Week of the Young Child

Posted on April 16, 2018 by Lily Dean

This week, we are celebrating the Week of the Young Child at the Andy Taylor Center! The Week of the Young Child is an annual celebration hosted by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) celebrating early learning, young children, their teachers, and families.

Please check our Facebook page for daily updates on our Week of the Young Child activities and celebrations. As a reminder, we will be hosting a “Picnic In the Piazza” on Friday for families that will start at 10:30. Please sign up on the RSVP list if you have not already done so!

We will resume normal blogposts next week.

Monday, April 9

Posted on April 9, 2018 by Lily Dean

Our study on mail continues to evolve based on the interests of the children. Two notable trends have emerged based on their play activities and explorations, specifically related to paper and mark making.

Recently, I have noticed the children show interest in manipulating paper in various ways. Some examples of this include utilizing tools such as scissors and scrapbook punches to transform the paper into new shapes and forms, as well as folding and bending. Besides the obvious benefit of developing fine motor skills, these explorations also offer opportunities for the further development of cognitive processes. Through their exploration and manipulation, they are discovering that paper is not just simply a surface to write on, but rather, something that can be used for many purposes. Some examples of this include snipping paper into small pieces to make “money” and “sprinkles for a birthday cake.” Other uses include folding paper into tubes to make a telescope or microphone. Based on these observations, I plan to offer some activities in the art studio to allow the children to explore this interest in more depth.