PLAY TO LEARN, PLAY TO GROW, PLAY AS ESSENTIAL

            FROM DEVELOPMENTAL PLAY THEORY TO PLAY THERAPY

FORMAT:

Lecture and Discussion- Participants are encouraged to make the workshop more relevant to their concerns by asking questions.

DESCRIPTION:

Focus is on helping adults understand how play is essential to child development and psychological health.  Play as the child's therapeutic method to process anxiety and frightening experiences.  Healthy play as distinguished from compulsive acting out play.  Developmental theory including the development of symbolic play is made real, understandable, and applicable to your interactions with your children.  Implications for activities and appropriate learning materials, and for setting the learning environment developmentally and therapeutically, including seven interest areas foci.

SUMMARY OF CONTENT:

1. WHY CHILDREN PLAY

     Play to Learn & Grow: Exploration & Experimentation

     Play to Process Oneself & the World: Assimilation, Mastery,

    Relatedness, Expression, Self-Esteem, Conflict, & Well Being

     Play as Therapy & Play Therapy

2. CONCEPT OF DEVELOPMENTAL APPROPRIATENESS

   Stages of Development- Example: Cognitive Development- Piaget

   Sensorimotor (0-18/24 months); Preoperational (18/24 months-age 7);

   Concrete Operations (age 7-12); Formal Operations (12 to adult)

3. DEVELOPMENT OF SYMBOLIC PLAY

     Stages of Symbolic Play: Pre-Pretense, Self-Pretend, Other Pretend,

    Other Substitution, Imaginary Objects & Beings,  Active Agent,

    Sequence No-Story & Sequence Story, Planning

     Adult Responses for Facilitating Development of Symbolic Play

4. SETTING ENVIRONMENT

     Environmentally Based Learning

     Indoor Space & Outdoor Space

      Roles & Schedules

5. PLAY ISSUES FOR SPECIFIC STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT

     Infant & Toddler Play; Early Childhood Play; Middle Childhood Play

"'JUST' PLAYING IS JUST GREAT!!"

  DEVELOPMENTALLY APPROPRIATE PRINCIPLES FOR PRESCHOOLERS

dvd of this workshop available at www.FixedEarthFilms.com

FORMAT:

Lecture and Discussion- Participants are encouraged to make the workshop more relevant to their concerns by asking questions.

DESCRIPTION:

Focus is on helping adults understand how play is appropriate and essential to early childhood development, i.e. that the children are never "just playing"; they are in fact always developing and learning.  Developmental theory is made real, understandable, and applicable to your interactions with your children.  Implications for activities and appropriate learning materials, and for setting the learning environment.  Also, seven interest areas focuses for early childhood development.

SUMMARY OF CONTENT:

1. CONCEPT OF DEVELOPMENTAL APPROPRIATENESS

            Stages of Development- Example: Cognitive Development- Piaget

                        Sensorimotor (0-18 months)

                        Preoperational (18 months-age 7)

                        Concrete Operations (age 7-12)

                        Formal Operations (age 12 up)

2. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE AND INTERACTION

            Appropriate Expectations

            How Children Learn at Each Stage of Development

            How Children Move From Stage to Stage

            Appropriate Activities

            Appropriate Learning Materials

            Individualizing for Each Child

            Relationship Between Teachers and Parents

3. SETTING ENVIRONMENT

            Environmentally Based Learning

            Indoor Space

            Outdoor Space

            Roles & Schedules

4. INTEREST AREA FOCUSES FOR EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT

            Blocks                         Library Corner

            House Corner               Outdoors

            Table Toys                   Sand & Water

WHEN "I CAN'T!" TURNS INTO "I'M BAD!"

SELF-ESTEEM AND DEVELOPMENTALLY APPROPRIATE PRACTICE

FORMAT:

Lecture and Discussion- Participants are encouraged to make the workshop more relevant to their concerns by asking questions.

DESCRIPTION:

Focus is on helping adults understand how ignorance of developmentally appropriate practice with children leads to destruction of their self-esteem; and conversely, how this understanding can help adults create a nurturing esteem-building environment for children.  Developmental and psychological theory is made real, understandable, and applicable for pragmatic techniques that will foster your children's self-esteem.

SUMMARY OF CONTENT:

1) WHAT'S IMPORTANT ABOUT SELF-ESTEEM- abusers, victims, and survivors.

2) Where does it begin and how is it gained and lost?

3) WHAT IS SELF-ESTEEM MADE UP OF?:

ACCEPTANCE, POWER & CONTROL, MORAL VIRTUE, & COMPETENCE.

4) CONCEPT OF DEVELOPMENTAL APPROPRIATENESS

DEVELOPMENTALLY INAPPROPRIATE PRACTICES set up a child to be:

Incompetent; PowerLESS and OUT of Control; NONaccepted; Morally VirtueLESS

5) PIAGET'S STAGES OF COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

6) IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE AND INTERACTION

7) AINSWORTH'S PATTERNS OF ATTACHMENT THEORY

8) SELMAN'S FIVE STAGES OF ROLE TAKING

9) ERIK ERICKSON EIGHT AGES OF MAN

10) KOHLBERG'S SIX STAGES OF MORAL REASONING (THREE LEVELS)*