Concentration

There is the game, and there is the face, of CONCENTRATION. With Iain there are both. For a simple game we cut holiday pictures from paper grocery sacks. The paper bags were printed with pumpkins, witches, ghosts, and bats. Iain and grandma spent some pleasant time at the dining room table naming them, sorting them, and turning them over and matching them. Later we drew them on his easel paper. If grandma draws the outline, then Iain puts in the eyes (his specialty right now) and maybe a mouth, a nose, and a mustache! Bags, wrapping paper, stickers--you can find a big inexpensive assortment of pictures for games, face-making, and storytelling. And when the interest dies, or the materials get worn out, they are recyclable. Iain's nice easel is from IKEA,as is the roll of newsprint ($6.99).

Concentration, Too

At two and a half, Iain is really showing an ability to concentrate on the interest at hand. Whether it is drawing, reading, or creating a story with his Playmobil trucks (seen lined up in the background), he can amuse himself quite well. It is important that he learns to do that. The self-talk, the singing and humming, and the soundtrack he creates are all helping him develop creativity and make sense of the big world. There have been several articles lately about overscheduling children. The same is true at home. Of course, they need to hear you read stories, and have you help with art projects, and have you teach them how to play with toys, and have you join in a game, BUT children need to amuse themselves as well. Iain's imagination is far more vivid than grandma's! He can be Batman, Green Goblin, and Thomas the Tank Engine all in the space of 20 minutes and then drive his dump truck on an adventure (with motor sound effects) and make a quick run to look in the mirror at the end of the hall. You wonder how that mind is working, but you know that it is working.

Let's Face it

The Face in the Mirror

Teacher and grandma came together this last week on the topic of faces and their expressions. Iain attends preschool at the college in the child development lab. What a wonderful opportunity if such a program is available in your town. The college students prepare "centers" for the preschoolers, and the variety is excellent. Iain loves to look in a mirror. Using a commercially available kit called Silly Expressions the little kids were encouraged to pick out face pictures and try to duplicate the expressions in the mirror. You can see Iain intently trying out his faces. He does a great job with faces, and it's probably because he spends a lot of time in front of a full length mirror at home. He likes to check himself out, make faces, and put on costumes and masks. He's a ham! But remember, All About Me is a common school theme from preschool through elementary grades.

Teacher Connection

I was substituting for a fifth grade teacher last week, and the class and I started the book The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. The setting is an emotional time: World War II was starting, and London's children were being evacuated to live in the countryside, often with complete strangers. What a wide range of feelings they must have experienced. Thinking of Iain's mirror activity I had gone online for vocabulary about emotions, and found a Dell Word Search called Read My Face. It has 29 words to find and circle that cover a wide range of emotions that can be expressed in the face: panic, conceit, remorse, worry, distress, and grief are a few. It was a great lesson in vocabulary and presentation skills. The students defined the words and presented the facial expressions like charades. The class had a good discussion as we started the book.

Further Activity

There are lots of opportunities to further understanding about emotion. Iain and I find facial expressions in his books, like Thomas the Train. We talk about what Thomas is feeling when his face looks happy or worried or surprised. Iain likes to have Mommy's two-sided cosmetic mirror, like the one he used at preschool, at the table when he eats and when he draws. He likes to check his expressions. If I had had more time with that fifth grade class we would have done magazine and clip art searches for faces to illustrate all the emotions. Not only is it vocabulary, but it is a good lesson in reading body language. Face it--people say a volume without ever uttering a word.