Eczema Friendly Sensory Play

NEEDED: old clean socks, oats (I used organic oats) and a bowl/box of warm water. On reflection I would put in a lot more oats into the socks - they really shrank in there - and the aim was to try and extract the goo to play and write in - but that did not work (even though you could squeeze out goo, it simple was not enough or right to collect) - BUT something surprising did happen...

We found you could mold it into different forms. Its was lovely and squidgy - and if we had put more oats in then I am sure it would have been much better to make more forms and explore with. Adding colour to the oats could also be a suggestion. My children found the colour a bit too gray - but that might not be so kind to the skin. The great thing with oats is that it is actually very calming for itchy skin - and also for non-itchy skin. When Michael suffered from eczema every winter (this is the first winter without) then the sock-oat bath was a regular feature to help soothe his skin. I wondered if it would make a great sensory play after talking with Jackie Musgrave, Senior Lecturer at Worcester  University, who is researching how activities can be adapted to meet the needs of children suffering from allergies so that settings are inclusive... so we tested it today...

As you see it does keep its shape - a little like those squidgy faces you can buy in the toy shops (that always end up leaking)

Here you can see the goo coming out of the sock when it is squeezed. I guess if eyes were drawn in permanent pen before then all sorts of monsters and expressions could be created. The water becomes very cloudy, but it has all the softening and calming properties of the oats. It would make a great water play environment for children with eczema too - so why not add other props too. If there were many socks of various sizes maybe landscapes could be molded and created too? YES there is great creative potential here - and is an inclusive sensory activity for children with eczema.

sleep - notes from John Axelsson

I am married to a sleep researcher - which has its benefits - I learn a lot. It also means he has to go away on lectures and conferences, leaving me with the three children and life... which I know is doable, and I know millions do it every day - but I don't, so it does feel a bit more tiring when normal routines are suddenly offset. Tomorrow he sets off for France and will be gone for 10 days - which means I am not sure how much blogging I will be doing in the coming week - either I will blog a lot for company or not at all because I am too tired... time will tell.

But back to the benefit - learning stuff...

For ages I have been trying to get him to talk more about preschool children and sleep - and he has applied for research money to do research on preschool age children and napping etc - the problem is there is not the same interest in funding research for young children as there is in researching adults...

Luckily he has done some research on health and sleep, and the last preschool I worked at was a part of that project - the teachers at least (me included) - and as part of that he said he would give a talk about sleep to teachers and parents about sleep - he of course could provide all the information about sleep, and I contributed a little with some preschool facts and what possible areas would need to be covered...

Hopefully this will not be the last time he talks to parents and teachers of preschoolers - getting good sleep habits is important - and its maybe harder for parents now when there is more and more blue light (TV and screens) and after school activities stimulating children... but more of that later...

So to what was said (in note form) -

• the brain has 5-6 arousal systems (light, activity, stress etc) that need to be switched off before falling asleep - which means if it is too bright, or the brain is too active or stressed then it will be impossible to sleep. Some people are better at switching off these arousal systems than others and can thus fall asleep faster.
• Deep sleep reflects what we have been doing during the day. The parts of the brain that have been activated during the day sleep deeper during the night to help recovery and plasticity.
• stressed people may fall asleep later, but they will get the same amount of deep sleep - its just their sleep patterns will look different. Problems ocurr for people who wake up during the night unable to fall back asleep.
• when we sleep we block stress signals to the brain.
• teenagers are more evening people and not morning people
• sleep is important for filling up the energy level in the brain which makes focussing on activities easier. People with low brain energy (ie lack of sleep) need to change activity more often to help maintain focus (this can be seen in night shift workers who need to change their job activity more frequently).
• sleep supports the immune system.
• sleep helps learning - synapses levels are reduced during sleep so that they are more receptive to learn/connect
• when the brain is tired, the part that is feeling over used/tired can actually locally sleep!!!
• REPEAT - SLEEP - the best way to learn
• sleep allows memories to move from short term to long term
• Sleep helps process the emotions that you have experienced during the day - this allows you to react less strongly/more appropriately next time
• with a lack of sleep it is not only harder to create long term memories but also harder to keep control of your emotions - much more likely to swing between emotions - angry is more angry, sad is more sad and happy is more happy and you have the chance of experiencing them all in a short period of time...
• sleep shortages - short term risks are accidents. Long term risks are health problems.
• Those who have too little sleep will have problems with their hunger regulation - they will feel MORE hungry - this means that overweight is also connected to lack of sleep - and the health problems that come with being overweight.
• Tips for good sleep hygiene - physical activity, being outside in the morning ( as if you are exposed to light in the evening it can stimulate you and keep you awake), wind down before bedtime, routine sleep times, don't go to bed hungry (eat regular meals), warm socks - its harder to fall asleep if your feet are cold (and from personal experience I can vouch for this as I have problems keeping my feet warm - I have great cozy socks now). In the room where you sleep - a calm sleeping environment, cool and well ventilated, dark, good bedclothes that are breathable. Understand and accept that occasional disturbed sleep will happen.
• low music can help collect thoughts and reduce stress and thus help the falling asleep process
• night terrors are harder on the parents than on the child
• In sweden we stop giving our children naps earlier than any other country in the world - its a modern invention to stop napping at a young age. If a child falls asleep after lunch they should be allowed.
• rest time (ie lying still but not sleeping) is valuable as even though it does not allow the brain to recover as sleep would, it does allow for stress reduction.
• people with insomnia should not nap
• if a child does not nap during the day as usual and falls asleep around 5pm instead, allow the child to sleep for 20 minutes... if the child does not wake easily after 20 minutes try 10 minutes later  - as deep sleep lasts about 30 minutes.
• Children with a lack of sleep are at risk of reduced emotional control, hyperactivity, cognitive disturbance and risk for overweight.
• If your child snores it is worth getting them checked out by a doctor - to rule out sleep apnea and increase sleep effectivity
• when it is the parents that are in control of bed times the children tend to have better sleep and perform better in school than children who control their own bedtimes.
• Children with many out of school activities have less sleep - due to a combination of stress and evening activities stimulating the brain.
• blue light (screens) stimulate the brain making it harder to fall asleep, so its a good idea to avoid TV and screen time before going to bed

Well those are my notes. When John returns from his conference in France - I will be asking some more questions - if you have any please ask them in the comments - and I will try to make the next sleep post relevant ... as you will understand from my blog, I am interested in supporting early years settings and families of preschoolers - so please try to keep your questions focussed in this area...

creating another world

while the children were resting/sleeping - this is what I set up... I was curious to see what would happen - next to it were jars and boxes of all sorts of materials...

the first to arrive was one of the toddlers. The main interest was exploring the glass beads - the noises it made when it was in the jar, how it felt with the whole hand submerged in the plastic jar, experimenting with large and small amounts of beads. Then to pouring them onto the floor and swooshing legs as if swimming in the beads - then carefully picking them up and putting them back into the jar to start again

Three more children arrived with huge exclamations of "wow" and did not need any encouragement to start using all the jewels and beads, shells, chestnuts etc etc to continue the creativity on the blue velvet... One child turned the shells into a family - mummy, daddy and two children.

after a while I saw they had finished designing and creating the patterns and introduced fairies as a possible small world play to this new world they had created. The fairies were new to them - and were enthusiastically received by all.

The fairies and cars and duplo all got mixed together to create a richer form of small world play. Here you can see a fairy driving a car. Of the three children in the room there were three different kinds of play happening. One child had a very interactive role-play story with the fairies that stretched across the whole small world area and larger parts of the room.

Another child sorted and re-sorted the materials found on the material. Arranging them by colour - discovering that the shells made an excellent source of transportation.

the third child arranged the fairies - sat and admired them, watched the other's for a short time, then re-arranged the fairies, admired and then re-arranged... it must have been in double digits the number of re-arrangements.

 This variety of play with the same materials got me thinking about the talk about philosophy and that as teachers we need to support the children's ability to see alternative ways of viewing things. So there will be a documentation made of how the children have played so that we can talk together about the different ways of playing and if we can be inspired by what our friends are doing...

Today we set up the blue velvet together - this time the fossils came out, and more beads. It was also noticeable that the children who had participated in yesterdays session had a clear strategy in how to place the beads...

As you see it was not just a case of pouring the beads into areas of the material - this time there was planning and positioning.

 It was also noticeable that the toddlers were much more interested in a sensory experience - of feeling the beads run through their fingers - today this is what the toddlers did too - and were allowed to, although for some of the older children this was difficult to accept - why were there beads all over the floor? But after a while and some explanations they saw the benefits - they too could experiment with the beads... Again - learning to see things from another point of view, and adding this new knowledge to their own... Philosophy without words...

A new arrival - Giant

Giant - a baby bald eagle

Today we opened a package together - and our first sight of what was inside were two feet - there was a resounding - it's an OWL (we sing a song about an owl in a tree a lot). BUT it wasn't an owl - it was an eagle - and a baby one.

Giant has spent the last four months in Australia - although s/he originally come from the USA - after spending the spring in Sydney -s/he now gets to spend spring in Stockholm - although first there will be chance to explore the snow and ice - quite a change from the 45°C weather Giant has experienced in Australia!

Attached to Giant is a little koala friend.

The children started off by creating a comfy nest for Giant - sparkly beads and feathers line the basket!

Welcome Giant to your Sweden leg of your tour.

Skippy is now in USA - and Svea the moose in Australia.

Philosophy and preschool

Just got back from a really inspiring meeting - you know the kind, where you feel both uplifted but at the same time exhausted.
Liza Haglund (Södertörns Högskola) was our philosophical guide for the evening - parents and staff met in a circle to get philosophical with each other...

First we were given the opportunity to ask questions, and it seemed that essentially the parents wanted to know how to define what a Philosophical Preschool is - what is the difference between a traditional Swedish preschool, Montessori preschool, Waldorf/Steiner preschool and a philosophical preschool.

My brain is still swirling around these thoughts, and ALL of what has been said and discussed this evening - but I will raise just this - as it resonated within me...

This was how I interpreted Liza Haglund's explanation of what makes a Philosophical Preschool stand out...

At traditional, Monterssori and Waldorf/Steiner preschools the focus is on the individual child - how can each child develop in their own way.
At a Philosophical preschool the foundation is to see the individual as part of a collective, that we create an awareness that we need others. That the children learn to think together, that we need different perspectives, the possibility to see things another way. We all need help to see what is best for us - this can be achieved by listening to others...
so as preschool teachers we need to support the children to

• learn to listen
• partake in dialogues
• appreciate other's ideas - and then be able to make your own informed decision.

How should this be applied to the preschool setting?

As teachers we need to listen, to take notice of the children's questions and to be able to ask follow-up questions. To save children's questions for a time when they are ready to listen and talk - children do not always have time to discuss a question they have just then... The saved questions can then be related to a story or an activity at a later date... "This story reminds me very much about that question you asked the other week..."

Of course, the children need to ask questions - and if questions are not forthcoming they can be stimulated with the use of art and stories - what do they think about e.g. a picture of a baby with devil horns and tattoos? Their thoughts can be collected and helped to form questions...

In the beginning for an infant philosophy may be as simple as what is suckable and not suckable - sorting thoughts about the world around them. 

Giving children coloured animals to sort we can observe how they sort - is it by colour, by animal type, by size, or climate where they come from... if we observe the children's method of sorting we are also seeing their thoughts, even before they are verbalising with words. By the children being exposed to alternative ways of sorting they are also being exposed to alternative ideas - the same group of animals/figures can be sorted in several different ways - the child can then choose if there is one that s/he prefers - their first choice, or maybe a new one - or maybe yet another develops inspired by one of the alternatives...

Philosophy is more than just words...

The Reggio Emilia approach also has a philosophical approach, where the children work together, collaborate their different ideas to reach a solution or to start a project... and within the RE Approach there are a "hundred languages" - its not just words to express thoughts, ideas and opinions - and philosophy - but through all their languages - movement, art, patterns, science, dance, song, music, sensory, nature etc etc etc...

Well that's all my brain is going to cope with this evening ... 

Please write down any feedback in the comments or on the Interaction Imagination facebook page - create a dialogue... 

Philosophy - The Love of Wisdom

Mittens - a love-hate relationship

I love my mittens during winter - they keep my hands toasty when its freezing outside. Its a shame that as a preschool teacher I have to take them off so much - to wipe noses, to make sure overalls go OVER the boots to stop snow getting in, and to keep putting on the children's mittens etc...

Why hasn't anyone designed a mitten that simply does not come off during play, is easy to play with them on - but are still easy to put on?

By the time all the children are dressed you are completely sweaty - and getting mittens on is such an artform. Why do fingers start wiggling all over the place? Why don't thumbs go into their little thumb hole? Why do some children not participate in putting on their mittens - just limply hold out their hands? Do you put on the mittens on BEFORE the overall or afterwards - I like to put them on before - it really helps keep them on - but there are now so many overalls with this inner sleeve thing to protect from the snow, which means you can't get a mitten-clad hand through...
Then there are the overalls that are technically too big, so they push off the mittens all the time... Or... well there are a whole load of possibilities here...

where are the thumbs?

Then there is the dilemma... most children do NOT want mittens on - especially the toddlers; and I can understand them. As toddlers their most important part of their body for learning is their hands - they need to touch, feel and experience everything, they want to try out their fine motor skills, grip and squeeze - you stick a mitten on a toddler and you take away a huge part of their learning process. So they cry with frustration. They take off their mittens and after a short while they cry with cold...

I love checking out what children are up to all round the world. There are so many inspirational blogs about outdoor play - and they make me so envious, I have to be honest. Yes we go outside, but we just cannot play in the same way. We cannot offer the youngest children the same sensory learning experiences that children in e.g the UK, USA and Australia are getting their hands into - because those mittens are in the way - and also because the ground is frozen - there is no soft sand or messy mud to delight in.

Winter is FUN - the snow and ice offer new experiences - but to be honest, its just TOO long. We have been wearing gloves/mittens since October - and this week is well below zero - so I guess gloves/mittens will be with us for another month or two. And I know that Stockholm, and Sweden are not alone in experiencing the many months of winter...

I am all for outdoor experiences - BUT when its not much of an experience and just the fresh air... then I wonder... this saying in Sweden "Ingen dålig väder, bara dålig kläder" (There is no bad weather only bad clothing) - what does it mean by bad clothing - bad because you get cold or wet? Or bad because you cannot play? Does mitten reduced-play require more indoor play/experience for the youngest children - so that their hands get enough stimulation? I think older children do not have the same issues with their mittens (although holding hands is more problematic with mittens on!).

As a child I remember going to school in the snow with knee high socks, welly-boots and a school skirt. I also remember my knees going red - but I don't remember it interfering with my play. Mind you I was not experiencing the cold that we get here in Stockholm.

There is no solution - its just a love-hate relationship - they keep hands lovely and warm when they get to stay in the mittens!!

Elmer continued...

 This time the children drew their own elephants with support from me - how many legs, what sort of shaped body, where are the eyes, nose, trunk and tail.

Once they had created their elephant outline it was to get busy with the glue and the various coloured squares of tissue paper.

It was the same technique as the day before - I was interested to see how they would create their Elmer pattern.

The Elmer that we had made was with us, as well as the book, to help with drawing the elephant shape, as well for inspiration.

The children had no plans to create a patchwork pattern - in fact it was of little importance to keep within the elephant shape.

I also think it is interesting that many of the young children I have worked with over the years sometimes "forget" to do the sticking part. It was the same for these children, painting with the glue was priority one - and every once in a while I needed to remind them that if they did not stick something down that the glue would dry and not be sticky anymore - then there was a tendency to grab a few squares and stick them on so that they could get back to gluing. I also find it interesting to see how children like to paint/glue in the same small area of the paper - again, I needed to encourage them to stick the coloured squares over the whole elephant, using the book as an inspiration. I prefer to encourage rather than tell them to do something - the artwork is their own, and I let them know that they can make up their own minds...

elephant with a fat body and with many legs - as drawing legs was just too much fun to stop at four.  A trunk, and eye outside of the body and two lines to represent the ear.

an elephant with a fat body and with four legs, BUT if you draw faster than you count it quickly turns into five legs! A long tail on the right, a short trunk on the left, with the eye close to it - as the eye is found near the trunk and not near the tail. A carefully drawn elephant ear