Guided Activities 1-2 year Olds?

[Daycare123]

Hey Everyone!

Just wondering what kind of guided activities you all do with your daycare children * especially the younger 1-2 year olds- aside from art and music.

Ideas appreciated!!
Thank you!

[playfelt]

We play with the toys. I choose a toy and show them what it can do, how to use imagination - make the car park in the garage, or the window open and close, or do a shape sorting activity. In most cases it is a toy they are just learning to use so gives them some idea of the various things they can do with the toy. At the same time it allows me to teach how I expect the toy to be treated. Often I will start with an activity and then gradually withdraw myself leaving the children to play taking note of where each one is in terms of manipulating the parts, using imagination, etc.

We will actually do more of this kind of play at the under 2 stage rather than art. What the children are learning is arm, hand, finger control, hand-eye coordination, sticking with a task, following directions - all of the skills needed to be successful with art.

We use things like blocks or a row of hot wheel cars to do math - count how many, sort by colour or size or some other attribute, create patterns.

This form of teaching is very cheap in the sense of you work with what you already have and what is of interest to the children and because it is always out in the playroom they can repeat an activity as often as they want. To extend the lessons make some generic items such as cut four large circles or squares from construction paper and glue to a sheet of bristolboard. Then put the board with a dish of blocks to sort by colour or another day use a dish of cars.

[sunnydays]

So glad to have Playfelt's input...I do a lot of these things as well, but I often wonder if I should be doing more in terms of structured activities. My feeling is that they are learning through their playing and should not be forced to sit down and learn something that they aren't interested in at this age. I also read a ton of books throughout the day...again, it is usually the kids who bring me the books and I read what they want to read rather than forcing them to listen to a story that I have chosen. I like Playfelt's idea of cutting out coloured shapes to use for sorting by colour...I think I will try that

[playfelt]

It isn't a very popular opinion for sure. And too often we end up bowing to the pressure of parents who think if there is nothing for the fridge or no worksheet or something tangible to take home they didn't do anything. If you look at almost any of the teacher reasource books that say Early Childhood you will see that they are designed to be used with kids age 3-5. Yes we can dumb down the curriculum to appeal to the 18-24m but that doesn't mean that is the best thing. I explain to parents that what we do at the 1-3 age level is learn how to learn. It involves physical skills of learning muscle control and that takes lots of repetition of doing the same game over and over so they can feel better about their progress as in being able to stack 5 blocks this week instead of 3. There is mental learning in terms of memory, concepts like colours, how many. And awareness of their place in the world - how they fit in with the plants and animals around them. Yes we do short group times with fingerplays, songs, etc. I do not do calendar, weather, etc as a daily ritual. We stick with concrete things and we look out the window throughout the day and we discuss what we see. Our circletime is never more than 10 minutes long. Yes we read books a lot and there is a shelf of board books there all the time and used during transitions or waiting such as reading books while we take turns for potty/diapers.

It is the parents that we need to educate. To teach them that while kids are "just playing" they are learning. The key difference between playing at home and at daycare is that I have set up the play so that certain things can be learned.

I am also working on making more use of non-paper. Example using fabric/felt instead of cardboard so that it is toddlerproof. We have tried a few sessions at the CCPRN but it is really a hard sell to change the minds of caregivers who have been brainwashed to think that learning for toddlers has to be an adult led craft so they can take it home to prove to mom that the child didn't just sit in front of the tv all day.

[sunnydays]

SO glad to hear this Playfelt. I often see other caregivers at playgroups forcing their kids to "make" a craft, which is mainly done by the caregiver and then I hear them say "don't touch it"...what did the child learn from all of this? I do crafts with the kids and colouring etc...but I keep it really simple and short and let the kids do the work...I am not interested in doing crafts for them! The it would be MY work hanging on the parents' refridgerators...ahh aha! I also do lots of singing songs and rhymes with the kids, but I usually do it while they are in their booster seats at meals and snacks as I find it is easier than trying to get them to all sit for circle time, plus it keeps them from getting restless. I also think that kids learn a lot at this age through simply talking to them about the things we see around us...I talk to the kids a lot, ask them questions even if they cannot yet answer...point to things and name....etc. I think learning language is one the biggest things kids at this age have to learn and it isn't going to come from a worksheet! I think the other thing kids learn at this age is social skills...how to play in a group...to share...to take turns, etc. This is huge and cannot be learned at home if there are not other kids. I actually think these skills are far more important than anything learned from a craft etc.

[Daycare123]

Playfelt- you do pretty much exactly what I do! My background is in early childhood education and development-so I feel that I am pretty good at using activities to further necessary cognitive and motor development-but am always wanting to hear what others are doing!

Thanks so much everyone!

[Daycare123]

Kangaroomama- I use art more as a sensory exploration at this point so the children can really explore. I agree that full on art or craft activities are not so beneficial to the wee-est children

[playfelt]

Now to convince the parents.....

[sunnydays]

Unless you are a Christian daycare and have advertised this way, you can get yourself in a lot of trouble with parents if you start teaching about religion during daycare hours. We have kids from all different faiths in our care (or no faith) and it is up to the parents to decide what to teach them in the realm of religion.

There are so many activities that we can do for kids to make them happy.You can use such types of games from where they can enjoy and also get lessons about the life.you can tel stories related to the Lovely Jesus Christ so that they can get more closer to the Jesus Christ.

[Sandbox Sally]

I would personally SNAP if my children were taught about Christianity without my knowledge. NOT advisable. LOL. Yipes.