What is this unit about?
This unit is about activities
children enjoy and gives examples of toys and materials needed for setting
up your home for childcare.
Introduction
| Look around your house. Many everyday items that adults take for granted can be new and interesting to small children. When you are setting up your home for childcare, think about what children could do with things you already have on hand. Think about what items you may need to buy, such as child-safe scissors, art materials, books, and toys. What can you find at yard sales and secondhand stores? What could you ask parents to donate to your program?
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The Eight Areas of Play
There are eight kinds of play that a good childcare program should have. Think about the toys and materials listed for each kind of play. Setting up these play areas can be easy and does not cost a lot. As you read this lesson, think of new ideas and add them to your list of interesting, useful, and safe objects for play.
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TIP:
Materials should be stored on low shelves, clearly labeled with a picture of the item to be put in each place. Not all toys and materials need to be out at all times; changing toys every now and then helps keep the children interested. |
1. Creative Art
For young children, art should be a chance to experiment and to make things that interest them. Try not to do only "cute" projects, such as pumpkins, snow people, or flowers that all look alike. Rather, provide a variety of materials, set up an area where children can get messy, protect children's clothing with smocks or aprons, and give encouragement and support.
| Children will use materials to do all kinds of things:
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Suggested art supplies:
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| Controlling the Mess You will need some materials for controlling and cleaning up messy play. Old plastic tablecloths or shower curtains can be used on and under a table. A small basket, sponges, and mop should be near the art area. It may help to have a dishpan and paper towels nearby so children can dunk their hands and get the worst off before washing up in the bathroom. |
Here are some good materials to have on hand:
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2. Large Muscle Activities
| Infants and toddlers need space for crawling, sitting, and learning to walk and climb, as well as safe and interesting materials to explore. Swings, playpens, and infant seats should be used only for very brief periods. The space provided for sitting, rolling, crawling, and toddling needs to be safe. Furniture, such as couches and coffee tables, needs to be sturdy and well balanced. Babies will use furniture for "cruising rails" as they learn to walk. Older babies and young toddlers want to climb. Sofa cushions, a sturdy stool or well-sanded wooden boxs are all safe items to have on hand for climbing practice. As babies become toddlers, they will enjoy push-and-pull toys, a small wagon, or a wheelbarrow. Don't be surprised if they use wheeled toys to cart small toys and other objects from one place in a room to another! Children develop and exercise their "big" muscles by running, jumping, climbing, marching, dancing, hopping, crawling, skipping, and other things that make many adults tired to think about. It may seem strange to list "space" as a material, but without it children will not be able to move freely. |
Here are some suggested materials for large muscle development:
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In addition to space it is helpful to think of the activities suggested by Carolyn Kauffman and Patricia Farrell in the book If You Live With Little Children (1957):
Something to dig in, something to swing on, something to splash in
Something to climb on, something to ride on, something to lie down on
Something to push, something for creeping and crawling.
3. Small Muscle Activities |
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| From birth on, children are learning and perfecting hand-eye coordination. Babies find tiny objects on the floor, first picking them up with a scrunching movement of one hand, then gradually learning to grasp with the forefinger and thumb of one hand Choose toys that babies can feel, manipulate, listen to, and put in their mouths. Plastic measuring cups or containers, stacking toys, soft balls, washable stuffed animals, and small (but too big to choke on!) blocks will interest babies during the first year. Small round pieces of cereal provide good material for practicing small motor skills. Stacking toys, shape sorters, and simple puzzles also encourage eye-hand coordination. Putting clothespins around the edge of a plastic container or poking clothespins through a hole in the plastic lid of a container, large plastic beads (about the size of a toddler's fist) that can be popped together, and fitting small boxes inside large ones will interest very young children. Putting together wooden puzzles (five to fifteen pieces) and playing with large Legos(R) or Duplos(R) are activities that help children become physically ready for writing and other early elementary grade activities.
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Here are some suggested materials for small muscle development:
Have some toys that children can explore in these ways:
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4. Language Activities
| Young infants like to see mobiles, books, and pictures. Talking to infants about what they are seeing and what you are doing is the way they learn language. Although most providers make good use of their public libraries, it's comforting for children to have a basic collection of favorite books that are always there. Include some sturdy board (cardboard) books for babies and toddlers about objects, animals, and experiences that are familiar to them. Also include a good alphabet book and a book of nursery rhymes in your collection. Choose picture books that allow the child to tell a familiar story by looking at the pictures. Books about children, families, animals, people from different cultures, and adventures in everyday life are good for younger children, while folk and fairy tales often become favorites of children who are a little older. Here are a few of our favorites.Babies and toddlers will enjoy the pictures. Preschoolers love the stories.
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Items for developing language might include these:
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Puppets, flannel and magnetic books, telling stories, reciting nursery rhymes, and doing finger plays are other fun ways to learn language. Borrow books from the library or ask the families of children in your care to share stories, rhymes, and songs they use with children at home.
5. Dramatic Pretend Play |
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| Dramatic play can begin in simple ways when toddlers feed, bathe, and care for dolls, drive pretend vehicles, etc. Toddlers also enjoy talking into toy telephones (but rarely need a person on the other end of the line!). Dolls can be fed from plastic dishes with imaginary food cooked on a play stove (easily made by drawing black circles for burners on a cardboard box). Washable dolls can be bathed in dishpans. Shoeboxes make good doll beds when an adult makes them up with scraps of old sheets, towels, or fabric. Lightweight strollers can be purchased at yard sales and are often easier for toddlers to push than toy baby carriages. Preschoolers need materials and equipment to expand on simple, everyday themes. Consider adding a "play" sink, refrigerator, cupboard, table, and chairs to the play stove, even if you have to make them out of cardboard boxes. Small brooms and mops, pots and pans, empty food containers, and clean dress-up clothes make good props for dramatic play. Once you have the basic materials think of how you could use what you have to create a play grocery or shoe store, restaurant, office, or beauty salon.
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These are good things to have for dramatic play:
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6. Construction/Building/Blocks |
| Play with wooden blocks can begin in the toddler stage. Toddlers also enjoy stacking large cardboard blocks and knocking them down, or building a "road." Watch block play carefully to make sure that blocks are used for building, not as weapons. Wooden blocks are expensive, but a good investment if you plan to stay in the childcare business. It is possible to make blocks yourself, although a good set requires a lot of work and patience. Blocks should be made out of hard wood because soft woods can splinter. It's probably safe to say that you can never have too many blocks. There are three conditions needed for block play to be fun and useful.
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These materials are good for block play:
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7. Music |
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| Many people believe that babies begin to enjoy music before they are born. Music provides us with easy and inexpensive fun. We can hum, sing, whistle, bang on pots and pans, and dance without spending any money at all! If your budget allows, buying a tape recorder or CD player will help bring music into your childcare program. Visit the library for books about music activities and for good music to borrow. Music stores or educational supply stores also carry a variety of music that appeals to young children. Look for recordings by Pete Seeger, Ella Jenkins, Raffi, Tom Glazer, Burl Ives, Hap Palmer, or a children's musician you enjoy.Expose children to folk, country, jazz, and classical music. One caution: Don't play "music" all the time. Some children find it over-stimulating and others find it hard to concentrate when music is playing. As children become preschoolers, work with them to create shakers, drums, and rhythm sticks. You don’t need to buy rhythm instruments. You can make or find many objects that children can use to make a variety of unusual sounds. Preschoolers enjoy parades, so include a recording of lively marches in your music library. |
Here are some ideas for music in your childcare:
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Caution: Making and using homemade instruments is for older children. Be aware that infants and young children can choke easily on the small items used to make homemade instruments. Watch children closely during these activities.
8. Science
| You probably have the basic ingredients for many science activities if you have water, sand, and foods for simple preparation. Think of the materials you already have in your home: a stack of dishpans, plastic containers, measuring cups, small wooden or strong plastic spoons. Don't forget aprons or smocks--large shirts worn backwards work well. As you watch the children's interests grow, add materials to help them discover more. Consider seeds to plant, magnifying glasses, magnets, siphons, scales, measuring tapes, and yardsticks. Collect some books about nature, animals, and places. Provide containers to keep collections of leaves, wildflowers, and insects. To a young child almost everything is amazing--from exploring dust bunnies under a bed and wondering how they got there to looking for worms on the driveway after a rain. |
Here are some tools for science activities:
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Summary
| In the childcare setting, families and children should expect to find a variety of carefully chosen toys and materials that encourage children to learn through play. A major job of every caregiver is not only to provide, organize, and display toys and materials, but also to choose them with safety in mind. Keeping materials clean and in good repair is also very important. As a childcare provider, your job is to help children learn through constructive, peaceful, and creative play. |
Assignments
- Out of the eight areas of play, how many do you provide for in your childcare program? Which areas do you feel need added materials? What will you add to these areas to make them interesting for children?
- List three things you should do to provide an interesting and safe area where children can work on art projects.
- Dramatic play is fun for children and provides many learning opportunities. What inexpensive material would you provide to help the children pretend to go grocery shopping?
- Choose one area of play that you don't already have materials for and describe what you will do to include this area of play in your childcare program. What materials will you provide? What will the children learn from this experience? If you already include all eight areas, describe what you could do to change one of the areas to make it more fun and interesting for children. What new things will the children learn from the changes you will make?