Screen-Free Week was great fun, I have to say. I finally taught my sons one of my favorite outdoor games from childhood – Run the Bases. We played it a bunch of times and had a blast (and got exercise) and they even got better at throwing and catching. We spent time gardening as well, and playing board games (Battleship mostly, their choice – not mine, I assure you.)

Besides turning off screen entertainment, I made a concerted effort this past week to keep away from the computer once my sons got home from school. They get home about 2:00 pm, and often I will work until dinner, while they play. This week, I kept the computer off until they were in bed – and then finished up any work I still had to do. It is a discipline I aim to maintain even though Screen-Free Week has passed. Wish me luck! I know I will need it!

Our planning ahead paid off, and Screen-Free week passed happily in our home.  Luckily for me, my book group met on Saturday night – which for me would’ve been the hardest time to keep the screen entertainment at bay. And for the boys, my husband brought them on a big hike up a nearby mountain, so by Saturday evening they were fully exhausted and ready to just hit the sack.

How did you do? Did you give Screen-Week a go? If you did – congrats! We’d love to hear about it. If you didn’t – you can always plan your own Screen-Free Week for your family. I’m betting you’ll be glad you did.

Below are pics from Empowered by Play’s Screen-Free Week event at Healthy Kids Day in Newburgh, NY, where we shared information and talked with more than a hundred folks about the upcoming Screen-Free Week. We played with blocks – one of our favorites screen-free activities and made a growing list of screen-free activities. Enjoy the pics!

And of course, thanks so much to our friends at Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood for sponsoring Screen-Free Week 2012!

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At In Defense of Childhood, where the focus of this year’s conference was Keeping the Joy of Learning Alive, one of the things that struck me was that it was clear that the presenters – be they teachers, directors or college professors – had been able to keep the joy of learning alive for themselves as well as for children. It is hard to do, for sure, but throughout the day we heard from folks who are fighting the good fight and finding ways to hold on to what is possible. Nancy Carlsson-Paige showed us examples of scripted early childhood curricula which are in stark contrast to what we know about how young children learn (constructing knowledge in the context of meaningful experiences). She showed a slide of a kindergarten classroom’s data wall – which publicly showed the ranking of each child’s reading level as well as how high each child could count. To protect each child’s identity, the data wall used a code of symbols rather than names.  However, the message was pretty clear: some kids get it and some kids don’t and the Race to the Top starts with our youngest.  And a race – by definition – has winners and losers. Tired of harmful mandates that don’t make sense, many teachers are leaving the field or retiring early – though there is a growing group of teachers who are finding their voice to speak up and become agents of change. Nancy told us about the Save Our Schools movement – which is gaining momentum since the rally and conference in Washington, DC last summer (see related post). Save Our Schools is planning more actions throughout the spring, summer and beyond.

For early childhood educators, a new project is underway called Defending the Early Years (DEY) with a mission to help educators speak out about policies. Nancy Carlsson-Paige and Diane Levin are senior advisers, and the director is Ed Miller (of  The Alliance for Childhood.) Miller was at the In Defense of Childhood conference and presented “Defending the Early Years: How to Advocate for Play in the Era of Standards and Accountability”. He shared research about the impact of the Common Core Standards on preschool programs. He explained to us about the work of Peter Gray, who has written about the recent decline of free play in the United States and other developed countries, and how over the same period of time the rates of childhood and adolescent depression, anxiety, narcissism and suicide have sharply increased. For more about that, see Gray’s article The Decline of Play and the Rise of Psychopathology in Children and Adolescents in the American Journal of Play, volume 3, number 4. published in 2011 by The Strong.

Yes, the problem before us often seems too daunting. But just imagine if every teacher, parent and citizen who sees the issues did one thing to change the status quo. Imagine the possibilities. Defending the Early Years is a great place to start. Check out their new project (from their website):

“Defending the Early Years is conducting a national survey of early childhood professionals–teachers, child care workers, program and school directors, etc.–on the ways their work is currently affected by federal, state, and local policies, such as standards for learning and mandated tests. Responses are anonymous. The data are being collected and tabulated by an independent opinion research firm. The results of this research will be used to inform our efforts to advocate for more child-centered, humane, and effective policies in the education and care of young children.”

I urge you to check out Defending the Early Years, and if you are an early childhood professional, take a few minutes to fill out the survey – then urge your colleagues to do the same. Looking to do more? Check out the Save Our Schools movement and consider joining the upcoming Occupy the DOE rally on March 30th. Imagine the possibilities.

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The wonder of nature is truly a treasure, and finding ways to tap into that wonder, to help children grow and learn, is key for the early childhood educator. How do you harness that excitement, that surprise at an unexpected observation? How do you expand and extend the learning? How do you record it and asses it? For ideas and answers, I highly recommend a recent publication, titled Growing with Nature: Supporting Whole-Child Learning in Outdoor Classrooms, published through the Nature Explore project (a collaboration of Arbor Day Foundation and Dimensions Educational Research Foundation).

This beautiful book shares stories from real classrooms, written by real teachers about real children. Through gorgeous photographs, insightful teacher observations and authentic samples of children’s work, the editors walk us across the curriculum – expertly weaving nature through all aspects of learning – language/literacy; science; social/emotional; mathematics; body competence; visual/spatial and creative arts. The stories come from certified Nature Explore Classrooms, and include infants and toddlers; preschoolers; and elementary aged children.

What I love about this book is that it will inspire both experts and novices in nature-based teaching. The ideas are accessible, and create wonderful starting points for new teachers. At the same time, the depth of the thinking and wealth of examples will push seasoned teachers to explore new areas and reflect on what they currently do.

Many thanks to the folks at Nature Explore for making this top notch resource available.

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Playing outside in the dark is something they usually only get to do in the summertime – and usually with cousins. Playing outside in the dark and the cold – just the two of them, was not something they’d ever asked to do before. I was thrilled mainly because they weren’t playing with LEGOs or reading. Yes, I know, playing with LEGOs and reading are two perfectly fine activities. Wonderful activities actually. Especially when the LEGOs are not media-linked (think Sponge Bob and Harry Potter). However, too much of a good thing can turn into a bad thing. I’ve actually been thinking lately that the boys play with LEGOs too much, and are reading too much, at the expense of other things – especially active, outdoor play.

So, I was thrilled the other day when they picked up their gloves and started playing catch in their playroom. And even more thrilled when playing catch indoors led them to want to play catch outdoors.  This is a habit I’d like to encourage. So yes, it was dark and it was cold and they were playing alone outside. A reasonable risk I decided.

At one point – dinner wasn’t ready yet – they rang the doorbell. I was afraid they were ready to come back in. Nope. They just needed a flashlight – could I get one for them? You see, the ball had inadvertently gone into the woods. (The kids call it “the woods” though it is more like a grove, actually.) “Where are your flashlights?” I asked. “Under or near our pillows,” they said. (I guess it was a silly question. Where else would a seven-year-old boy keep a flashlight? Especially when his pillow and sleeping bag are in a tent on the floor in his bedroom – where they have been since late August when school started up again.)

Yup, I found their flashlights for them, and with no more questions asked, sent the boys back outside. I checked out the window a few minutes later, and they had retrieved the ball and were back in the driveway happily playing catch under the motion-activated spotlight. A lovely sight which made me smile. Oh, and did I mention that only one of them had a coat on?

On a related note, I am also contemplating the purchase of the book Fifty Dangerous Things (You Should Let Your Children Do) by Gever Tulley and Julie Spiegler. When I looked at the list, so many of the things I had tried as a kid: Climb a tree, walk home from school, drive a nail, lick a 9 volt battery, stick your hand out the window, burn things with a magnifying glass . . . you get the idea. When I was growing up, from first through eighth grade, I walked to and from school everyday. It was always an adventure with a mixed-age group of kids. Also, I can still feel and taste that acidic little shock from the 9 volt, and remember the smell of the burning leaf when I got the angle of the sun just-so with the magnifying glass. Really fun stuff, when you get right down to it. And, truth be told, I still like to stick my arm out of the car window now and again.

Here’s to letting our kids take reasonable risks.

(And a big P.S. Thanks to Lenore Skenazy for leading the charge!)

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There are so many annoying toy lists out there – such as Yahoo’s Hot Holiday Toys for 2011 offering expensive and unnecessary gems like Sesame Street’s Let’s Rock Elmo ($60.00 for the Elmo doll, plus about 15 – 20 bucks each for his keyboard, drums and microphone! And I am guessing batteries are not included. ) Your toddler/preschooler will find many more things to do with a cozy blanket than with this single-purpose Elmo toy which they will soon grow bored of and will most assuredly grow out of. And then there is Common Sense Media’s 70+ Gift Ideas For Every Kid on Your List. This list is chock-full of electronic entertainment designed to keep our kids plugged-in. Apps, DVDs, websites to join – even the games they recommend are video games.  There are no board games to help families play together without a screen involved. What happens when the power goes out ?! (And where I live, that’s been happening a lot lately.) Thankfully, Common Sense Media does recommend some actual books for children.

In the midst of all the schlock being marketed to families and kids this holiday season, three cheers and a big thank you to the Strong National Museum of Play for recognizing the blanket as a toy worthy of honor. As they so aptly describe:

“In imaginative play and make-believe, kids have discovered the many playful uses for the blanket. It fills in for a king’s robe, a bride’s veil, a superhero’s cape, a Roman soldier’s cloak, a princess’s flowing gown, and a wizard’s flying carpet. Thrown over a table, it forms a tent; draped around two chairs, it becomes a fort; on top of the carpet, it serves as a safe island surrounded by sea monsters. In puppet shows, the blanket substitutes for theater curtains; for a magician, the blanket conceals the secrets of the show. And in tug-of-war, the blanket gets top billing. It is also suitable for tossing toys in the air or for parachuting them back to earth.” (photo credit to the National Toy Hall of Fame website, also! )

As a child I used a blanket for just about all of those ideas listed above. I even remember using a blanket for impromptu winter picnics on the kitchen floor. What do you remember I wonder? Did you have imaginative adventures with your blanket? How do your children play with blankets today?

The blanket also joins the stick, inducted in 2008, and the cardboard box, inducted in 2005. Nice!

For more info on this season’s most terrible toys, check out Campaign for a Commerical-Free Childhood’s TOADY Awards.

“Each year, the Toy Industry Association gathers to present its TOTY (Toy Of The Year) Awards.  In honor of the industry that has led the way in commercializing childhood, CCFC will present its TOADY (Toys Oppressive And Destructive to Young Children) Award for the worst toy of the year.  From thousands of toys that promote violence and/or precocious sexuality to children and push branded entertainment at the expense of children’s play, CCFC has selected five exceptional finalists. “

Voting for the TOADY award is open until November 28th!

And if you are looking for toy buying advice, you may want to check out TRUCE’s Toys, Play & Young Children Action Guide or TRUCE’s Infant – Toddler Play, Toys and Media Action Guide.

For a related posts see:

A Real Toy Story

Good and Bad Toy Ideas

Doing More With Less This Holiday Season

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Cheers!

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