Toddler Masterpieces

Blue and purple have been the colors of choice at the art easel this month.  We mixed, swirled, splashed, and dabbed...

Toddler "E" even enjoyed the sensory experience of painting her hands.  The benefit of having a small group of friends is that there is time and space to do kid stuff... like paint yourself, and the teacher doesn't get stressed.

Paint washes off, but these experiences and memories will build the brain the child will have for a lifetime.  That is totally worth it.

May has Come and Gone

This was our life in quarantine.  We filled our month with rainy day art...

Flower gear gardens...

Indoor kitty picnics...

Playground birdseed bakery...

Reading...

Tower building...

Dandelion running...

Splash pad sprinkling...

Sit n' spinning...

Toddler "Elephant" turned 18 months this month!

We hope the world will return to safe socializing soon because we miss preschool friends coming and learning with us!  If you have more questions or are interested in our program, please contact Ms. Harmony at harmonyhutson@gmail.com.

Babies of Harmony's House, part 4

The Babies of Harmony's House (Baby "E" and Toddler "K") have been growing, but not always in the ways one might expect.  Poor Toddler "K" has been diagnosed with Growth Hormone Deficiency this fall after exhibiting slow growth and development over the first years of her life.  This diagnosis has come after several appointments with a pediatric endocrinologist who required a battery of blood tests and even MRI under anesthesia.  Although the IV's, blood draws, tests, and trips have been somewhat (to very!) traumatic for little "K," the good news is that she now has a treatment plan.  She will require daily growth hormone injections until she reaches a full adult height.

But on the other hand, Toddler "K" loves counting to ten, finds rhyming to be funny (Crocs- rocks, Chicken-kicken), and now has a favorite color: blue.

Toddler "K" asked to be a blue M&M for Halloween and loved wearing her costume every time!  Hopefully her treatment for GHD will be successful, and she'll start growing in stature soon!

Baby "E" is almost as tall as "K" now and had her first birthday over the weekend.

She loves exploring everything with deep curiosity and focus.

Baby "E" is very close to walking, loves dancing and climbing.  And she is hilarious.  She makes the funniest expressions!

And, the best news is that she has started sleeping through the night on *some* nights!  Yes!

Babies of Harmony's House part 1, 2, and 3...

The Apple Game! (Gross Motor Skills and Sorting)

We LOVE the Apple Game at Harmony's House!  We mix up our "apples" in a basket, then say, "On your marks, get set, GO!" at which point all the balls ("apples") get dumped!

Then quick as a wink, we all run to pick up the balls and toss them into either the red tub or the blue tub (I wish I had a green one!) according to color.  All around, you hear, "Red!  Green!  Red!" as the children name the colors that they find.  Occasionally you hear, "Oops!  Wrong one!"  Then we fish out the "apple" that doesn't match and toss it in the correct tub.

By far, this is the MOST fun way we have practiced sorting by color and even the toddlers love it and can accurately sort by colors.  Yay by for apples!

Toddler Aggression: The Reasons and the Responses

Toddlers are super cute, but they can be super hurtful as well!  There are several reasons that toddlers behave aggressively, and being a sociopath is typically not one of them!  ;)  Take a breath... when your small child hits, they are very much like most toddlers out there.

Although feelings are always okay, certain actions are not because they are hurtful.  As teachers, caregivers, and parents, we need to respond to our toddler aggressors in a way that helps them develop prosocial skills.  To do this, we need to determine the function (the why) of the behavior.  Depending on the child's motive in the situation, our response to the child must differ.

Below you will find different strategies for responding to aggressive behaviors according to the behavior's function.  Be prepared to use many strategies with the child.  Be ready for it to take a few months for the child to incorporate new replacement behaviors.  Be patient, with yourself and the child.

Attention Seeking

• Young children figure out right away that hurtful actions get a lot of attention from grownups!  (We naturally want to prevent other children or ourselves from getting hurt right?)  Negative attention is still attention, and counts to the young attention seeker.
• Strive for five: for every one criticism/correction/redirection you give, strive to find five positive things to also share with the child.  ("Yes!  Your hands are pinching play-doh!  That is a great choice.  You look like you are having fun.)  This does two things: the child feels capable of making good choices, being a nice friend, and that you care about him/her.  Additionally, it helps you maintain positive feelings toward the child and avoid the rut of, "Sigh.  Why do you ALWAYS hurt people?!"  Likely, the child does not ALWAYS engage in negative behaviors and pointing the positives out to the child helps you as the adult remember this too.  CONNECTION.
• Respond to the victim first.  "Are you okay?  Let's get you... cleaned up, back on your feet, etc. Did you like what happened?  Let's tell your friend that..."
• Respond to the aggressor second.  "You pushed... (enter hurtful behavior) your friend.  You were upset... (enter applicable emotional label) and didn't know what to do."  
• Be sympathetic so the child is able to hear your message.  If you are angry the child will be defensive or possibly afraid.  The brain will not be able to incorporate the next part of the exchange as readily due to that stress.
• Continue: "You MAY NOT hurt your friend.  That is NOT okay.  You may do... (this or that) instead.  Let's practice that now."

Sensory or Motor Seeking

• The growing child's body craves movement and challenges!  This is one way both hemispheres of the brain learn to communicate and synchronize.  We want children to learn about their bodies, the environment, and how to interact with the people and the world.
• Hitting, kicking, and throwing are developmental milestones that we expect young children to meet, and they will typically practice these behaviors until they achieve mastery.  In certain circumstances, it is very appropriate to hit, throw, poke, pinch, or kick.  
• Redirect hitting/kicking/throwing/pinching behaviors from peers to play-doh, instruments, pillows, beanbags, balls, and/or toys where it is okay to hammer.  
• Redirect biting to chewable jewelry.

Undeveloped Social/Emotional Understanding

• Because children this age are so young, they haven't yet learned to distinguish the idea that people and animals are different from objects because they have feelings.  They haven't learned perspective-taking yet, and so they are unaware that they might be hurting a friend and that friend has different feelings about what is happening than the instigator does.  This lack of social/emotional development (which is totally NORMAL for this age!) can lead to treating friends as objects.
• This behavior might look like spontaneous, unprovoked injuring of another person.  Small children find that peers respond consistently to pain with howls, crying, etc. in the same way that maracas respond to shaking, piano keys respond to hitting, and pegs respond to hammering.  The aggressor is enjoying the consistency or sound of the response because they don't understand that what they are doing hurts.  People are not instruments or toys, and people have feelings.
• To teach social emotional awareness, try this: "Look at your friend's face.  That's sad (hurt, angry, etc.- label the feeling)  They didn't like that.  To help our friend feel better, we need to apologize.  Say, 'I'm sorry I hurt you.  I will use soft hands next time.'"
• Outside of the conflict, intentionally plan opportunities to teach social emotional awareness: 
• sing "If You're Happy and You Know It" with different emotions.  Use dramatic facial expressions for each feeling and invite the children to do the same.  Explain what caused the feeling: "I am sad because biting hurts!  I hurt so I cry!"
• read books and point out the faces and feelings of the characters, explain the cause and effect of those feelings in the plot
• play with the mirror- children like making faces in the mirror, use this as an opportunity to talk about feelings versus body parts and features
• role play- pretend to be an animal or person, act and talk the way someone else would
• connect with past experiences- "Remember when your friend hit you and you were really sad?  That's how Johnny feels right now."

Undeveloped Communication Skills

• Toddlers have better RECEPTIVE language than EXPRESSIVE language.  This means that they understand what you say a lot more than what they can say themselves.  Let's face it, actions come out faster than words at this age.  Even if the small child knows what to say, s/he may forget to use words in the heat of the moment.  
• Teach social and problem solving language.  Intervene when a child makes a grab for a toy in another's hands and prevent a potential fight.  Prompt the child to use words, "You want that toy.  Let's ask first before we take: 'Sally, can I have that cat?'  'Oh, Sally isn't done yet.  Sally tell her, 'You can have it when I'm done.'"
• Teach and model the words for sharing (using the toy together at the same time), trading (exchanging a toy for the one you want), and waiting for a turn (eg. using a timer).  Resolving problems with these tools demonstrates respect for other's feelings and fosters positive feelings between friends.
• Practice taking turns in speaking and listening.
• Use consistent language with the child so they learn what your words/instructions mean: "Use soft touches" or "Your friends like nice hands..."
• The younger the children, the simpler the language (both vocabulary and number of words)

Undeveloped Executive Functioning

• Executive functioning skills are higher level brain functions.  They allow you to choose your response instead of responding with emotion.  They allow you to delay gratification.  They allow you to make plans, and review how they went.  They allow you to use logic amongst other things... and they are continuously developing in a person until s/he is a young adult.  Therefore, we cannot expect young children to cope with the environment and people in the same capacity as an adult.  But we CAN support the development of executive functioning skills within the child.
• Be consistent with redirection and consequences.  For example, the child might need to lose privileges if s/he is repeatedly acting in hurtful ways.  A logical consequence is that the child must walk away from the activity where the hurtful behavior was occurring.  Perhaps the child requires the use of a time-out or calm-down place.  Remember that negative consequences cannot be the only response to replacing these behaviors with positive ones.  
• It is critical to maintain a positive relationship with the aggressive child and be the child's "safe place" while providing consistent redirection and consequences.  When the child decides that s/he is "just a bad kid" or that the teacher "can't be pleased" then s/he will likely stop trying to improve.  Don't create a self-fulfilling prophecy for the child.
• Maintain proximity to help the child in the heat of the moment make the best choice instead of waiting to clean up the aftermath.
• Let age and maturity work magic on your efforts.  It will happen for each child at a different time in a different way.  Every day, every minute, YOU get to help build this child's brain.

What do teachers do after the kids go home?

We build epic pirate ships.  Out of cardboard and duct tape.  Naturally!  ;)  They also get up to sneaky shenanigans like stealing treasure chests, hiding them on the playground, and blaming the pirates!

Friend "Hammer" asks, "Who stole our treasure again?"
Ms. Harmony: "The pirates!  And they hid the treasure on the playground nearby their ship!"
Friend "Hammer:" "That can't be right.  Cuz pirates aren't real."
Ms. Harmony:  "Hmm.  Well I wonder who it was then because our treasure is REALLY missing and we REALLY have a pirate ship parked in our playground!"

Mr. Smarty Pants was trying to game the system!  Hah!  He still had fun playing along and finding, re-hiding, and finding again the treasure chests.

What did our treasure chests contain?  20 gold doubloons perfect for counting, beads, jewel bouncy balls, a sea creature, and sunglasses.

The school friends are so helpful with the toddlers.  They helped them find their boxes, open them, and appreciate all the treasure inside.

Toddler "Kite" loved her treasure box.  She dumped and filled it over and over.  :)