Play Learn Grow Together

• What having a growth mindset means
• Growth Mindset: Unlocking full potential

• Why Halloween is good for child development
• Five Reasons Why Humans Need Halloween
• How can kids have a healthier Halloween? And what do you do with the leftover lollies?

• Parental Engagement: Teachers and Parents Working Together for a Common Goal.
• Engaging All Learners – Collaborating with Parents.

Enjoy reading: Summer Olympic sports.

• Six Ways Kids Should Engage in Risky Play.
• Active Play: Simple Games and Activity Ideas.

• Read an article about successful circle times.

• 15 Essential Life Skills Activities for Kids: Beyond ABCs
• Creative Development for children.

• Why Being Funny Is Good For Your Family.
• Some April Fool’s Day  classroom pranks to play on your students.

• Read an article about Types of Play for Children.
• The Benefits of Arts for Kids (artfulparent.com).

• Explore this How to Play PPT. Presentation and learn more about how to teach children about diversity. 

• Make your own Christmas Trivial Pursuit game. As you start decking the halls this holiday season, it might be time to take a break from all the baking and wrapping and brush up on the best Christmas trivia facts. All 49 of these questions and answers make for a lively and festive game night for the family. 

• Read 8 Things to do with your Child on Remembrance Day.

• Read 5 Key reasons to teach Perspective.
• Read The Importance of Perspective Taking for Young children.

• Read this article about understanding the emotions that cause children to lose self-control and better prepare adults for the reactions that accompany those feelings.
• Read What is Emotional Intelligence? Great Tools for Home and School.
• Read Flow Facts for Kids or learn more about 7 Ways to Teach Children Flow.

• Read some articles about Play-based learning:
  • What is Play-based Learning?
  • The Science of Play and the Importance of Play-based Learning.
  • UNICEF – Lego Foundation – Learning through Play

• Read about 25 Backyard Camping Ideas That’ll Make You Feel Like You’re in the Great Outdoors.

• Read about Summer Camps: How to help your child make the most of it.
• Read about 6 Proven Reasons to Take Your Kids Camping – Mom Goes Camping and watch this video Camping and Learning for Real about the benefits of Camping.

• Read about how Protecting Children from exploitation means rethinking how we approach online behaviour.
• Read: 7 Benefits of Outdoor Play and Less Screen Time

• Read How Kids Can Make A Difference for Birds This Earth Day.

• Read: 7 Ways to Instill A Love of Learning in Children.
• Read this article about origami projects to make with children.

• Watch the video about the Eagle representing Love or find out more information provided by Elder Hazel.

• Read about How playing an instrument benefits the brain OR 10 Benefits of Children Learning a Musical Instrument (petersonfamilyfoundation.org).

• Care-givers and educators may find this slideshow presentation about effective and engaging questions at all levels to stimulate critical thinking of interest. 
• Read about: 
  • Executive Function Activities for 3 – 5 year olds
  • Executive Function Activities for 5- to 7-year-olds
  • Executive Function Activities for 7- to 12-year-olds

• Cuddle Up and Read – Tip#1 for Parents from Dr. Jean Clinton
• Cuddle Up and Read – More Tips for Parents from Dr. Jean Clinton

• Learn more about Freedom! An OPAL online free open day by OPAL Outdoor Play and Learning CIC. On Thursday 30 June, we’ll bring together researchers, school leaders and education thinkers to ponder how we can make sure more children have the freedom to play every day at school. This event is for leaders interested in both practical ideas for better playtimes and the research behind them, policy makers and educators who shape school days, lunchtime supervision staff, TAs, forest school leads, parents – and anyone interested in this often overlooked time of the day
• Read some tips for parents to reduce screen time and get back into nature.

• Read more about child-directed activity and independence
  • Freedom within Structure: Safely fostering child-directed activity and movement.
  • How to Lovingly Nurture Your Child’s Independence.

• Plan a nature theme this month. 
  • Read CBC Tips for Easy Birdwatching with Kids or Beginners getting started birdwatching with children OR Share some of these Earth Day videos.
• Have fun this Easter and read about Creative Easter Egg Hunts to Plan Now That Your Kids Know the Best Hiding Places.

• Educators – read about Five Strategies to develop critical thinkers. 
• If you are hooked on Wordle consider a new program now available for children called Spellie.  A local Vancouver team offers this free word game for kids with different levels of challenges. Check it out  https://spelliegame.com/

• Interest to learn more about creating your own Sensory Play Bins? 
  • Read about Connecting Through Sensory Play or check this guide to sensory bins from the blog, Parenting Chaos. Learn more about the benefits of sensory bins for children or find more ideas here to create sensory bins.

• Read about ways to enjoy and celebrate the rhythms of play in the winter.
• Here is a bucket list of Winter activities to enjoy with children.
• Here are more Winnie the Pooh Quotes.

• For Parents or educators interested to read about Self Regulation with even more details.
• Dr. Toy (Stevanne Auerbach PhD), a leading expert on play, toys, and children’s products, outlines the value of toys and questions to consider before selecting a toy for children as well as her suggested best picks for toys with corresponding ages.

• Read about how to play together to reinforce math concepts using counters.

• Seven year old Molly Wright gives one of the best Ted Talks for parents and educators about How Every Child can Thrive by Five. (7:40 mins.) You will definitely want to view this!
• A brief article providing parents with tips about how to Raise Grateful Children

• This BC Ministry document outlines the Mental Health in Schools Strategy 
• This companion report shares Key Principles and Strategies for K-12 Mental Health Promotion in Schools with sample documents from districts around the province.  

• Look through the following book list for kids with anxiety.

• School’s Out and here are 9 tips for parenting school-aged children and dealing with screen time this summer.
• Read the top 10 easy summer learning tips
• Read about ideas to encourage your children to play in the great outdoors.

• Read more about the involved father and why it is Important for father’s to play a key role in their child’s reading, and  literacy development.
• Read more about the positive effects for children when caring for a family or classroom pet.

• Download a Physical Literacy Poster and listen to a a delightful Video
• Watch Kristen Kemple, PhD, discuss her book Planning for Play and learn more about teaching practices to support learning through play. (58:00 mins)

• This excellent video outlines the 5 characteristics of playful experiences. (5:31 mins.)

• This article shares how cooking is not only fun but can be a calming activity for kid

• In this video, (1:18 min.) Barbara Colorosa, educator, author and speaker discusses 6 critical life messages children should hear every day from parents and educators.
• The Canadian Pediatric Society offers suggestions and resources regarding screen time introducing the 4 M’s –  minimize, mitigate, be mindful and model.

· In the video The Power of Play (4:05 mins.), Dr. Jean Clinton, Child Psychiatrist and highly regarded Canadian speaker may inspire and remind educators and parents about what is important to focus on during these challenging days of teaching during a pandemic. 

· This article Play Dough Power highlights all the learning opportunities associated with play dough.

Play-based learning

· What is play-based learning? This video (1:31 min.) demonstrates what play-based learning looks like in a classroom setting.  

· Play is Children’s Work. This video  (5:07 min.) goes into greater detail about play-based learning.

Ministry of Education documents:

·  Play Today: B.C. Handbook (PDF, 8.3MB) This guide, supports educators, parents, and families, by offering a diverse range of high quality, play-based learning experiences appropriate in the early years and primary grades.

· Early Learning Framework Poster (PDF.) This poster includes the Early Learning Framework Principles and the First Peoples Principles of Learning.