Mommy had a graduate school class this week at UH on "Play in Early Childhood Education." One of the projects they had to do was design an ideal playground. Their group's came up with a koi pond, a zip line, lots of areas to explore and create, a long tricycle path circling a tree house type play structure, etc. Their indoor classroom was an open concept classroom with space for all kinds of learning. Oh, and of course, this is a solar powered building. And students must walk, bike, or use public transportation to perpetuate the green message. In an ideal world right? Mommy said she learned a lot about play, is still working on her research paper on designing play for 3-4 year olds, and is now more prepared to start off this school year at her preschool afternoon job.
Tanya, have you read about the cognitive advantages of a building block playground? Right around the time you wrote this post, I read about them in the news. Go here to read for yourself:
ReplyDeletehttp://thefastertimes.com/childrenandimagination/2010/07/15/coming-soon-playgrounds-for-childrens-brains/
There's an article in our recent TIME issue (August 9, 2010) about building block playgrounds....It says there's one in Honolulu. I wonder if it's the adventure playground our professor helped design.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.time.com/time/video/player/0,32068,309142197001_2007516,00.html?iid=redirect-playground