De los anillos de los árboles se puede aprender mucho más que su edad, por lo que son una fantástica oportunidad de estudio de la naturaleza para los niños. Esta actividad se puede hacer en cualquier estación, ya que sólo necesitas un tocón o un trozo de madera.
Antes de empezar, aquí tienes algunos conceptos básicos sobre la dendrocronología.
Si quieres ponerte elegante, el término científico para el estudio de los anillos de los árboles es “”dendrocronología””. En su nivel más básico, se trata de datar un árbol contando sus anillos de crecimiento. Sin embargo, también consiste en estudiar los datos procedentes de la observación de estos anillos.
Cómo contar los anillos de los árboles
Al examinar un tocón de árbol, observarás líneas finas y espacios más amplios entre los anillos. Los árboles añaden una nueva capa de crecimiento cada primavera y verano. Los árboles crecen mucho más deprisa durante la primavera, por lo que los espacios más amplios representan este crecimiento primaveral.
En cambio, el crecimiento en verano (y a veces en otoño) es más lento, lo que da lugar a líneas finas. Juntos, estos dos tipos de marcas representan un año de crecimiento. Para obtener una estimación precisa, céntrate en contar sólo las líneas finas.
Qué buscar en los anillos de los árboles y su significado
Al examinar los anillos de los árboles, presta atención a su anchura. Si observas algunos anillos considerablemente más anchos que los demás, es probablemente indica un año con abundantes lluvias y crecimiento. Por el contrario, si hay años en los que los anillos del árbol son especialmente finos, esto sugiere una sequía, una plaga de insectos o algún otro factor que atrofió el crecimiento.
Las marcas oscuras y negras pueden indicar que el árbol sobrevivió a un incendio forestal. Además, si los anillos son más anchos sólo en un lado del tocón, podría sugerir que algo empujó contra el árbol, haciendo que desarrollara madera de resistencia adicional en el lado opuesto.
Cuando descubras un tocón o un árbol rebanada, actuad como detectives y aprended todo lo que podáis de los anillos de los árboles. He aquí algunas preguntas a tener en cuenta:
- ¿Qué edad tiene este árbol?
- ¿Parece que el árbol haya sufrido algún tipo de lesión? (Incendio forestal, plaga de insectos, etc.)
- Pide a los niños que inventen y cuenten una historia sobre la vida del árbol¡!
Mientras caminas, intenta encontrar varios tocones diferentes para comparar. Busca el árbol más viejo ¡o el tocón con la forma más insólita!
Ampliar el aprendizaje
Me encanta emparejar libros relacionados con actividades, así que leímos *Los Osos Berenstain y Demasiado Cumpleaños.* Tiene un par de páginas en las que Papá Oso tala un árbol, ¡y los cachorros cuentan los anillos! Esto fue útil para los niños de tres años, ya que les ayudó a comprender el concepto y les generó entusiasmo por aprender.
También puedes ampliar este aprendizaje incorporando las artes, como hice yo. Proporciona a los niños cartulinas pequeñas, rotuladores y acuarelas. Pide a los niños que dibujen sus observaciones de los anillos de los árboles utilizando estos materiales.
¡Me encantó cómo quedó la obra de arte!
Image From Analyzing Childrens Art, Rhoda Kellogg, p. 49
When very young children are presented with art materials, whether fingerpaint or crayons, their first instinct is to “scribble.” Often, adults see this scribbling as meaningless until children begin to label their drawings. These early scribbles, though, are as important for their own sake as they are to children’s later development of hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills, as well as the abstract representation they will need to use to understanding reading and writing.
When children scribble, they get the proprioceptive feedback from the tool in their hands (or, in the case of fingerpaint, the hands themselves) and learn how to track and plan the movements of their arms, elbows, wrists, hands, and fingers. Rather than being inferior to identifiable or named drawings, scribbling is a way for children to experiment with their influence on their surroundings.
Scribbling is also joyful and enjoyable! Children are learning about aesthetics and what looks good to them. They might tell stories or name the scribble to represent an idea or person, or they may be interested for just as long as it takes to make the marks on the paper.
A space to scribble can be simple with just crayons and paper available on a shelf children can access. Outdoors, chalk is a classic, and the large size presents both an interesting challenge and enticing opportunity to cover a much bigger surface than most children can indoors.
For Reflection:
What opportunities do very young children have to scribble in your program? What materials can they use?
How do you respond to children’s scribbles? Do you display them?
Bring the mirrors outdoors and enjoy this simple and rewarding activity! During the early years, children are enamored with their own reflections. Providing this opportunity to study themselves, and create art, encompasses many different skill sets for young children.
Infants: Infants will enjoy simply looking at themselves in a mirror. Offer a hand mirror on a blanket where they can gaze and practice tummy time!
Toddlers: Help toddlers label their own features in the mirror. Encourage them to explore different art materials without concern about the final product. Focus on correctly holding utensils (pencil between fore finger and thumb).
Older Toddlers: Encourage older toddlers to recognize simple shapes in their features and transcribe those shapes on their drawing. Encourage correct handling of utensils, and help children write their names.
Pre-K: Encourage children to write their names and label their features when finished with their portraits.
Have you tried self portraits in your program? Have a fun activity? Share it with us info@townsquare.org
Provide children with a large sheet of butcher paper and small trays or plates with paint to explore dipping and making marks with recycled materials such as toilet paper or paper towel tubes, containers of various shapes and sizes, materials with different textures, etc. This could be an activity that is available over several days that children can experiment with in a variety of ways.
Goal: Children will work collaboratively, use fine motor skills, and explore making marks with paint using a variety of recyclable materials.
Explore choosing art materials and the art process in this virtual training for family child care providers. Develop an understanding of process art, explore various materials that support drawing, painting, and 3D art, and finally, identify your role in facilitating exploration.
Objectives:
- Providers will develop an understanding of process art
- Providers will explore a variety of materials that support drawing painting and 3D art
- Providers will identify their roles in facilitating exploration of art materials
Town Square Indiana modules can be found in Indiana Learning Paths. Please follow the link below to log into your I-lead account and click on “Start Your Indiana Learning Path”. Once in Indiana Learning Paths please search for:
Town Square – Art and Materials in Family Child Care
Town Square Research to Practice Statements offer information from theory and research with examples and suggestions for what it means in your work with children. This series of position statements includes topics such as the benefits of a home-like environment, the power of open-ended materials, and the benefits of incorporating the arts.
Town Square Research to Practice: The Benefits of Incorporating the Arts
I recently visited the Botanical Garden near Chicago with my children and also participated in a Nature Workshop, which has left me amazed at the calming and restorative power of being in nature. It is something I know as a parent of two active young boys is of utmost importance as a part of our every day life. And it is something that I think I just know, in my bones, from my childhood. Nature is really powerful for uncluttering the mind. Maybe it is the air, or the activating of the senses, or the feeling of sharing the experience of nature (even if you are alone) with humankind.
It also recently dawned on me that these nature experiences appeal to my senses in an aesthetic way and I feel a sense of inner calm with its beauty. The grounds at the Chicago Botanic Gardens are almost overwhelmingly beautiful and the amount of care put into making them so healthy and vibrant and beautiful is also overwhelming. The workshop was a science and nature workshop, but was equally an aesthetic experience, and placed in the more organic and natural forest setting of the North Park Village Nature Center. It was a day of serenity and beauty that was restorative to my spirit and energy.
This is as true for young children as it is for adults. I love taking children outside and into nature areas. They immediately seem to slow down. They begin to look intently for insects and they make new discoveries. When I can finally convince them to leave they are calmer and more focused at the same time. For some, art can bring about the same experience of calm and focus. By combining the two we can tap into the inner calm of children and provide an escape from the sometimes overbearing, overwhelming, and demanding world around them.
We encourage everyone to get out and experience more nature with children and bring drawing materials. You will be amazed at the change in behavior, mood and focus that comes from experiencing art and nature together.
Let’s be honest. Worksheets, cookie cutter craft activities, printables, and plastic manipulatives are widely reviled by early childhood education experts, yet they are widely available and often used in preschool and child care programs. At a recent luncheon with early childhood professional development providers and authors, we tried to sort out why this problem persists and consider why it is so hard to bring the clear messages from research into play in classrooms.
Day in and day out we see posts defending “play based learning” yet, in classrooms, we are seeing limited conversations, low quality play and content-poor activities. Why do these differences exist? Who are the people (teachers, caregivers and administrators) who really do implement developmentally appropriate practice? How are they different from the people who don’t use D.A.P.? Is there a gap in knowledge about what D.A.P means and how it influences lasting learning outcomes? Is there an informed rejection of the D.A.P approach to early education? Are old ways too hard to give up? Are sales pitches from websites and catalogs so irresistible? Do standards, QRIS systems and the Common Core play a role in this discrepancy? Are we wrong to ask these questions? Here are some of the developmentally inappropriate examples we use in our workshops:
A winter project that showed a teacher-cut shape of a giant mitten on which children had glued cotton balls. Doesn’t look like a real mitten, doesn’t function like a real mitten, isn’t made of anything a mitten would be made of. And, even worse, no connection for students that live in warm climates or students who live in the northeastern U.S. where no one needed mittens till after the first of the year. This allows no creativity, no meaning, no learning value and even no potential for play. Doesn’t help children understand winter, doesn’t help them understand mittens. What choices would have been better?
Making “goop” or similar substance with 2-year-olds. It doesn’t mix like anything else you would mix. Has no purpose – can’t be eaten, molded or used so mixing the ingredients doesn’t lead to any understanding. When you’re done – you just throw it away. Teachers have defended this by saying “but we just want the children to experience different things.” Or “sensory”. But the truth is, there are so many real things for them to experience that will help them understand the world around them while also being fun and sensational – why choose this instead of mixing sand and water to make a structure or mixing two colors of paint to make your picture? What choices would have been better?
Dinosaurs. How often do we hear – “Kids love dinosaurs and D.A.P. says we should follow children’s interests!” Very tricky… but kids love a lot of things so you don’t have to pick dinosaurs. What do we have against dinosaurs? They don’t exist. There are so many animals in the child’s real world that could be studied and identified and cared for that would have real world meaning. Why choose dinosaurs that are only seen as plastic toys or cartoons? What choices would have been better?
Handing out black paper and orange paint in October. No choice allowed for children, yet no meaning to the activity. Stripes of orange paint do not help them understand what a pumpkin is or how it grows or what it looks like on the inside. But this is also not art. There is no creativity or independent thought or opportunity for rich, engaging conversation. What choices would have been better?
A poster in 3-year-old class with the sign language alphabet. When children do no yet know any alphabet, hand spelling doesn’t mean anything to them. Pictures of hands in different positions are not going to support “diversity” because they have no relevance for the children nor will they signs be used in the classroom. USING sign language for words like eat, drink, toilet, hurt, more and stop could be a more useful strategy to help children of all languages and abilities understand. What choices could have been better?
Precut red and black ladybug with counting spots. Gluing circles of paper onto other precut paper has no meaning. It may look like a ladybug to an adult, but to a child it is just something to copy for no purpose. Counting the spots has no meaning if there’s no value to the number of spots. What difference does it make if there are two or four? It matters if you have two cookies and your friend gets four. It matters if the puzzle has four spaces but you only have two pieces. It matters if you have two feet but only one shoe. What choices could have been better?
Printable coloring page with leprechaun. Is this really what you want children to learn about Ireland and Irish culture? Is coloring a printable picture of a leprechaun providing anything to discuss or create or imagine? What is the holiday of St. Patrick’s Day? What meaning does it have for children? Is this just cute or is it quality? What choices could have been better?
Skill-based activities with no real content. You can teach sorting plastic things for no purpose and be pretty sure the children can’t generalize to any real life items that need to be sorted. Or you can teach sorting by asking the children to help you find the pieces for each puzzle from a pile of puzzle pieces, or sort the markers that work from the markers that are dried out, or sort the newly washed clothes for the dramatic play area. True D.A.P. based on the research tells us that skills and letters and phonemes should be learned in the context of useful, authentic content. An activity that teaches nothing more than sorting doesn’t really teach sorting either. An activity that involves playing with realistic items that need to be sorted teaches content and vocabulary as well as a lasting, generalizable understanding about sorting. What choices could have been better?
Voices of professional development presenters:
Rosanne Hansel, PA pushes kindergarten teachers to look for deeper meaning and purpose when choosing activities, not just counting for the sake of counting.
Barbara Capra, NJ asks her teachers “Is it cute or is it a quality early learning experience?” She advises teachers to evaluate activities by looking at skills/standards/objectives, time, implementation and the source to really be sure they are making the right choices for young children.
Liz Vaughan, PA, asks teachers to know the difference between art and crafts, but she recognizes the value of predictable, developmentally appropriate routines.
Pam Brillante, NJ, asks teachers to “step away from the Pinterest” because young children, particularly children with disabilities, need learning that connects with experiences they recognize from their daily life rather than isolated activities.
And, these connections to real things and experiences are even more important when teaching young children who are dual language learners! This is one of the reasons these questions seem so pressing right now.
We find it so difficult to help teachers give up activities they’ve been using. They put a lot of energy into defending the old ways instead of using that energy to learn new ways. How can we help? How can we make our writing and our workshops more effective? How can we reach out to those old websites, app developers and Pinterest pages that keep publishing inappropriate materials and activities?
The questions we want teachers to ask are: What for? And What more? In other words, when choosing any activity, can the teacher explain what the children will learn from it that they can really use? We don’t mean to just imitate, or experience, but actually use in their life? And if they find that the activity does provide some learning experience that the child can really use, can the teacher identify related activities that will extend the learning and allow the child to put his new learning to use? Teaching kindergarteners to identify a picture of an asteroid may seem like science, but if they never use that word again or see anything to do with asteroids or have any asteroid activities again for the rest of the school year – they won’t remember it. What for? and What more? Can these questions help early childhood educators break through the D.A.P Gap?