Need New Classroom Materials? Consider These Ideas

The book, Caring Spaces, Learning Places: Children’s Environments that Work, provides this helpful list of questions to answer before purchasing a toy:

• "What experiences will children really have with this toy?
  
• Could the same experience be provided with found materials?
  
• Will it be used appropriately or remain intact in my setting?
  
• Will it wear gracefully and safely or become unsafe or useless once damaged?
  
• Is it something that children will all have at home anyway?"

And, in their third Loose Parts book, Lisa Daly and Miriam Beloglovsky consider how loose parts can be used in a culturally sustainable way. They write: "The open-ended qualities of the loose parts allow children to recreate and represent their cultures and home languages in a variety of ways."

And one more resource, the professional development film, Reflecting on Anti-Bias Education in Practice: The Early Years, available for free download, provides much food for thought about creating classroom environments that meet the anti-bias goals of identity, diversity, justice and action. It is now available with a low-cost DVD and guidebook for those who would like that option.

For more information about Exchange's magazine, books, and other products pertaining to ECE, go to www.ccie.com.

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