Feedback on my daily routine, please

[playfelt]

Many kids these days do not know how to play and it is getting to be younger and younger children. Even as infants too many moms play "for" the child. They sit and make the toy go and make exagerated gestures while the child just sits there. They shake a rattle, they read a book turning the pages or they put the child into a confining space and that is it. Many children come to care not having had a chance to explore and experiement and discover what toys can do on their own.

With some we need to walk them through the steps of using the toys. With others we need to step back and make ourselves unavailable for play so they have to play alone or with peers and not an adult.

My role is to provide activities to do not to do them. The child's role is to decide to do what is out or make their own fun instead.

What I would do as an alternative to more structured time for everyone is move from area to area in the room and offer enrichments meaning if some are pretending to be pirates then offer them extra props or if someone is buildign with blocks ask them if they need any trucks or people or animals for their stucture - if they say no fine, if they want then help them get. Take a toy from the shelf and feature it on a table - ie showcase an activity. You might even stand there and use the toy and the children will watch from a distance. After a bit walk away from the toy. You will be surprised that some of the kids will go over to the toy and start playing with it now that they know what it does.

The only ones who are truly bored are those with no imagination. We can be too tired to play, too overwhelmed/consumed mentally to concentrate enough to play but those are more adult issues not kid issues. A child that says they are bored needs to learn how to play and maybe in doing so they will find what inspires them.

[Inspired by Reggio]

....
My role is to provide activities to do not to do them. The child's role is to decide to do what is out or make their own fun instead.

.... A child that says they are bored needs to learn how to play and maybe in doing so they will find what inspires them.

I whole hardheartedly agree ... I set up the environment for them to be inviting and promote and develop certain skills and they engage in it and manipulate it while I 'observe' and make changes to continue to stimulate and scaffold their learning to the next level.

I am more inclined to be found sitting back and 'observing' play with my camera and a note pad verses being 'engaged' in their play to be honest specially when they are 'all' here cause there are enough of them they do not NEED me interrupting or changing their play by participating in it - the only time I would step in is if a 'disagreement' is brewing and after giving them pause to see if they can resolve it on their own it is still escalating - than I would step in to help them problem solve by asking questions and getting them to brainstorm solutions until we find one we all agree on or if a child approached me and invited me into the play - and than depending on the child I might join in OR I might redirect them to approach another child with that invitation (for those kids who seem unable to play with peers to encourage them to develop that skill).

Cultivating and supporting the development of IMAGINATION is the best thing we can give children - it leads to creativity, problem solving, risk taking, greater understanding of how their world works around them and so forth ... I often tell parents that if children needed to be 'entertained' the minute we gave birth we would transform into CLOWNS