by Liisa Hale | Apr 30, 2018 | Art, Pedagogy, Resources
The teacher sets out different colors of paint in several low dishes, then puts out a dish of rolling tools: a plastic pizza cutter, a small wheel off a plastic car, a small plastic paint roller, a large marble. Today the children can experiment with moving paint onto...
by Liisa Hale | Apr 30, 2018 | Educators, Pedagogy, Resources
With a shriek of joy, five bundled-up children take off at a full run around the climber and back to the fence. It is a chilly day and most of the children are playing inside, so there is plenty of room to run without disrupting other children. The teacher watches the...
by Liisa Hale | Jan 10, 2018 | Pedagogy, Resources, Snapshot
Preschool teachers value “open-ended toys” like blocks and art materials because the children can use them to support whatever play they have in mind. This snapshot shows, however, that they can also often re-purpose specific equipment if the teacher will give them...
by Liisa Hale | Dec 23, 2017 | Educators, Publications, Resources
Why is play based learning so critical? “One of the interesting things about play is that you can’t fail when you play”. Play needs to be truly chosen, self-instructed and self-directed. Liisa Hale, Co-Director of Blue Skies for Children in Oakland,...
by Liisa Hale | Nov 22, 2017 | Holidays, Parents, Resources
One of the great pleasures of parenthood is sharing our holiday traditions with the next generation… but working parents today need to start with a dose of reality. Perhaps our own memories of those traditions came out of a very different family structure, or from...
