Interaction Imagination

This post can be read in English here Ovanstående bild av Tim Pugh som skapa konst i naturen, med naturen - men också all skräp som han hitta Hållbarhet är en del av den svenska förskoleplanen ... den är också en viktig del av vår delade framtid på vår planet ... bilder av Wall:e får jag ibland när jag tänker på hållbarhet och hur vi konsumerar ... Jag inkluderar trailern för dem som aldrig har sett filmen (eller vill titta igen) om hur mänskligheten lämnade jorden för att de

(på svenska efter bilderna) A long time ago I was told that I would never be able to have children... after failed IVFs and years of trying, my husband and I decided enough was enough and that we would stop the stress of trying and think about adopting. in order to close one part of our lives together and start another we decided on a trip to Italy... Starting in Naples, train to Florence and then ending in Rome... John could meet his sleep researcher colleagues there, I coul

The International Fairy Tea Party is more than just a bit of fun... it is fun, and it is meant to be a whole heap of fun... but there is more to it... There are more and more articles lamenting the loss of play, about the lack of value imagination is given within the curriculum (despite people considering it important that we are creative), about a lack of connection with nature, about gender divides and stereotypes, the need to have empathy and understanding with other cul

(This post How is your Third Teacher Teaching? can be read in English here) Under åren har jag haft den stora privilegium att besöka många förskolemiljöer i många olika länder ... och detta får mig alltid att tänka på den tredje pedagogen och hur den interagerar med barnen och pedagoger. Reggio Emilias lärare ser miljön som en integrerad del av inlärningsprocessen, en plats för interaktioner med barnen, pedagoger och föräldrarna. Den tredje pedagogen ger barnen kunskap kring

Online you can find lots and lots of posts and short videos on how to make slime with chia seeds and cornflour... I thought I would have a go, mostly because the idea of a homemade natural slime that is not messy on the hands appeals to me and my understanding of children who do not like to get messy during sensory play. I saw the recipes with just chia seeds, water and cornflour... but further research into the realm of slime shows that there are those that use liquid glu

Just over a year ago I read the following statement about tidy and organised classrooms, and while I agree with some of it, I do not see the story of tidy v messy classrooms in the binary way... Every "clean" classroom I've ever experienced in my observations (and in my time teaching) is not the product of well-behaved students. It's the product of a naggy teacher. Children learn to equate the absence of clutter as "neat", "clean", and "organized". We tend to forget that orga

I often see posts and discussion about open-ended toys and materials... loose-parts and sometimes wonder how "open-ended" is being interpreted... as for some it seems to be about taking away materials like cars, play food etc... which is more extreme than how I interpret it... but how extreme can we go? What are open-ended toys... or open-ended play? I thought I would take some time to explore these ideas... I also see, repeatedly, rather intense discussion about plastic

Listen with your ears, eyes, heart and mind. This is how I start a philosophy session with my preschoolers. A simple reminder that there is not one way to listen... not even with listening is there a single story. Many of the activities I did with the children was to give the children time and opportunity to practice their listening skills... to listen with their ears, to listen with their eyes, to listen with their hearts and to listen with their minds. I want to live in a w

The #FridaysForFuture movement is very much a part of my home-life now. Both my daughters are engaged in their different ways, one here on the east coast of Sweden in Stockholm, and the other on the west coast of Sweden in Lysekil. As a parent here in Sweden it is my job to make sure they go to school, it is the law that all children attend school (not get an education, but attend school - I guess the attendance means they get an education!!). As many of you who have followed

Over the years I have had the great fortune to visit many setting in many different countries... and this always makes me think of the the Third Teacher and how it interacts with the children and the educators. The educators of Reggio Emilia view the setting as an integral part of the learning process, a place of interactions with the children, the teachers, and the parents. The third teacher lets the children know about how they can use the room - and sometimes it's not alwa

In July 2014 I attended the Boulder Journey School summer conference - This was the first summer conference that the school had allowed its participants to take photographs of the setting... Which of course I was VERY grateful for - as it is through the photographs I can re-visit and see new threads of thought and inspiration. BUT I also understand why they have not allowed photography previously (like the preschools in Reggio Emilia itself and some RE inspired preschools her

(på svenska efter bilden) Yesterday I updated a post I wrote a few years back about sleep and rest (you can read it here) and updated it to include a Swedish translation. This I re-shared and I have received a few questions about it that I will take up in this post. One question was about what happens if you work with a child that obviously needs sleep during the day and yet their parents are adamant that they do not nap at preschool? I have also encountered this severa

I was sent this image yesterday and it started a whole series of thoughts... I mean I get it... why people want to associate Greta Thunberg with Pippi Longstocking. Being Swedish, being a child, being female and daring to make a stand for what she believes in shows her strength. Pippi is the strongest girl in the world. But is this really a good thing? I mean Pippi did what she wanted, she did not want to learn to read and write - and she had to have her letters from her fath

I truly believe in the competence of children, but also understand the importance of being supportive so that we do not let them get out of their depth. For me the competence is about what they can do now. What they are capable of, and that they have experiences and knowledge than can contribute to expanding our own adult experiences and knowledge. There is mutual learning. I am very aware that as an adult I have accumulated more experiences, collected more knowledge and amas

Tomorrow I will take a small group of children to meet Greta Thunberg and the others protesting outside the government building here in Stockholm, my daughter being one of those others. The teenagers are on a school-strike as a way of getting their opinion across to politicians about the climate situation and the need to address it seriously... The 3-5 year olds that I will be taking are going to go there to find out why they are standing there and also to see that children d

There is a sense of great sorrow and frustration within me at the moment as I try to deal with what is happening in my family and what is happening around the world. On Friday (in August 2018) my son started medicating for his ADHD - he has a diagnosis of autism/ADHD and t it has been a constant uphill battle with the school system to try and create a learning environment that encourages him to learn... something that we have not yet achieved. He is constantly seen as a probl

Sustainability is a part of the Swedish preschool curriculum... it is also an important part of our shared future on this planet of ours... images of Wall:e sometimes come into being as I think about sustainability and we consume... I include the trailer for those who have never watched the film abut how mankind left earth because it was overrun by rubbish and left it to the robots to clean it up... So in our quest to create a sustainable preschool and teach sustainability to