How it All Ends

With everything that starts, there must be an end, and so I end this blog with a few of my life updates, that are the cause of some of this projects delays.  I've enjoyed blogging about my experiences in this class, i feel it has brought everything to a nice close.  I've had more bumps along the way towards the end in a very unexpected arrival of my second child, however I'm proud to say she is happy, healthy and doing very well.  She is finally home with us and doing great! Thank you so much for your patience in my completion of this blog, i hope you have enjoyed what you've read and really seen how much i enjoyed the class. 

In ending I will leave you with a few snapshots of my life the past few weeks...


with high blood pressure and other warning signs, they decided it was time...





On December 23, six weeks early, at 3:03pm she was born.



weighing in at 4lbs 3oz

Through lots of feeding help, weight battles and life as a preemie we finally were stable enough to go home!



We are thankful for the many blessings and truly believe she was the best Christmas present we received this year!



Mod. 8 Transition Objects

I thought it would be cool to talk about my own transition object from childhood and how that has gone with me through life.  I guess up until now and after going through mod. 8 I never knew that I even had a transition object.  Mine was a teddy bear that was named Sarah.  I was never able to tell you why the bears name was Sarah until a few years ago, and then everything really began to make sense. 

I was adopted at birth by a wonderful family.  My birth mother was young, had extensive medical issues and was not able to care for a child, and thus gave me an amazing gift of having a family that could care for me and put me up for adoption.  With that being said, I’ve always had a great attachment to this teddy bear, took it with me everywhere, and slept with it at night.  As a child I grew up with this teddy bear, and it never became like all the other stuffed animals that I loved, there was something different about it. 

Come to find out before my birth mother gave me away, she gave me this teddy bear.  My mom always talked about my adoption with me, always shared what was age appropriate and answered any questions that I had.  I never made the connection between my bear and my birth mother as a child that came much later. 

After reading this module, although it was a bit complicated to understand at times, this is the situation that came first to my mind.  I never thought of how objects help us transition in life, to me that was more just for children, however this module really helped me see how beneficial they are, and how even as adults transitions can be hard, and sometimes transition objects are very helpful to have.

Now I ask you, do you have a transition object?  One from childhood you remember, where is that object today.  Mine, tucked safely away to always have, hold on to, and remember!

Here is the best picture I had of the bear and me in childhood!

Mod. 7 Play in Adolescence

The years of pre-adolescence and adolescence in a child are some that really start to shape the person for their adult life.  The way a person interacts, works, and play really are very telling of how that person might be as an adult.  The way the person puts value into work and play along with their values, thoughts, believes, passions and interest are all starting to take shape.  These are the years that we form friendships out of our interest.  I remember back in middle and high school playing my cello in orchestra, participating in the color guard, and playing soccer all of which I found friends that shared in my interests as well.  Finding people with the same interests as you brings you together because you are spending time together during the activates, as well as outside of those, in times were we could just "hang out." 

Learning how to balance work and play was also a key lesson of many people's adolescent years.  I didn't personally have a job until my senior year in high school.  People have to work in their adolescent year for a variety of reasons, sometimes their family needs the extra income, sometimes the person may enjoy having their own money, or sometimes it’s enjoyable for the person to work, to have a sense of work ethic.  While working is important and can have many great lessons for children in their adolescent years, I believe it should be done with caution.  As adults we spend the rest of our lives working, and it is important while teaching young teens the value of work, we also teach them to have balance in their lives with "play."  You want them to develop interests, hobbies, and have fun being a kid, while they still can! 

These years so much is changing for these young adults, I think it is importance to keep as positive and supportive for them during these times as possible.  Support as parents, teachers, or other key adults in these people’s lives really makes a difference.  They are starting to navigate adulthood, relationships with the opposite sex, dealing with money, more responsibilities and so much more.  All those things can be a lot to handle, but with help from adults they can learn how best to deal with all of them and keep balance within their lives.  

So if your in your adolecent years, try to enjoy them, rememeber that there is always tomarrow.  If your know someone in their adolence pray for them, love and support them.  What may not be a big deal to you, really is to them!

Mod. 6, Were you come from, and How Play Matters

Come take a trip, a trip back down memory lane with me!

I'll take you back to times in my childhood that was centered around play.  I loved taking the time thinking back to my play as a child, and growing up.

• What were some of my favorite place to play?  
• Why did I like to play there so much?
• How did those type of play settings and experiences come through now that I'm an adult?

All these things I'll share and more as we go back to the year 1985...

As adults, we are the ones that foster the view of play to children.  We help them learn, grow, and explore all through play.  As parents, teachers or any other type of caregiver we should be helping to facilitate the right type of play to enhance a child's learning.  I choose this picture of me at about a year old looking at a toy being held by my mother.  At this age the way an adult interacts during play with the child is very important.  Here is where a child can be exposed to lots of emotions, language, and time spend with a trusted adult.  Looking back I found that I really had a great based to my play experiences because my parents really were involved in my play when I was a baby, and therefore that has set a great start to my life of play for many years to come.

As adults play can be in many different enviornments.  I choose this pictures because I remember a lot of play from childhood indoors as well as outdoors.  Having children, even infants, interact with the outdoors and indoors during play is important.  I remember always being able to go outside and play at all ages throughout my childhood.  Letting a child explore, get a little dirty, and engage in the world around them is all a part of healthy play.  Another reason I choose this photo was to show that a child is never too young to play with the natural world around them.  As a preschool teacher I was always looking for ways to incorporate nature into the children's play.  Letting a baby play with fall leaves, or sit in the grass is always great for the sensory system as well.  Grass and the outdoors doesn't feel like anything they experience indoors so it is great to give them as much exposure to both environments as possible. 

Nothing is too small to create amazement in a child's mind.  The ordinary to us, can sometimes be something extraordinary to them.  I remember my parents always letting my play be fun, new and exciting not because they spent a lot of money on new toys, or brought me to expensive places, but simply by thinking with a child in mind.  I always remember my mom never being afraid of a mess; she was there to let us 'wash dishes' with her in the sink, or even making a homemade rice table, that i can only imagine was a blast to clean up as well.  All these things take something so simple and turn it into memorable play for the child.  You remember sometimes the simplest things like a balloon, or blowing bubbles in the back yard almost more than that new toy they bought.  This really has helped me appreciate as a teacher making play fun, yet not expensive.  You remember back to childhood and these are the days that stick out in your mind.  As a teacher as well as a parent I want to take these concepts of play and recreate them for my students as well as my own children. 

When you have the privilege of having a sister, you cherish it.  I have so many memories of playing with my sister.  Siblings seem to make the best friends and enemies, sometimes in the same day; however they teach you so much about play.  They teach you the rules of play, give you someone to always play with, teach you negotiating skills, and social skills.  I choose this picture because it brought back all the times that we would play with something together for so long that was so simple, like a laundry basket.  I have great memories of the laundry basket becoming a spaceship, our own car, or a boat!  It brings me back to show how sometimes all this new technology that we have these days isn't always the best facilitator of play.  The imagination is so important to develop, and so giving children these types of experiences is so important.  I loved collaborating ideas with my sister throughout childhood on how to play and most of the time it was done without technology at all. 

You remember specific places and things in childhood that you did play at often.  This red velvet couch was my grandmother's and it was a staple to my memories of play throughout childhood.  Every Sunday we would go to my grandma's house after church for lunch and to play with my cousins and be with family.  The couch was a part of our play, to make into a fort, a makeshift trampoline, as a place to snuggle someone to read a book, or even a place to ketch our tears from an unwanted picture being taken.  I have so many memories of growing up in this house, on this couch that I will have forever when I look back at my play as a child. 

I grew up in western New York, where the four seasons were always seen, felt, heard and looked forward to.  Part of New York is SNOW!  What child that grew up in New York dosn't have the fondest memories of play in the snow for as long as your parents would let you?  I know I have lots!  Lot of snow forts, snowball fights, sleeding (those in and of themmselves account for many memories), and snow angles all come to mind when I rememeber back to the winters of my childhood.  I've loved using snow as a staple of play in the classroom as well, there are so many cool things you can do to make snow play fun.  Take advantage of what surrounds you in nature as free play, and if you live somehwere that dosn't have it, create it!

At eight years old I joined my first organized sport, soccer!  I remember playing soccer for the first time, the coach told us to dribble the ball around the net, and so I picked up the ball and tried to dribble it like a basketball around the net.  My first lesson learned at soccer that day was as follows; don't use your hands!  Lesson learned! From there I spend the next 10 years involved in the sport all of which I loved.  Helping children discover play that is organized is very important and one I think all children remember forever.  While you may not like everything you try there are so many lessons to be learned through things like organized sports.  They teach us a whole new avenue of play, they teach us teamwork, how to follow rules, taking turns, and even how to cope with loss.  Losing a game can be a big deal to a child, but all part of learning how to play.  A child needs to experience things like winning and losing that are done through play organized events or sports. 

Much like the years of soccer play, I also discovered another love of mine through a form of play, the cello.  It's not typically what you think of when you hear play, however I see this as a big part of adult type play.  I joined orchestra when I was in middle school, and began to really love playing the cello.  This has been something that even till this day I still do and consider part of my play as an adult.  I enjoy playing and have found my talent here.  Finding this play in my adolescent years has definitely impacted my adult life, if I had not found this type of play back then, I may not have ever found it.  Exploring all options and interests as a child, adolescence and teen is important because it really does help you discover hobbies and interests you will carry with you into adulthood.  

My love of music didn't stop at the music stand, but expanded into color guard.  Joining guard really defined who I was in my high school years.  Who you spend time with, where you go on the weekends and how you formulate your play in high school is directly linked with your extracurricular activates.  I met some of my best friends, still to this day at guard simply because we both loved the activity.  I find it an interesting link of my love for the arts as an adult.  I still love watching shows like this preformed, and while I’m no longer actively involved it still stays as an interest of mine as an adult. 

I end my trip down memory lane with my ‘play’ turning into the love for play, and a love for children.  A memory of working in a church nursery really helped me decide where I want my career to go, my desire to 'play' with children and watch them grow turned into a love for education and helping children learn.  Today as i work for the same church that sparked that desire it is really cool to see it come full circle!

I hope you've seen how play, can really walk through your life and help you find your likes, dislikes, passions and just create some really cool memories! 



one last little thing i've learned from writting this blog about the importance of play...no matter how much fun play is...

always take time to rest!

Module 5, Play Therapy

     Play therapy can be something that is formal, done with a professional, but I also think there is types of play therapy that are done in non traditional settings that are just as effective as the formals ones.  There are many therapist that do play therapy with children helping them cope through something difficult, transition through different areas of their life, or work through struggles that they may have been born with, and all these things are ways therapist really help children.  I also however have been involved in play therapy for children on a much smaller scale as a preschool teacher.  During my few years as a preschool teacher I've seen, participated and help with a few different types of play therapy for children with various disabilities and struggles in life.
     Autism has always held a special place in my heart so to sum this module up and what I learned i wanted to show how effective play therapy really can be for a child.  Here is a video that shows the progression of a child with autism learning through play therapy some social interaction skills. 

     The video does a great job at giving you the background on Matthew and his social interaction skills.  I liked how between video clips there were bits of text that helped explain more of Matthew's story and how play therapy was apart of his life in a positive way.  You see by the end how Matthew has really worked with this therapist through the hard lesson of learning about control and how he has improved because of these types of play therapy sessions.  I noted that when Matthew wanted to continue to blow the balloons in the air instead of what the therapist wanted to do, the therapist was very matter of fact about what he wanted him to do and helped him with the transition despite Matthew's resistance.  I think Matthew's emotions stayed controlled through this transition a lot due to how the therapist handled the situation.  There is a lot to be learned by watching therapy sessions like this because you get to see actual interaction, and sometimes watching it take place can be so much more informative than reading about it in a textbook. 
     Each child is never going to take to play therapy the same way.  A play therapist needs to treat each client as an individual and work and play with that child the way that they respond best.  Just as in any therapy there is no cookie cutter way of doing things.  I really could tell that this therapist has spent time with Matthew and knows what works for him, and that makes therapy so much more successful when you build that type of relationship with the child. 
     Play therapy is helpful to all sorts of people dealing with a variety of problems, autism just happens to be one of them.  Play therapy has a great record of helping children through some very tough situations they are going through and coupled with a good therapist to help them sort things out, I think that play therapy is a very effective and useful tool.

Mod 4, Why Children Play

This module was a lot about the connection between the brain and how a child plays.  This module looked a several different things such as the most influential age of brain development in a child?  I found this graph to help illustrate how much a child's brain development is taking place within areas that are fostered through play.

From looking here you see that all three areas begin to develop before birth, and the most dramatic acceleration are during the child's first year of life, especially the "higher cognitive functions."  Sensory developed a lot quicker in the child's life than language and cognitive, however all are apart of the brains development. 

You see this chart play out in observation of children when you see the babies focusing in on what the see and hear, and then later in the toddler years they begin to pick up language and cognitive skills.  Language and congestive skills progress well into childhood and when the child is in school.  Play is how infants and toddlers learn these skills, games, songs, and dramatic play all foster these types of abilities in a child.  This is also a great tool to show much important play is in the early years for a child's brain development. 


*I found this chart at this website http://www.ndchildcare.org/providers/resources/growth-development.html along with many other helpful resources on this topic.  If you are looking to learn more please visit their site, they have a lot of useful information there!

Module 1, How Play Began

Looking at where play started and all it has become is really neat to think about.  I remember visiting historical settings like Williamsburg, VA as a child where you could see the old school houses, and play with toys that children used to play back then.  They made up games, and did everything children do today, with the things they were given. 

As a parent I sometimes wonder how much technology will influence my child as they grow up, and more specifically how this will influence their play.  I feel we are moving more towards play that pre planned and a lot less creative. 

What ever happened to the play that a child created themselves?  

When I was a teacher I try to provide my students with as much of that type of play experience as possible, because it is important and a fundimental part of childhood.  You learn through play, I’ve always 100% believed in a play based curriculum, but to some that means something totally different than what it is intended to do. 

Play gives you the chance to explore, create, try out and work with all sorts of materials.  Learning through using a toy for something else, or having plain toys that can be used for a variety of things. 

Wooden blocks, like the ones seen below come to mind when I think of this. 

 I love to see students using blocks in the kitchen area of the classroom.  Blocks used as food, utensils or even a telephone show me the imagination children have the potentional to have and use.  These are the type of play experiences each child needs to grow and learn though.