Project Construct

Check out our website for summer and fall early childhood curriculum training offerings! 🚀

Don't miss this chance to enhance your teaching skills and prepare for the next school year! Register now and let's construct brighter futures together. ✨

Register here: https://projectconstruct.org/

Training Locations:
Joplin, Missouri - June 10th-14th
Brookfield, Missouri - June 17th-21st
Columbia, Missouri - July 15th-19th

Push/Pull another favorite game in a Project Construct classroom.

According to the recent news, many of Missouri's children are not proficient in math. In Project Construct we build mathematical knowledge by playing games. The children in this Project Construct classroom are playing a mathematical game called Shut the Box.

Spread the word!
Our Spring 2023 Foundations Courses are starting soon.

The Project Construct Curriculum teaches using developmentally appropriate practices and child-initiated experiences. The result is a supportive, collaborative, child-centered environment in which all children flourish.

We have Virtual and In-Person options and can always customize to your program needs and availability.

Jump on our website to check out our offerings or give us a call!

Traditions!

Why are they important?

According to the book Rituals and Routines: Fostering a Sense of Community in Preschool, traditions are meaningful events that occur year after year that have significant meaning to those who participate. Traditions are those events that tie us all together in a family or community. They help support a sense of belonging and purpose.

Hiding in Plain Sight

Recently, I observed my 11-month-old granddaughter hiding behind a chair “reading” a book. It made me think about why all kids love to “hide.” Experts say that children like to “hide” in small cozy spaces because it makes them feel safe. It gives them a sense of being wrapped or held, something called “denning.” I believe that children need this “hiding” space to be alone and to get away from the whirl of life.
Let’s face it everyone, occasionally we can all use a place to “hide”.

Happy Hiding!

“Children derive pleasure from the movement and from watching the movement leave it’s record on the surface.” Luquet (1927/2001).

In many early childhood programs children are given opportunities to complete craft projects, but many programs are not offering opportunities to create art. What is the difference? A craft is a project that someone else has determined the end product. Children are given instructions are how to make the project and shown what the project will look like when finished. Think of projects you have seen over the years; turkey hand prints, paper plate wreaths, and close pin butterflies.

Art is a project completely conceived by the child. They decide what materials to use, how they will use the materials, and when the project is finished.

Can you see the difference? The craft project helps children develop fine motor coordination and following directions. The art project helps children develop creativity, problem solving skills, initiative, self-confidence, individuality and a plethora of other skills.

I like to consider crafts like junk food. They are fine occasionally, but you should not have a steady diet of them.

“The most common factor in creative expression is the courage to think one’s own thoughts and to act upon them…” -Lila Lasky and Rose Mukerji-Bergeson

“Nana, I need to call Uncle Doug.” “I need to borrow his combine.”

Why is pretend play so important? Pretend play becomes increasingly important to children between the ages of three and seven. It enables children to strengthen their abilities to think abstractly, to form mental images (or representations), to deal with hypothetical situations, and to solve various problems (Brown, 2009). When a child makes believe to be a farmer, for example, the child enacts various roles. The child must first form an image of what being a farmer means. Accordingly, the child must represent what a farmer does, how they do it, and what supplies the farmer needs to do the job and so forth. In early childhood we see pretend play as symbolic learning. Symbolic learning is an important language of learning that increases a child’s general knowledge. But, most importantly, provides a way for a child to express or represent his ideas and feelings.

“The ability to communicate effectively is perhaps the single most important skill a person can develop.” "The level in communication any individual might achieve is directly related to the quality of communication the child is exposed to in early childhood.” These quotes are from the book, The Great Disconnect in Early Childhood Education: What We Know vs. What We Do, by Michael Gramling (2015).

Communication heard during a three-year-old’s recent visit to grandma’s house: Grandma (Mimi) and Papa were taking care of their 3-year-old grandson who verbalized the following in Papa’s workshop.
Grandson: “Mimi, don’t talk, Papa and me are working.” “Don’t laugh, this is serious, you need to pay attention.” “Mimi, stop, you are distracting my concentration.”
What a plethora of words coming from a three-year-old. How did he learn all of these words? How did he know to use them in the correct way? How do we get other children to use vocabulary like this?

The answer is simple. Talk to your children. Have everyday, ordinary conversations. Some people believe that you must instruct children in language. You have heard this before when a parent “instructs” the child instead of conversing with the child. It might sound something like this, “That is a deer.” “Can you say deer?” “A deer lives in the forest.” This child has been instructed in one noun, deer. There is no need to be in instructional mode. If the parent had simply talked with the child about a deer, the child would have heard thousands of words during the conversation.

Just like the story above, children will pick up many words used in everyday conversation and will begin to use them in their own talk. So, remember something my mother use to say, “Little ears are always listening.”