiday dinner, moping, whining, and fussing. Action seems to follow feeling, but really action and feeling go together; and by regulating the action, which i … | Continue reading
A while back, I was chatting with an artist, a painter, at her studio and gallery, discussing her process. I always ask artists about their process because I'm forever trying to steal their ideas and figure out how to convert them into preschool art explorations. When I told her … | Continue reading
Paleontologists now think that animal life first evolved on our planet 789 million years ago, although as the research continues it's likely that this oddly specific number will be supplanted. As most of us are aware, it was some time later than animals began to appear on land in … | Continue reading
Like many modern parents, I'd not spent a lot of time around young children, as an adult, until our daughter was born. When she was two, we enrolled in a cooperative preschool, which for those who don't know, is a model in which parents attend alongside their children and serve a … | Continue reading
A friend who works with young children recently texted me with questions about why I thought kids today seem more anxious than in the past. There are a lot of theories. Some blame screen-based technology, especially smartphones. Some blame the media. Some blame bad parenting. Som … | Continue reading
Charlotte was one of those kids who had been coming to Woodland Park since before she was born, arriving first in our classroom in utero to drop off and pick up her older brother, then continuing on her own behalf until she was five. If I've ever known a student, it would be Char … | Continue reading
"Your wish is my command." It's a phrase that originates in the Arabic folk tale Aladdin and the Magic Lamp. It's what the genii said to the boy who conjured him. It is meant as a declaration of gratitude for having been released from the prison of the lamp, one that the genii ma … | Continue reading
We were making a rocket ship to use as a prop for a play the older kids had decided they wanted to stage for the last day of school. I'd procured a long cardboard box that the kids agreed would punch the ticket, but before we started, we needed to discuss exactly what kind of roc … | Continue reading
In science journalist David Toomey's new book Kingdom of Play, he writes about an animal geneticist and ethologist named David Wood-Gush who established the "Edinburgh Pig Park," a place where domesticated animals were allowed to roam freely. The idea was that they could live as … | Continue reading
The boy had shed his jacket onto the floor, leaving it in a heap right in the middle of the room. Under normal circumstances I would have said something like, "Your coat is on the floor; it belongs on a hook," then waited for him to think things through. But this was his first da … | Continue reading
You'd think that people would've had enough of silly love songs But I look around me and I see it isn't so Some people want to fill the world with silly love songs And what's wrong with that? I'd like to know 'Cause here I go again. ~Wings (Paul McCartney) Yesterday, I listened t … | Continue reading
The boys were playing together on and around the swings. One of them was pumping himself higher and higher while the other, laughing wildly, was lying on the ground beneath his friend. With each pass of the swing, the boy on the ground barely escaped being kicked, a fact that cle … | Continue reading
Awhile back, a reader left a comment on the Facebook page asking, "If I have $200 to make my backyard look a little more like your school, what should I get?" First off, $200 is a pretty good budget for a project like that, mainly because most of the coolest stuff we have in our … | Continue reading
She hadn't come looking for me, but when I passed where she played with a friend, she said, "Teacher Tom, look at our play area." They then gave me a tour of junk they had purposefully arranged, explaining to me how everything worked. There was a slide and a merry-go-round and se … | Continue reading
Auke-Florian Hiemstra/Naturalis Biodiversity Center There was a street light just outside the living room window of my second-story downtown Seattle apartment. On top of the light fixture were ugly spikes, fixed there to prevent birds from landing on it. As far as I could tell, i … | Continue reading
"No climbing to the top!" When our daughter was in kindergarten, her school installed an amazing rope-and-steel climbing structure. The kindergartners were forbidden from climbing to the very top, which meant that adults were always hovering around the thing, "reminding" the chil … | Continue reading
In 1971, architect Simon Nicholson wrote an article for a magazine called Landscape Architecture entitled “How Not to Cheat Children: The Theory of Loose Parts.” Perhaps it wasn’t the first time that the phrase “loose parts play” was used, but it was this manifesto that in many w … | Continue reading
For the past few years, orcas off the coast of Spain and Portugal have been ramming and often sinking smaller boats. Back in the 1980's, pods of orcas in the Pacific Ocean made a fad of wearing dead fish on their heads. The leading theory for these behaviors is play. The orcas do … | Continue reading
I was recently leaving a downtown store. When I came to the exit door, I saw that it had a handle. I grabbed and pulled. The door didn't budge. I then, counter-intuitively, pushed and the door swung open. This is a prime example of a failure in design: a handle means "pull" and a … | Continue reading
A friend recently purchased a new home. The first thing she did was paint the walls, because, as she said, the old color depressed her. We all know that our surroundings can have a significant impact on how we feel and even behave. And this is even more true for young children. A … | Continue reading
The boy was on his knees, sobbing. I don't know why, but I also did nothing because there was already someone caring for him. Two people, in fact: girls, his classmates, children who rarely played with him, but down there with him nonetheless, hands lovingly across his shoulder, … | Continue reading
Kleo I often watch the Great British Bake Off, a competition show that good-naturedly pits amateur bakers against one another. I don't bake myself, but I find the show relaxing. After 13 seasons, there are no surprises, the jokes are predictably corny, and the contestants, hosts, … | Continue reading
When I was a preschooler, I'd beg my mother to play the board games with me -- Candyland, Chutes & Ladders, Hi-Ho Cheerio -- games in which skill was not pitted against skill, but rather luck against luck. Mom was a good sport, but she was grateful when my younger brother was fin … | Continue reading
A five-year-old boy once accused me of being a "bad teacher." He wasn't mad at me. It wasn't intended as an insult. He was grinning as he said it, but he offered it more as a statement of fact than a joke. I've had children tell me that I'm "supposed to be a boy," "you smell stin … | Continue reading
Mister Rogers: "More and more I've come to understand that listening is one of the most important things we can do for one another. Whether the other be an adult or a child, our engagement in listening to who that person is can often be our greatest gift. Whether that person is s … | Continue reading
var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true}; The boy stood outside the door. I smiled at him from the inside as his mother tried to coax him forward. He smiled back at me, but didn't move.His mother asked him, "Don't you want to go to school?"He nodded that he did, sti … | Continue reading
The boy stood outside the door. I smiled at him from the inside as his mother tried to coax him forward. He smiled back at me, but didn't move. His mother asked him, "Don't you want to go to school?" He nodded that he did, still smiling. Indeed, he appeared relaxed, almost like h … | Continue reading
Awhile back, I was experiencing a little lower back pain, concentrated on the right side. After a series of massage appointment, the pain was gone, but, irritatingly, now there was pain on the lower left side. Again, I booked a series of massages, this time focusing on my whole b … | Continue reading
var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true}; Awhile back, I was experiencing a little lower back pain, concentrated on the right side. After a series of massage appointment, the pain was gone, but, irritatingly, now there was pain on the lower left side. Again, I booke … | Continue reading
Teachers in the US have the highest "burn out" rate of any other profession. Over half of all teachers are looking for a new job. A majority of teachers report not being engaged in their jobs, leading to 2.3 million missed workdays. Teachers aren't engaged because they don't feel … | Continue reading
var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true}; Teachers in the US have the highest "burn out" rate of any other profession.Over half of all teachers are looking for a new job.A majority of teachers report not being engaged in their jobs, leading to 2.3 million missed wor … | Continue reading
var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true}; What is she thinking about?I don't understand. Not even the most fundamental things come to me easily. I seem to be totally unaware, for instance, that the building we're passing is grilling meat because if I was aware, of c … | Continue reading
What is she thinking about? I don't understand. Not even the most fundamental things come to me easily. I seem to be totally unaware, for instance, that the building we're passing is grilling meat because if I was aware, of course I'd turn and go inside . . . And eat the meat! I … | Continue reading
var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true}; In his book Propaganda: The Formation of Men's Attitudes, Jacque Ellul writes: People used to think that learning to read evidenced human progress; they still celebrate the decline of illiteracy as a great victory; they cond … | Continue reading
In his book Propaganda: The Formation of Men's Attitudes, Jacque Ellul writes: People used to think that learning to read evidenced human progress; they still celebrate the decline of illiteracy as a great victory; they condemn countries with a large proportion of illiterates; th … | Continue reading
var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true}; I feel that it's important for us, as early childhood educators, to stay abreast of the latest research in our profession (all of which supports a play-based approach) as well as some of the other areas of cognitive and neur … | Continue reading
I feel that it's important for us, as early childhood educators, to stay abreast of the latest research in our profession (all of which supports a play-based approach) as well as some of the other areas of cognitive and neuroscience (all of which supports a play-based approach). … | Continue reading
The latest installment of Teacher Tom's Podcast is ready for your ears. In this episode I tell my personal story with a particular focus on the kinds of communities we can create with young children at the center. If you've ever wanted to know more about cooperative preschools, y … | Continue reading
var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true}; The latest installment of Teacher Tom's Podcast is ready for your ears. In this episode I tell my personal story with a particular focus on the kinds of communities we can create with young children at the center. If you've … | Continue reading
Most days, we would have a large ball of play dough for the children to share, but one day a family arrived with a supply of store-bought kinetic sand that she was donating to the cause. I figured we could do with a little change of pace, so I put it on the yellow table instead o … | Continue reading
var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true}; Most days, we would have a large ball of play dough for the children to share, but one day a family arrived with a supply of store-bought kinetic sand that she was donating to the cause. I figured we could do with a little c … | Continue reading
var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true}; The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now. ~Proverb of unknown originMuch of what passes for common sense is found in this concept. It's why we save for a rainy day. It's why we plan. It … | Continue reading