The Dancing, Singing Easel

While I tend to think that every issue of Exchange is our "best ever," I am especially proud of our January/February 2013 issue. For example, in "The Dancing, Singing Easel", family child care provider Emily Plank gives this great illustration of how a truly child-centered program works:

"One weekend I came across a used art easel that I thought would be the perfect addition to our outdoor art space. I carried it from my car and simply set it in its place. What the children devised was brilliant, and demonstrates incredible social, emotional, physical, and cognitive development. Here was the game as it unfolded:

"One child stood at the easel with a piece of chalk, and drew — left to right, top to bottom, in ‘handwriting’ types of strokes — clear evidence of phonemic awareness. As she, and then other children drew, they sang. The strokes on the easel with the chalk were in tempo with whatever melody they were inventing; the songs were all off the tops of their heads. No familiar words were sung, though some familiar tunes popped up — and the color of the chalk indicated what song they were to sing. Friends came to select a color of chalk, thereby selecting the song. There was never any communication about a song title or theme, children just chose a color of chalk and handed it to the singer: “Which song do you want now? Green? Okay. Is everyone ready?” As the singer made music, the rest of the group danced on the imaginary stage behind the singer, outfitted with scarves. When the song ended, the singer erased the easel with a hand stroke, and the process began again.

"What a gift it was to observe this play unfolding. None of the children ever communicated explicitly about the rules around the chalk, the easel, or the dancing. As a new person entered the stage, that person was accommodated seamlessly into the play. What cognitive flexibility! And what caused me to stop and reflect was the reality that I could never have planned any of it."
 

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