Playing is Learning

As many of you know I have a degree in Early Childhood Education, and although I have never used my degree professionally I do think it plays a large roll in who I am as a mother. Is it worth the amount of money I spent? I'm not so sure because I went to a private christian college, and it was expensive! However, I would do it all over again because I fall back on so much of what I learned in my Early Childhood classes as a mother. While in school we where taught about "teachable moments." A lot of the way I have approached, teaching my children have come from moments just like that. When they show interest in something, and we use that interest and build upon it. John is an exceptional little guy, he is eager to please and loves a challenge. This being his personality, he is very easy to teach. He is three and half years old, and he can recognize his alphabet upper case, and the majority of his lower case, he knows his numbers 1-10, can look at the numbers and put them in numerical order, and also has one to one ratio down, he has his colors down, and he knows all his basic shapes, he can write his name, and he's continually amazing us with his puzzle skills. The best part of it, is that we have never pushed him to do any of it. When he was just 2 years old he pointed out a letter in one of his alphabet books that he loved to look at and told me what it was, to my surprise! Sadly I don't remember what letter it was but I know it was a vowel, I praised him for being right and was so excited that it fueled his desire to know more. So I would write a vowel on his drawing board tell him what it was and have him repeat it and in a matter of days he could recognize his upper case vowels. He loved having the one on one time with my and all the praise he got during this time because it was right after his sister was born that he would continually bring us his board and ask to play the letter game. Once he had his vowels down we started with the rest of the alphabet and because to him it was a game where he was always praised for being right and never reprimanded for being wrong it became something he loved to do. That is how most of everything he knows has been taught. He showed interest in the area, and we step in and encourage the process along by making it something fun and exciting. It has only been recently that we actually set a time slot a side each day to work on something academically, and still it is always done as a game or something he's going to enjoy. Lately he has developed a curiosity about shadows. He can be found in a dark room with his flashlight and tons of toys at any time of the day, and he'll sit there for almost an hour at time making shadows on the wall. I love to sit and watch him unnoticed, and listen to him giggle as figures out that moving them closer to or further from the source of like makes them bigger or smaller on the wall.

I Love his curiosity.

And his desire to understand how thing work.

And the way he can self entertain!

John has also taken it on himself to teach Audrey, and it's adorable. He is creative, and encouraging, and patient. He came up with this game on his own, and they both love it! They had been playing this for a while when I decided to tape it, so by the time I got the camera out there was little less enthusiasm from both of them, but you'll get the general idea.

John Teaching Audrey Her Colors.

I love, love, love moments like these. It touches my hearts in so many ways. To see them playing and working together, him take such a leading role, and to watch her look to him for direction. When it comes down to it children are learning all day long, and with just a little guidance from us (their parents) they can prove to be much more capable of things we give them to little credit for. So I implore you, if you are the parent of or someone who is involved with young children, get involved with their play! Watch for the moments that you can build off of, and present them with a challenge. They will eagerly rise to the occasion!