The Joy of Knots (This piece originally appeared in my book “Teaching Creativity” (Whitmore Books, 2010). You can order it here.) What messages do we send children about problem solving? Many young children probably think something like this: “Problem solving is for grown-ups. And it’s not fun. In fact, it’s so not fun that it […]
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Drinking coffee can be very beneficial for the young children you teach. No, I don’t mean they should drink coffee! But if you do, you can get a free set of fantastic musical instruments for your whole class. Coffee cans! If you’re not saving them and repurposing them to be children’s drums, you should. Here’s why: […]
12 Tips for Making Read-Alouds Come Alive! When is a story not a story? When it’s sitting on a shelf, of course. But that’s not the whole answer. A story isn’t a real story until it’s read with thought, energy, skill, and imagination. Like Pinocchio, it will stay “wooden” (or paper) without a little magic to […]
Noisy Science If necessity is the mother of invention, I’d have to say that one of my best teaching “inventions” was inspired by the necessity of my not going completely deaf. You see, I’m an early-childhood music teacher. You know how noisy a typical preschool classroom is? Well, I’ll see you that noisiness and raise […]
Wouldn’t it be nice if our circle time always looked as calm and peaceful as the teddy bears in this picture? Well, even though the young children we teach may be even cuter than teddy bears, they’re rarely as good at sitting still. Real, human children tend to talk, kick their feet out, touch the […]
Music (and Science) For Young Children 