border patrol

Chickens patrolling the preschool perimeter.

Alert to any potential intruders.

Keeping chickens in a preschool setting has many obvious benefits.  One of the not so obvious benefits (apart from border patrol duty) is that they make you laugh.

Yes, chickens are hilarious and they get up to all sorts of chicken mischief throughout the day that delights the kids and keeps the teachers on their toes.

And in more chook news, check out the new chook palace kindly donated by one of our families:

Do you keep chickens?  What do you love about them?

The Safety and Security of Consistency

I was working with one of my student teachers recently and she expressed to me her exasperation with her cooperating site teacher.  They currently have a child who is in foster care in their class.  The little first grader has learned how to manipulate situations and refuses to cooperate with classroom rules.  My student teacher is frustrated because when she follows through on classroom procedures with the girl, and she is required to receive the consequences of her actions, the site teacher pulls the girl aside and gives her candy!  Ugh!
I know that the site teacher thinks she is being supportive and comforting to this little girl.  The student teacher feels like she is forced into the "bad guy" role in the classroom.

I was explaining to both teachers that the most secure and helpful procedure they could follow is being consistent with their expectations for the little girl.  While I understand that she needs extra support because of her unfortunately situation, the best support they can give is to be consistent in their expectations and procedures.  The best security we can provide for at-risk children is to surround them with the safety net of knowing what to expect when they come into the classroom each day.  By having clear rules and guidelines, clear consequences for inappropriate behavior, plus a loving and supporting classroom atmosphere, the small child will be supported in the best possible way.  The worst thing we can do for children in a classroom, especially at-risk kids, is not provide the security of consistency.  It is unfair and scary in a world that has already treated them unfairly.

ice in the stomach

Risk taking should be part of childhood. We learn through the point where we feel challenged. The feeling of having a knot in your stomach is the place where you feel out of your comfort zone. - Rattler Magazine

We all know that feeling that you get when you see your child just about to do something risky.

Your stomach does a little lurch, and you hold your breath without even realising it.   The part of your brain where common sense lives has a little holiday as thoughts of calling out a useless "be careful" or stopping the play altogether take over.  You may already be mentally dialling 000.

Have you ever thought of what the child is thinking at that exact same moment?

Anticipation?  Determination?  Nervousness?  Exhilaration? Excitement?  Fear?  Wonder?  Abandon?  Joy? All of the above?

At the Unwrapping Risk Conference last weekend, Claire Warden shared that in Denmark they actually have a name for this knot in the stomach feeling.  

'Is i maven' translates as 'ice in the stomach' and is seen as a positive emotion and one that both children and adults seek and benefit from.

Wouldn't it be sad, if through our well intentioned desire to keep our children safe, we denied them the chance of experiencing challenges that bought on that incredibly important feeling of 'ice in the stomach'?  

Let's - as parents and as educators - strive to be risk aware and not risk adverse so that children can fulfil their right to a childhood of adventure, challenge, exploration, freedom and risk taking.


For more on risk in early childhood:

• Young Children, Play and Risk

• When benefits Outweigh the Risk

unwrapping risk - the conference

Last Friday I tootled up to Newcastle to attend the Unwrapping - Encouraging Risk in the Cotton Wool Generation Conference put on by the good folk at Inspired EC.


How happy I was as I travelled up the Pacific Highway, merrily dodging semi-trailers along the way.

Happy to be on a grown-up only weekend escape that involved staying in a hotel room all on my very own and sleeping in crisp clean sheets that someone else had to wash.

Happy to be meeting up with blogging and facebook buddies old and new.

Happy to be finally hearing one of my play gurus - Claire Warden - speak of things I am passionate about.  And then happy to find out that she is not only inspiring but very funny too.

Happy that so many early childhood educators think that risky play, outdoor play and nature play are important enough to devote a weekend too.

And finally happy to discover that they are doing it all again next year.

You can read more (detailed) conference post mortems over at:

Irresistible Ideas for Play Based Learning
Males in Early Childhood

Is risk in early childhood a topic that interests you?  Challenges you?  

take me outside day

Tomorrow is Take Me Outside Day.  Admittedly this a Canadian campaign, but it is so worthwhile I think we can embrace it where ever we may live.


According to the campaign, children in Canada are spending an average of nearly 8 hours a day indoors, in front of screens.  This isn't just happening in Canada.  A 2011 Australian study reported a similar dramatic and worrying shift in childhood activity in Australia from outdoor play to indoor activity.

It seems that in the short space of one generation we have gone from being a nation of outdoor kids to a nation of indoor kids.   

So let's commit to just 45 minutes outdoors with the kids tomorrow.

This is what we will be doing:

I'll be marching the boys out the back door and down into the bush for a walk after school.

They will probably complain so much that you would think that I was marching them through the gates of hell, but the usually stop by about the 10 minute mark!

What will you be doing with your kids outside?

new booklet on making a mud kitchen

A mud kitchen includes elements of the much-loved domestic corner and cooking from indoor play, which are then hugely enriched through the special nature of being outside.  - Jan White

Mud kitchens, mud pie kitchens, outdoor kitchens - no matter what you choose to call them - are such a valuable addition to any outdoor play space that I have blogged about them time and time again.


Jan White, author and all round outdoor play guru clearly shares my enthusiasm for all things mud pie kitchen.  So much so that she has written the book on it.  A free, easy to download booklet called "Making a Mud Kitchen."

Says Jan:

There are hundreds of wonderful, homemade mud kitchens being shared on blogs and pinterest around the world – take a nice long tour and be enthused and inspired!

If you are looking for an inexpensive and simple addition to your outdoor space that will provide hours of engagement for children of all ages, then you can't go past a mud pie kitchen, and you can't go past "Making a Mud Kitchen" for inspiration.

for the love of boxes

It's been a train, a car, a stable for horses and a robot. Now it's a communal work of art.

Boxes.  Where would we be without them?

If there were ever any doubts as to the usefulness of the humble cardboard box, this beautifully made little video clip would dispel them all:

The Adventures of a Cardboard Box