July 2024 “In summer, the song sings itself.” –William Carlos Williams Welcome to the glorious expansiveness of Summer—where the days can roll along languorously and the moments can seem both endless and short-lived, where we strive to balance getting things accomplished with taking long moments to relax. In a dynamic season such as this, we […]
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But what exactly do we mean by play? Let’s begin to narrow the field by looking at what this kind of play is not: Not driven by the commercial culture; not based on a movie, not “themed”, not initiated in order to sell merchandise, not packaged, not bought or sold. Not technological, does not
February 27, 2022 This week, we have a guest post from author and early childhood educator, Judith Frizlen. You can visit Judy’s website here! Young children don’t think their way to learning; they learn by doing. And what they do and how they learn is play. Whatever it takes to learn a skill they need
Living Arts Weekly: A Calm, Confident Presence Read More »
February 6, 2022 From LifeWays’ founder, Cynthia Aldinger: Once again dear Puxatawney Phil has seen his shadow, predicting six more weeks of winter. Most of us have figured out by now that we almost always have six more weeks of winter regardless of his experience, but he has managed to weave his way into the
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January 23, 2021 Games are the most elevated form of investigation. -Albert Einstein We had the luck of a beautiful snowfall this past weekend, and with the chance of another snowfall always being a guess, we made a priority to get out to play! ! The cold nipped at our cheeks and toes, but the
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September 19, 2021 Michael, Michael rides on high, Collecting the stars that fall from the sky. He hammers the stars into a sword to tame The dragon below that bellows with flame. How many stars does he collect? -A jump rope verse for Michaelmas This year I am bringing the celebration of Michaelmas into the
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August 29, 2021 Children grow through games. They first learn as infants about the world around them, and at times their gaze seems to look far beyond the new physical environment that they have come into. They exist partly in the periphery. Then as the years go by they spatially ‘come closer’ to themselves. They
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August 15, 2021 Early in the morning, at 8 o’clock, You can hear the postman knock. Up jumps Ella to open the door, One letter, two letter, three letter four. Do you remember jump roping at recess as a child? Or playing hopscotch or four-square? Red Rover or kickball? Until about eighth grade, I spent
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August 8, 2021 Movement should be approached like life- with enthusiasm, joy and gratitude- for movement is life, and life is movement, and we get out of it what we put into it.” – Ron Fletcher My husband and I spent Wednesday evening skating around the local park’s hockey rink with our youngest son. Zooming
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April 11, 2021 Each of us is carving a stone, erecting a column, or cutting a piece of stained glass in the construction of something much bigger than ourselves. – Adrienne Clarkson Did you ever build an outdoor fort or tree house when you were little? Or a blanket-and-sheet fort indoors? I’ve been wondering about
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