Happy Birthday Play

It all started with an invitation.  

There was going to be a birthday party!

 How exciting for the first day of preschool with all of our friends?

The news spread quickly.  G had to call her mom to invite her.  

I was summoned.  We talked about what we need to properly celebrate a birthday 

(possibly prompted by our celebration last week of a classmates REAL birthday).

It was determined that we would need food, presents, invitations, and decorations.  

First things first, the decorations.  I grabbed the party box and pulled out the streamers.  You should have seen their faces!  They could't believe that I would let them use them.  Next, they needed scissors and tape.  Having direct access to scissors is a new thing for 4s.  In the 2s and 3s room, scissors are used with close supervision.  When you are 4, we trust that we have taught you to use them responsibly and we trust that you will.  I showed them where they could find scissors if they needed them and gave them the tape.  

Everything in the vicinity was decorated in no time!

There was teamwork, sharing, and an atmosphere of community; 

everything you could possibly hope for on the first day of preschool with all of the kids.

Next it was time for the menu.  The "birthday girl" wanted ham, so ham it was.  The other party planners added their own ideas of party food to the list.

We used shared pen (where the child writes the sound they hear first, and the teacher adds the rest) to make the remainder of the list.  

All in all, the play sustained for at least 30 minutes.  Children worked their way in and out, some staying a while, some just passing through.  Everyone was interested!  

Tomorrow, we will build on what we started today.  Maybe we will learn to make party hats, or wrap some presents.  We could sing happy birthday, since we never got to that part today.  We were so busy decorating! I'll pull out the birthday books and look forward to seeing how the play is extended tomorrow.  

I noticed at the end of the day that even my red rocking chair had been decorated!

It is sometimes difficult to explain how children learn through play, but little illustrations  like this one help.  In one center, in one corner of our classroom I identified the following happening while children were engaged in meaningful play: mathematics (counting the guests, counting years, comparing numbers, measuring) social studies (observing customs and traditions), literacy (beginning and ending sound identification, oral language development, writing letters) motor skills (cutting, taping) and much much more.  

This truly is the best job ever!