Spaces speak to us
It's important that we are mindful of how we create the space for infants because the play space. . .
Contribute to children's well-being and security -> they serve as infants laboratory for learning
Typically in group cares you will have about
3 different active stages of infants; Not mobile yet, crawling, and walking.
First and most importantly this space needs to be stocked with
Familiar household objects
Older infants will start to
Explore the physical properties of art media and tools such as clay, water, paint, brushes, wire, and paper.
Each play space serves as a predictable home to set...
Familiar objects, having a basic inventory of play materials anchors a play space and infants can reliably predict that they will find there what they used before.
A Reggio Emilia teacher described the children's play environment as. . .
“A third teacher.”
Infants from birth are moving to. . .
LEARN
Infants 8-18 months of age begin to. . .
Imitate prior actions they have seen or experienced, and this gives rise to pretend play
Writing Tools such as
Pens and pencils are fascinating and want to explore how they work.
Teachers add novel materials to
The space
Infants use opportunities to. . .
Navigate floors, slopes, stairs, tunnels, boxes, and barriers to figure out how to use their bodies in increasingly more complex ways
Infants not yet mobile need A floor space designed away from infants that are
crawling or walking
Most of the time pretend play is based on meal time, bedtime rituals, dressing, and
going places
Educators can create a
Special play space
Novel items bring an element of surprise and wonder and prompt
New investigations
The play space becomes their stage for playing out the everyday experiences of their lives, pretending to sleep, to cook, to arrive, or
to depart
Crawling infants need slightly graduated stairs/ ramps to crawl
Up or Down
Educators can encourage families to to help stock the pretend play space with
RECYCLED and REPURPOSED items
Art area for exploring art media can include: Short-handed brushes that are. . .
Wide in girth
Rearranging new play space, promotes
exploration and learning
Who plays the role of the second teacher?
Peers
True or false, Walking infants need bumpy floor surfaces?
FALSE
Older infants enjoy playing out “scripts” that reflect remembered events, they like becoming
Someone else
Pens and pencils should ___ be left out to be freely accessed and explored with
NOT
things that provoke new possibilities for exploration and play and
new possibilities for learning.