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In this clip, we observe what appears to be an ordinary game of “Do as I Do.” Upon closer examination, we identify strategies of communication, little signals that Evan gives to Jose, that something is about to happen that has implications for what Jose is to do next. We also see how Jose signals which actions are replies to Evan’s invitation and which actions are his own counter invitations to Evan to vary the next move slightly. And, of course, we see how this game of “Blocks on the Head” represents the shared joy that supports and defines their friendship.

Most block-building sets are composed of geometric shapes that stack and align with one another. What new forms of play do we see when we add dowels that fit into holes in a disk that revolves? In this video clip, we present children at different ages using Torno Torno from Learning Materials Workshop, including some of the play forms that, as a sequence, represent higher and higher levels of thinking. You might find it useful to take a developmental perspective as you co-play with children using these or similar blocks.

What makes a child persist in his attempts to make something work? Are repeated attempts at the same strategy a mark of high-level thinking or indicative of the absence of creative problem solving? If a strategy does not work, does the child become frustrated or change the goal? Let’s look at this clip with these questions in mind.

A title in the Learning Moments series

When children draw, paint, pretend, sing, sculpt, mine, and dance they are in effect creating symbols that express their understanding of the physical and social world. Therefore we can treat their work as an early form of literacy. Through a study of their art expressions we learn how children communicate their understanding of the world to others and to themselves.

This clip offers us a look at three pre-school-aged children, who are working to make “open” and “closed” signs for their dramatic play store. Sawyer (in red) coaches Mathew (writing the letters) on the sequence of the letters, beginning with “O.” For ‘P” he is careful to say both the name of the letter (i.e. “pee”) as well as the phonetic sound (“pppauu”). Mathew easily makes a circle for the letter “O” but needs some help with the letter “P.” We can admire the coaches attempts to be explicit, but even their combined descriptions cannot eliminate incorrect alternatives.

This video contains clips of an experience that actually spanned twelve minutes. The children and teacher are attempting to return a basket to the school’s kitchen. The teacher helps the children in negotiating how the basket will make it back to the kitchen. She attempts to have the children verbalize their desires to the group by putting words to some of their non-verbal actions. How can verbalizing these feelings help to establish theory of mind with young children? The teacher also continues to remind the children of the initial goal and welcomes children in and out of the experience.

Nina and Max break clay into pieces as they sit side by side. Nina places her pieces into a tray with six recesses, having filled one tray already. Max wants the clay piece she has placed in the tray and lifts the tray away from Nina. She makes a motion to retrieve the tray but Max shields it from her reach. Later she finds an opportunity to place clay pieces into the empty recesses even though Max still claims the tray.

A teacher captured this video as she assisted toddlers in negotiating turns for swinging on a large bag. The clip opens with a child declaring that she would like to take a turn in “five minutes.” She quickly states, “Five minutes now!” What does this action convey about the child’s number sense and understanding of time? Notice how the teacher helps the children find an age appropriate unit of time that is manageable by them. In what ways can we lend children information to facilitate competencies in conflict resolution?

This video captures four boys negotiating turns while working with marble works. The children use positional numbers to appease, negotiate and solidify their place in the game. One child states, “We can all be first!” which seems to initially solve the problem. All the children involved seem to have a desire to keep the game going. In what ways do they compromise to keep all the players engaged? Later in the clip, a child insists on now being “last,” recognizing that whoever is last in this rotation is the next person to have the marble.

This is a clip of a child reading to his class. We recognize his strategies for emergent reading, such as memorizing words and using visual cues to remind him of phrases. According to the book, Early Literacy in Preschool and Kindergarten, Beaty and Pratt refer to this experience as “practice reading.” Also notice his strategies for engaging his peers, such as inflection and eye contact. What does his continual eye contact convey about this child’s sense of audience? We also wonder about the teacher’s role in this experience. Why might the teacher choose to hold the book for the child?