Good morning,
I love that you are asking!! Our society has taught us that we must "do" to children, to entertain, to keep them busy. What I believe is something I learned when I heard the great Magda Gerber and Ron Lally talk about the "child" is your curriculum. When I listened to Magda and Ron, I learned so much. At first this blew my mind, as I too thought I must always provide activities to busy the child. What I learned was totally the opposite. I learned that we must first see the child, truly see the child. We must truly believe the child is a competent human being who knows what he or she needs and wants. We need to follow the child's cues so we know what
experience to provide. An experience, rather than an activity where there is one goal. An experience where the child leads and you follow. You add language and be in it with the child to help scaffold the experience. But always first, you must watch. A scarf can provide long enjoyment as the infant begins to move it with her feet, her hands, her mouth. I would recommend looking up Program for Infants and Toddlers and some Magda or Ron you tube videos. I would also recommend purchasing a great book called-Treasure Basket Explorations Heuristic Learning for Infants and Toddlers b y Dr. Laura Wilhelm. It provides some great insight into a time when child are beginning to sit. For the young non-mobile infant, remember simple, soft, easy to hold objects placed near the child and with you to hold conversation as you describe what you see the child doing enhances the child's experience. I hope this helps. I added an article from Ron, enjoy! If you would like to talk more, you are more than welcome to reach out at privately. I am a certified PITC trainer and I have worked with this age group and teaching staff for 20+ years. Keep searching and learning! Sincerely, Joyce
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Joyce Hepler
Community Action Project of Tulsa County
Tulsa, OK
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Original Message:
Sent: 08-02-2021 12:40 PM
From: Joy McVicker
Subject: Infant ideas for in the classroom
Hello I am going to move in our infant classroom starting on 8/16/21. I was wondering if anyone had ideas I can use for activities to do with infants for lesson planning. I have been in the baby room as a para but not as a teacher. I know things like tummy time. I Want to expand on that and come up with ideas that they can do. I know like painting in a bag. I like the treasure basket. What are somethings you have done with the treasure basket.
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Joy McVicker
Battle Creek MI
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