invitation to play with blocks, cubes and stacking cups...

following all these new blogs has opened my eyes to different styles of teaching, learning and of course play!  some of them are more from an educational or early childhood development standpoint while others more learning through play based.  i find myself relating best to something in the middle combining both ideas and also loving the philosophy behind a montesorri approach.  there are a few terms that are thrown around a lot, that i had to learn, so here is a quick guide.

montessori: a form of education that uses a childs natural interests and activities instead of formal teaching.  click here for more information on wikipedia

waldorf: educational philosophy that uses the the role of imagination in learning, while combining intellectual, practical and artistic development.  click here for more information on wikipedia

invitation to play:  arranging your toys in your playroom or classroom to invite kids to come and play, explore, manipulate, investigate or question through independent play.

after all this research and homework i have been doing, i want to do a big overhaul of our toys!  i have always been particular about what kinds of toys i allow in the house.  my preference is always for a well made toy that we can grow with or inspires pretend play as well as arts and crafts supplies.  but now that i have been exposed i want to incorporate more waldorf style toys into our collection and slowly weed out some of our existing stuff.  what i love about the waldorf style of toys is that it allows for the child to explore and create using their own imagination.  there is no age limit on these toys and the sky is the limit!  for example, we have lots of fisher price little people toys and all the figures come in costumes or outfits, so you know their purpose.  but a waldorf style toy (like our peg people) have no gender, expressions or outfits to define them.  there is even a particular montessori way that you would set up and display your playroom.  while i can't commit to completely doing this, i am dedicated to going through our toys and slowly building a playroom that will allow for more open ended and creative play.

lately i have also been finding that bowie will not want to play alone, which is frustrating because only a few short weeks ago she was playing independently so nicely.  honestly, i feel like this has a lot to do with changes going on in the house and lots of talk about "baby brother."  so this term "invitation to play" has become very important.  i am OCD and i clean up toys and the playroom all the time.  but if i set up an activity for her or put her toys out in an inviting manner then she is more likely to get engaged in play!  which is beneficial to the both of us!  so this morning i put out some wooden blocks, stacking cubes and cups and her peg people.  she dove right in!  then she eventually added her own elements of train tracks and trains.