Fostering independence, reaping creative fruit!

   Sweetpea (now 34 months old) was about nine months old when I first read Montessori From the Start, by Paula Polk Lillard and Lynn Lillard Jessen. This book has profoundly influenced the way I mother my young children, specifically with regard to fostering independence. One of the cornerstones of Montessori education is to not do for a child what she can do herself. It has also encouraged us to teach our children the 'correct' way from the start - i.e we never use potties, but train the children on the proper toilet from the start (we do use a set of steps with an attached seat that makes it easier for them to get on, and prevent them from falling in, but Sweetpea very soon grew tired of this and preferred just using the toilet without gadgets); we've never used bottles or sippy cups (I breastfeed, so we don't need bottles, and we've been teaching the children to drink from tiny glasses from about 7 or 8 months old); and of course by the time ArrowBoy came around, we had aslo ditched the traditional baby cot, and my boy is thriving on his 'montessori bed' - you can read more about our cot-free baby room here.

   The motivation behind all this is a respect for each child as an individual person, who needs to gain independence in order to be free to learn and explore this wide and wonderful world in an unconstrained manner. In a practical, everyday sense it means that my daughter can go to any toilet without fear or issues, I don't have to carry a plethora of drinking devices with me everytime we go out, and my son has never had to stand screaming in a cot, waiting for someone to pick him up. In fact, because he can freely get out of his bed whenever he is ready, and because his toys are on a low shelf within his reach, he most often wakes up cheerful and keeps himself occupied with books and toys until he is ready for me to come get him, at which point he will knock on the door!

    One of the most beautiful results of this approach is the fact that our children can, for the most part, keep themselves occupied. When children are given the freedom to function at their own pace in a prepared environment (see * below), it results in them confidently engaging with their surroundings, exploring and choosing activities which appeal to them. It encourages free-play and creativity AND, although this is not the main aim, a definite fringe benefit is the fact that it allows Mama some time to get stuff done!!

  My goodness, all of that, and all I actually wanted to say was that I love the fact that my children can play independently!! And that I am always impressed by how creative they can get when left to their own devices for a while. Point in case: I was catching up on some reading this afternoon while Sweetpea  was quietly playing with a fresh batch of playdough. We often play with this medium and both the children love pinching and prodding and rolling it. But in the past I have either been playing with them (see examples of some of our play dough fun here, here and here!), or they simply rolled it out and pressed out shapes with cookie cutters. When I got it out for Sweetpea today, she wanted only the dough and had been playing contentedly for a long time when she quietly called me over for a look.

  There were two odd shapes with a tiny ball near the end of each: "That's a mama dinosaur and that's her eye, and that's a Sweetpea dinosaur and that's her eye." I could just kiss her!! Where on earth she's learnt about dinosaurs I don't know, but there's definitely a bit on Bronto going on here, don't you think??

Oh, and the outfit...another result of blossoming independence and blooming creativity!!

*The term 'prepared environment' is mostly used when referring to the child-friendly and beautiful way in which Montessori classrooms are set up to invite exploration and make it easy for a child to function in an area where furniture and activities are suited to his physical proportions and intellectual needs. But it can also be true of a home environment where children have access to a variety of learning experiences, and their personal spaces are set up in a way that encourages independence. An example would once again be a Montessori bed: my son can get in and out of bed without help, and his books and favourite toys are on a low shelf where he has access to it. I often find him sitting on his bed thoughtfully 'reading' a favourite picture book!

Magic Dough

I got this lovely idea from MaryAnn f. Kohl in The Giant Encyclopedia of Learning Center Activities!

First, make a fresh batch of play dough, and divide it into balls.

Poke your finger into the ball to make a hole, and  use and eye dropper to drop in a small amount of food colouring. The close up the hole again!

I did all of the above while the children were busy elsewhere, and only called them when I had the dough already set up at their table - they didn't know of the 'surprise' hiding inside!

You can then teach your bambinos this song by Ms Kohl:

Squeeze my dough (Tune: Three Blind Mice)

Squeeze my dough

Squeeze my dough

See how it goes

See how it goes

I play with dough on my play dough mat

I roll it out and I pat it flat

I make a dog and I make a cat

Squeeze my dough!

And here is my Afrikaans version which I taught my children:

Ek speel met klei

Ek speel met klei

Speel jy ook!

Speel jy ook!

Ek speel met klei op my speelkleimat

Ek rol dit op en ek druk dit plat

Ek maak 'n hond en ek maak 'n kat

Ek speel met klei!

As they kneaded and rolled, the colour started to appear in soft streaks and there were squeals of delight!

Another idea would be to drop two or three different colours into each ball for a rainbow effect.

And some more play dough fun - Aussie style!!

This sweet e-mail came from Elise of Inspiration Surrounds, Creativity Abounds:

     I am sorry that I didn’t quite make your deadline for your Joyful Mama’s Play Dough Day. Sometimes our best laid plans have a way of coming undone at the last minute - I think three young children are the masters of ensuring this happens
    I wanted to let you know that you certainly did inspire us to get creative with play dough and this morning we made a fanciful billabong (very Aussie) scene. I just wrote a blog post about it!

Now, with my own children being one half Australian, we just had to check this out!!

Here are Elise's sweet little crew busily working on their billabong and the creatures that inhabit it!

Some snakes, very fancy birds and other critters in the 'crystal clear pool'!

You can click here to see the rest of their fun photo's and be sure to browse the rest of Elise's blog, too - this lady is super-creative and I guarantee you'll leave inspired!

Someone else who has been having play doughy fun is Deb Chitwood of Living Montessori Now - enjoy!!

A perfectly play-doughy weekend!

I think I could probably write a song to the tune of The Twelve days of Christmas to tell about everything we've done with our home-made play dough the past few days. I honestly never expected Sweetpea to have SO much fun from a few cups of flour and some salt! She's had shop-bought play dough since she was about 18 months old and played with it regularly, but she can't get enough of the home-made variety. I will never buy dough again!

 So, here's how we celebrated Play Dough Day Weekend!!

 On the first morning Sweetpea worked on some wildly creative sculptures using the red cinnamon-secented and glitter dough we used for our cupcakes and apples last week.

Yep, she's still in her jammies and that mop of hair had not seen the right side of a hair brush yet!!

Excellent fine-motor practice!

The one on the right looks like a Rastafarian alien, don't you think?!

The next day I made a fresh batch of blue, to add to our red and yellow.  The blue was still warm and before we started playing *seriously*, she just enjoyed kneading a little of the blue, and then a little of the cold red, delighted by the difference in temperatures!

We have read and read and re-read the book Mouse Paint the past few weeks and Play Dough Day was the perfect opportunity for some practical colour mixing!

We followed the story as we played.

Mixing blue and yellow to make green - very good excercise for little fingers!

Our lovely colour wheel!

We placed  the balls of dough in a large circle...

...and went hunting for toys and things from the garden that matched each colour. She insisted on the pink grapes being with the green pile because she says real grapes are green. Clever girl!

Then we abandoned the piles and just had soooo much fun making all kinds of things with our dough! Sweetpea created a large collection of doughy sausages which she arranged in patterns on our cutting board....

...while I had some fun of my own!

It was just a matter of time before she discovered the lovely effects she could create by mxing the colours, and we had a grand time making beautiful rainbow dough!

By the end of play on day one, it looked like this. I left the dough in an ice cream container on the kitchen counter, and was requested to take it out before breakfast every morning this weekend!



By Sunday afternoon most of it looked like this....

A pudgy little baby finger poking holes in the dough while sitting on Mama's lap! And trying out the rolling pin, too!



And then this afternoon I received a comment from Anna over at The Imagination Tree, telling about the fun they've been having making play dough pizzas...in ITALY, nonetheless!!! They are there on holiday and you just have to go see the beautiful pictures she took of her eldest and the amazing nature-pizzas they've created!

Isn't she gorgeous??!! And that pizza looks super-yummy!



Wishing you a blessed week!



Joyful Mama's Play Dough Day Breakfast Table, and some inspiration!

Hello everyone and ....

HAPPY PLAY DOUGH DAY!!!

In case you missed the post from earlier this week, here's what I am on about:

Last Saturday, 18 September 2010, was National Play Dough Day in  the USA. I only discovered this fact a day later. Being a huge play dough fan, this was a great disappointment...but since I am not in the US, and since we don't have a Play Dough Regulatory Board here in South Africa, I decided to take matters in my own hands and declared today JOYFUL MAMA'S PLAY DOUGH DAY!! And all that means is that I would love for you all to join us as we have some play dough fun today. It would be super if you'd let me know how you celebrated - you can either blog about it and leave a comment with a link to your post, or if you are not a blogger, simply take pictures of what you got up to, and email it to me. All submissions must please reach me no later than Saturday, 25 September, and be sure to check in on Monday to see what everyone else got up to!

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To kick off the celebrations, my dear ones woke up to a Happy Play Dough Day breakfast:

We've been reading  - and loving  - Mouse Paint recently, so that was the inspiration for the table decor!! Later today we will be mixing play dough, Mouse Paint style, to practice colour mixing!

And here is a little treat for you - a collection of some of my favourite play dough ideas from around the blogosphere!

• 
  
  Counting Coconuts has a new sensory tub and play dough recipe every month! Some of my favourites are her Apple Pie Play dough, her Beach Sand play dough, and this Soil for Planting play dough!
• 
  
  Mama Jenn has a terrific recipe for Kool Aid Play Dough!!
• 
  
  Over at Pink and Green Mama you will find this super Pumpkin Play Dough, and you HAVE to see her Snowy Day Play Dough Table and  Mini Pay Dough Lands!!
• 
  
  Cultivated Lives has a beautiful post on how to mix colours to make play dough veggies! 
• 
  
  My Montessori Journey made a batch of Oatmeal Play Dough that I will definitely be trying, and she also used dark brown play dough soil for a cute little gardening activity!!

Looking forward to seeing what YOU came up with!!

Play Dough Apples

We had so much fun making playdough cupcakes with our scented dough, that Sweetpea asked me bright and early this moring to get it out again. Today we made some apples, as inspired by My Montessori Journey! Sweetpea loved it and re-made them several times!

We started with cinnamon-scented, red play dough, tiny twigs and silk leaves.

Add a stem...

 Then a leaf..

And an apple a day keeps the play time blues away!

So cheery!!

Playdough cupcakes

The Joyful Household has been struck down with the flu for a second time this winter - I mean, can you *handle* it!!?? I hardly ever get sick, and now I'm in for round number TWO!! Oi. The little ones seem to have caught the somewhat milder version, though, for which I'm grateful - I can handle my own misery, but it breaks my heart when my smoochies suffer.

Anyway, on to more pleasant things: We mustered up all the energy we could and decided to make some lovely home-made play dough today. I LOVE this recipe by Laura from My Montessori Journey  - it is one of those 'can't fail' numbers that has earned itself  an honorary place in my recipe file!

I had seen the inspiration for this little bit of  play time fun on The Imagination Tree last week, and I just knew Sweetpea would enjoy it. To add to the whole 'baking' experience, I scented the playdough: The yellow smells like vanilla, and half of the red dough is scented with cinnamon - Delicious, Darling!! The other half was peppered with silver glitter, and oh boy, did little miss Sweetpea enjoy that!

In my *very biased* opinion those chubby little-girl fingers are even sweeter than the cupcake they are decorating!

Mama joined in and got alittle carried away...I adore play dough - such a forgiving medium, you know!

Sweetpea adored that mini layer cake  - she decorated it after I had formed the two layers and circle of frosting, and then walked around with it for the rest of the morning, sniffing and..yes, lincking...it until I said we had to clean up for lunch. She nearly cried when we had to dissemble the cupcakes and I insisted she threw away the bit that was licked! And on that note, here is a nice little tip on play dough hygiene I also picked up from Laura at My Montessori Journey: Before your bambinos dive in for some play dough fun, teach them to always clean their hands with a waterless hand sanitizer first. This is an especially good idea for play groups and pre-schools, but we use it here at home, too.