Parachute games aren’t just for young kids! In this post, I’ll show you that they are highly effective for older students too. In my many years of teaching, I have used parachute games with older students in three particular areas, namely: Teamwork and team building games Math games Literacy games Although teamwork is just one …

Have you ever heard the term stimming before? Does your baby flap their hands a lot? Or maybe rock back and forth all the time? These are examples of stimming. Many people associate stimming with Autism or the traits related to Autism Spectrum Disorder. It certainly can be the case that children with Autism do have …

Do you have a child that loves endlessly connecting Lego blocks and one giant tower? Or you might have a child that has a fascination with sticking objects to velcro, and will do this for a huge amount of time. It’s highly likely that these children are demonstrating a connecting schema. Put simply, a connection …

Do you have children that enjoy tipping everything out of baskets? Or a kid that likes spreading objects all over the place with their hands, arms, or feet? It is highly likely that these children are demonstrating a scattering schema. A scattering schema is not one of the more commonly talked about schemas, but nevertheless …

Mandalas are beautiful geometric patterns. In my many years of teaching, I have found them to be a fantastic tool to inspire artistic exploration and children. They are also a fantastic mindful tool, and many people use them as an aid to meditation. For kids, they are a great way to experiment with form, color, …

Do you have a child that spends hours putting things in pots? Or do you have one that loves climbing into any available box and hiding in there? More than likely these children are demonstrating a containment schema. Simply put, a containment schema is when a child is interested in putting objects into containers. They …

Schemas are repeated patterns of behavior that children exhibit in their play. There are nine schemas that are understood to be the most common in children’s play. These are: Trajectory Transformation Transporting Rotation Positioning Orientation Enveloping Enclosure Connection In this post, I’ll give you a brief overview of each of these 9 schemas. I’ll talk …

Have you got children that will happily run around chasing leaves in the wind for hours at a time? Or maybe you have a kid that can’t stop throwing pretty much anything that comes into their path? It’s highly likely that these kids are demonstrating a trajectory schema. This means that they are interested in …

One of the best ways to get children started with early writing is to interest them in drawing. I have taught children between the ages of three to five over the last 12 years, and in that time I have seen the massive benefits that introducing children to drawing through games can have. In this …