Train trips

We have had a couple of trips to do with trains in the last two weeks.

Firstly, Cara, Grace and I took the bus to the train station to watch the trains come and go. If you go right up on the bridge (on the way to the stadium) you get a good view, and it's fully fenced, so the kids can safely run around.

Yesterday we went to the station again, but this time we took the train to Johnsonville! This is a great trip with little kids as there is lots to see, plenty of tunnels, and it's only 21 minutes. We had morning tea in the mall, and then came back again.

Cara has a strong interest in trains - Thomas & Friends especially! - and our train set gets lots of use. The girls are also interested in tunnels and tunnel shapes. So this trip was great extension of those ideas.

Summer noises

It certainly has been sunny days.... and the cicada's have been going crazy.

They are usually up high in the trees, or whatever, and we can't see them. (Well, I can't anyway.)

But yesterday we struck it lucky. This cicada was singing it's little heart out on the fence by playgroup. We were able to get close enough to have a really good look, and I got this photo.

I suppose there's a library book which would answer our questions (my questions...) about cicadas....

sleeping peacefully

We are back into the normal routine now, with school in full swing, and the girls settled in again. One thing which has changed this year is the sleeping arrangements.

Up until the end of last year, each of the two year olds had a porta cot in her own room at sleep time. This was very convenient, as it meant that I could settle each child to sleep when she needed it, and one getting up wouldn't disturb the others.

When the children get to be about two years, this system needs to be reviewed. Sometimes a sudden review arises because a child learns to climb out of the cot! As the children get heavier, I have to be realistic about lifting them as well. In the past, two year olds have been settled to sleep on the sofas, or small mattresses, in the living room.

I decided to start that transition a couple of weeks ago, so that, now, all the two (and a half) year olds sleep in sleeping bags in the living room. It's working very well. They are aware of having to be quiet so the others can get to sleep, and it is both social on the one hand (seeing the others go to bed when you do), and peaceful.

Block Book

I am currently in the process of writing a book on block play in early childhood centres (and homes of course). It is for the Playcentre Publications 'area of play' series, and I got to choose my subject from the short list that hasn't been done yet.I chose blocks because they are so cool. (As some younger members of the house might say.)

The tricky part is saying, in about 7000 words, exactly WHY they are so cool, and HOW playing with blocks develops learning of all sorts in young children.

Hmmm.

I've discovered it's really easy to have lots of good ideas - when you're working to the park, or lying in bed, and so on. It's quite a lot harder to keep having those good ideas when you have a blank page in front of you! Hence, I am using blogging as a procrastination tool.

When I talk about blocks, I mostly mean the multi unit wooden blocks you find in almost every playcentre, kindergarten and childcare centre (though some childcare centres have funny ideas). They range in size from 'palm of your hand' to 1/2 metre long. A lot of the point of this equipment is that they are carefully cut to be in exact multiples and fractions of a unit block. The unit is a rectangular brick twice as long as it is wide, and twice as wide as it is thick - often about 12.5cm long.

Part of the richness of these blocks is that they can be combined in literally an infinate number of ways. (I think I can prove that mathematically.) And it seems to be really important to have the range of sizes, including the bigger blocks - for reasons I haven't quite nailed down yet. Kids can build things which are of the order of their own bodies, which is important when young children learn concepts about how the world works through interacting with it with their bodies.

(Ask me someday about the connection between musical ability and mathematics/algebra - and walking.)

Anyway, it keeps me out of trouble. Back to work.

End of year afternoon tea

I am seriously behind in blogging, having the circular problem of being so busy at this time of year doing interesting things that there doesn't seem time to blog them....! (Apologies to my regular reader.) But I'll try to have a little catch-up.

On Wednesday 12 December we had the end of year afternoon tea party for the little kids and families. It was a nice afternoon, so the children were able to get outside in the sandpit, and it was great to see all the families represented.

This was actually the week before my final week for the year, as Grace's family and also Carley (the programme manager) were going away early on holiday.

This end of year party is a good excuse to cut my Christmas cake. In fact, it's a good excuse to make sure I've got a Christmas cake done before Christmas! This year I used a new recipe of my Aunty Connie's, which I will post next.

New Crayons

There's nothing like being the first to use brand new crayons. I bought a new bundle of crayons last week, and Katie asked if she could use them first. I said she could as long as she sat on the floor with the little girls and they all drew together.

They mostly all drew their own pictures, but not too worried about a bit of collaboration! I did drawing too, and working on the floor saves the problem of retrieving dropped crayons. The texture in the lino also made interesting impressions in the drawings which I hadn't considered ahead of time.

The shot is a bit crowded. We started in an area of floor with more room around, but it's uncanny how kids always seem to position their most involved play where they are most in the way of through traffic!

But I do like the way they are all focused on one point, and the reflection of light off the lino gives a slightly ethereal effect to the picture.

It's exam season for college kids. Katie has NCEA level 1 this year, and had three exams this week, with two more to go. She is on study leave in between exams.

One of the pleasant side effects of it being exam season (and having study leave) is that she gets to spend a bit of time with the little kids. Usually they have gone home before she gets here after school.

It's always a good opportunity for the little kids to spend time with and talk to another friendly big person. Kate enjoys it too, and of course it's a help for me to have someone else to read books.

I was just wondering, though, at what age a two year old would identify a bigger person as another 'child', or as an 'adult', or whether and when they start to make this distinction. Elanor, at age 10, is so much bigger than them that she must seem a 'giant', even if she were normal height for her age!

For some reason I seem to have been remembering my camera on a Wednesday. I noticed that because there haven't been as many photos of Eva as of the other girls lately. This one was taken on Tuesday.

Friends...

One of our themes lately has been "friends" - what friends do, how they treat each other, and so on. This comes into asking for a turn, sharing, having picnics together.

When walking around Brooklyn, friends hold hands. Eva and Cara in particular are motivated to walk up the hill because they get to hold hands with their friends.

Obviously, having the girls walk home from playgroup up-hill works for me too - a lot less weight in the buggy!

Dancing to Bach

We had a fantastic day yesterday playing outside, and at playgroup, as the weather was so lovely. (It is not today!) When Isla asked for some music on, I decided I didn't want another nursery songs CD, so put on the first classical CD that came to hand - in this case Bach's Brandenburg Concertos.

After school Sophie put the CD on again, and here she is with Grace and Isla dancing with scarves. They really 'got into' the music, and the variations between the movements (and concertos) lent opportunities for a range of movements. Concentration, fluid movements, thoughtful pauses and then more (sometimes changed) movements.

I don' know if I've blogged about the hazards of taking photos when children play. However, it's very easy to change the child's experience by trying to record it - if they see you. Either they freeze up because they think they should do the 'right' thing, and can't think what you might want, or they freeze up in a cheesy grin because they like having their photo taken. Either way, you have interrupted their play, and also don't get your photo.

There are a couple of ways to get around this. One is to sit as inconspicuously as possible (on the floor is good) and keep taking photos until they forget about what you are doing. Another is to be very quiet and sneaky, and hope the music covers the sound of the shutter clicking. I used the later approach, and it worked pretty well.

Rain, rain, rain, rain, rain

Well that's how it feels. It has rained all day without stopping. We did lots of inside things today, like building with blocks and making pikelets.

Later in the morning we all put on coats, hats and boots and went outside anyway.

The initial idea was 'stamping in puddles'. Cara, Isla and Grace quickly moved to filling and carrying watering cans and teapots and watering the garden (which didn't actually need it, but no worries!).

A rainy day provides a lot more interesting places to get water from than just the trough or hose. A dripping downpipe, shaking it off the bushes, etc - and those great puddles of course!

You've got to love school holidays!

Sophie decided she wanted to make biscuits, and invited the little girls to help. She did all the setting up; I just gave advice on keeping it manageable, and hung around to discourage spoons and fingers from going in mouths!

They all had a really good go at mixing. This was the best photo for getting all the faces in, but Eva was mixing with the best of them too. Cara had particular persistence, and kept right on to the pressing out stage.

The biscuits will be for afternoon tea shortly.

(ps, at the same time, Katie was making a cake for morning tea and Rowena was putting away dishes, so it was a very crowded kitchen.)

I'm usually the one behind the camera, but here is a rare shot of me with the little kids. (Isla's mum was at playgroup and took the photo for their photoboard.)

Snail

The little girls were fascinated watching the snail, though Cara looks a bit wary here. She is not actually about to bash it with the spade, but perhaps she felt she needed a weapon to hand just it case!

Eva's Birthday

Today is Eva's birthday. As she doen't come on a Wednesday, yesterday we made cake, and sang Happy Birthday for her. She blew out one candle, and Isla helped with the other.

Now all the little kids are two, and we don't have any more birthdays until November.

'This is the way the lady rides'

One of the delights of family childcare is the relationships which develop between the little kids and the rest of the family. It can be quite hard organising the school kids out the door in the mornings because they want to play with the little guys when they arrive. But, a paticularly special time is when the school kids arrive home again after 3pm. The little kids will often run down the hall, callling their names.

On the days that Grace comes, she has nearly an hour here after the other little kids have gone home. That means that she gets undivided attention, often from Sophie. A game they have been playing recently is 'this is the way the lady rides'. I couldn't resist posting this photo - it just captures the fun that they are having together.

You will also notice Grace's 'dolly' - an inseparable companion at the moment.

Katie made a birthday cake for Isla as it was her birthday yesterday. We sang "happy birthday" and then she blew out the candles - like a pro!
Isla kept singing "happy birthday" for the rest of the day.

Isla got up without having had much of a sleep today. I brought her into the office and she has been repeatedly asking to see 'photos'. So we've been looking at the blog together.

Isla has got really interested in the train set recently. Especially connecting the carriages by their magnets, and starting to connect the track. She has also been connecting other things - length of chain, peg puzzle. Evidence of a connecting schema. (Must teach her how to tie knots next!)

Soccer

It's the first day of term now, but we have had some lovely times playing with the big kids over the holidays. (Apart from the shocking weather last week, of course!)

In a gap in the weather last week we got out to the school playground, and took some balls to kick around. Eva and Elanor spent ages on soccer. Lot of running and retrieving, and a good sleep in the afternoon too!

Turn taking has been a bit of a theme just lately, and I can see this going on for the rest of the year, with the little girls all just turning 2. The doll's buggy is a case in point.

This bike provides a great opportunity for turn taking. We only have the one bike and Isla LOVES it (and is very skillful).

Pictured was the first day that Cara had tried the bike at our place. The general scheme is that the child in possession rides to the end of the concrete strip, turns round and comes back, and then it's the other child's turn. Meanwhile, I do lots of verbal scaffolding to reassure the waiting child that they will get another go very soon.

Jumping in puddles

We've had a bit of rain lately. Actually, everywhere has had a lot of rain lately!

We've also had quite a lot of talk among the Little Kids about gumboots. This started as Isla had new gumboots (which she liked to carry around, but not wear), and I got the Red Thomas gumboots that Elanor used to have back from the farm. We have had lots of mix'n'match gumbot days, with hopefully everyone getting to wear some of them some of the time.

The other day, all the girls had come with gumboots. As it had been raining, but there were gaps in the rain, it seemed appropriate to go looking for puddles - one of the more satisfying aspects to winter water play. As it happened, the puddles out the back had dried up a bit, so we had to add to them with the hose.

Splashing ranged from gentle tip-toeing to two-footed jumping. (Grace did the best jumping, but stopped every time the camera came out! Can't win 'em all.)