Written by Teacher Stacy

“In any environment, both the degree of inventiveness and creativity, and the possibility of discovery, are directly proportional to the number and kind of variables in it.” (Nicholson, 1972, pg. 6)

Some people call them “loose parts,” others call them “unstructured,” yet others “intelligent materials,” but in the end, they’re the same idea - materials for creation and play that do not have one specific purpose. A fire truck is always a fire truck, but a box can be anything you can imagine!

While there is not a lot of formal research about loose parts play, there are suggestions that loose parts play encourages a different type of thinking and play that encourages development differently than more purpose-designed toys.  Dale and Beglovsky say “when children interact with loose parts, they enter a world of 'what if' that promotes the type of  thinking that leads to problem solving and theoretical reasoning.  Loose parts enhance children’s ability to think imaginatively and see solutions, and they bring a sense of adventure and excitement to children’s play”.

In loose parts play, children are required to negotiate, cooperate, understand that others have different ideas about the play, and create their own ideas.  They can also be free to create their own worlds and play.

In loose parts play, we invite children to create their own world, their own play, and use their own imagination.  In supporting this play, they learn that their ideas are important to their peers and to the adults in their lives.

When we play with children in their world, we show them that we see them as capable and intelligent human beings.  We show them that their ideas are important and valuable to us, and help them develop a self-concept that sees themselves as important, capable, creative humans.

References
Daly, L., Beloglovsky, M., & Daly, J. (2015). Loose Parts: Inspiring play in young children. Red Leaf Press.
Nicholson, S. (1972). The Theory of Loose Parts, An important principle for design methodology. Studies in Design Education Craft & Technology, 4(2)

Written by Teacher Stacy

It feels good to hear that you’re doing a good job.  Hearing praise makes us feel good, gives us a nice hit of dopamine, and can be very encouraging.  We all want our children to feel good and appreciated.  However, we often go about doing this the wrong way. 

Children need encouragement and validation, not praise.  In the words of Dan Hodgins, “they need adults who ask, 'Do you need more paper?' They need adults who say, 'I remember when you couldn’t do that' and adults who observe, 'Look how high you can kick.'”  When we give praise that simply says “good job” we teach children to look for that simple praise.  Alfie Kohn says that such praise “leads [children] to measure their worth in terms of what will lead us to smile and dole out some more approval.”

When the words we choose praise the children’s work, or validate the child’s efforts, children develop more resilience, more willingness to work hard, and exhibit more of a growth mindset later in life (e.g., Kelley et al., 2000; Henderlong and Lepper 2002; Gunderson et al., 2013; Gunderson et al., 2018a; Gunderson et al., 2018b, Lucca et al., 2019).  Henderlong and Lepper (2002) argue that when praise is seen as sincere, it is more likely to increase intrinsic motivation when it promotes autonomy, competence, self-efficacy, and conveys realistic standards and expectations.  It is also most effective when comparisons to other children are avoided, and when praise for easy tasks or that focus solely on ability are avoided.

In giving detailed information about the child’s effort and work that we appreciate, we also show that we are paying attention to them.  We validate their experience, their work, and their effort.  In turn, we teach them the skills to get them through when things are hard or challenging, and we can help them develop resilience for the future.

So what do I say?

• Praise the effort - “You worked really hard on that”, “I know you’ve been practicing, and now you can do it!”
• State what you observe - "I see you chose to use a lot of colors!"
• Ask questions - "What was the hardest part?  You used a lot of pink in your drawing!"
• Say nothing - it is ok to say nothing.  Often, we feel we have to say something, but sometimes it’s ok to say nothing.
• Turn it back on the child - "You look really proud of yourself, you should be proud of the work you put into that."

Further Reading on Praise vs Validation
https://parentingscience.com/effects-of-praise/
http://kindcocoamama.com/blog/praise-vs-validation
http://www.alfiekohn.org/article/five-reasons-stop-saying-good-job/

References
Gunderson EA, Gripshover SJ, Romero C, Dweck CS, Goldin-Meadow S, Levine SC. (2013) Parent praise to 1- to 3-year-olds predicts children’s motivational frameworks 5 years later. Child Dev. 84(5):1526-41.
Gunderson EA, Donnellan MB, Robins RW, Trzesniewski KH. (2018) The specificity of parenting effects: Differential relations of parent praise and criticism to children’s theories of intelligence and learning goals. J Exp Child Psychol. 173:116-135.
Gunderson EA, Sorhagen NS, Gripshover SJ, Dweck CS, Goldin-Meadow S, Levine SC. (2018) Parent praise to toddlers predicts fourth grade academic achievement via children’s incremental mindsets. Developmental Psychology. 54(3): 397-409
Henderlong J and Lepper MR. (2002) The effects of praise on children’s intrinsic motivation: A review and synthesis. Psychological Bulletin 128(5): 774-795.
Hodgins, D. J. (2012). Get Over It!: Relearning Guidance Practices. Wilderness Adventure Books. https://books.google.com/books?id=G0p-mwEACAAJ
Kelley SA, Brownell CA, and Campbell SB. (2000) Mastery motivation and self-evaluative affect in toddlers: longitudinal relations with maternal behavior. Child Development 71(4):1061-71.
Lucca K, Horton R, Sommerville JA. 2019. Keep trying!: Parental language predicts infants’ persistence. Cognition. 193:104025.

Who Are We?
We are the staff of Fremont Parent’s Nursery School, a play-based, parent co-op preschool in Fremont, California.  Through this blog, we will be sharing our thoughts on issues relevant to parents, families, and early childhood educators.  We are passionate life-long learners who are constantly reflecting on what we do and seeking for new ideas.  We are proponents of learning through play in early childhood and inspired by nature, the schools of Reggio Emilia, Italy, and the AnjiPlay philosophy in Anji, China.

Kavitha Viswanathan, M.A., B.A, Lead Teacher
Kavitha began her journey at Fremont Parents Nursery School in 2010 as a parent, later taking on a teaching position in 2018. She has a true passion for working with our youngest learners and strives to create an inclusive and supportive environment where each child (the family) can thrive. She values open communication with parents and collaboration with fellow teachers.

​Kavitha earned her Master's Degree in Language Arts, Bachelor's in Literature & Language from India, and Associate's Degree in ECE from Mission College, Santa Clara. 

Stacy Gohman, Ph.D., M.S., Lead Teacher 
A lifelong educator, Teacher Stacy came to FPNS in 2017 as a parent.  Both of her children attended FPNS and after her younger child left FPNS in 2021, she joined the teaching staff.  In her previous lives, she taught high school science, worked in museum education and exhibit development, and was a stay-at-home parent for 6 years.  She has a bachelor’s degree in chemistry, master’s degree in geology, and Ph.D. in education.  In her spare time, Stacy can be found at her sewing machine, hiking on local trails, playing with her two kids, and cuddling her cat, Hannah.

Crystal Powers, B.A., ​Teacher
Play-based learning is what first attracted me to FPNS and why I’ve remained involved with the school for almost a decade now. After earning my BA in Psychology from Marquette University, I returned to California with a mission to make sure children and adults with developmental disabilities were treated with dignity and given opportunities to participate in their own learning and lives.

After serving as a parent volunteer at FPNS, I decided to return to school to focus on Early Childhood Education so that I could give back to this school which has given so much joy to my two children and my family. When I am not at FPNS, you can find me tie-dying at home or by a lake in the mountains spending time with my extended family.

As a young child I was fortunate to attend a Parent Participating Preschool.  This helped to setup my early learning skills and family friendly environment.  To this day I have fond memories of my preschool learning experiences.  I still have contact with other children from my preschool days and also their mother’s/father’s who were teacher assistants at my preschool.