You will not find pink princess toys here!

I just read this article, and must say that I can not agree more.  Needless to say, the toys and materials you will find in our school are quite gender neutral and support femenine and masculine play.  No pink and princessey here! 

If you are parent to a little girl, read the article.

If you KNOW someone who is a little girl, read the article!

If you know someone who WAS a little girl, read the article!

Here is another link to the article, in case you have missed the first link I gave at the top!

 I have not yet read Peggy Orenstein's book, but I am going to need to do so!  You can find more about Peggy here.

Beyond sink or float

The children in our school explore the properties of water and the properties of "things" in the water frequently.  

They've moved quite a bit beyond evaluating whether things will "sink or float".  

However, one day, as they were trying to find something to carry their animals and vehicles as a boat, I observed a first in our school.  After some discussion and some experimentation with various blocks that float, they decided to try...

...paper!

And it worked...

...briefly...

...but not for long!

So, they crumpled up the paper...

After trying one more time, they moved on!  I wonder when I will observe this experiment repeated.

Little Foot Stamps

I think these stamp pads are absolutely intended for the use of little feet in stamping!

Solitary play

Sometimes we, as adults, become concerned when our children are not playing with other children.  It's just not right.  Children need and deserve the time and space to possess and explore things in a space on their own, free of social interaction and interruption.

Sometimes, it's just nice to be able to occupy the entire train track and all of the trains in solitude!

Sometimes you just need to curl up with a good book (or a few)